Finally been paid in the US :-)

It has happened, so we can stop spending all our savings for a little while πŸ™‚

Olly is much better but has driven mummy and Elliot to distraction this week πŸ™Β  He obviously has sore gums – although the way he has been flapping them, you would have to question it..

We have been shopping this afternoon, and found some outlet malls, with Ralph Lauren, Puma, Osh Kosh and a few others – we have spent a little too much, but it has been fun.Β  The boys have plenty of shorts / t-shirt combos – so it had better get sunny πŸ™‚

Hopefully we will get out tomorrow and find a suitable double buggy for the boys – Simon is hoping to find one that will ultimately connect to a bike, so that we can all go out sans car. Then we are hoping to get on the beach on Sunday – we now have the sun protection clothes for the boys, and we picked up a mart bucket and spade @ Costco – we are all set πŸ™‚

The SKYPE house phones have arrived, so they are presently on charge and then perhaps tomorrow night we will set them up with a Leeds UK number so that local (UK) folks can dial us here in California for the rice of a local (Leeds) call – nice.Β  Likewise we will be able to call local UK folks for 2 US Cents per minute πŸ™‚

6 bloody hours in the ER !!!

Olly’s temperature did not get any better and so when it breached 40 degrees Celsius this lunchtime, we decided that we should take him for professional care :(.Β  Fortunately the hospital is less than 1/2 mile away, and was not very busy at lunchtime today.

We are not entirely sure if the medics here are way too through OR just very slow.Β  One thing that is for sure, the NHS would not have been so quick to do chest xrays and the like on the same day πŸ™‚Β  We ended up spending 6 hours there – or Olly and Vicky did – Simon took Elliot home for the last 45 mins to feed him his tea – Elliot was really well behaved considering we were all stuck in a 8 x10 room for 5+ hours…

Anyway, it is now 9:46pm and they are both in bed asleep, and Olly’s temperature is under control again – in fact the little tyke has been shouting and crawling around the upstairs of the house, keeping us all awake…

Vicky is taking him tomorrow to enroll him with a paediatrician that has been suggested to us by the hospital, so hopefully we will get the doctor surgery sorted as well πŸ™‚

Oh, and while we were sat in the ER room – it was 30 degrees Celsius outside ….. πŸ™‚

BIG thank you to Mum and Bernard – your help has been invaluable

Sadly, we have dropped Mum and Bernard off at Sa Francisco airport this afternoon, as they are scheduled to head home.Β  Thanks for the help this past two weeks, we would not be where we are without your help πŸ™‚

Thankfully (for them) their seats were available, even if they were not next to each other πŸ™ and they left San Francisco @ 3:30pm local time.Β  They will be back in Manchester by 1:30 pm tomorrow (Sunday) local time (travelling via Paris)

On the way home from the airport, we stopped for lunch at the Malibu Grand Prix just off Highway 101 outside Redwood City.Β  It looks really cool, and we should go back there someday.

We then nipped to Westfield Mall to get Vicky’s iPhone a case – she found a really cool Zagg one, AND we had one fitted to the iPad as well for added protection.

Poor Olly has begun to get the temperature (in fairness it has been about 6 weeks, so this is probably two weeks overdue) issue again so he is not feeling great right about now πŸ™Β  Hopefully tomorrow will be a new day and he will be feeling better – that way, we can sneak out to the park for a walk.

Vicky and Simon have actually managed to lose 3lbs of weight each in the last two weeks – incredible given we have been following the coldstone diet – see their website for details….. Their ice-cream is genuinely of the best we have ever tasted and they will mix up pretty much anything you want right there in front of you – oh yes, and then damned shop is only 2 miles away…..

Picking up the GTI tonight

We picked up Vicky’s X5 on Friday night last week, and tonight we collect the GTI from Clint.Β  Clint is the car guy who has sorted out the finance / lease for us as well as the insurance etc.

The really surreal bit is the fact that we go to Peets Coffee house to meet him, sign the paper work and drive away with the car – a little different from the UK where we would expect to go to the dealership to collect the car.

Don’t worry, we have not leased knocked off cars – it seems to be how things are done here – all about who you know, and they obtain at very cheap prices from the very same dealer who was more than prepared to rape you over the price….

We still have the rental car so will take it back on Saturday when we take Simon’s mum back to the airport to travel home – or certainly she (and Bernard) is hoping to travel home on Saturday.Β  This volcanic ash issue certainly seems to have done a wonderful job of knackering up inter continental travel.Β  We’ll see – we may just have house guests for a little while longer yet…..