Pembo is on his way back to the UK

Granddad has been here for two whole weeks – suspect he will sleep well on his light home.  Elly and Olly have run him ragged 🙂

Granddad – we have had a great time finding pumpkins – thanks for coming – we love you xx

Granddad and Daddy managed to get to Alcatraz on Monday – a real experience – if you are ever in San Francisco, then you really should try to get onto the island for the tour – you will not regret it.  When we get the photos sorted, we will post them up here for all to see.

Olly on the temperature again…

Yesterday afternoon he started, and he would not sleep solo last night.  Olly’s temperature hit just over 39 degrees at midnight, and while it was subsequently controlled, it has fluctuated significantly today.

We ended up taking him to the paediatrician just for safety sake.  The news is positive – he does not have one of the nasty bugs that are seemingly going around at present, and while his throat was a little red and tender, it is nothing for concern.

We learned however, that we can drug him up some more and it is safe to do so – great – armed with this knowledge, we should be set for the next 24 hours as we know that an increased supply of the calpol etc will control it, but we had previously thought that that increased supply was not good.

Hopefully he will be all clear of this issue tomorrow and we can enjoy the carnival 🙂

Granddad has arrived

He has had a long day, but finally arrived earlier this afternoon.  He seemed to genuinely enjoy the long flight – video and beverages etc on demand – good enough for a king 🙂

We went out for an Outback Steakhouse meal tonight to celebrate – ribs all around 🙂

The temperature in the bay has really dropped this week – it has not got above 22degrees Celsius all week – it really does feel quit cold – I know that this will feel like piss taking to those of you in the UK where it has dropped down to 12 or 14 Celsius, but when you are getting used to 35+Celcius, 22 feels cold.  OK, that this whinging over…. 🙂

Choo choo

OK, so we were outvoted on heading to Monterey Aquarium  – the boys wanted to go on a train.  While Elliot is car mad, Oliver is absolutely TRAIN mad – all he seems to want at the moment is trains, trains….  So we drove to Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow-Gauge Railroad near Felton (on the way to Santa Cruz from Los Gatos for those who have an idea of Bay area geography).

It started out a pretty cold day – 14 degrees Celsius, but once we were getting ready to board Number 7 – Sonoma (pictured above) the clouds parts and the temperature rose to a way more acceptable 21 degrees Celsius – daddy was OK then since he only came in shorts and t-shirt – when will he learn – mummy told him to get a sweater… silly daddy.

Anyway, while we were waiting for the train to take us up to Bear Mountain, we saw these two likely looking suspects….

Frightening pair of suspects…..

Anyway, on the way home we were checking out the tickets for the train – these are the “Rules of the Road”

1. No more than two children under 2 years of age riding free per adult.

2. Passengers must keep heads, arms, legs, ears and all trash inside of cars at all times.

3. No shooting of bears, deer, raccoons or birds from train.

4. NO SMOKING.  Passengers must swallow butts, or crush them on the floor, but don’t thrown them out the window

5. Male passengers must assist crew in moving logs or pushing if necessary.

6. Stop over privileges up to 4 hours are permitted. Notify conductor.

7. This ticket is not transferable. No refunds or rain checks.

8. Roaring Camp is not responsible for 1880s soot.

9. Video and/or photography of Roaring Camp or its property may not be used for commercial purposes without consent of Roaring Camp management

10. Be SAFE.  Watch your children. Don’t ride on platform, no running in aisles, check window latches. Ask crew for help if necessary.

11.  Keep feet and food of seat cushions.

12. Schedules are adhered to as closely as possible, but railway reserves the right to alter schedules or substitute motive power or equipment if necessary.

OK, so let’s dissect these;

Number 3 – REALLY ??

Number 4, given the choice of swallowing the butt or crushing on the floor, which would YOU take?

Poor Olly was so shattered, that we only got 1/4 mile on the train and he opted for a quick bit of shuteye 🙂 Typical – he ws the one who REALLY wanted to go on the train, yet he fell asleep at the first opportunity….

On a separate subject, we have started watching a pretty cool series on TV – called Nikita – see if it makes it to UK TV – pretty cool so far – we have watched 3 episodes so far.

Hair cut

Finally, we got around to getting the boys hair cut.  Following Simon’s small disastrous cut a few weeks back (he was butchers at the Los Gatos Barber shop that we have used three times before), we decided that we would not risk the boys getting a similar quality cut.

We heard of a place on Union (towards Target and Coldstone creamery and near where we bought the bikes) so thought we would try it.

There were two Japanese women who were the stylists, and their english was poor but passable.  I think they were a bit mad in honesty – they kept telling us how wonderful the boys were – is nice to hear once, but when you are getting the news for the 5th time in 2 minutes, it wears thin….

Anyway, both cut, and a pretty good job all round really – typically all the fussing caused the boys to concentrate on the cut too much so they bother were in tears come the end of the job 🙁

We also took delivery of some really cool Christmas presents yesterday – we are expecting the final part of the shipment early next week – the boys’ Grandparents are going to be very pleased with what we have found.

Tomorrow, we are hoping to head to Monterey Aquarium.