Who Needs Video Games When You Have Wooden Ponies

This past week, Grammy went with Maureen and the boys to the Farmer's Market for some tomfoolery.  They stopped in at Kip's Toyland to see if there was anything good.  Lo and behold, there were some wooden ponies on a stick. Grammy picked some up for the boys and they were off to the races entertaining the shoppers at the different stalls.  Actually, I think they entertained the older people who tend to just sit around and have coffee.  Still, the boys had and still have loads of fun with their ponies that even make noises when you squeeze the ears.

Grand Park

Many people think that downtown Los Angeles is just one scary place full of homeless people and the smell of urine.  Let it be known that there are some nice areas that are very kid friendly.  Grand Park just recently opened near the courthouses.  We decided to visit it after we went on the funicular this morning.  As you can see, the boys really enjoyed Grand Park.  And, John got to see the courthouse where I had to go do jury duty this past week.  He really wants to go to a courtroom.  Actually, he wants to go to jail and sing for the prisoners.  Visiting the imprisoned is one of the corporeal works of mercy.

BTW, my mother is probably going to have a fit when she sees this.  She'd never let us play in recirculated water like this.

First Day of School

This week marked the start of the school year for both John and Nicholas.  John is going to full days while Nicholas is doing half days.  We've had mixed results.  Nicholas is happy as a clam and rarely says goodbye when Maureen drops him off at school.  John is a bit more sensitive and needs to be pried off Maureen's leg.  I think he just needs to get back into the swing of things.  He's not crazy about taking a nap, but he does it.  It's only a matter of time before he tells us that he just loves school and his teacher.  This kid.

F-U-N Are The First Three Letters in Funicular

This morning after doing our grocery jurisdictions, we headed to downtown Los Angeles for some fun on a funicular.  For those of you who don't know what a funicular is, it is defined as a railway up the side of a mountain, consisting of two counterbalanced cars at either endof a cable passing round a driving wheel at the summit.  As you know, Los Angeles does not have a mountain downtown, but it is rather hilly.  Believe me, anyone who has ever had to serve jury duty at a downtown courthouse knows how hilly it is.

We headed to Angel's Flight on Hill Street.  I don't know how we got on the topic earlier this week, but we told John about it and he's been asking us about it for the last couple of days.  Since we didn't have any plans, we thought it might be a good time to go down there and see Angel's Flight and Grand Park.  Additionally, I was able to show John the different courthouses in Los Angeles.  He really, really wants to go into a courtroom.  I don't know why.

Water Guns Are Fun on a Hot Day

I don't know about you, but if you were to ask me, this weekend was pretty Africa Hot in the Los Angeles area.  All summer long, the boys had been asking for Super Soaker guns every time they'd see one at Target. We, of course, told them no because they were too young and they didn't need them.  Yesterday, we stopped in at Target to pick up some supplies for the boys school requirements.  As we walked through the toy aisles, I noticed a nice red tag on the Super Soaker guns.  Sure enough, guns that were $12.99 last month and $5.99 just three weeks ago were now only $2.98.  I had to pick them up.  The boys were so excited and wanted to play with them immediately.  I told them that they had to be patient and wait until it cooled down a little bit.  By the looks of the picture, do you think they had a good time?

Two Kids in a Candy Store

Saturday, we too the boys to The Farmer's Market to visit Dylan's Candy Bar.  The boys had no clue they were about to visit the Wonderland of Candy.  We'd been to Rocket Fizz before; however, the two do not compare.

As we entered the door, we were greeted with a sample of a white chocolate coated Bugle.  It sounds odd, but it was really good.  Both boys passed on the sample because they wanted the Whirly Pops aka Big Lollipops.  After picking out a couple, they then moved onto the specialty chocolate bars.  Each picked out a different bar.  I think they basically just picked due to the color.  John picked blue and Nicholas picked orange.

We walked around the store and saw all kinds of fun candies.  John wanted a couple of Pez dispensers, but I said no to him since we were already buying the Whirly Pops.  Nicholas kept on grabbing anything that was orange.  As you may or may not know, the boy loves the color orange.


John did give in and tried the white chocolate covered Bugle.  He said he liked it, but I don't think he did.  All in all, the boys were impressed with the store.  It wasn't inexpensive, but it wasn't outrageously priced either.  I am a firm believer in the old saying:  You Get What You Pay For.

Pancakes with LAFD and Open House with LAPD

This morning, we headed to our local fire station to have pancakes with the firefighters.  This was our second visit to this station.  Last time, we went to the Open House in May and took a tour.  Today, we were able to enjoy a nice pancake breakfast and go inside each of the fire trucks.

The boys were pretty excited since we were going to be joining their friend Annabelle and her family for the walk over to the station.  When we got there, it was a packed house.  They did their best to keep the lines moving and we were able to enjoy a nice stack of flapjacks.  The firemen cooked them on a griddle that used to be an old NY fire truck.  It was really cool.  Plus, Wilshire the Fire Dog was there.  The boys each got a collectible card featuring Wilshire on it.  By the time we got home, neither still had his collectible card.  Are we sure that these two are my boys.  I would have thought that they would have already learned the importance of collectibles with me.  Oh well, live and learn.


In the afternoon, we headed over to the LAPD Wilshire Division Open House.  They had a bunch of exhibits and fun activities for the kids to do.  As soon as we parked, Nicholas looked over at the roof and saw the police helicopter.  We immediately made a beeline for that.  Nicholas hopped right in and John had to be prodded a bit.  He kept on worrying that the pilot would tell us to get out.  Once the pilot assured him it was ok, he felt better about it.

