Monica was twirling her hair, and I nicely asked her to stop as it was distracting. Except then she started twirling it even more, and then Ogii joined her.
And then Dad and Mom did, too. What a cruel family.
Buying a Christmas tree. Last year we got a really big one; this year we decided to get an Ogii-sized one.
I still love this palm tree and arch.
And the outdoor kitchen.
And the metal buffalo.
Cutting the bottom off.
Ogii grabbed a few stray branches for antlers of her small wooden deer.
Perfect size.
To fit in the RAV4.
A little fruit stand next door.
A little grocery store inside.
Some good bread.
Ogii replacing the deer antlers with fresh ones.
Watering the tree.
Opening Christmas lights.
Putting them high up in the tree using Ogii's stick with a hook.
We went to the Pacific Grove monarch grove.
This one tree had a few branches covered in them.
I had a 600mm zoom lens with a 2x teleconverter on my DSLR, so I could get very close pictures.
They're mostly dark brown-ish until the sun hits them; then they start to open up and look orange.
A bunch over here.
In comparison, this is the picture our zoomed-in phone gets.
A docent discussed the butterflies and had a spotting scope centered on them, too.
We had lunch at Chef Lee's Mandarin House.
It's very Chinese looking.
Neat stained glass.
And light covers.
Another.
A meeting room in the back.
A second room.
Chinese zodiac placemats.
I'm a monkey.
Ogii is a tiger. We're supposed to avoid each other.
Good food.
The we went to Zoppe's Italian Family Circus.
They had a little show outside first.
You could pay a bit more to upgrade to VIP, which gave you ringside seats and these masks.
We were right in front.
Various characters.
More running around.
The kid copying the adult.
Horse tamer.
On rings.
Trained dogs.
One riding a horse.
A line.
Jumping from up high.
Into her arms.
The clown in the audience.
A guy backflipping from high up.
On his way down.
And flipping backwards off the platform at the bottom.
Juggling a stick.
Bouncing balls with different music.
Climbing up poles.
They had rosin bags they spread on their shoes to give them better grip.
Hanging from the top.