Adventures in Santa Monica

I always make plans to get out and about, to take advantage of the things there are to do in Southern California more often. But we rarely escape our little sububurb. There's so. much. to do and we do so little of it. Shameful, really.

So it was a double bonus when an old friend of Hubs' and mine was in Santa Monica for work - an opportunity to catch up with him and for us to get out to the coast for the first time since The Little Boy was born.

We met our old friend at a pub, a pub that my dad and uncle used to take me to when I was wee so we could watch Laker's games in the 70's and 80's. Sniff.

We chatted and ate fried food and peas before heading out for a walk to check out the sea and sunset.

Here's The Boy, acting like the King of Santa Monica, with our friend.

And The Little Boy and Hubs with one of the canons, the story of which I can't remember.

Me and my boys with the pier in the background.

And a not terribly bad picture of the sunset taken from the pier.

It was a lovely evening and reminded me of two things. First - friends are still friends even if eleven years have passed since you've seen each other. Second - It's totally worth the minimal effort it takes to get out and see and do things. 

We're Still Here!

A job change, a move(only 2 blocks from our old place, but still a pain) and half a pregnancy, well, I'm more than half now, have left me less inclined to blog than I have been the last few months - which isn't really all that inclined.

So in lieu of writing a long post about our new house, new room for The Boy and New Baby, here are some pics of us getting out and acting like humans this past weekend. We went into Santa Monica to have lunch with some friends and The Boy loved it!

Here he is walking with my friends, being super cute.

And here he is trying to climb the ancient concrete fence guarding pedestrians in the park from a gigantic fall down the cliffs.

The Only Child of An Only Child

We had a busy weekend, lots of errands, breakfast with my mom, dinner with a friend and a 2nd birthday party for an old friend's little boy. It's a sad state of affairs when I think about the fact that she's my only IRL friend who has a child anywhere near The Boy's age. Makes me sad that he is relatively socially isolated(from kids his own age, anyway). So as much as I cherish this time together and as much as I cling to him being all mine, I'm also really eager for him to start school next September - to have frequent interaction with other little kids. To have little friends and toddler interaction beyond what he gets from Gymboree and his little neighborhood buddies.

Anyway, because he doesn't get the chance to socialize much we jumped at the chance to get out and go to a birthday party. The party was at Travel Town in Griffith Park, a place The Boy loves. Lots of trains and dirt, other little kids and a wooden train set set up for them to play with(good practice for Christmastime ;) )

It was hot out but lovely. So happy birthday, toddler buddy! And thanks for a great day at the park.

Hot Stuff

Since we live in Southern California we have the misfortune of not really being able to enjoy 4 distinct seasons. Instead we have have rain and slightly temperate weather in Winter, sometimes rain and sort of temperate, but often hot, Springs, HOT Summers and a slow descent into Fall - deceptively cool mornings followed by scorching afternoons; several coolish days followed by a heat wave.

We're having a heat wave now and, because hope springs eternal, I try to imagine that this will be the angry burst of Summer before the temperatures dip for good and we actually get our Autumn - that won't be the case, but I'm a dreamer.

Trying not to let my own preference for cooler weather deter The Boy from enjoying himself when it's hot as Hades, we went out and to enjoy our Sunday morning ritual.

A croissant

A splash around in the fountain

Then a walk through the market

Hope you had a lovely weekend!

How We Spent Our Bank Holiday

With coffee and croissants in hand we headed to the park.

First we ate our croissants(Hubs and I drank coffee)

Then The Boy took one trip down the slide, decided he wasn't impressed and spent the rest of his time climbing the ladder

and walking across the wobbly bridge

So he still doesn't like the slide, the swings or kicking his soccer ball around but he luuuurrrrves climbing, running Hubs ragged and almost giving me heart attacks by lunging for the fireman's pole. Now I don't remember having a special love of slides when I was little, but I did really like swings. Don't all kids like swings? And slides for that matter? Is it just my kid being a monkey that makes him want to do nothing but climb and swing from things?

Whatever, he's earned his nap and Hubs and I have earned a break. I've got a cup of tea and a slice of pumpkin cake (from Pinterest!!!!) with my name on them.

Art appreciation, sort of

I used to have such ambitious plans for The Boy - French classes starting at 6 months, music lessons at 3, weekly trips to a museum/gallery/concerto or whatever. 2 years in and I've (sensibly) scaled back my plans. Instead of French classes at Alliance Francaise I practice French flashcards with him in the style of Pepe le Pew. The music lessons are still a possibility - though I have really fallen behind in exposing him to classical music. And the museums etc.? We give it a good go, but have really slacked off.

We took him to the Tate Modern and the Science Museum in London. He's been to The Museum of Contemporary Art here in LA once, the Getty twice and the Page Museum(La Brea Tar Pits) once. That's it! It's something, but still.

Anyway, we did manage to get out 2 weekends ago and took a trip to the LA County Museum of Art. I don't think I'd been there since high school, Hubs and The Boy had never been there and we were accompanied by an art historian friend of mine who actually used to work there. It was awesome!

