Day 15 Sunday 3rd

Leaving the duncans was always going to be tough. After all, we've had free admission to a pool all week! We had a fairy normal morning, which meant we didn't really get packing and moving on cleaning the room up until after 9. So the 11 am target departure was never really going to happen, was it? It seemed to take an age - and rightly so, we'd spread all over the house and unlike staying with UK friends, the chances of getting our stuff back if we leave it was somewhat remote - if highly desirable to revisit!

Finally we were clear, the car was full and we were off with a carful of sad faces. We knew we'd see them in a few days at Universal, but this was the hardest place to leave by a long way. Derry, however, in her enigmatic way, was proving to be the opposite! She was ready to go home, and was looking forward with every day to the last one. So whilst she was sad to leave Izzy and Lily, she was happy to have counted one down on the 'days til we leave' (imaginary) chart.

For the rest of us it was a big downer, but made palatable by not only the prospect of Universal later, but also of the opportunities we'd created for future exchanges, as well as the beach volleyball at Santa Barbara (oops!)

We were due to meet Peter and Robert in the evening at their place, but we were held up by our late arrival as well as a burning desire to shop on the sea front - well this was a Sunday and it was a weekend market. We bought a couple of pieces of art which we'd fallen for, as well as a garden ornament. Utterly impractical, of course, and the beginning of what was to prove a retail frenzy as we realized we had a lot of travellers cheques still left and we could spend with 2 dollars to the pound!

We'd already checked into our motel - the marina bay - which was really good for a few days stay - just about enough room for all our bags, pullout sofa bed and a kitchenette.

So we were a bit late arriving at the boys' apartment but this didn't seem to worry them in the slightest - one of the benefits of a relaxed culture, which Santa Barbara certainly appeared to have. We were welcomed with open arms.

Robert had gone to great lengths to prepare some smashing food - salads, meats, salmon, all sorts of yummy stuff. Peter being Peter had bought cheesy goldfish snacks and sweets which he swiftly dished out to the kids rendering them incapable of eating the good stuff! Great, loads more for us! We had a smashing evening, it was really nice learning more about the chaps, California, loads of stuff.

After a while our conversation had clearly become too highbrow for me, as I ventured inside to find the kids - and Peter (who had decided so much earlier!) glued to Peters collection of Joe 90 DVDs. They were hilarious, and to think watching it for all those years I'd never spotted that the 13 yr old geek was English, and everyone else was American! So we had a good giggle, then eventually dragged the kids away back to the Motel - only 400 metres away - and crashed out in our various extending beds.

We were all excited by the prospect of the next day... we were due to take delivery of a pile of swim gear we'd ordered from a website, and we were due to head to the Billabong shop in SANTA Barbara to begin the retail adventure!

So Monday heralded the start of our shopfest proper. First, though, we felt it only right to make a mark on the Motel. Breakfast was a simple affair, with the relatively compact reception area housing several breakfast components with not much space inbetween - space to put a tray, for example, like why would you want to put your tray down when you can balance it, the orange juice, the coffee, the cereal, the toast, the croissant, all on top of the kettle while you reach over for the yoghurt. You get the picture. Siena was the first to achieve an orange juice wipeout, she scored 8.5 on the receptionists scornometer.

Speeding swiftly away (she looks too old to get away with being a kid any more) we headed off into town - a 15 minute walk - to aim squarely for the shops. State Street is the main drag in Santa Barbara and we did it all from end to end. And the malls inbetween! The kids were kept happy because we were buying things for them as well as us - mostly clothes. This place is great, because not only were there lots of sale items, with big discounts, but also we could effectively halve the price because of the strength of the pound (I never thought I'd be writing about economics in my blog!). We were unstoppable.

