Update from the road #2

(a.k.a. technical difficulties won't stop us!)

I realized en route yesterday that I've forgotten the cable to connect my camera to the laptop and because it's a Sony it uses a Memory Stick rather than an SD card and of course my laptop doesn't have the requisite slot for that particular storage medium. Fortunately, M and Matthew both have Canon cameras and we will be able to get photos off their cameras - but that doesn't help when all three of my travelling companions are asleep and I am busy taking photos of Justin maintaining the same position throughout our Eurostar journey as the English countryside, the tunnel and the French countryside pass us by on the way to Paris. Oh well, you'll just have to wait for that - we'll be looking for an adaptor somewhere on our travels.

Anyway, we arrived safe and sound and without incident - other than the stewardess dropping the meal and smashing my glass (which didn't wake Justin up, btw) on the train - at Gare du Nord and checked into our hotel. After a few minutes of respite we all agreed to go for a walk in the Paris evening and being that the Sacre Coeur was just round the corner that seemed like the perfect target for us.

Also, the boys didn't quite believe us that it would still be light outside until at least 10:30pm.

And so it was that we headed out for our first stroll in Paris at around 9pm and found our way to the Sacred Heart (see how I performed from French to English translation on the fly for you there?) Basilica for a quick photo shoot before finding a little restaurant for a late supper and the traditional French glace (Haagen-Dazs) before heading back to the hotel for a well-earned sleep. In spite of the warmth - air-conditioning is not common in northern Europe - and the noise through the open windows we all managed to get to sleep. In fact, the other 3 are all still asleep as I write this entry - I had to get up for some press calls for work (we announced one of my team's initiatives this morning) otherwise I would be too. However, I will be heading up stairs in a few minutes to rouse them so we can start to do some sight-seeing. I'm sure they'll be excited to hear my plan for us to rent bicycles from Velib so that we can cover as much ground as possible while still taking in the atmosphere of this beautiful city. 

And tonight is the Jason Mraz gig...

Update from the road #1

First Pret - St Pancras
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

So here we are at St Pancras station in London waiting to go check in for our Eurostar train to Paris. Of course, first port of call was the Pret a Manger in the station where we could top up on scrummy sandwiches, Coke made from real sugar and a lovely Capuccino after a long flight and dubious plane food.

The trip has been uneventful so far - that is if you ignore the fact that the underground system has been shut down for the weekend, that they have moved the Eurostar terminal from Waterloo Station to St Pancras, and that the flight from Denver was so severaly oversold that they were requesting people transfer to a British Airways flight with the offer of $400 per passenger flight credits. If it wasn't for the specific seat selections we had made - these boys have long legs! -and the need to ensure we got to London in time to get to the train we would have been tempted to do it.

Anyway, so far so good. The boys were happy with their gift of some decent headphones for their iPods and I am sure they will be delighted with their upcoming surprise of First Class seats on Eurostar that they will be finding out about in just a few minutes time.

More from gay (that is, the traditional gay - as in happy) Paris.

Le jour est arrivé

Going to Europe
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Yes, indeed. It's June 27th and today is the day that we head out on our UlloaSullivan European Adventure for 2009.

Matthew and Justin have been hard at work on their facial hair, packing light, and learning key phrases in French and Spanish lest they find themselves needing to introduce each other to any young ladies of European heritage.

We'll be updating the UlloaSullivan Adventures site and uploading pictures as much as we can during the trip so keep your eyes open and your browsers pointing that way. That will also be the place where we'll post details of where we're staying and how best to reach us should you need to.

Adieu for now.

New House Teaser

We signed some more documents yesterday so I figured it was only fair that we started to unveil details of the next UlloaSullivan abode that, if everything goes to plan, we will be moving into some time around August 14th.

The house is out of town, just past the golf course, on a 1.1 acre plot - more than enough space for a pool, a vegetable garden, and a lawn that M will be able to have a badminton court on. More importantly, it should be large enough for parties and open air performances.

