A quick report to say that the Crawford-Einfeldt trio survived the transatlantic flight and arrived happily in LA about a week ago! Deep apologies for the lack of thrilling updates thus far , but a) we are having way too much fun to dinker around the computer, and b) I forgot my camera cable so can’t upload photos anyway.

Tomorrow we charge off to the San Jose area for a much-anticipated family wedding and reunion. Fully expect a Crawford family overload… kind of like the happy sticky feeling you get when you’ve eaten too many chocolate chip cookies… hope someone (not me) does something shocking that we can talk about for the next few years.

Sophie reports that she is having a rockin’ good time as a California girl and wonders when I will let her start wearing her pink polka dot swimsuit and baby-supermodel sunglasses!

Here is a recent photo of the traveling princess, taken by Heather:

Our latest Family Sunday video will never be described as “riveting, high speed, intensely dramatic, full of action and adventure”. It will, however, be described as “lots of trees and sailboats, guy in green t-shirt, somewhat repetitive baby footage, all captured with a cheap camera”. C’est la vie, we are running a low-budget operation here. And after the highly dramatic meltdown of last night, we were just grateful for a quiet walk along the lake.

The Alster Lake, incidentally, is the centerpiece lake here in Hamburg. On sunny Sundays, It is swarmed with happy people enjoying the many park-like areas and walking/biking paths, sailboats/canoes/paddleboats/swans/geese/rubber-duckies crisscrossing the water, and frequent ice cream stands along the shore (what else do you really need on a Sunday?). Weirdly, about 20% of the woman we saw today were wearing moderately skanky outfits and HIGH HEELS for their stroll along the lake - apparently they had the dirt walking paths confused with Barcelona’s Las Ramblas. I myself haven’t worn a pair of high heels since February, and very well may not again until Sophie’s high school graduation.

Our next undertaking is our first family flight to California. (God, grant me the serenity to survive this experience.)

Here is the evidence of our lazy Sunday: