From La-La Land to Cactus Land

We spent the last several days in the Los Angeles area visiting with Robin’s family. It was a good time and not too hectic a schedule, although we did have several late nights so Enid built up a bit of a sleep deficit. We stayed with our friends Amy and Kai for all except the last night. They have two little girls, Tatum who is five and Tess who recently turned three. The girls all enjoyed each other’s company a lot, but of course the energy level was always very high and constant parental diplomacy was required to keep disputes from breaking out. It made me think a lot about how different our family life would be if we had decided to have more than one child. I definitely like things the way they are.

Yesterday we drove down to Ocotillo, where we are visiting my father for a few days prior to the road trip to Monterrey. Cell phone service is spotty out here, but my father did set me up with a stable internet connection, which is nice after six days without one. Daytime highs here are around 110°F, so we are mostly staying indoors except for early morning and late evening walks. We are keeping Enid busy with various activities. Since my father is an active artist there are lots of art and craft materials around. We’ve already done some clay sculpting and made sea creatures out of insulating foam, and we’ll probably bust out some paints later on. It feels very nice to have some quiet time to relax and play, without any social engagements to keep.

I've received a few email replies from Monterrey preschools in reply to a letter I sent out to about 40 of them earlier this month. José also reports that some letters and faxes have arrived for me from other schools (I gave the med school address and fax number in the letter). I'm glad to see that the letter wasn't a total waste of time and postage. Gloria at the med school told me her son's primary school starts the third week of August, so if the preschools follow the same schedule it's possible we may get Enid enrolled somewhere before the first day of school.