Train ride to California - The Coast Starlight

Ready to go!

Sleeping on the train was fun although we went over the mountain pass in the middle of night which meant we missed out seeing the season's first big snow fall.

Kiki & Odo - best friends forever...

Lots of time for snoozing...

Sliding at the Santa Barbara beach with Sharon - welcome to California!

Mission accomplished

Happy Halloween!

Back in Seattle - a little (actually very) jet-lagged but still happy to celebrate the holiday with cousin Clara (who was definitely not jet-lagged!)

Breakfast time...

Another rainy weekend in Valencia...

But we decided to visit the new BioParc anyway.

The best part? Having the lemurs all to ourselves!

Visiting Isabella (and Kiki) at the guarderia...

Out the door, on the bike, every morning at 9:20 am... (the horn was a "first day of school" present. Isabella loves it but I'm sure our neighbors hate it...:-).

The "headmistress" allowed me to sneak in and and watch while Isabella's class took their turn on the patio during "recess"...
...I felt better once I saw one of her new friends, Johan, approach.

And finally - all aboard!

Isabella reading?

I was in the kitchen and heard Isabella "talking" to someone- turned out she was "reading" out loud...

The weather has been lousy (lots of rain but still very hot & muggy) so we've been reading a lot of books lately. This one has been a favorite, a gift from Odo - Breatrix Potter.