Steph and I flew to the US at the beginning of June to spend some time with Hannah and Michael, and grandchildren Callum (almost three) and Zoë (one in early May). We enjoyed three wonderful weeks over there, marred only by the fact that we all came down with nasty coughs and colds (courtesy of day care virus diversity from Callum and Zoë) which certainly took the edge off our holiday.

We all traveled to Oregon to spend a week at the beach – at Oceanside, some 100 miles or so west of Portland. It was great playing with Callum and Zoë, and they seemed to have enjoyed the beach and ocean, and having Grandma and Granddad’s attention almost constantly for the week we were in Oregon. During our visits to St Paul, Callum and Zoë are at day care every day from early morning until late afternoon, Monday to Friday, so we only get to see them at breakfast and dinner, and over the weekend.

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It was fantastic to see how they had developed since we were last in the USA in June 2012. Zoë was only a few weeks old then. Now she’s walking, trying some first words: ‘Mama’, ‘Dada’, ‘Hi’, really developing a great personality. But she can be very stubborn. In this short video you can see one of the games we played.

Callum is no longer a toddler, so-to-speak. His language has come on leaps and bounds, and it was fascinating to see him reasoning things for himself.

All in all, a great three weeks.