First full week with Ross and Lizzie

It's Sunday night and Jo's on FaceTime with Mary so I thought I would take a few minutes to update my blog - and check my diary for the coming week. I've been so busy this last week I haven't known whether I'm coming or going - and you all thought retirement was easy?

Ross and Lizzie have fitted in nicely without any major disruption to our life - and I hope we've reciprocated in theirs. It can't be easy for Lizzie moving in here, albeit just for a few weeks, but we've tried to make her feel at home - especially Jo.

This was last week:

• Tuesday - Cycling then Inverurie with Luca
• Wednesday - Medal at Banchory
• Thursday - Golf at St. Andrews
• Friday - Golf at Stonehaven, then Headbang in the evening
• Saturday - Aberdeen v Partick Thistle

It would have been a nice day for a cycle today but I needed to rest and catch up with stuff - including my online Tax return. This coming week is just as hectic:

• Monday - Seniors match at Banchory, then KT Tunstall (standing) gig at Woodend Barn
• Tuesday - Inverurie
• Wednesday - Medal at Banchory
• Thursday - Golf at Deeside, then Cardiologist at Albyn in the evening
• Friday - Seniors match at Montrose
• Saturday - CAMRA Beer Festival post-mortem meeting
• Sunday/Monday/Tuesday - Golf View, Nairn with the Grays, Cooks and Grigors

I won't go any further - but there's more of the same until things quieten down a bit from about mid-September onwards.

All of this and we're looking at the possibility of selling our Hollywood time share weeks in Florida. The 2 weeks we have are Xmas/New Year, which is prime time in USA, but we haven't been able to use these weeks ourselves and have merely tried to exchange them through Interval International. We've had some good holidays and short breaks this way over the years, but, a bit like Air Miles, it's getting harder to get the exchanges that suit us and if we're not using our time share and we're not getting exchanges - and it's costing us in maintenance fees - then I think we need to move on. We'll still keep our Marriott Points and Marbella week however.

That's about it, I think. I've been so busy I've hardly watched any of the Olympics - and it's now over.

Monday down day

It's been a quiet day today - despite the fact that we're a house with 4 inhabitants again. Ross and Lizzie were out at work most of today anyway so it hasn't exactly been a sea change for Jo and I. The main change we've noticed is the introduction of Ross' fancy coffee machine to the kitchen!

I would have gone cycling today but I was too tired - had a few beers over the weekend and that probably contributed to my lethargy today. After golf yesterday morning, Jo, Ross and I went to the Banchory Beer Festival:

Nice afternoon - then the 3 mile walk home.

Schools go back tomorrow so it's back to the old routine of travelling over to Inverurie on Tuesday to look after Luca after school.

Whoops!

Well apologies for that little blip - I accidentally posted a cycling blog to my family blog! First time I've ever done that in approaching 2,000 blog postings. If I ever do it again, please have me tested for early onset.

So, having had to do another post I may as well carry on. Let's start with a cute picture of little Asher:

Now a couple of late photos from our Fringe visit:

These were taken as we were waiting in line for the Henning Wehn show. The next one was from the Royal Mile:

In some ways, the Wicker Man above reminded me of the first time we were in San Francisco with Lucy when the Bush Man (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Famous_Bushman) made me jump. He died in 2014 unfortunately.

It's been a busy week - took a walk up Scolty on Sunday and then we had two solid days of walking round Edinburgh on Monday/Tuesday, followed by 3 consecutive days of golf on Wednesday/Thursday/Friday. My car went in to have its MoT on Thursday but the work wasn't finished until Friday - it's getting to that stage when it's starting to cost money to keep it on the road, and it's not like I do a lot of miles in it nowadays. I now walk far more than I drive - the golf course and the village are very close, fortunately - quite a reversal from my days at work when I spent so much time in my car up and down to Fraserburgh and in and out to Bridge of Don.

