Today I spent a couple of hours with Fabiana. She loves to spend time in my office and paint on my whiteboard, buy softdrinks, and chips. We then walked to a little fountain that's near my office and she asked whether she could go in the water. I let her.. She was having a lot of fun, running around with her pants pulled up, but insisted that I go in with her, but somehow that was not what I wanted to do at that moment. Then we walked to see some big structural art work, and she was upset 'cause there were other kids playing around . Kids, they want the whole world to themselves. Why is it that as adults we lose that trait. Well, at least some of us do. We visited our friends the Jacobs and they were gracious enough to share dinner with u. Actually, they were already done with dinner, but Rob and Debbie were nice to offer me dinner. I gladly accepted. JJ is home tonite, and JP finished one of two books that he was supposed to read. Yeah, Jose, you are the man. Keep it up.

We had somekind of picnic, if Doritos, Coke, and Oreos count as a picnic, but we had an enourmous towel that I told Fabiana was a blanket. She was so thrilled to be having a picnic. She wanted to know when we could go camping. It had been a beautiful day but by the time we got to the beach it was very windy. Warm, but the wind blew sand against our feet. We did sand tunnels and a big sand shark. I cooked real fried chicken, french fries, and a healthy artichoke. Even our friend JJ tried the artichoke. I must say that fried chicken is slightly overrated. Of course, I am biased being a vegeterian, but the friend food stank up the home, and it did not look appealing, AND the the kids did not eat them all. The artichokes, on the other hand, were truly enjoyed, or so it seems. Tonite is our last evening at Stinson. I feel I have really enjoy this place with the children. We have eaten, and done all kinds of activies, and even Jose-Pablo has been doing his homework. Somewhat ...

I must have been tired. I was up at 8am, fed Fabiana, and went back to bed until about 11am. Kids were already about. I cooked them pancakes, eggs sunny side up, and hard boiled eggs. We immediately went into the lagoon. Jose-Pablo took the kayak and turned it over, and JJ had to go and help him turned it back over. The day is beautiful again, and there is no wind so far(knock on wood). We are heading over to the beach, maybe a picnic. Its amazing how much of life revolves around food gatherings and lacking that structure there is not much to relied on.

We went to town today and had a beer and sherley temple's at one of the places. We had our fifth vanilla and chocolate ice cream of our stay, the kind that they served at foster's( I think). Kids continue to enjoy body surfing and boogie boards and today Sebastian finally got to do it. He looked really good. Jose-Pablo and JJ never get out of the water. Fabi, Sebi and I spent most of our afternoon doing sand figures, and catching sand crabs. I prepare spaguetti, fish, and cucumber salad tonite and we ate at the big table because Fabiana wanted to eat there. It was nice, but right afterwards the kids wanted to go back to the beach so off we went, we had a full moon, it was low near the water, and it was bright orange. Even the kids said "look at the moon". JP has started to read a couple hours a day for his school assignment slowly getting into the groove of things. My cousin Pablo left today. One less kid to care for :>

Last few days have been quite amazing. For starters, yesteday morning I went to get about 100 oysters at Hog Island Oyster Company in the town of Marshall's, about a 45 minute drive from Stinson. Sebastian wanted some clams so I got some of those too. By the way this was a result of the kids asking for them at a restaurant and I balked at paying for them a the restaurant. Mike, Shirish and other friends came over, brought guacamole, salad, cheese, breads, and we proceeded to munch out. The kids, including Fabiana, ate lots of oysters. Fabiana loved them. We jumped on the lagoon, indulged in the jacuzzy, and went to the beach to watch the kids play with the boogie boards. In the evening I made fish, potatoes, and cousin Pablo prepared the salad. We went out in the Kayak late in the evening, it was absolutely pitch black with a full moon, and you could hear the sound of the waves. Kids stayed up late playing cards, playing in the jacuzzy, and eventually felt asleep in the family room.

Today was a busy day. We went to the beach where we found a nice little dog that wanted to play catch with our tennis ball. There is something deeply satisfying about throwing something and having it come back to you. The boys and the main man, me, went swimming on the lagoon. I told them that jumping in cold water and then going into hot water was good for you, and they follow the suggestion. This, of course, does not work when you tell them to do their homework, and any other less fun duty. My friend Rob came over, I think, to have good conversations but I had warned him that running around 4 children was not quite going to get it done. We had hotdogs for lunch, and for dinner I made hamburgers with ground beef with mash potatoes. Sebastian abstained, and a corn dog needed to be provided, even though I tried to stand firm with the threat that no dinner, except hamburgers would be provided. Sure, I wish I was so tough. The sunset was so amazing, the winds were calm, the birds were singing, and I really felt that moments like these are it, and you know that they are are, but we should all make the place better for all. Of course, you must start at home. Oh yeah, we went to the park, had root beer floats, walk to the public beach, ate french fries, and all those things that you should do if you can. Tomorrow? I have not planned so far ahead yet.

I am at stinson beach tonite with my 3 children and their friend JJ. Most people told me that I was being very brave, but I do not feel that at all. I mean they are challenging, they require cooking, cleaning, etc, but I do not have any conversation of being anywhere else. I love these kids a lot and I need for them to learn the right leasons and grow up correctly when the times comes. I got an AOL 8.0 disk working and so that's how i am doing this writing. Eh, free for 2 months. Well, you just can't beat that. Jose is excited 'cause he misses his friends :<. The kids are watching "Dumb and dumber", yes, how dumb can you get, and lovely Fabiana is already asleep. Her last words to me were "I hate you dad, I miss mom ". Kids ate fruit, fish, shrimps, juice, and yes , "Doritos". They finally won, but they ate carrots.