little beach walker

Dennis enjoyed a long stroll on the beach today. The wind was still pretty bad, and we're hoping it'll be nice out in the morning so he can go and play in the sand. He enjoyed a breakfast out with his Daddy and the rest of the group while Mommy had her cave time under the covers. Then we beach walked and then played in the room for quite awhile.

We took Dennis over to the shopping center this afternoon, just David and me. We strolled him along in the cool windy air, window shopping and doing a touch of Christmas shopping. He doesn't know it, but Santa bought him two items for Christmas while we were here. It's good that Santa has finally gotten started on that. He saw Santa today, sitting outside on a bench, waiting for children to come and get their pictures made. Since the price was astronomical, we didn't have his picture made, but he did enjoy waving at Santa and playing a bit of peek-a-boo with him.

The highlight of his day was the train ride he took through the outdoor shopping center. Once he saw the train (which is the reason we went there in the first place), he couldn't stop saying "train" (or "terr-rain", which is how he says it) and pointing to it. He fussed when we had to pass the train to cross the street at the crosswalk to get back over to it. He and I rode together and all he could say was "train" and "choo". He was very excited, pointing to the train cars behind us, pointing to the engine in front of us, and waving to the people we passed. He was sad to leave the train, but it was nap time and we wanted to come back to the room.

He opened the first door on his Advent calendar today and found an angel ornament. We read from the bible, Luke 1, where the angel appears to Mary to tell her that she'll be having a baby who will be the son of God. He also enjoyed having Gigi read to him and look at his picture books with him. He turned in early, most likely because he skimped on his afternoon nap. He said goodbye to Gran and Pop, as they headed for home tonight. Tomorrow will be our last day here, and it's been a nice break. We'll get home with a week and a half to spare to pack for our next vacation!