Anyway, I told them I would pick up my car this morning (Saturday). I had 3 options - I could cycle in (20 miles) and pick it up, or I could catch the bus, or perhaps Jo might take me in in her car. It was a beautiful morning and I felt fine, but I decided it might be best to have a rest day after the hectic week, with more to come next week, so we opted for the latter choice.

Tomorrow morning is the Rotary Charity Golf Tournament at Banchory and then it's the Banchory Beer Festival in the afternoon. We have 4 tickets for the event close to Woodend Barn but Lizzie's working so we've got a spare one now.

As I write this, Ross is busy transporting their stuff down from his flat to ours - tonight's the night when he and Lizzie move in to Arbor Court. Our lives will never be the same again! At least until October. Jo will love to have somebody to natter away to again. I'll find a quiet corner somewhere.

Today cousin John Kelly is getting married to his partner Joanne (Sahal). We wish them well - we couldn't manage to accept their kind invitation to the wedding, but I'm sure they'll have a great time and we look forward to seeing them again at the next Family gathering - hopefully this year.

To close, I saw this article in the press recently - thought it might give our Lucy some pointers:

Back from the Fringe

It's Wednesday evening and we're back home after two days of pretty solid Fringe-ing in Edinburgh. It was all go from the time we arrived late Monday morning. Most of our shows were in the Bristo Square area - Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, Assembly etc. Our first show was a "taster" Best of the Fest, where we got 10-15 minutes of half a dozen very different shows - a nice introduction.

We moved on to a musical tribute to Otis Redding - Movin' Melvin Brown was pretty good vocally and very nifty with his tap shoes, although his backing band left a bit to be desired.

Hardeep Singh Kohli was next. We'd seen him before when he was doing his celebrity chef thing, but this time it was supposed to be his mixed tape - definitely a throwback to the '80's. He rambles a lot and never gets anywhere near through the script he's apparently prepared - and there's extensive use of the F word - so much so that an old couple (yes - even older than us) walked out halfway through and the man turned to the stage as he was leaving and said in a loud voice - "there's no need to use that kind of language - you're funny enough without it".

We had just enough time before the next show to walk back to our hotel and dump our bags and then we headed to the tiny Stand Comedy Club to see Shappi Khorsandi - using the new Edinburgh tram system for the first time - and having to pay cash for the ride, horror of horrors. An ethnic theme was developing and it was no surprise that all of the comedians we saw spent a fair bit of their acts talking about immigration and Brexit.

Between shows we only had time for a quick beer - finding the time for a proper meal was difficult. We'd shared a pizza for an early lunch but that was about it. Come 10 pm, we were hungry but we didn't fancy going to a restaurant for a meal this late, so settled for a shared fish supper. Still the beer we'd consumed would provide us with plenty of calorific input.

Jo and I had an early light breakfast at our hotel on Tuesday morning as we knew we were meeting up with Ross and Lizzie for brunch. A random Google search led us to choose Loudons (http://www.loudons-cafe.co.uk/) and what a great choice it was. Ross and Lizzie had been flat-hunting yesterday and there was more to view today - and we had another Best of the Fest lunchtime show to attend anyway.

We didn't have much time between our first and second shows and we had to hot-foot it over to the Assembly Hall on the Mound for the Glasgow Girls show. It's on tour just now, so it was good to catch it at the Fringe. Immigration was yet again the theme.

For me, our best show by far was Henning Wehn. His voice and accent make him a bit of a comical character anyway, but he was exceptionally sharp, quick-witted - and very funny.

Our last show was Bookends - a Simon and Garfunkel tribute act. Their harmonies were wonderful and the acoustics in the hall were excellent - a lovely end to the evening.

We met up with Ross and Lizzie for a quick drink afterwards and they took us to a pub that specialised in White Russians so that was our nightcap:

We caught a fairly early train this morning so I was back in plenty of time for golf this afternoon - and there's more tomorrow and Friday. My car's in for service and MoT tomorrow as well - busy day.

Going back a few days, I did manage to get to Ellon on Saturday afternoon for the CAMRA meeting - courtesy of Jo, who volunteered to come with me and drive home.

