The next 2 days at Ojai went quietly and continued our 'feel good' mood as we contemplated a possible Californian lifestyle with every additional glass! Sarah had a dental appointment so Suzanne and I were in charge; well, we were there, but hardly in charge as we barely saw the kids all day! Derry and Isabella decamped to Izzy's room and we didn't see hide nor hair for the next 4 hours. Partly it was because we couldn't get into the room, having been blockaded with barbies and other miscellaneous cuddly toys.

The boys and Siena were glued to tv, playstation, Wii, PCs and chatting happily - no fights today! - and got along so nicely. We spent our time uploading some more photos and blogging as demanded by Sarah, as we were so far behind.

We did finally make it out of the house to go shopping in Ojai, including their sumptuous (and clearly famous, judging by the signed photos on the wall!) ice cream. We'd arranged for us all to eat at Azu, one of Ojai's finest; asking for a table for 10 is always fun at busy times, but they gave us a room all to ourselves at the back, and it was delicious (the food, not the table). Luckily - or not - we were right next door to the garden and the kids popped in and out allowing the grown ups - or at least the older ones of us - to enjoy a chat. It was helped by lashings of Shirley Temple soda water and grenadine - for the kids, of course, we don't do soft drinks. Naturally there were a couple of disasters (does that make them natural disasters?!) and the odd scrap but overall it was a lovely early evening, and set us up for a jaunt out tomorrow.

So it got to tomorrow, and we headed up into the hills and the hot part of Ojai (over 95°). We stopped off at one of Ojai's fabulous delis where we topped up with sandwiches and snacks - and what a choice, wish we had delis like that at home - parked the cars and walked through the trees to a picnic spot and waterfall. The kids had to tread carefully as the path was covered in poison oak but we made it safely - dragged most of the way by an enthusiastic Lilly. Once at the waterfall the boys immediately decided to show us the cave - braving the freezing falling water at the end of the short tunnel! Luckily the water was flowing gently - had it been at other times in the year after rain it might have been a different story! All the youngsters went through, (Siena naturally being an adult for this purpose!) and all gave us a similar freezing face on emerging! even Lilly was persuaded to give it a go!

We enjoyed our picnic in the lovely surroundings, having it mostly to ourselves. On our journey back, after some more exploring, the kids all took to the plunge pool which was officially 'way cold'! Izzy and Lilly were the last to go in, clearly they knew something, but in the end everyone was up to their necks (and in Matt's case, way over it!) and shivering nicely when they got out. Luckily at 95 degrees drying off isn't a problem and by the time we got back to the cars we were hot again!

We stopped off on the way back for a special US toy and ice cream stop - the ice creams over here are phenomenally large (no real surprise there) but also enormous; but the kids struggled by to complete them!

Colin had saved his piece de resistance for tonight, and demonstrated his considerable cheffing (is that a wrd?) prowess by cooking a fantastic barbecue - we ate tri-tip, the cut of meat that is unique to this part of California - cut across rather than into the joint. We didn't realize that we'd eaten this cut at our barbecue in Three Rivers, but Colin made it taste even better with a marinade of honey, teriyaki and a few secret ingredients (well we are in the land of Coca Cola!).

Everyone proclaimed it the best meal they'd ever had …ever! we'd had a great day. Leaving here is going to be tough, we've been made so welcome, beyond 'holiday mates'. The conversations had even strayed towards holiday exchanges for the boys (Finn and Matt, not Colin and Alan!) so we knew we would be in for a fall in a couple of days time.

The next day was Fiesta day in Santa Barbara; Peter (Finn's friend from the Galapagos) had been in touch with us and had helped us with accommodation in our next venue - and had told us about the fiesta.

We set off early enough to get to Peter and Robert's for mid morning - huge hugs all around when we got there, I think Finn wasn't sure whether Matt or Peter was the best mate to hang out with! It was really quite bizarre since we'd really only met the guys at the end of our Galapagos trip.

The fiesta lasts for a week and we were there on the final day - we arrived to see the end of the parade de los ninos - kids parade, where families in traditional dress took to the streets. Great fun. Most fun of all were the eggs - over the preceding months people save up eggs, empty them and fill them with confetti, then paint them with bright patterns and colours. They sell them on the street in their thousands, and quite simply everyone smashes them over everyone else's heads to the point where the streets are littered with confetti. Brilliant!

After the parade had finished, we headed for the food field. The town was heaving, buzzing with visitors and residents and it was a real carnival atmosphere. The food field was just that - dozens of stalls set up, nearly all of them selling Spanish type food, from nachos to corn dogs to churros (long sweet chewyish doughnutty type things - churros is shorter!), cocktails & & & ... after a few moments of uncertainty, and Peter buying everything he could find to give to the kids, we mucked in and bought some great stall type food. Topped up to the brim with sugar, we watched the world of the fiesta busiy going about their festival.

We split up from the Duncans who were suffering from sweet overload, and went off with Peter and Robert to tour the town. We went to the town courthouse where one of the concerts were being held - in this case it was full on flamenco and the local dance troupes were performing to the audience seated on the grass.

We went up to explore the courthouse and its view over the whole of Santa Barbara, then returned gradually back along the confetti lined streets to Peter and Robert's apartment. We'd tracked the Duncans down who had gone to meet friends (and the next occupants of their guest house!). So we left the guys with a promise of meeting up with them the next day as we move over to Santa Barbara. We walked along the beach front towards the Doubletree inn where the Duncans were, pausing along the way to identify loads of stalls where we'd like to revisit and buy!. After a short meeting at the doubletree pool, which made us think that maybe we should have tried to get in there, we took the shuttle bus back to the centre of Santa Barbara and all trogged along to the Wharf in search of a good place to eat. We chose one of the main restaurants, the Harbor View (I think they ran out of 'u's when they were naming stuff in the US) where we were all sat around a boat for a table! - wicked, it was great fun! The food was OK considering its positioning and price, but we all had a good time, and plenty of Shirley Temples, then we drove back to Ojai very full.

We'd known that this was the last day at Sarah and Colin's, so we'd expected the kids to make the most of the last night, but it took us a little by surprise when the youngsters toddled off quite early and it was Siena and Charlie who, finally, got to spend some quality 11 year-old time just chilling, chatting and laughing at Youtube til after midnight. It was really nice to see them just getting along so well; they'd been pretty good mates when they were young - well, as good as it gets with 7 yr old boys and girls (!) and it gave us a warm fuzzy feeling. Or the wine did.