We apologize in advance to Nick and Kate who won't have a pool to relax by when they stop by for a few days at the end of August - they'll miss out by just a couple of weeks. Oh well - they'll just have to come back next summer. ;)

Congratulations Matthew

Matthew Scholarship
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

On the occasion of his High School Graduation on May 29, Matthew became the first recipient of the Ulloa-Sullivan Collegiate Textbook Scholarship. It's our way of helping ensure the next generation can afford to keep us in our old age.

Matthew is heading off to UC Santa Barbara in September, after joining us for the UlloaSullivan European Adventure that begins tomorrow.

Apologies for the delay in posting this and the graduation pics (see the Flickr site). It's been a busy few weeks what with house buying, house selling, British visitors, adventure preparations, birthdays, travel and a little bit of work. Still, no excuses - I know that you expect more from us here at UlloaSullivan.com and we'll try to do better.

Meleena's surprising question of the day: "Have you ever had a Wine Gum?"

Mark Anthony's Birthday Art

Mark Anthony's Birthday Art
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

It's taken me a few days to get around to featuring this - entertaining family visitors is a tough job that somebody has to do! - but I am very proud to be able to publish Mark Anthony's most recent piece of art, prepared in my honour, that I received at my birthday party on Saturday.

Nice job, MA. I will find a place to display prominently at the new house.

Bad/Sad

Happy Birthday Bill

Bill and the Money
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Hope you have a great day.

Many Happy Returns!

With love,

C&M
M&C

Happy Birthday Sherriff Steve-O

Look what happens when we don't have a recent photo of you to post on here. :)

Hope you have a great day!

C&M
M&C

Bye Bye Toby (and Neil and Maya)

Toby plays the Blues
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Toby took some time out to compose a song on the world famous 'blue' guitar. It was a lament in a traditional blues style on the fact that he wouldn't be seeing Cornflake, Miko or Meleena for a while, that he wouldn't be returning to 2647 next time he visits, that he wouldn't be going on walks with Uncle Craig or be driven long distances (at faster speeds than with his Daddy) by Aunt Michelle. From a technical perspective it wasn't a very advanced or complex song (this was his first time playing the guitar, after all), but he sang it from the heart - where all good blues comes from - and so it will be remembered fondly.

Anyway, it's been great having N, M & T hanging out with us for the past couple of weeks. When they weren't sun-bathing by pool they proved quite useful at tidying up the house for potential buyers to view it (and then disappearing down to the park for us to pick them a bit later) and I'm convinced that Neil's pool cleaning on Saturday morning is what clinched the deal for the people that will be buying our house.

Safe travels - we look forward to hosting you again at the new house soon...

Don't look behind you!

In the Tunnel
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

While in Santa Cruz yesterday we jumped on the old fashioned train that takes you up into the hills and Redwood forest up above the town. Part of the journey takes you through a 900 feet long tunnel and it gets pretty dark while you're in there.

So dark in fact that you can't see the scary monsters that lurk in there and creep up on unsuspecting toddlers. Until they are caught in the glare of a camera flash, that is.

Note: No Tobys were injured during the taking of this photo.

Going. Going. Gone!

I spoke with our Real Estate Agent, Vivian yesterday just as we were leaving for Monterey with 2 cars full of Sullivan's a Ulloa and a Leon (and their requisite luggage, nibbles and David Tennant crushes). She indicated that there was a chance we would get a couple of offers over the next couple of days and wanted to make sure she could reach us if and when that happened. Apparently her grand-daugher and her husband were extremely interested but had to sell their house first, and that another couple who had seen it only on Saturday and who didn't have an existing home to sell were also very keen. Of course, we didn't want to count our chickens before they had hatched and rather than get excited, M and I had a discussion about what we would be prepared to accept should they want to negotiate around our asking price. It turns out that we are really quite proud of our home and the improvements we've made over the past 8 years and weren't feeling particularly charitable towards anyone who wanted to quibble on the price we had set.

Anyway, after a pleasant afternoon of cross-country driving and a visit to Monterey Bay Aquarium - where Toby enjoyed watching the Otters, the Seahorses, touching some Starfish and seaweed and being resolutely ignored by the Penguins (they'd already been fed, why did they need to put on a show for us?) we got a call from Vivian. It turns out that she had been working hard all day on our behalf and had negotiated a sale at the full asking price with no contingencies (other than that we have a place to move to ourselves) and where the buyers were flexible on escrow timing. It really couldn't get much better than that. And that it happened on my birthday makes it even sweeter.