Sunday was intended to be a rest day, but it was such a nice morning that I thought I would take a walk up Scolty. Pretty windy at the top but it was a lovely walk. As I got near home again, I passed Bill & Fran Aitken's house and noticed that they'd erected a flagpole with a Union Jack fluttering away. No, they're not forming a local branch of the BNP or National Front - I think it's to do with the Olympics!:

The calm between the storms

The heading doesn't refer to the weather but more to the fact that Jo and I are experiencing a quiet house again after Luca left on Friday night - but it won't be long before we're busy again. Ross has just been round this morning to confirm the arrangements for him and Lizzie moving in here for a short time, whilst they look for suitable properties in Edinburgh. August is the month when the Fringe is on and it's almost impossible to find anywhere, but this should change from September.

Our garage will be full for a while - Ross has already packed up a few boxes of their belongings.

Other than that, what have we been up to? For me, golf, golf and more golf. I did say I would be trying to catch up with the weeks I missed when we were in USA and I'm doing my best. I didn't play on Saturday - that might have been a day too far - so Jo and I travelled down to Braemar on CAMRA business to see the changes the new owner had made to the Moorfield House Hotel, which overlooks the Royal stand where the famous Braemar Gathering is held at the start of September. They've put in some nice decking there:

On Monday, I had to captain our Seniors team in the match against Kemnay. I was asked to do this and it was hard to refuse, but it's not something I really enjoy. It's just not me, standing up to give welcome speeches - and I don't do jokes, like most seem to do, but I got through it.

On Tuesday, it was Jo's time to get her ears syringed by the nurse. She's been putting olive oil in her ears for the last couple of weeks, then walking round with huge blobs of cotton wool sticking out. It appears her ear passages are now completely clear and clean, but she still hasn't completely recovered her full hearing and there's still whistling going on in her head, so she may have to return to see the doctor again. Her hearing first went bad whilst we were in USA, but some of the symptoms can be traced back to the virus she had before we travelled.

On matters medical, I haven't had a phone call back after my last blood test. Now I don't know whether that's good news and my readings are back to normal, or whether it's because our regular GP is on holiday - or I've missed a call. Should I phone them to check, or just leave it for now? Which reminds me, I have my appointment at our local medical practice tomorrow morning for the annual Cardio Clinic. My private annual visit to my cardiologist is on the 25th of this month.

Managed a cycle yesterday afternoon - nice conditions, but felt a little weary and weak afterwards, so it was lecture time from Jo - "don't push yourself!" she said. My bike is giving me problems again - squealing brakes and difficulty in changing gears. This has happened before and been fixed by our local bike shop, but I had a go at fixing it myself yesterday - but failed miserably, so it'll have to go back in to the bike shop, I'm afraid. I think this has finally convinced me to get myself a new bike - a hybrid, which I can use both off and on-road. I'll keep the existing mountain bike with fat tyres and use it as a spare - or for any strictly off-road adventures. It only cost me £100 and has given me a good few miles already, so I think I've had fair value from it, but it's time for a change.

Might get wet at golf this afternoon - fingers crossed. More golf tomorrow with some old business contacts who I first met at a corporate outing at Castle Stuart a few years ago. We, as a team, won that event (and I won the individual too) and got a freebie back at Castle Stuart, which we played the following year. Then one of our team invited us out to Meldrum House, which was nice. I then offered to invite them back to Banchory - I was supposed to do it last year, then earlier this year, but failed on both occasions, so I'm hoping the weather holds up for their visit tomorrow.

Looking ahead, we're off to Edinburgh - Scotrail strikes permitting - on Monday/Tuesday. Before that, on Saturday there's a CAMRA local committee meeting. I've missed the last few and really should go along this time, but it's in Ellon, which provides some logistical challenges. Need to think about this.

This week with Luca

Well, Luca's week with his grandparents ends today. We survived - and so did he. We think he enjoyed himself - were we more lenient than his parents? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure we weren't tougher.

