Ross in his 30th year!

From http://ianrstewart.blogspot.com/

Yup - 29 years ago today, our youngest came in to the world at Simpson's Maternity, Edinburgh - and I was just about to start a new job - and a new life - at Clipper Seafoods, Aberdeen. Where has the time gone?

Jo was out last night and I was idly trawling the internet, looking at potential flights to USA next year - using our (Avios) air miles and the BA Companion Voucher we have (which was due to expire next year). I tried Los Angeles first - no dice. Nothing at all in June/July/August. Same with San Francisco - and Seattle. The next big west coast(ish) airport I could think of was Las Vegas, but I didn't hold out much hope - but there they were - departing Wednesday 10th July, returning Monday 5th August - Business Class. I nabbed them, without further consultation.

So our plan would be to spend a few nights in Vegas, recovering from the journey and perhaps taking in a show or two, then fly to Reno on Sunday, where, hopefully Scott and Lucy would pick us up on their way to South Lake Tahoe, where we're all spending a week at the Marriott timeshare.

We'd have to sort out logistics to get us back from Reno to Medford, then from there back to LV at the end of our holiday, but that shouldn't be insurmountable.

I feel relieved this morning, having sorted out our dates for next year already - I was concerned we wouldn't get to use our air miles and companion voucher before they expired.

Tomorrow looks good, weather-wise and I've got golf in the morning and then Gary and Luca are over at lunchtime after Gary has completed his 10K - http://www.stoneystomp.org.uk/Stoney_Stomp/homepage.html

On Sunday, I'm off to Castle Stuart (http://www.castlestuartgolf.com/) on the Moray Firth, where they held the Scottish Open. It looks spectacular - hope the weather holds. Then on Thursday, it's a return to the Lake District for a weekend of hiking/hill-walking.