April 2007 – USA

At the end of March Annie and Gerry went to Palm Springs for a month of sunshine. Of course we spent a few days at each end of the stay in Manhattan Beach and enjoyed lovely times with Jo, Todd Alexander and Oliver. My how the boys have grown and how different they are. Alexander has now learned the meaning of fear but Oliver seems oblivious to it. They are great fun to be with and we enjoyed some wonderful times with them. Alexander particularly liked visiting grannie and grandpa’s “house with the swimming pool” (Actually it was the big hotel in Manhattan Beach). We also had a day out with them on our own. We went to Griffith Park (later badly affected by a wild fire) and played in the park, on the playground and then went for two trips on the little railway. I am not sure who enjoys those days out most, us or the boys!

What was really nice about this visit was that Jo and Todd were able to bring the boys to Palm Springs for a long weekend and then a second weekend. For the first, they rented a condo in our complex which meant that they were able to eat all meals at our condo, enjoy relaxing evenings at ours before carrying the boys back to their place. Apart from swimming and sunbathing, the boys enjoyed an Easter egg hunt in our yard and Alexander decorated some eggs. For the second visit which was only one night, they decided to book into the Royal Sun, (the hotel we always used to use). We celebrated Todd’s birthday (which had been the day before) with the cake that Alexander and Jo had made and decorated. If you look at the photos (see link below) you will see just how lovely Ocotillo Lodge is and understand how much the boys (and Jo and Todd) were able to relax and enjoy the fabulously large (and uncrowded) pool. Quite a few of our friends from the complex seemed disappointed that the boys had only been with us for such a short time – they were certainly a hit.

Click here to see all of the photos. They tell a much better story than my narrative!

Annie and Gerry were amazed one day when in a supermarket car park we saw this dog. It was in the car on its own and moved as we approached it – We thought it must have been staged but the dog was quite free to move around the car!

Sadly, our time in the USA came to an end and we returned to the UK at the beginning of May.