That's our boy...

The boys watch the girls while the girls watch the boys who watch the girls go by...

Do do do.....

Can't think where he gets that from.... x

What's it all about, Alfie?

Well, long time no speak. My brother has been staying since last Monday so I've been making the most of it and have been out and about every evening instead of blogging. I nearly remembered what it was like to have a life!! Waved Daniel off on his bus back to JFK earlier so have been tidying and packing up the apartment (more about that later) to keep myself busy. I really enjoyed showing Daniel around as it was his first time in New York and did all of the tourist stuff. I have found out that this involves stopping every six metres in order to take a photo and also doing a lot of waiting in line. When Paul and I were here in a tourist capacity, there was only us and the snow, so no queuing nor photo taking as it was too cold to remove my gloves. I'm not too sure what Daniel is going to do with his 200 photos of buildings and cars, but what do I know? He did take some fab ones of Boy Wonder looking very toddler like, so I'm sure he'll send me some large copies as a 'thank you for having me' gift... ;-)

The rest of our LA trip went well. I took Boy Wonder to Disneyland twice, mainly to escape the concrete jungle of the hotel we were staying in. For those of you who have seen 'True Lies' with Arnie, it's the hotel where he takes the horse in the lift. Not sure who enjoyed Disney more, Boy Wonder or me, and I've still got the words to 'It's a small world' spinning around my head. Luckily, the flight back to New York was significantly shorter than the one going across there and Boy Wonder slept for two and a half hours of it.

Have had lots of wonderful news this week. Sara, Pete and Tom have welcomed Ben into their fold (later than expected!) and I found out earlier that Rebecca gave birth to Sophia this morning (definitely earlier than expected!) It's the first time since we've arrived that I desperately wish I was at home and able to see my friends and welcome the new babies into the world. I am just so, so happy for them all I could burst. Am looking forward to our July trip home even more now. It's rather odd now that the term 'home' refers to family, friends and a country, as opposed to a place where you live. Will that change? I doubt it.

As I said, I have started packing up the apartment as we are due to move to the 'burbs later this week. The good news is that our container of furniture has arrived in the US. The bad news is that we have been randomly selected to have our container X-rayed which is due to happen tomorrow. Fingers crossed all should be well but if there is anything they are unhappy about, it could delay our delivery for weeks. We have new electrical goods and enough clothes to last but it may mean us sleeping on an inflatable bed for a while!! I am also the proud owner of a piece of paper that means I have a NY Learner permit driving licence. It took hours of hanging around to do my written test (20/20 correct. Smug?) and now have to do a five hour pre-licencing course on Tuesday evening. Can't wait for that one...

I'd like to finish this post by remembering June, Gemma and Mick, three special people from St Bernadette's who were all taken too soon, and also the mum of one of our friends who lost her battle against cancer this week. All of them people who showed what real strength is all about. This link is for Gemma - I really hope you can open it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSI0ZStEnfw

Richard. North. Patterson.

I'm now sitting in our new hotel which is very different from the last. We are in downtown LA in a HUGE hotel which looks like it belongs in a Seventies disaster movie. It even has the lifts on the outside of the building and we are so high up (29th floor) my ears have been popping going up and down. Boy Wonder has finally fallen asleep in his crib which we have pushed into the bathroom, so looks like Paul and I will have to pee in the paper bin. There is a nice area outside with a garden and pool, and we can see the 'Hollywood' sign in the distance which I do think is rather cool.

Santa Monica continued to be wonderful. We had a lovely trip down the coast to stay with our friends, Steve and Julia, and their two girls. They live in San Clemente which is about and hour and a quarter south of SM. We had a great time and Boy Wonder was rather perturbed to wake up on Sunday and realise we hadn't brought the girls back with us to amuse him.

It was the 'Mother's Day' USA style on Sunday and we were lucky enough to have a day where everything went exactly to plan. We had a (very small) lie in, the morning on the beach, a nice lunch, Boy Wonder slept in his stroller while Paul and I read by the pool, we then all played in the pool before getting ready for the evening where we took Boy Wonder out for his first curry.
I decided to wear a nice frock in the evening and got changed while Boy Wonder was in the bath. Just before I was going to get him out, he turned an alarming shade of red and started to poo in the bath. This isn't the first time it's happened so Paul and I were feeling rather confident in handling the mess (so to speak) better than the last time. Now, Boy Wonder's tummy has been slightly unsettled and the sight of all this floating poo was obviously too much for him, as all of a sudden, he picked up a bit and threw it across the bathroom floor. It was a bit like slow motion as I jumped away laughing 'no, no, no' and the flying poo missed my lovely dress by an inch. It actually went splat, I don't think I've ever seen anything go splat before. Paul and I then laughed so much we scared Boy Wonder, who will probably now be scarred for life.

As Paul is busy working, I'll be spending the next few evenings in the hotel room so I needed to get another book as the one I've just started ('Case Histories' by Kate Atkinson - thank you Sara) won't last me long. I went into my beloved Barnes and Noble and had a good rummage around the mystery section, which in the UK would be deemed the 'crime' section. Now as most of you know, I'm rather partial to a bit of crime and forensic pathology, and I find it hard enough trying to work out which Ian Rankin/Reginald Hill/Ruth Rendell/Peter Robinson/Kathy Reichs books I have/haven't read, and that's without them all having different USA covers. I finally decided on a good, old Richard North Patterson instead, so I needed to go to a different section. I thought the best way to find what I wanted was to ask a member of staff. It sort of went like this...
Me: Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find the Richard North Patterson books?
Staff member: (looks blank)
Me: The Richard North Patterson books? Where can I find them?
Staff member: (turns head to side and looks at me like I'm some alien from outer space)
Me: Can you tell me where they are please?
Staff member: (shakes head in a confused fashion) I can't understand you. I'm sorry. What?
Me: Richard (pause). North (pause). Patterson.
Staff member: Oh. Is that what you're trying to say? In the fiction section. (Walks off)
Me : (Walks off calling him many names, none of which I can write on my blog as they'll make my Dad blush)
Anyway, I got my book in the end, and jolly good it looks too. In case you are interested, it's called 'The Spire', by Richard North Patterson...

