Trust fund

Grandpa arrives!  After a week on the East Coast watching the World Synchronised Skating Championships (Finland won, again) my Dad appeared at SFO last night.  There are now two Pete's in the house - who knows what'll happen when we all visit a Peet's Coffee.

Dad calculates the cost.

Warming up nicely (it never gets hot enough for my parents to wear shorts).

Pete meets world

It's been a busy few days for our proto-human, with trips to Oakland and San Mateo.  We had idyllic ideas of picnics in the sunshine but the weather was unexpectedly British (British-normal, not British-current, so sufferable).  No bother - Pete needs to toughen up for our planned return to his mothercountry in July.

He also got to meet lots of important people, although I'm sure he still thinks of everyone as doctors or nurses, and is probably wondering why the daily staff hasn't changed in several weeks.  He's still getting on very well with Grandma, and who wouldn't?  Hugs on demand, endless attention, a friendly face to talk to...things have certainly changed since I was his age.

Can the nice lady stay forever?



Visiting Coyote Point Park.

A rather nice display of (I think) Icelandic poppies.

Hanging out with Anat, which made a certain other young man rather jealous...

...but Mum stepped into the breach once again!

Picnic the next day, in less than Californian temps.

Dwight and Santi, proud of their new (stolen) baby.

Today, and much more like it.  Hannah models this year's Walnut Creek mummy look.

When I was your age I could walk.  What's the problem?

A family in recline.

Not entirely convinced by all this fresh air.

A captive audience.  Much better.

Nanny state

The selection process is underway for the Davies au pair.  Applicants must be able to operate a baby with minimal parental intervention and know how to mix basic cocktails.  Salary will be a competitive minimum wage, which will almost cover the costs of board and lodging with us, and you will not be required to provide your own breast milk.  Generous holiday allowance as long as you take the baby if you go anywhere.  British accent (real or convincing fake) an advantage.

Candidate 1: exceptional.

Candidate 2: phenomenal.



Candidate 3: outstanding.

You're all hired!  Please split the wage between yourselves as you see fit.

Baby oil

Hannah recently read about baby massage, which is the kind of thing that bio-organic-earth-peace-parents like ourselves should be into.  A bottle of Trader Joe's olive oil was pulled from the cupboard, the baby was stripped off, and we immediately incorporated it into his bedtime routine - a routine which, so far, has involved doing whatever he wants to stop him screaming until he falls asleep.

If he was anything like his father, Peter would believe that appropriate physical contact begins and ends with a handshake, especially if the person is your doctor or spouse.  It turns out that he's somewhat more liberal, happy to be basted in half of a salad dressing by his mother, at least for a while.  After that he started screaming, so was slipped to his grandmother.  I'm already fearing the day she leaves; I may have to...you know...engage with my child directly.

Getting the client ready.

Starting with the ever-increasing thighs.

Happy so far.

Moving on up.

Whoa lady!  I didn't pay for that!!

No squeaky joints tonight.

And handed to Grandma who, like the pro she is, didn't even need to put down her chilled glass of Californian Viognier.

Did this smile occur a) shortly after baby massage, or b) while playing with daddy earlier in the day?  I think we all know.

Grandma's here!

2.76 seconds after she walked in the door:

All further attempts to communicate with my mother have failed, and we fear her lost.

Two whole weeks of being spoiled rotten to look forward to.  So tiring.

Game over, man. Game over.

Every year they hold the massive Game Developers Conference in SF, where the brightest and best of the computer games industry come along to show off their fanciest wares.  If you're not a games developer then you can just turn up and play everything.  I went once before, but as passes are $250 I usually have to content myself with sitting at home playing Super Mario 3.

This year my old school friend Gaz flew all the way from Swindon to show off games from his company, Fayju, and kindly slipped me a ticket.  Gaz and I spent seven years sitting by each other on the bus to school, and when we weren't doing the homework we should have done at home we mostly talked rubbish to each other, a lot about video games.  Ah, the heady days of the ZX Spectrum and the Sega Megadrive.  Kids don't know how good they've got it, and Gaz was showing his Amazing Frog on the iPad and new Ouya console.

I did my part by playing the game while shouting things like "awesome!" when people walked past, then wandered the expo floor looking at what Nintendo, Sony, and others are up to.  There were companies that could help you build your game, market it, make it run on five screens at once...my favourite was SpeedTree that grew you digital trees to put into your virtual world - no arboreal experience necessary.

I paid back Gaz and his co-worker Harry by giving them a tailored guided tour of San Fran.  All the sights in four hours: sea lions, soup-in-a-sourdough-bowl, trolley cars, Alcatraz, etc.  I had to take them into the Musee Mechanique of course, home of truly old-school arcade machines.  Sadly they had to abandon the delights of California for Wiltshire, but hopefully their conference networking will lead them to massive venture capital funding and a swift move to Silicon Valley.  Soon, because I didn't get to take them to In'n'Out.

The big boys were here, showing off.

I was always more of a Mario man myself.

Serious screen envy, especially when looking at Lara Croft.

Yay - viva Chile!  There were a lot of country-specific displays that I passed by, but I reserved a "bueno dia" for my spiritual home.

SpeedTree, and a pleasing unreal palm.

It was all about motion capture this year.  Sadly only real dancers got to don the strange suits.



UKIE co-sponsored a lot of small games makers to come out.

And here they are!  Harry and Gaz generated much interest, not least due to my "awesome!"s.

Where does the city tour start?  Blue Bottle Coffee, of course.



Not bad, but not Street Fighter 2 is it.



Neither of us has changed a bit in...er...25 years?  Gulp.

Staycation

It was time to reward Hannah for her sterling work looking after young Peter while I was away, so I booked her into a fancy hotel for the night.  The fact that she was sharing the room with the baby and me only increased her enjoyment, and I threw in a massage (a proper massage, not a David-special) as well.

The hotel was the slightly dodgy sounding Purple Orchid down in Livermore.  This is a town a little south of us but the short drive takes you into a different world - rolling green hills, vineyards, and olive groves.  Quite strange with the East Bay megalopolis so near, and a proper break from reality.  We wandered the grounds in sunshine and enjoyed the complimentary afternoon wine and nibbles.  The owners have newly bought it, having been wedding photographers in Vegas (speaking of different worlds).  They had a 10-month-old, and there were only a few other guests, so the whole thing resembled a relaxed rural daycare.  With wine.  It was completely fabulous, and just what we needed.

We came back this morning having learned several new things: you can get Indian food almost as good as in Britain around here; Walnut Creek has two wineries (how did we miss them?); after another night of chuckling/singing/ grunting/growling, Peter is old enough to move into his own room.  Maybe Hannah too.



This is the place.

See?  Rather nice.

Charming.

Splendid.

Cheese and wine is served at 4.30pm, and we don't need telling twice.

If your baby's poo is purple, you're feeding him too much Beaujolais.

One for baby, one for mummy and daddy.

Extending the olive branch - in a few years (says the proprietor) California will be the biggest producer of olives in the world.

Ready for another chicken tikka masala.