With all the nonchalance of parents who don’t yet have to worry about school term dates, we’ve just wrapped up two weeks of a late summer holiday with Randi’s parents in Yorba Linda, California. Beth and Stu kindly prioritised the renovation of their swimming pool before we arrived, making the water extra sparkling and the slide ultra fast. (Alas, too fast to try it with a baby, but he still had a great time in his first outdoor swimming sessions! I’m hoping that Forest Hill Pools won’t be too much of a comedown after this.)
This was our third transatlantic outing as a family, and the flight was still surprisingly easy. For the record, I am writing this before making the journey back home again, so it remains to be seen whether baby’s much increased confidence with crawling will translate into more resistance at being restrained for so long. And we were very fortunate on the outward leg to get not one but two free babysitting sessions: once from the person sitting next to us, and later from an incredible eager Norwegian woman who introduced herself and her partner with “we’re on our honeymoon… and then we’re going to start trying for a baby!”. It wasn’t entirely clearly whether her husband was on exactly the same page, but suffice to say we were very grateful for the childcare and she did an excellent job.
Although Randi is the one with Californian blood, we also took this opportunity to see some of my extended family during our first week, starting with my cousins Jackie and Jeff. They came up from LA for lunch, together with their dog Savannah, and I believe Jackie was responsible for teaching our child to throw up his hands in the air with glee. This quickly metamorphosed into a “touchdown!” call-and-response, which may confuse the other kids in nursery.
The next day, we drove down to Laguna Beach for lunch with David and Ginger. We sat on the patio at Las Brisas opposite a stunning ocean view, sampled the pineapple piscos and caught up on their most recent travels. Thanks to all for making the time!
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are the closest baseball team to Beth and Stu, but in recent years they’ve been a disappointment, with a stingy billionaire owner who’s failed to invest in the franchise. Indeed, Arte Moreno is famous for having said that actually winning games “is not even in the top five” of what fans want, to which fans did not respond well. However, since Yankees-fan Melissa was staying with us for a few days, and the Angels were playing the Yankees, Randi’s parents had dutifully bought tickets so that our child could experience his first baseball game.
You can imagine Stu’s excitement, then, when on the very day we were set to go it was announced that Moreno had finally agreed to sell the team to a non-stingy billionaire with a very promising track record of caring about winning games! Everyone was therefore in very high spirits at the stadium that night, even though the Yankees predictably triumphed. (I should note that Melissa tried out a Yankees baseball cap on the little one, but he wasn’t keen.)
I confess that I did spend a reasonable proportion of the game desperately hunting around the stadium for the delicious-looking cookies which had started to materialise around us in giant buckets. But my favourite part was probably our view of Hooliganism Corner, where fans angry with Moreno’s ownership have been gathering to protest with chants of “SELL THE TEAM!”, which could now become “SOLD THE TEAM!” in celebration. (Since this is a famously litigious society, I should clarify that Hooliganism Corner is intended as an unofficially, affectionate, tongue-in-cheek designation. They were not hoologians. Although for some reason they were mostly topless.)
Although this was mostly a lazy “stay at home and let people come to us” kinda holiday, we did venture out to Big Bear Lake for a couple of nights. This was a classic holiday destination for Randi growing up, and was a beautiful spot for us all to enjoy a little bit of hiking, a lovely lakeside walk and some ginormous burritos from Gaby’s Latin Flavors. Since we’re all massive Jet Lag fans, we also took the opportunity watch the season premiere of Japanorama together – a particularly brutal opener for team Adam & Tom, as it happens, especially when [spoiler alert] Tom Scott suffered the series’s first Medical Production Pause Zone.
Back in Yorba Linda, I have to say enormous thanks to everyone who visited and brought baby gifts: so many gifts, in fact, that we’re now flying back with an extra suitcase. It’s always wonderful to see Elena and Steve Leiken, who came over for a few hours – especially since Elena is one of my favourite people to argue with. She alternates between brilliant and terrible opinions (“it’s too cold to swim today” and “In-N-Out is overrated” being two ridiculous examples of the latter) with a truly mischievous streak.
I think I won Elena around on In-N-Out a little bit, actually, but that’s only because it was so fresh in my mind from our mandatory visit earlier in the week. Technically this had been baby’s very first In-N-Out outing, but since there’s nothing on the menu for him, he spent it sitting in a high chair and boughily consuming quinoa and sweet potato, so I’m not sure if it really counts. Next time?