Next, we headed over to see the old police cars.  These were special cars from the Peterson Automotive Museum that had been featured on Adam-12.  John and I were really excited about that since we enjoy watching it together.  Nicholas just wanted to walk on the concrete.  There was an old police station wagon next to the cruiser that Sgt. MacDonald used to drive to investigate the situations as needed.  I immediately recognized it since it is one of my favorite all time shows.

John has often asked to go visit a police station for a tour.  Today, he got his wish.  We saw the benches were the bad guys are handcuffed and the actual jail where they hold prisoners.  It was empty for the day.  John didn't want to go in there because he was scared the bad guys would be in there.  After seeing that, he was ready to leave, but did I mention that was within the first 5-minutes of the tour?  We made it about half way through the tour before we decided that it was time to go.  Both boys were acting up and Nicholas kept saying inappropriate things at the wrong time.  That boy needs to learn to self edit himself.

Sunday with the Lopez Ohana

The Lopez Ohana were kind enough to invite us over for a bbq last Sunday.  The boys were very excited because they hadn't been there in a very long time.  Actually, Nicholas had never been there, so it was his first time.

Since there was no traffic, we got to Westchester about 30-minutes too early.  Instead of showing up early, we decided to take a drive around LAX to see the planes.  John was quite excited to see the planes taking off and landing as we drove around.  Nicholas was just enjoying the car ride and chiming in every so often with something out of left field.

When we finally went to the bbq, the boys were so excited to see Matt, Dana, Dylan, and Matteo.  They were able to play in Dylan and Matteo's play room and even got to play with their cycle and skateboard.  Nicholas was a natural on the board.  He got up on it and stood on it with his arms extended like he was surfing.  He's crafty like that.  Not to be outdone, John rode Matteo's super cool Razor cycle that does 360s.

Regarding the food, it was good old fashioned hamburgers and hot dogs.  Our Nicholas didn't eat anything except cheese and tater tots.  He's difficult like that.  John was a champ and ate his burger and tots.  As a matter of fact, he turned to Maureen and said, "Uncle Matt makes the best hamburgers ever."  That's high praise from a gourmand like John.

As we left, we decided to take another drive around LAX to see the lights.  John was in heaven.  He was out at night.  He could see the planes landing and we even drove by the LMU fountain.  I think it was the best night ever aside from the nights we spend in hotels.  It was a lovely end to a lovely day.

Artists in Residence

Maureen feels the boys need to express their artistic sides through paints.  I'm not a fan due to the mess, but they do seem to enjoy it quite a bit.  Recently, we've been moving things around and Maureen created an art corner for the boys do do some of their work.  As you can see, John truly enjoys his space.  He enjoys it so much that he sent Nicholas off to their dining table to do his art project.

Nicholas really enjoys painting.  He has been looking forward to it since the day John brought his first painting home from school.  Last Saturday, we picked up a set of Melissa and Doug finger paints at Marshalls.  It was a good price and far cheaper than The Busytown Playset they were asking me to buy for them.  Both were very excited at the prospect of finger painting.   They did not understand the concept since they had only painted with paint brushes up to this point.  Needless to say, they really enjoyed getting paint all over their hands and making a fun painted mess in the courtyard downstairs.

The Puppy Whisperer

Sunday, we stopped in at the Borrego residence to pay a visit to the Borrego girls and their little doggies.  John and Nicholas had been wanting to go see the puppies for the longest time.  On Saturday, we called and asked if we could stop for a visit.  When Lulu said yes, John immediately did his happy dance and Nicholas followed suit pretty quickly after that.  They were so excited and were not disappointed.

It seems that John takes after his mother and loves dogs while Nicholas takes after me and is afraid of them. Actually, he's not as bad as I was when it came to dogs, but he just doesn't like to have a dog jump up on him.  WHo can blame him?

Riding Sampson

Grammy, Maureen, and the Boys took a trip out to Aunt Patty and Uncle Fred's house in the hills.  Usually, we only head up to the Gaunt Ranch around Thanksgiving or Christmas, but Maureen called and asked if the Boys could come up to see the horses.  Aunt Patty said they could even ride the horses if they wanted.  One person took a chance and rode the horse.  Normally, if Maureen had told me one of the boys went for a ride and the other was too scared, I would have thought our little daredevil, Nicholas, would have gone for the ride and our Cautious Claude, John, would have not.  It was the other way around.

First Trip to the Movies

Last week, we took the boys to the movies for the first time.  Actually, we took them to the Park La Brea Theater one time to watch Cars 2, but that didn't go so well.  For that reason, I call this one the first trip.  They were quite excited to actually go into the movie theater at The Grove.  Usually, we'll just let them run around in circles in the lobby before we go somewhere else.

They were quite excited at the concession stand because they got a box with popcorn, an icee, and a box of candy.  John was in heaven because he loves all three.  Nicholas hates popcorn, so he wasn't as excited.  Maureen and I had his popcorn.


In case you were wondering, we went to see Ice Age 4.  The theater was empty except for two other groups, but we could pretty much sit anywhere we wanted.  John was good and made it through the entire movie.  Nicholas had a bit of a hard time and had to go out to see the fountain at The Grove.  Still, he did seem to like the chairs, but he didn't like the loud parts.