The Boy's favorite part was the bit that we saw first

Our art historian friend told us about some crazy Spanish cats and explained the room with all the Baby Jesus's, but the best part - in my opinion, anyway - was the French Impressionists - at least I think they're Impressionists. Monet, Cezanne... those guys. Anyway, a trip to The Getty a year ago led us to find Make Van Gogh's Bed, a book much loved by The Boy that narrates famous works of art in childhood verse and makes something tactile within the paintings - fabric on Van Gogh's unmade bed, Degas' ballerinas tutus, Monet's lilies and, as observed by The Boy, Cezanne's fuzzy peaches.

And then, as has become our tradition on our rare cultural excursions, we hit up the gift shop. This time we bought a block puzzle with 6 different self portraits painted by Van Gogh and another book by the creators of Make Van Gogh's Bed; Catch Picasso's Rooster. The Boy insisted on carrying the bag himself.

So The Boy isn't super keen on the puzzle, we've had to put it away since he mostly likes peeling the picutures off the cubes, but he LOVES the book. Yay!

Trip to the Tar Pits

The Boy had his first visit to the La Brea Tar Pits this past weekend. A field-trip staple while I was in school, the last time I had been there was when I was pregnant. So now that The Boy's 2 I figured it was time for him to meet a bunch of extinct creatures and experience the stench of the tar.

Yes there are actual pits of tar and they don't smell too good.

And here is The Boy contemplating his chances of pulling a weight out of some tar.

Our favorite parts of the day were witnessing a (fake) saber toothed tiger mauling a sloth - "Hi kitty," said The Boy, and a big lunch with some friends.

Boy-centric pre-birthday outing

The day before The Boy's birthday we took him to the Kids Space Museum in Pasadena. I've been meaning to go forever but never got around to it so used The Boy turning 2 as an excuse.

So here are my boys as we arrived.

Here's the Birthday Boy on his favorite part of the museum. Seriously, he went back to that car 500 times. He wasn't remotely interested in bugs or rocks, just that car.

He quite liked the "construction area" as well.

Lunchtime was okay. It was really hot, but food makes us happy.

And last but not least, the play room. Resembles Gymboree a lot, but that's fine by The Boy.

It was a good day out. I'm not sure it was such a hit that we should pay to become members of the place, but was a super fun way to let my boy be a boy :)

Weekend cuteness

In keeping with my New Year’s Resolution of us all getting out to the big city at least once a month, Hubs, The Boy and I went to Santa Monica this past weekend. We were foiled in our attempt to visit the aquarium by a private party but enjoyed a nice walk on the pier and a proper pub meal at the King’s Head.

Here's a wriggly boy and I looking out at the sea and the pier.

Then we braved the crowds and shoved our way onto the pier and got this shot of The Boy, pointing the wrong way to the Pacific.

What this photo lacks in scope or technical merit it more than makes up for in emotional importance. See, my dad used to play chess on the Santa Monica Pier when I was just a wee one and, though it’s a crowded tourist trap now, I hope The Boy can one day play chess with his granddad there just like I used to.

What can I say? I tend to wax nostalgic frequently.

Then after the pier, our failed attempt to visit the aquarium and an awesome pub lunch - including The Boy's first ever "child's meal" ordered just for him - we took a walk along Third Street Promenade...

...before climbing into the car with a sleepy toddler who slept the whole way home.

New Things To Do

I got The Boy a play kitchen a few weeks ago. It's made of wood and is small enough to fit between the baby-gate to our kitchen and our china hutch. It looks like this.

My initial thoughts on purchasing it were that it would give The Boy something to do with the sliceable wooden fruit my sister-in-law got him and the wooden pots and pans my parents-in-law got him for Christmas, and that he could "cook" with me instead of hanging off of the gate whenever I'm doing anything in the kitchen. I also harbored grand thoughts of doing my part for feminism by raising a boy who was man enough to play in the kitchen.

Nearly one month in and he really does love it - the buzzer on the timer freaks him out, but he generally finds it pretty fun. He puts the pots in the fridge and would rather dump the fruit behind his kitchen than chop it up or wash it, but it's all good. Oh, and he assuaged any latent fears I might have had(I didn't) about the possible feminizing effects of him pretending to cook and clean by yanking the firmly attached refrigerator door off by its screwed in hinges. Yeah, he's a bruiser.

And while I'm on the topic of hobbies and learning new things, I have decided that I really need a decent camera. I mean, my camera is a decent camera, but not for inside shots and moving toddlers. An example of this can be found when we went to LA MOCA the other weekend and the only shot I could get of my boys perusing the art was this:

Boooooo! Stupid no-flash-allowing museums!

Oh well, at least I was able to document The Boy's first trip to LA institution Philippe's.

Mmmm... Beef Dip.

Anyhoo, the goal for February is for The Boy to put his fruit in his pots and his pots on the burners. For me it's to investigate cameras that will better serve our needs - our running around, often inside and possessing no photographic skills needs.

First Trip to the County Fair

We went to the fair this weekend. Hubs was fairly dubious about the whole thing, but was curious to see if The Boy would be more aware of the animals than he was when we went to the zoo a few months ago.

He was! And our trip to the fair was a huge success. He snorted at the pigs, baaa'd at the sheep and goats and mmmmm'd at the cows. And there I was thinking the animals from his Little People farm didn't resemble the actual animals enough to teach him anything meaningful.

Anyway, here is The Boy taking in some of the fine culinary offerings at the fair.


And looking at some cows


And taking a break with Mama in front of a ferris wheel.


It was a good time.