Last night's tea was Luca's favourite - a "picnic" - indoors. Sandwiches, prawns and mango on a stick (?), Doritos, smoothie, grapes and a Fruit Corner, all laid out on a large tablecloth on the carpet in our back (TV) room. He was a happy camper.

Three times this week I've had him down at the practice facility at the golf club to hit a few balls. He seems happy enough to do it, but, as always with Luca, there's a price to pay - we have to go to Tease afterwards for him to have another hot chocolate with marshmallows, washing down a brownie. Yesterday, Jo joined us, but she said it was even less fun having coffee with Luca than it is with me. As soon as he was finished, it was time for us to go, whereas Jo wanted to relax and take her time over her coffee.

Of course, any time we go down to the village, we have to pass Corsee Road and Luca loves to climb up the embankment there:

On Tuesday, all three of us went for a walk in the woods in the afternoon. The route back took us through the former Inchmarlo golf course, now sadly overgrown:

On Wednesday afternoon, Jo and Luca took the bus in to Aberdeen while I played golf. They saw the latest Ghostbusters - this was the 3rd time Luca had seen it!

We FaceTimed with Kelly yesterday. Miller was all go as usual whilst little Asher was calm and happy. Can't wait to see him - nor can Lucy, who's considering going to Adelaide over the Christmas holidays. If she does, we'll dovetail/overlap with her.

Gary is coming to pick up Luca after work today. No more early morning Play Station in Arbor Court!

Out-negotiated by a 9 year old!

When Luca was heading to bed last night, I had a word with him about when he was going to get up in the morning (to play on his PS). The following conversation ensued:

• Luca - "Between 6 and 7"
• Me - "OK - "let's say 6:30"
• Luca - "No - let's split the difference - 6:15"
• Me - "I already did split the difference!"

Too smart for me!

In the end, he got up promptly at 6 am anyway.

Monday morning update

Well, we've FaceTimed with both Kelly and Lucy now. Nice to see everyone's faces again - particularly little Asher.

It's Scott and Lucy's 15th wedding anniversary today. We still remember the stifling heat of Patrick's Creek back in 2001. We thought we were going to melt - and some of the butterflies did!

Started to look at flights for next year - nothing much coming up yet, but we should probably resolve the timing of our Australian trip first. I think this time, we'll probably do a bit more travelling Down Under - perhaps to Uluru and maybe Brisbane.

I made it to my golf on Friday - although it was a bit of a rush, coming straight from my latest blood test, which was running a bit late. As a result, I arrived on the tee with my arm still oozing blood. I had to go in to the pro shop and ask for a couple of plasters to stem the flow. It was a beautiful afternoon for golf - as was Friday at Edzell. Saturday at Banchory was also nice and hot, but my golf certainly wasn't.

Gary came over with Luca first thing on Sunday morning. He then headed off for a training run, in preparation for the Fort William marathon next Sunday, whilst Jo had church duties to perform, so Luca and I headed down to the golf course - via his favourite little hill at Corsee Road, of course - to practice his golf. One he'd had enough, we went back up the High St - I bought my paper and then he persuaded me to go in to Tease. He loves the hot chocolate with marshmallows there - and the chocolate cake:

Luca's here for a week, so Gary brought his bike and his Play Station over, as well as his golf clubs, so I set up our TV for him. His Dad told him he couldn't have any more PS on Sunday as he'd already been on it at home, and once a day is more than enough, but Luca must have been excited about using it on our big TV, as he woke at 3, 4 and 5 am this morning to check the time. When I finally got up just before 7 am, he was already downstairs playing away. He had been careful, however - the door to the TV room was shut and the volume was turned way down, so as not to waken us. Too late!

Nice start to the day, so I'm off for a short cycle soon. Rain forecast to arrive at lunchtime.

Post storm update

It was a strange day yesterday. We knew there was a major storm coming and it certainly seemed to be exactly as forecast when, mid-morning, the skies blackened - it was like the middle of the night in our house - and we heard the thunderclaps and then the rain.