Tomorrow will be a long day as Boy Wonder and I are off to Disneyland for a day trip, and don't get back here until 9pm. It will be exactly a year since we met Boy Wonder for the first time so will be nice to do something special. Can't wait!

A quick one...

...while I drag myself away from watching the election results as they happen... My mind is currently boggling trying to get my head around it all. I think if I ask Paul to explain to me just one more time how a hung parliament works, he might just poke me between the eyeballs.

So there we were having a lovely dinner outside and totally missing all of the chaos with the car bomb found in Times Square. We didn't hear any more sirens than usual or see any more people. You'll be pleased to know that Times Square was packed again by Sunday morning, just with a few TV cameras here and there.

As you may know, we are in Santa Monica at the moment. We took the six hour flight on Tuesday and finally turned into the people that Paul and I used to avoid at all costs on planes. Boy Wonder was an absolute pickle for the entire flight. It was as if we had given him a shot of sugar before take off. In the end, we had to make a decision. Either, let him annoy the hell out of the woman in front by letting him sit on Paul's lap and poke the TV screen and hang on her headrest, or, try to prevent the afore-mentioned fun and have a major screaming strop which would annoy the hell out of the rest of the plane. It was a no-brainer really. For some strange reason, the minute the plane started it's descent, he fell asleep and was totally sparko.

We finally arrived at the hotel a little later than planned, due to having to track down our stroller which had been tagged to fly on to San Francisco, and getting the shuttle bus to the wrong car hire company as Paul hadn't checked the paperwork. So we were all rather exhausted by Tuesday evening.

The last couple of days have been lovely. Boy Wonder and I have been strolling along the seafront, up and down the pier, sitting on the beach and running away from the sea. The weather is rather warm and my freckles have come out so I must have caught some sun.

Anyway, must dash and watch the unfolding drama that is politics in the UK.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_McLkAue6Q

Paul and I have been practising blending in and have started to watch some of the basketball on television. My thinking is that Paul is watching to get some tips for when he is shooting hoops and the neighbourhood teenagers start watching. The other night we were watching the 'Cleveland Cavs' and I saw the biggest man in the planet who turns out to be Shaquille O'Neal. Even by basketball standards, he is huge! I thought Shaquille O'Neal was around in the 80s so what do I know?? I also watched Lebron James who is meant to be the current golden boy of basketball but all he did was miss the target. While this was on, there was some unusual cheering and shouting from outside. There was a group of about 12 people who were behaving in a rather odd manner and seemed to be doing some sort of 'follow my leader' type exercise. This involved lots of jumping, leaping and twirling down the road and also included some rather impressive human dominoes. It was a bit like the Fat Boy Slim 'Praise You' video. I'm sure it was very liberating and looking back I'm rather disappointed I didn't run and join them.

Something to amuse those of you that have had the pleasure of talking to Boy Wonder on Skype... As you know, he likes to bang the table and expect the 'other person' to fall over or do some sort of party trick and then he likes to show lots of his toys. I was watching the election debate on the BBC website and Boy Wonder obviously thought I was chatting to friends on Skype. By the end of the debate, there was a whole pile of toys on the table that Boy Wonder had been trying to show the politicians and he was rather miffed that none of them had fallen on the floor in order to make him laugh.

I went to the theatre again today to see 'A Little Night Music' with Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury. CZJ was rather tall and really rather good. Angela Lansbury is 84 years old and just a legend. She was absolutely magical, being wheeled out like Miss Haversham, and I was rather sad when she died at the end. I was rather concerned that she was in a wheelchair because she really couldn't walk but you'll be pleased to know that it was just the role she was playing. As much as I enjoyed it, I'm not overly keen on musicals and out of the three shows I've seen, it is the one I wouldn't want to see again, even though I very nearly shouted out 'I love you Jessica Fletcher' at the end. I hadn't given much thought to it before but the audiences for each of the shows have been totally different. The Scarlett Johannson audience was quite a young crowd (you see how I slipped myself into that group), the Denzel Washington audience was very culturally mixed, and the Angela Lansbury audience all seemed to worthy of their bus passes (I'm not there yet!) It took hours to get out of the theatre at the end as all of the oldies were struggling to get down the stairs with their walking sticks.

We have been having a mini-heatwave here and this morning I took my boys for a walk along the Hudson river to show them the walk I did yesterday with my new friends. I have met a few people and we have got together three times this week which has been lovely. To finish off a wonderful day, we went out to dinner this evening and got ourselves a table outside so we could all watch the world go by. Boy Wonder was as good as gold and charmed lots of the passers by. There was a lady waiting outside with her pet rabbit under her arm, who was wearing a rather fetching bandana (that's the rabbit not the lady). I am used to all of the New York dogs being dressed in various attire, and to be honest, I now feel a dog is rather under-dressed if it isn't wearing booties as a minimum, but the bandana wearing rabbit out on a Saturday evening was a tad bizarre.