2020

New Year's Day was a nice start to 2020, especially for Madison who got a great present from Ba-Ba.  This guitar is actually his, one he no longer needs, but has had for quite some time now.  Mommy tells of stories of Ba-Ba walking out into the room with this very guitar while they were watching the Beatles play on television.  Madison started strumming right away, and had a booklet and guitar picks to help her along.

We watched the Rose Bowl Parade this morning, which was nice, although things have changed somewhat with the presentation, with a half-time show and a grand finale, plus an attuned lady singing the intro.  But the floats are still spectacular - we've missed the parade a few times the last few years due to this, that or the other.  This morning, we were right there together watching it all the way through, the bands, the floats, and all the extra things that go into making it almost as big a deal as the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Afterwards, we were up for a walk along the beach, the first of the year.  Madison chose north, so we walked north for a bit, and the weather was cool, but not too bad at all.

It was pretty out there, this large section of the beach relatively uncrowded compared to the shores further north.  Madison and Mommy were looking down at the multitude of shells in the sand, picking up good ones for decorations and other ideas.

There were plenty of seagulls further upward, and in fact based on past visits here, this one area seems to be pretty popular with the seagulls - almost the same way one area in front of us seems to be popular with the dolphins.  In the past Madison would go charging forward into this mess of seagulls, watching them scatter upward in a flurry of feathers and complaints.

But today she had mercy.  It was a little chilly for that kind of thing anyway.  We did find one unusual shell, or at least a fragment of one.  It looked like it would hurt if you stepped on it!

We had a nice meal together, and did some reading out here on the balcony.  We watched some television, and additionally, there was even time for a game of Scrabble, a game we used to play more often when at the beach.  Mommy and Daddy played that one into the night, although tomorrow I think we'll be back with Dominoes again.

One funny tradition here is Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.  Daddy knew a lot of the answers tonight, but Madison knew a few too, which was something she's been very proud of.  She was anxious to see the show again so she could get some of those answers.  And she even gets some of the Wheel of Fortune answers before anyone else in the room, or on television.  Never underestimate her!

Anyway, it was a great start to a new year, a nice relaxing day on the beach with family.  We'll have another one of these tomorrow, with board games, beach walks and so on.  The weather is supposed to be really nice tomorrow, but it was pleasant today, considering we're in the midst of winter.   Daddy's been doing some KidPak work here and there, but also some reading too.

Ba-Ba is getting better and better, his health improving very much so.  We're waiting for that important meeting on January 8th to see what the doctors feel.  Meanwhile, Nana is continuing to have a few issues that are concerning.  We're not entirely sure what the future holds, but we're together, and God is with us, as He has promised to never leave us or forsake us.  That being said, whatever the future holds, we know that 2020 will be a good year, so long as we remember that much.