Our friend has gone...

...Kathrin has returned home. Here are a few pictures of her grand departure on Friday.

Tom actually captured this picture before Friday, but I had to share it.  The kids really love Kathrin and had such a fun time with her.  And I do believe that Kathrin got a great vacation too:  lots of sunshine and warm weather to warm her up for the rest of the winter back home.

A final picture with all the kids before she went to the airport.  We were planning for all of us to go, but Natalie was sick, so I stayed home with her and Dominik.

Tom's plan was to stop at Point Vincente on the way to LAX to look for whales coming around the bend.

Lukas loved this sign, because he couldn't stop "thinking about it!"  You might have to click the picture for this to make sense.  "Don't even think about it" is becoming a new watchword in our family.

It was a great lookout on a cliff.

Here's Lukas "helping" Konrad look through the binoculars.

And, since I wasn't along, of course they saw whales!  (I've never seen a whale in the wild, even though I've gone on whale-watching tours).  If you click on the picture, you can see a whale spouting.

Then it was time to go to the airport.  But first Tom took Kathrin and the boys to the beach right next to LAX to watch planes fly over and to give the Swiss girl one more walk on the beach before she returns home to beautiful, snow-covered mountains.

Bye Kathrin!  We miss you already!