Wednesday January 8 - USA here I go again!!!

At Auckland airport I had to order my duty free bottles for pick up on my return, I also went mad and purchased a new IPad Air!! I did not want to carry this with me so will have fun with it when I get back! The flight from Auckland to San Francisco was very good with only a couple of minor bumps along the way. For the first time EVER I did not have to be fingerprinted on entry into the US, hmmmmm!!! My second cousin, Wendy, picked me up from the airport and we made it back to her place in Cupertino. It was great to catch up with her and the three children - Billy, Luke and Eliza - and it was as if I had never been away for them. Nigel, her husband, is in Vegas for a conference and returns home on Friday. We will meet him for lunch at Google.

After a really good night's sleep I was ready for anything today! We dropped Eliza off at her school that she goes to three afternoons a week and headed for the boy's school where Wendy helps with the running programme. It is an excellent scheme and I even earned some points for their classroom by walking 5 laps while Luke ran 9 and Billy ran 5. It is hard to see but Billy is in the red T-Shirt and Luke is in green, Billy is just behind Luke! Each lap is approximately a quarter of a mile! As you can see from the photo of the school, Cupertino has a backdrop of hills to the south east! 

Wendy and I then went to Boudin's in Cupertino for lunch, what a good selection of food they have and it was very enjoyable. On the way there we passed through Apple territory, Cupertino is the head office!! The weather was a little cooler than yesterday but still relatively mild for winter.

Tomorrow, we are going to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, Wendy is a member and can take one visitor free of charge, oh how I love freebies! On Sunday, when I head to Sacramento, the family are heading to Squaw Valley for a long weekend, so it looks as if I will score a ride! Wendy has also invited me to return to Cupertino on Friday rather than San Francisco so I will get a few more days with them all, nice one!!