Just some pics

 hanging out with Grandpa

 superbloom above Ventura

 waiting for Dada to get a suit

Me and D on the Dragon at Happy Hollow

more pics to come...

Glasgow

D is singing in the giant bathtub as we finish our first full day in Glasgow (pronounced glaz-go, in case you were wondering). We flew out of LAX on Monday night and arrived in Glasgow Tuesday night. The flight was largely uneventful, except for a couple toddler moments, with D crying, "I need to get off now!!!". He slept some, but the seats proved too uncomfortable for prolonged sleep, even for a 3ft tall kid. Alex and I slept some, but we were so thrilled to arrive to a warm hotel room for our first night. We ate at the hotel restaurant and collapsed into bed, exhausted. Naturally, jet lag had me awake and starving half the night. We woke up and caught the bus to city center, checked our luggage at the train station and walked about the streets. It's a beautiful city, and a lot of the architecture reminds me of the nicer streets in Philly. It's clear that our older cities found inspiration in the major European cities, likely because many came from here. My maternal grandfather was from Glasgow. His family came to the US in the early 20th century.

We ate a light lunch at a cafe and wandered about, checking out the Glasgow MOMA and finally settling in a square where D chased pigeons (and attracted hundreds just by throwing dirt on the ground - dumb birds!). We checked into our flat for the next two days. It's a nice place, but to our eyes, a little disorganized and shabby. But no biggie - we don't live here.

So far, I've had lovely interactions with people here. The bus driver complained to me about people putting their luggage in the racks the wrong way. It reminded me so much of Philly - the conspiratorial complaining that is actually quite funny. D ran around a market, finding items that were in the wrong place, and wanting to return them to their proper place. The clerk told me he does this all day - and he has no idea why things are left where they are (a package of cakes found by the fridge section, shoved in a crack).

We stayed at the apartment the rest of the day, except for a stop at the market. A jet lagged toddler does not have listening ears, and acts spastic at best. A good idea to keep him contained. Tonight, spaghetti and meat sauce for dinner. Some odd breakfast meats on deck for tomorrow. Tonight, D fell asleep during his nightly story, a first for sure. And now, naturally, at 10pm, I am quite awake and not at all sleepy - figures!