There was an immediate announcement from our golf club that the course was closed and, with forecast lightning and more heavy rain still to come, we had no option but to re-schedule our usual Wednesday golf.

Then, as quickly as it had arrived, the rain stopped and the skies lightened - the sun even came out later in the afternoon - and the golf course re-opened late morning. Still, we didn't want to take any chances, did we? So we just sat tight at home.

The timing was obviously a bit out, because we were awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of constant dripping going down our chimney breast - and seemingly other places too. Surely our roof wasn't leaking again? The rains had come back - it was lashing outside and we couldn't get back to sleep for a few hours. As a result, we didn't get up until 9 am this morning - much later than normal - by which time any chance I had of joining our cycle group for a short ride had gone.

Still, it's looking good now for golf this afternoon. It's going to be a tight schedule for me as our golf group is starting at 2:30 pm and I have another blood test at 2:20 pm! I guess I'll be in the last golf group then - hope the appointments are running to time.

I discovered what I think is the start of a wasp bike just outside our bedroom window this morning, so I've bought the white powder and will dispense it tonight - apparently it's best to wait until the evening, by which time all the wasps have returned to the nest.

Jo's away at the hairdresser just now. I wonder if she'll return as a blonde? Her hair was pretty heavily bleached by the sun when we were away - and it suited her, so she may decide to keep it in a similar shade. We shall see - she still hadn't made up her mind when we walked down to the village this morning.

Golf today for me, then again tomorrow - Edzell - Saturday and Sunday. Four days in a row - how will I cope?

Next week we have Luca staying with us - he and Jo have a lot of catching up to do.

Tuesday swelter

Like everyone else in Scotland today, we're baking. We don't often get temperatures above 30 C. Somehow it seems hotter when we get this in Scotland than it does when we're away on holiday. Explain.

Jo and I did a bit of primary weeding this afternoon - especially between the paving slabs in the back. At the front, apart from the line of weeds at the foot of the small wall that separates our driveway from No. 5's grass, the main issue is the increase in moss - it's pretty obvious that it's been wet when we've been away. Anyway, we've made a start.

Golf at Balmoral last night was lovely - it was such a nice evening and it's a beautiful estate. Saw Prince Andrew driving through in his Range Rover, followed by a few very upmarket Bentley SUV's, which must have had a total value somewhere between £0.5m. and £1m. We understand it may have been a Chinese trade delegation.

Of course, high pressure brings consequences - thunder and lightning inevitably follow and we're told it will be here as soon as tomorrow. Looks like no golf for me then.

Ross is down in Edinburgh for a couple of days, talking to his old friend Harris about the potential of doing some work with him. Hope it works out OK for him - and Lizzie.

One major change we noticed on our return was how the apartments on the old Tor-na-Coille filling station site had come on since we've been away:

Almost ready then. Wonder how long it'll be before they're all sold? Not easy in the current local economy - and the initial asking price of £325K for the 2 bedroom apartments may be under pressure.

Back home again

It's Monday morning and we've now had 4 nights back in our own bed. Jet-lag does funny things to you. You get very used to the West Coast time zone after 6 weeks over there and it always takes a bit of adjustment when we return - and it's no different this time.

Generally we're waking at 2/3/4 am in the morning and struggling to get back to sleep after that, but, on Saturday we both managed it and it was nearly 11 am when we finally arose. It was a more conventional night last night, so I'm planning to head out on a bike ride soon.

Ross and Lizzie came over yesterday afternoon, which was nice. Gary and Luca had planned to be there too but Gary had to cancel after his long morning training run - he was shattered after it. He needs to get some miles under his belt before the Fort William marathon in 2 weeks' time.

