Finishing 2016 in San Diego

     We've been at the Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve just about a month now.  I know that because tomorrow we do our first "Santee Shuffle", which means we have to change campsites.  That seems to be the only drawback to this park.  They rent site specific instead of just guaranteeing a site, so there tend to be lots of empty sites during the week.  If you're like us and don't make reservations till late, chances are, you'll be doing the Santee shuffle.
     MaryAnne was able to get time off and joined us for Christmas.  Debbie had Big Red all decorated, and lots of cookies and chex mix prepared for MAE's arrival.  And of course her flight was just a tad late departing Albany, which made the connection in Chicago a little tight.  But MaryAnne and her baggage made the connection and she arrived right on Schedule in SD.  Unfortunately, she brought some nasty weather with her, and it lasted pretty much her entire visit.

      Fortunately, Santa was able to find us, and Christmas morning we awoke to find the front dashboard of Big Red bulging with Christmas presents.  We mixed up a batch of mimosa's and set straight to work, and before long, we'd worked our way down to the last one.  Seems that Debbie and Tony had conspired in getting MAE's gift out to CA, and I think she was more than surprised at seeing it.  Tony was getting a little nervous with the USPS,  but everything worked out just fine.  It's quite amazing that Debbie was able to keep a secret!!

     After our morning adventure, we headed over to see how Liam was doing.  Looks like everyone received new socks from Santa!  MAE did an excellent job passing out presents, and helping Liam with opening a few.  He seemed to get quite a kick with his Radio Flyer wagon! Every kid needs a wagon to pull around.....or be pulled around in!  Grammie and Dad stayed pretty busy keeping the little one entertained.  Of course, Jamo needed little coaxing to get involved with opening presents, and soon he was tearing one of his to pieces.  Seems that he forgot all about Grammie's program of "save the paper!"

 
     As we moved into January, we were able to spend lots of time with Jamo and Liam, and it was exciting to watch him get more and more comfortable with us.  Each day there were changes in his personality, and we were extremely fortunate to be able to experience this time with Ben and Joanne.

     You could see the devil in his eye on occassion, and everyone wondered just what was going through his mind.  Liam and Ben seemed to get along quite well, and though he wasn't speaking, he certainly seemed to understand what was being said to him.  Liam has quite an appetite, and seems to eat just about anything you put in front of him.....except for brussel sprouts!  But you can't blame him for that.

    He loves to scare us half to death with his eating habits.....stuffing food into his mouth.  Ben just continues on, as Debbie and I get ready for a Heimlich maneuver on the kid.  You wouldn't think stuff like that would bother grandparents, but we were nervous wrecks!

     He jumps right up and helps Ben with the cleaning, when it's getting time for mommy to come home too.

     The weather closed in on San Diego, with cool weather and rain, and as the water and mud accumulated around the campground, we decided to get the wheels on the bus moving in order to find nicer weather.  Ben and Joanne invited us to join them in family photos before we left, and he "hammed" it up pretty good for the camera.  We finished up our time at Santee at the beginning of February, and our next destination will be South Padre Island.