the evening we met santa

on one of the last days my cousins were here, we went to bill baggs state park at the end of the key to stroll along the ocean, sea the lighthouse, the sunset, and little did we know meet santa claus!

we strolled the shoreline and looked for dolphins, which riki and i saw some but stephie and ezra missed.

we got to the lighthouse of cape florida

and snapped some pictures with our cameras.

and then on our way back from the lighthouse

we met this man and his wife and discovered that he is...

SANTA CLAUS!!!

he was on vacation and gave us his card - told us to come see him at the san luis obispo christmas light parade in december (this is just a few hour drive from where we're from in california).  when they walked away i turned around and explained to ezra who i was just talking to and said that we had just met santa!  can you see how excited he is?!  i was too.  i had that 'aha' moment you have after placing a face to a name when he told me who he was.  suddenly i noticed how blue his eyes were, the rosy cheeks, white hair and beard, and the big round belly.  

we headed giddily toward the sunset all repeating, "we just met santa claus!"  laughing that santa was on vacation in key biscayne and telling ezra how he would soon be heading to the north pole to feed his reindeer and make sure the elves were busy making toys for good little girls and boys.  

then we stopped and saw this little raccoon again that we saw when we first arrived.  he was eating chocolate out of a bag that someone left behind and then came over to us to see if we had anything.  well, we walked away having a little sense about feeding wild animals - it's not a good idea.  not only can raccoons carry rabies, but it isn't good to upset the natural balance of wildlife.  i think it's too late for the raccoon colony at the state park however.  on our way out, we saw a half a dozen all climbing in and out of trash cans along the driveway. 

and watched these people feed the cute little furry critter.

in german raccoons are called "waschbären" or wash bear.  isn't that sweet?

as the sun made its way down, santa came back

and this time he said to ezra, "i thought that was you," and "be good!"  we got a picture.  ezra is being a little silly.  i think he was totally psyched because for the next 48 hours he told everyone, "we met santa.  i couldn't believe it!"

it was a magical sunset for a magical evening!  this will be a wonderful memory forever.