My last blog post was a week ago - just before we headed down to Crystal Cove.  Jo and I had taken a short walk up to the viewpoint and the pagoda there:

This was the view from that point:

When we got down to Crystal Cove, everyone bar the injured Scott entered the water - even Jo, finally. The waves were fun:

Jo and I walked back to our villa from there, stopping for a quick beer at La Vista pool bar:

It was another early start on Tuesday morning for the drive back north to San Francisco - we had to be there in good time for the Alcatraz trip Lucy had booked. As it happened, we were there in plenty of time - in fact, too early to check in at our hotel, but we parked the car and walked down to Fisherman's Wharf and had lunch - Clam Chowder all round - after which we strolled along to Pier 39. I spotted a photo opportunity with Alcatraz in the background. Scott took this one - didn't notice the bird above Lucy's head until later:

Alcatraz was great. It had been 16 or 17 years since we had last done it and, if anything, it was better this time. Highly recommended.

We had dinner and Irish Coffees at Buena Vista - a favourite local spot apparently.

On Wednesday morning, it was time to do the cable car thing. We strolled down through Ghirardelli Square:

The cable car turntable was interesting - as was the view when we climbed to the top of one of the hills:

We had lunch in Chinatown and then headed back to our hotel to pick up the car and head to the airport, where we said our farewells - Jo and I headed to the BA lounge and the Lesinas drove back to Grants Pass. Both journeys went fairly well, although Scott had to detour a bit due to an accident on the road.

I always take an end of holiday photo outside Delsie Drive, but this year it had to be taken a little earlier - before we headed down to California:

I'm now planning to catch up with my golf again after a longish break. I played at Banchory yesterday and tonight, it's our annual trip to Balmoral.

To close, did you know the Moon Landing was 47 years ago today - or was it? It was also due to be Kelly and Chris' wedding this week at Drumtochty Castle - that would have been nice, but I'm sure they did the right thing by postponing this. Another time, another place.

Last day in SoCal

Yes - tomorrow morning (Tuesday) - very early - we head north to San Francisco, where Lucy has booked tickets tor Alcatraz. We're staying there one night and then Jo and I fly home on Wednesday evening and the Lesinas head north back to Oregon.

Yesterday at Surf City USA (Huntington Beach) we had a nice time. Lunch at Ruby's at the end of the pier, then a walk round some shops. Jo and I listened to the surf band playing on the beach for a while:

They were fairly average, but note the name - the Glasgow Tiki Shakers. What?!!!

Next stop was the beach and the boys were soon in the water, riding the waves. The sun was fairly intense and some needed to take cover:

You may recognise the toes sticking out.

Scott and Lucy weren't quite so concerned:

Nor was I - as long as I have my big sun hat and shades on, I'm OK:

Cade, Scott and Lucy are in the gym just now, but I think we're heading down to Crystal Cove later.

Last weekend in USA

It's Sunday morning and we've just finished watching Andy Murray winning at Wimbledon and are now getting ready to head out to Huntington Beach - aka Surf City, USA.

Jo and I had a nice dinner last night with Carter and Diane Yates. It's 33 years since we last met - amazing.

We all went to Laguna Beach on Thursday and Jo and I went back on Friday to do a little book-buying. The ocean was beautifully warm and the boys were in the water for about two and a half hours. I photographed them using the zoom from above as we were getting ready to leave:

No biking for me this week, so I decided to do a quick half hour on the exercise bike in the gym yesterday. I'm scared to weigh myself after nearly 5 weeks of food and booze.

My Jawbone has finally given up the ghost, I think. It wouldn't stop buzzing last night and I eventually had to take it off and bury it in my suitcase to get some sleep. I'm not even going to try to get it fixed. I think it's the 5th one I've had and each one has developed the same fault. They replaced the unit under warranty on all previous occasions, but I won't bother this time. It served its purpose, particularly immediately after my knee replacement operation back in 2013.

Californ-i-a!

We're now happily ensconsed in our villa at the Marriott's resort, Newport Coast. It feels a bit like home as we've been here so often now - very comfortable.

