More exploring

Today, we went out to see another park that we had heard about in Los Gatos – a little park near the town center – it was fun – there were a couple of climbing and swinging frames, a sand pit (together with buckets / spades and beach toys) and a large grassy expanse on which picnics could be had ๐Ÿ™‚ย  The boys played for 30 minutes in the sand pit before we head home for lunch and an afternoon snack for Olly ๐Ÿ™‚

We also found a car wash that takes approx 20 mins, and they take the car off you, vacuum it wash it (unfortunately not by hand – but you can watch the car being pulled along a conveyor belt and washed) and then dry it by hand and clean it internally by hand.ย  The job is really very good and it is all done for $15.ย  $20 for the extra RAIN-X goods while it is being washed.ย  These guys do “detailing” as well – waxing to you or I ๐Ÿ™‚ Might just try that out at some point downstream ๐Ÿ™‚

Mummy’s back is still hurting significantly – well the pain is moving down into her ass – no, this time it is not Simon – although we all know he is a pain in her ass ๐Ÿ™‚

Tomorrow, we are hoping to head to Morgan Hill where there is a BBQ competition – oh yes that’s right, a Northern California BBQ competition.ย  We have NEVER heard of anything quite like it so feel that to miss it would be a mistake ๐Ÿ™‚ย  We’ll report back in the next few days as to what we find – expect lots of photos and hopefully some video too….

Happy 1st Birthday Oliver David

1 year has passed already !!! Oh my ! Our little boy. Where has the time gone?

Happy Birthday to Great Grandma today as well – we hope you have a wonderful day.

We are hoping to head out to the zoo today with Olly and Elly

Olly – mummy, daddy and Elliot hope you have a fantastic day ๐Ÿ™‚ We love you buddy xxx ooo

Sunburn and bikes

Daddy has almost recovered from burning a large portion of his back on Sunday while on the beach ๐Ÿ™ Muppet.

We have purchased a couple of bicycles and a bicycle trailer for the boys.ย  The trailer is pretty cool since it is also a double pushchair, sorry, stroller ๐Ÿ™‚ย  Hopefully, we will be good to use it for the next year or so (after then we suspect Elly will just be a little too tall for it) and we hope to get out most weekends for bike rides to the park etc.ย  We hope that it will help mummy and daddy lose a few pounds and get fitter all at the same time ๐Ÿ™‚

Given we spent more than $1000 on the trailer, we opted to spend less on the bikes for us – so we have bought two beach cruisers from a local bike shop – beach cruisers seem really common over here – they are typically seen around the beach towns and are a bit like mountain bikes, but with a softer (and bigger) seat that together with the higher handlebars, tend to promote the rider to be sat more upright.

Outback Steakhouse for tea tonight ๐Ÿ™‚ NICE !!

Finally, Simon met a guy today who is going to be a judge on Saturday – a judge at a Northern California BBQ competition – that’s right folks, there is actually a competition – he is a taster ๐Ÿ™‚ย  While asking a few questions about the competition, it became very clear that most of us in the UK are grillers and NOT BBQ’ers ๐Ÿ™‚ The BBQ is all about non-directional heat to cook the food – typically in the form of smoking.ย  Oh my – this was EYE OPENING.

Simon is hoping to head to Morgan Hill on Saturday to see it and take it all in.ย  Photos and perhaps video will be requiredย  – he has a feeling there will be some outrageous sights to see ๐Ÿ™‚

Happy Birthday Daddy

36 years old today – wow

The boys and mummy surprised daddy with far too many gifts this morning.ย  He has received a couple oif shirts, a pair of Converse boots, three shirts and a pair of shorts :-).

So, once daddy got the new shorts and t-shirt on, we headed out to Santa Cruz to hitย  the beach.ย  We had a lovely picnic, built sandcastles and played with the new beach toolset that we bought in Costco a few days ago.ย  Olly had his first taste of sand – and seemingly really liked it.ย  When we arrived at the beach Olly was terrified of the sand, but as we left it he felt it was great food and was happy to roll around in it – GREAT – 2 out of 2 direct hits on the “we love the beach” stance.

When we got home (following 30 minutes of Olly telling us [through screaming, waling and barking] that he was hungry, daddy found that the application of sunscreen on his back had been lacking…. muppet ๐Ÿ™

Oh, and on several occasions over the last few days when something has not gone his way, Elliot has been overheard saying “Oh Man!” – nothing too terrible I hear you state – no – but he delivers it in an almost perfect American accent !!!!ย  Great, and this is WITHOUT going to school…..

Finally, we have setup a local (Leeds) telephone number that we will use to contact folks back home – if you want the number so that you can call us for a local (free) call, please drop us an email and we will send you the details.ย  Basically the number routes through a voice over IP provider across the internet and into our house here in Los Gatos.ย  The cool bit is that we bought some phones for the home land line that also works with the VoIP solution – so one house phone deals with internet calls as well as US calls over US landline. Nice !!

Next week, we need to get on with sorting Californian Driving Licenses and figuring out what we are going to do ref bikes ๐Ÿ™‚