We also headed for a Game store. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, (if you've been reading you'll know, told you there'd be a quiz!) the kids lost all their DS games in Chile. They've been mega patient since then, so we rewarded them by buying a load of pre-owned and bargain games. Very happy kids. On the way back we were stopped in the street by a lady selling a shiny nail solution. Unimpressed at first, we gave her a go at demonstrating, and WHAM it was way cool! All the girls got a couple of totally shiny nails without painting them at all, only polishing, so we just had to buy a kit. Lifelong guarantee. Great! We can come back here if it fails. Did I mention she was a street seller?!

By now the kids were flagging, and we were overladen, so we looked for food and found the Californian Pizza factory, which was ideal, if a chain. The food was surprisingly good, so we chomped away and wended our weary way home. On our arrival we were greeted by (no not the cleaning bill from the morning spillage) a big parcel of swim gear we'd ordered earlier in the week. Great, we were starting to stack up some serious stuff. The corner of the apartment/motel room, which had seemed quite spacious at first, was suddenly awash with cardboard, and the first questions around travel bags - number, size and weight - entered our minds.

Day 17 Tuesday 5th

Clearly the orange juice spillage of the previous day hadn't been enough, so today we chose coffee - a full cup did the trick, and we nearly made it over the computer too! They might build an extension next year - either that or ban us!

Today was retail day - again! This time we'd targeted the factory outlet - Camarillo Mall, where there were dozens of decent shops selling decent gear at decent prices. What with the deals and the exchange rate, it was irresistible! First stop was a bag shop, to make sure whatever we bought could be transported home. Potentially the best shop of the day, but then I am addicted to bags! We spent most of the day there (yes I know if you go back a few weeks you can still get culture, wildlife, escapism, but this stuff has its place too!).

Highlights definitely include the Nike store - apart from the strongest evidence of the superficiality that can prevail in California - the checkout clerk, having greeted us warmly with a 'hi there, how YOU doin' today', promptly ignored us when we were spending a load of cash at the till in favour of greeting the new entrants to the store in the same manner. So next time we're just going to go in and out of the shop loads of times to feel good!

Anyway, it was still a favourite shop as the reins came off and we bought shoes, tops, all manner of stuff which were enormous bargains and great quality. We surprised Siena by taking a visit to the Sony shop and picking up a great deal on a laptop. We were her heroes at that point, and for the next few days she was incredulous and grateful...

The regular clothes shops got a pounding too, as we began to question whether the extra bag we'd bought was quite big enough! Derry had turned into a Puma Girl - with a tight top and scrummy ra-ra skirt - so instead of looking after it, I managed to spill spaghetti Bolognese all over her during a stressful lunchtime at the food hall part of the mall. Whoops! Still, we could go back, get a new top and still have change from half the price it would have cost us in the UK!! And a good bleaching won't do the original one any harm...(since they wouldn't take it back as faulty!)

Finally we'd had enough - the car was loaded, the kids were happy, we'd had a great retail day - which had extended to watches, sunglasses, you name it! Fully laden, we returned to the motel and unloaded our stuff into the room which was looking decidedly more cosy than the day before!

We sped out, not wishing to contemplate how we're going to pack that lot... of course Finn managed to change into several of his new clothes - less than 3 changes of clothes daily and he comes out in a cold sweat. We spent the evening with Peter and Robert at the Wharfside grill on the Santa Barbara Pier - though advertised as such, it was definitely not the best clam chowder, and wasn't a patch on the one we'd loved in Monterey - then again, we didn't eat it in a loaf of bread so it was never going to taste as good!

We'd fallen foul of the booking regime, not thinking that the places would be packed, so the experience wasn't as good. They do have funky booking devices, though, so you can toddle off and go half a mile away from the restaurant and they'll buzz you on the mobile-sized thing when your tables ready. Beats me why they can't just txt u.

We just about managed to open up the sofa bed when we got back, having to shove all the boxes away to make room! I don't think the cleaning staff had even bothered - and who could blame them! It was late again, and still clutching half of their newly acquired goodies the kids slept happily.