The 2 stage journey down went OK, although the first leg of the trip from Grants Pass to Seaside, Monterey Bay, was a bit longer than planned when we hit some traffic problems south of SFO. We were all travelling in Lucy's car and, although it's a nice, smooth ride, it was a fairly tight squeeze for those in the back - Lucy and Jo.

We checked in to the Holiday Inn Express and almost immediately went out for dinner to a local restaurant - just in time to catch their Early Bird special. Jo, Lucy, Scott and I went for a walk down to the beach afterwards:

Jo was still suffering with her various ailments - the knee injuries from the bike rides, various bites plus a blocked ear, all of which meant repeated trips to various pharmacies, and this night was no exception.

Monday was July 4th - America's Independence Day - and after a late-ish breakfast, we went through to the adjacent town of Monterey to watch their Parade. I've posted photos of a number of the floats on Facebook, so won't repeat them here. Instead, some photos from our day in Monterey:

The male Lesinas are posing, appropriately, in front of the patron saint of Italian fishing

We strolled around the town, taking in Fisherman's Wharf and then along to Cannery Row, where we had lunch in the local brewpub, after which we drove through to nearby Carmel, where Clint Eastwood used to be mayor. It's a beautiful, well-to-do town. We stumbled upon the pub he used to own - the Hogsbreath Inn:

Cade, as usual, trying to look super cool.

In the evening, we went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner, which included a flight of sangrias:

There's been another drought in California, and, as a result, civic fireworks displays have stopped. Individuals are still allowed to set off their fireworks, but not on the beach and not rockets. Scott had bought some fireworks for us to enjoy as part of the July 4th celebrations, but where to light them? Problem solved when we drove up to a large parking lot to find other families lighting theirs, so we all got out of the car and watched as Scott and the boys lit the fireworks:

The finale was the best bit - the biggest firework took nearly 2 minutes - check this video - https://youtu.be/6XizDZ4_z7A

On Tuesday morning, it was the second leg of our journey south to Newport Coast and it went OK. Lots of traffic round LA as usual - 4m. + population and almost as many cars it seems - but we got there by the 4 pm check-in time. Lucy and Jo went to the store and Scott did his usual on the BBQ.

Wednesday had to be a quiet, non-car day. The Lesinas were active locally - running, gym-ing and basketball-ing, whilst Jo and I took a leisurely stroll down to the beach and along to Crystal Cove, stopping for refreshment at Ruby's Shake Shack:

Jo slowly climbs the steps up to Ruby's

Me just outside our resort

We arranged for an early start for Thursday morning, but it turned out even earlier than planned when Cade went sleepwalking at 4 am. He dreamt somebody was chasing him and took off - out the patio doors and over the railings. The first any of us knew about it was when we heard a knocking on the door and a ringing of the front doorbell. Lucy got up and there was Cade, with blood coming from his foot - he'd obviously landed on something and cut it.

We faced the early morning LA traffic again but still made it to Universal Studios before 8:30 am. Coffee at Starbucks was the first call then we headed straight for the Harry Potter Experience. Even at this time, the lines were long but we persevered and soon Braeden was in his element:

as was Jo:

We took in the spectacular Waterworld show, had a spot of lunch and then lined up for the Walking Dead attraction - another new show:

You then walk through darkened corridors lined with zombies - some animatronics and some actors. It's pretty good - and was certainly more than enough to scare Braeden and Jo - and it's a different kind of attraction, which makes it more interesting than the usual rides and simulators.

The LA traffic tried its best to delay us again, but we still got back to our villa by 6 pm - thanks to Scott, who must have been the only one to stay awake on the return trip.

Today (Friday), it's been a lazy start. I'm watching Andy Murray's semi-final and Lucy has just gone out for a run and Scott has gone to the gym. We're planning to catch the shuttle bus at 12:30 down to Laguna Beach. Tomorrow, Jo and I are having dinner with Carter Yates and his wife. We used to work together at Fischer Ultrasound in Edinburgh back in the early 80's. I recently made contact again with Carter through Linked In. He lives just south of here in San Diego. Looking forward to catching up again.