So here I am, currently sitting outside at the motel in Santa Cruz on June 23rd - my first full day as a 38 year old - doing a bit of work while my travelling companions get some more beauty sleep and contemplating the fact that we will be moving house in the 6 to 8 weeks. And in the meantime, we're heading over to Europe on vacation for 10 days, off to Sydney a little over a week after we get back from that and then hosting Neil and Tracey a week after we get back from that.

It's all very exciting.

Happy Birthday to me!

Craig's Birthday Party
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

On this fine 22nd of June, the 38th celebration of my birthday, I would like to thank everyone for the food, cards, gifts and most importantly, their company on Saturday evening. And thank you to those who couldn't make it but otherwise made sure I knew they were thinking of me.

I would also like to thank Toby for helping blow out the candles and sharing some of his saliva with the other guests. He is a truly a generous soul.

On my birthday weekend...

... you would do well to heed the Wisdom of Ihop.

JLO - ABA & TCSotY

Justin was featured in the Fresno Bee this week in 2009s 'All Bee Athletes' - a round-up of the year's outstanding performers in High Schools around the region.

You can read the article here.

In other news, he also learned this week that he had been named Tulare County Swimmer of the Year.

That's right. No comedy, double-entendres, or political statements in this post. Just plain old pride.

Pride, that is, that my stories of swimming in Bicester, of racing to gain the attention of Ingrid Crossland, have inspired a new generation of swimming legend.

Not acclimatising

I've been working hard to deliver on M's request to not get acclimatised to the UK time zone while travelling this week. She said something about not being grumpy for a party on Saturday. I'm not sure what's going on but figured I would do my best to follow her instructions.

And so it is that I'm currently walking around Hyde Park in the fine city of London - well, I know for you geographical purists that its not actually the City of London per se, but you get the drift - having been to Cologne and back since touching down on at Heathrow Tuesday, going to bed well after midnight and getting up at 6:20am.

Lots of people walking dogs in the park, btw.

The flight from San Francisco on Monday was fun. Some of the kids from FHS were on the same plane as me so I popped back to have a chat with them shortly after take-off and arranged for the flight attendants to do a special announcement welcoming them to London just as we were coming into land. But perhaps the best part was the hug I got from Mr V - former Navy recon person and Armadillo eater - when we met up again at the end of the flight and I accompanied the group all the way to customs only to learn that they wouldn't let me take the group photo I was planning. Darn those Brits and their tourist-unfriendly rules!

Little Toby, Big Tractor

Toby on the Tractor
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

We were invited over to Chuck and Janie's yesterday afternoon so that Toby could check out their tractors. We told him we were going to a farm to see them but then had to deal with managing his expectations around seeing (Moo) Cows there too - he didn't quite understand the difference between a citrus farm and a dairy farm.

I think the tractors were just a bit too big for him to handle, actually. He was more interested in the golf cart that he was taken over to see them on. But that might have more to do with the golf ball he found in there and the set of keys he was able to make off with.

Today I head off to the UK and Germany for a business trip while Neil, Maya and Toby head up to Portland to visit with Maya's Aunt Anita (and some other relatives she's never met). They'll be back to Kingsburg on Thursday and I'm back on Friday just in time for my birthday weekend, party and being the center of attention. Although I'm pretty sure that I will have some ompetition from the little guy that now calls Chuck the 'Kaka Man'.

Winning and Losing

Talk about obstacles...
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

After getting up early and prepping the house for a showing, Neil, Jim, Toby the Elder and I headed off to Sherwood Forest to play some golf. It was the first time I'd played in 7 or 8 years and needless to say I wasn't very good. There was one hole where everything came together for me, though - a great drive from the tee, a nice 5 iron just outside of the green, a nice pitch wedge lay-up and a 2 putt - but that was pretty much a one-off. And it wasn't the hole featured in this picture. Perhaps if the marshall's werent' constantly trying to get us to play faster to get out of the way of the competition behind us I would have had more luck. Yeah, that's it.

