day 7: ventura

Apparently we are all sound sleepers. While camping out in an RV in the cousins driveway, Uncle Brad was picked up by an ambulance last night. He's in the hospital now recovering from a bit of pneumonia. We are all disappointed, but he's in good spirits and seems to be recovering well. 

Still, we missed him today.

We kicked off the morning by feeding the tortoises. My cousin rescued five of them, much to Kooka and Yoda's delight. It took about 30 minutes to hand feed them melon rinds, fresh lettuce and corn cobs. Of course Yoda completely overdressed for the occasion in the tutu Kelley bought for her (which she refuses to take off):

We took a tour of downtown Ventura, including lunch at the Busy Bee, a 50's diner, where Kooka and split a guacamole burger, Rico had beef stew in a bread bowl, and Punk ordered a Vanilla coke so perfect that we passed it around the table three times. We also played a spirited game of "stump punk" where we draw a few squiggle lines on paper and challenge him to turn it into something very specific. He turned out a pretty fantastic Captain Hook, and a Timon and Pumba today.

And Punk just might have a new best friend.

Afterward we headed for a swim with the cousins. Punk is the oldest cousin on all sides, and Kooka is second oldest (by a month). Since both of their older cousins live on opposite coasts, it's not often that they get to really hang out with somebody who laughs at the same YouTube videos and can survive a good water fight. Kooka and I dominated in chicken - actually Kooka and Kaden dominated nine out of ten of the games they played. A little competitiveness runs in this side of the family.