We arrived in LA just before noon yesterday. God, I miss LA. I miss the sight of smog and the rectangular street layouts. I miss needing to use the driving skills -- especially the team driving skills -- that we've developed.

I don't actually miss smog. It makes me choke. But I feel sentimental while I'm choking.

Budget was out of cars -- at least, in the economy/mid-size/full-size matrix. Rather than bumping us into an SUV or a minivan or (my hope) a Mustang convertible, they drove us over to Hertz and promised to re-imburse us. Whatever. So we have a tiny red Kia Rio.

We played with the kids for a long time: roughhousing, playing board games, arranging the dollhouse. We haven't seen them since last Christmas exactly, while we were returning from Africa. A year ago, the baby was, well, a baby of 8 months. Now he's 20 months old: he walks, he talks sometimes. He generalizes. We gave him a Kinder Egg (the Canadian kind with tiny chokable toys inside) and he pretended to crack it on the edge of a bowl.

After we opened the presents (I got a copy of Comstock's Conversations on Chemistry from 1828!), we settled down to the real business of the evening: Vanguard. My sister and I set up the old Atari 2600 and had a 20-year Vanguard rematch. I'm in the lead so far, which is better than I used to be able to do at 8 or 9. I even get to quote Darth Vader at her: "Your powers are weak, old woman.... Now the circle is complete. Now I am the master."