Toby ended up winning, with Jim ('Mr Consistent') coming in a respectable second place and Trim-a-lim in 3rd. I'm not discouraged though as my playing does hold some promise - I have a nice backswing, apparently - and I am committed to putting some time in to improve things.

And anyway, it's more about the social aspect of the activity and not whether you win or lose. At least, as the loser, that's how I see it. ;)

The Davidsons

The Davidsons
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

Toby the Elder (as Meleena has taken to calling him) is running late due to business meetings taking longer than expected. So while I prepare a swift G&T to get my evening started I thought I would share another photo of Toby and his wife Claire for your amusement.

We're hoping he will make it to Kingsburg by 8pm and come directly to join us at Jonathans for dinner. There will be a bottle of Stella and a glass of Pinot waiting for him.

Oops!

Toby and the puddle
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan

Who's that cleaning our pool?

Pool Cleaner
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

On Tuesday evening I discovered why Michelle had been so insistent that I couldn't travel anywhere on business and taking some time off this week when I went out to dinner and finding Neil, Maya and Toby were there waiting for me. Apparently Michelle has been plotting with them for quite a while and, I can only assume, giggling at my naive blog about Toby's reaction at my possibly visiting them next week in the UK.

Toby has been having a great time trying to convince the cats that he's not evil and waking up very early in the morning - much to his Mum and Dad's annoyance.

So now there will be two Toby's at 2647 this weekend. It remains to be seen who will be the best behaved.

Introducing...

Toby Davidson
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

For the benefit of those of you who have expressed an interest, this is what Toby Davidson - the Toby that will be spending the weekend here with us in Kingsburg this coming weekend - looks like. He is pictured here on a fishing boat off the coast of Mexico in July of last year.

He'll be arriving on Friday evening and is looking forward to a weekend of civilized poolside relaxation, a bit of golf, some G&Ts and some good old central valley hospitality. Rita - I'm sure he'd appreciate some Chile Verde. ;)

Co...Co... Congratulations

Quite literally, congratulations to Coco Brockbank-Gash upon her arrival earlier today at 7:30am BST at Wallingford Cottage Hospital.

We know that Mummy and Daddy are very proud and happy that you've arrived because they've started sharing photos of you on the internet already. We've not heard from Toby on the subject just yet, but we're sure he's pretty happy too.

We look forward to meeting you in person soon.

Love,
C&M
M&C

It's time to move on

It's time to move on
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

We think we've found the perfect next house for us so we're embarking on an adventure in buying and selling houses starting... now!

We'll keep you posted on progress and, just as soon as a few details are ironed out on the purchasing side of things, show you some pics of the next UlloaSullivan pad.

Tweeting Funny

Who does this look like to you?

IKEA Craig
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

I received a rather excited phone call from my Dad while at work the other day letting me know to check my email. After loggin in and ploughing through the various spam I receive from Celine Dion (true) I came across the email that he was referring to and saw this picture that they had come across in the latest Ikea catalogue.

Apparently, they are convinced it looks just like me. I don't see it. But it makes me wonder if they are discretely letting me know that they've noticed I have visited much so far this year and have therefore forgotten what I actually look like.

I discussed with Michelle last night and she agrees that I might be in trouble. To put things right we will attempt to recreate this pose for UlloaSullivan.com readers so you can all vote on whether I need to quickly redress the situation before the postal deadline arrives for birthday gifts.

Watch this space...

A Money Saving Tip for June

And what a lovely month it is. For me it's when the summer really gets started - M finishes out the school year, the A/C starts to come on earlier in the day and we start to think more seriously about what we need to pack for our summer trips and there is a birthday or two scattered in there somewhere too!

And that brings me on to my tip for the month - if you are looking for the perfect birthday gift for someone, don't be afraid to check out the Wish Lists on Amazon (both the .com and .co.uk sites). Not only do they have the world's largest selection of all manner of goodies, but it'll almost certainly be cheaper and save you on the sales tax you'd pay in the stores too. And if you're saving money you might just as well get the birthday boy or girl  a little something else, too.

And that just goes to show you, the service we provide here at UlloaSullivan.com is rarely about us - it's really all about you!