Anyway, other visitors included an evening with Debbie Thorpe and the Spalters, Hirschs and Bells (during which Randi and I slipped off to lie looking up at the night sky, feet dangling in the pool) and another big gathering with the Shelankys, Moffits and Patels. That night it was particularly great to see Sonali and Steven again, but we always try and cast our net to lure as many people to London and our spare room as possible.
And finally – for the social calendar at least – we also popped over to the Shelansky’s Rosh Hashanah party on Friday night to wish everyone a happy new year. Chopped liver: check. Honey: check. A chance for some quick conspiratorial talk with Andrew Shelansky before it was time to go back home? You bet.
Aside from Randi’s immediate family, however, the most special time we spent together was with Great Uncle Ron and Great Aunt Stacy, who drove all the way over from Vegas to be with us. Neither of them had met their great nephew before, and – since we’ve been talking gifts – I’m not sure I’ve ever seen our son’s eyes light up so wide as when Stacy unveiled his tricycle. As parents we weren’t sure that he’d be big enough to stay on, but he proved us wrong immediately!
We’re both incredibly grateful to Stacy and Ron for making the journey, especially since it coincided with Ron’s 70th birthday. (In fairness, he was compensated with a truly delicious vanilla & chocolate buttercream cake from Randi.) On one of the days we also drove to the cemetery for Uncle Jeff’s unveiling. Although he never got a chance to meet his great nephew, it’s easy to imagine how much fun they would have had together, and how many (only slightly embellished) stories he would have told. I’m glad that there are many other people around with memories of him to pass down as he grows up.
I have lots of other little snippets and memories from this trip, and since I’ve paid for unlimited WiFi on this flight (yes, hello from the plane) I’m afraid I’m still not done blogging. Let’s start with a quick audit of the Yorba Linda small business scene. On the one hand, YLS Bakery & Cafe remains an excellent dispensary for breakfast burritos. I had two. (Not on the same day.)
On the other hand, I have a bone to pick with the local wine & beer store, which is a short walk away from Randi’s parents and surprisingly judgy about customers buying any wine or beer. “You’re really going to town, aren’t you?” joked the owner in a joking-not-joking kinda way, as Randi, Melissa and I checked out with a grand total of three packs of beer and one half-bottle of wine. You’re the one running a wine and beer shop! Earlier, Randi had asked an assistant for a wheat beer “similar to Blue Moon” and he had recommended a can of Foster’s… so we were already baffled by this place.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve been inside a Costco, although throwback to Jamie for taking me back in 2011 just so I could marvel at the size of the Mayonnaise jars. This time we did a proper shop, including some of their famous pizza and ice cream at the little outdoor café for lunch, and I’m definitely a fan. My only regret is that I couldn’t engage with the gruff-but-friendly man seated opposite in the Navy Seals cap who caught my ear when he made a passing remark to his companion that, of course, “everything that’s happening” was foretold in the book of Revelation. (He actually did some over and say hello, but understandably was more interested in the cute baby than his evesdropping father.)
Some other random bits and pieces:
- Last time Randi and I went fishing for toy fish in her pool, she beat me catastrophically. So we had a rematch! And she still beat me catastrophically, but compared to 2017 I’ve made substantial progress (at least 4 or 5 this time) so ask me again in 2035.
- Is there anything lovelier than a child’s joy at discovering the concept of bounciness via a large bouncy ball? I could see it all written in this face: “OK… the ball is going down… all very regular… and yet, what’s this? It came up again?” [cue pure delight]
- Uncle Alex really deserves a special mention here: not just for doing so much playtime, but also but helping his nephew with both the piano and the guitar. (Even if his instinct with the guitar was mostly to bang it like a drum…)
- For Alex’s dog Angua, our visit was a mixed blessing. Careful positioning under the high chair did yield a lot more dropped food than usual, but at the cost of some fur when baby’s petting of the dog got a bit too enthusiastic. Again, many apologies.
- We had some tentative first steps while holding the walker!
- We also had lots of matzo brei (thank you, Bubbe) and Randi’s dry run for a very special first birthday cake. Yes, really, his first birthday is now coming up fast… can you believe it?
I’m probably missing a lot, but even if the WiFi is unlimited, my ability to write coherent sentences is not. So all that remains before I hit publish (seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever paid for this on a plane before so it’s a bit of a thrill) is to say a massive thanks to Beth and Stu for hosting us and making it such a wonderful time. Sure, going outside was sometimes hotter-than-the-sun, but inside was always joyful and felt like a proper family holiday. See you soon!
