Yes, He's Getting a Bike for His Birthday

John's birthday is a week away, but we decided to go pick out a bike at Toys R Us yesterday.  As you can see, he picked out a blue Huffy bike.  My first bike was a Huffy, but I think I was 7 when I got my bike.  He's two whole years ahead of me.  Now, let's hope he likes to ride his bike as much as he says he will.  He did seem to have a giant beaming smile as he rode through the aisle.

Nicholas was asking about a bike for him, but we had to tell him taht it wasn't his birthday.  That being said, if he's good, he may just get a red Radio Flyer scooter since they are clearance at Target!!

Their Latest Efforts at Swimming

John and Nicholas were invited to their classmate's house for a birthday pool party.  As always, John was a Cautious Claude.  Nicholas was a bit cautious as well since he usually follows John's lead on everything.  Eventually, they did make it from the hot tub into the swimming pool.  Their swimming vests kept them afloat the entire time.  Nicholas actually wanted to remove his vest, but we didn't let him.  That boy is fearless!

A Super Cool Birthday Party

Yes, that is Elmo feeding John some birthday cake! 

It's Not Easy Being Green

We headed out to Wilshire to see the happenings at CicLAvia.  The boys were quite astounded to see no cars on the road.  We met up with some neighbors for a nicel liesurely walk down the block for some frozen yogurt at Tuti Fruti.  It didn't exactly go as John had planned, but he eventually got over his mood and went along with the plan.

To top it off, we stopped in at Ralph's to pick up some fruit and found some pinwheels on sale.  As Nicholas put it, a pinwheel is "like a ferris wheel on a stick."

Father's Day - Year Five

This year, I decided that we were going to have a Boys Day Out at Griffith Park.  Knowing that John doesn't like surprises, I cleared the idea with him.  Initially, I wanted to hit Travel Town and the Merry Go Round, but he asked if we could go to the Griffith Park & Southern Railroad, the one that's next to the 5 and the Mullholland Fountain.  At first, I said no, but then I gave in.  We'd be in the area, so why not.  Mind you, I asked him on Thursday night and he kept on talking about it until today.  Actually, he was very upset that we couldn't go yesterday and decided that we should cancel our visit.  Lucky for him, Maureen and I are the BOSS!

So, we woke up this morning and decided to have breakfast at home to speed the process along.  I wanted to go to Charlie's at the Farmer's Market, but the boys wanted to go to Phil's.  The decision to stay home save me some money, so I'm ok with that.  I told John that he needed to poop before we left because I didn't want him pooping in the outdoor toilets.  He was worried that he wouldn't be able to go on command, but he came through like a champion!  

The drive to Griffith Park was a small bit of torture with John continually asking how much longer.  Thankfully, Nicholas was quiet and didn't ask questions.  He was just happy to be heading out.  As we arrived, John decided that he wanted to ride the ponies, but when the time came to ride the pony, he totally backed out.  He'd rather ride Aunt Patty's ponies in the mountains.

It was quite a marathon to hit the two train stations and the merry go round with all the construction around Griffith Park.  We had to take a detour into Toluca Lake and onto the 134.  The official detour had us exiting at Forrest Lawn, but that off-ramp was packed with all the people going to visit the cemetary.  Eventually, we found our way through Burbank and made it to Travel Town.  After that, we were headed off to visit Mami & Papi to drop off some cookies for Papi.

Sure enough, the boys had a blast.  Maureen was a trouper because she wasn't feeling well, but she made it through the day.  Was this something I really wanted to do?  Yes and no.  I didn't want to do it because driving around a park to get to three attractions isn't my kind of fun on a Sunday, but doing it for the boys is the reason to do it.  The looks and the smiles on their faces made my day.  I know they won't always want to hang out with me, so I'm taking advantage of it while I can.  I want them to remember a fun daddy who didn't always say, "NO NICHOLAS!" or "STOP IT JOHN!"  I want them to look back on these days and remember the fun of it all because it really is about them right now.  One day, I'll get the chance to talk to adults and watch  something other than Disney Jr or Nick Jr.

Yes, Nicholas did change hats during his train ride.  

Father's Day Cookies for Papi

As is their custom, the boys like to make Papi a special treat when they go visit him on Father's Day.  This year, they wanted to make cupcakes, but we didn't have any cupcake wrappers.  They wanted to make a cake, but we didn't have enough time.  So, they made sugar cookies and decorated them with special home made icing.

On a side note, if the boys make cookies for you, know that they'll expect you only to eat one or two of them.  They'll also expect to eat two or three of the cookies they make.  They are very specific about which cookies you can and can't eat.

Play Date Fun

Since Nicholas has half days at school, he gets all sorts of opportunities to go on play dates with his classmates.  Last Thursday, Maureen took him over to play at his friend's house.  After that, they headed over to another classmate's house for some more fun.  When I heard this, I knew that John would be upset.  You see, he likes going over to to the first house since his own classmate also just happens to live there.  Now, it didn't seem to matter that his classmate was in school with him at the time, but it was just the fact that Nicholas and Maureen seem to have a life without him.  That really bothered him.  Thankfully, he didn't really pay attention when Nicholas was mentioning the second play date or he really would have blown a fuse.

Sliding Fun at Paige's Party

The boys were both invited to a birthday party.  It was Nicholas' classmate, Paige, who had the party at The Awesome Playground.  It was an art themed party and there were all sorts of art treats like Rice Krispie Treats in the shape of a paintbrush, M&M cookies in the shape of a painters pallet, and a good staple at any party, PIZZA!!  The boys were most excited to go into the giant obstacle course and slide down the giant slide.  Had the day been cooler, John would have stayed out there all day, but since it was about 90 degrees, we'd have to head back in.  It was a cool party at a cool place.  The boys LOVED it and I'd have to say that The Awesome Playground is an awesome playground!

Haircuts with Vic

Today, we headed over to our normally scheduled trip to The Yellow Balloon for the boys to get their hair cut by Vic.  We were slightly behind schedule this morning because John had to go to the bathroom really bad and he couldn't hold it in.  I was a little upset because I don't like being late to appointments, but it turns out that things worked out just fine.  Vic was running a little behind schedule, so we were ok with time.

As usual, Vic did a great job on the boys hair.  He took his time and kept them entertained.  Vic is quite the Chatty Kathy.  He just loves talking to me since I grew up in the Valley.  We were talking about all sorts of Valley things.  Now Maureen knows how I feel when her friends and she start reliving their college days at LMU.  Thanks Vic!!

As we left, we decided that we needed to pick up a few things at Target.  John wanted to go to Papi's Target in Granada Hills, but we convinced him that we should go to our Target in West Hollywood because we could go to Daphne's for lunch.  Since we hadn't been there in some time, both of the boys were excited.  John had a plan:  He was going to get a kids hamburger, fries, and Tatziki sauce  On top of that, he was going to share Maureen's flatbread pizza with green sauce, the Margherita.  Nicholas also had a plan:  He was going to share french fries with me.

Lunch was going fine until Maureen looked over at Nicholas and noticed there was a yellow puddle under his chair.  Somehow, the boy managed to pee through his pull-up.  When she changed him, there was not a drop on his pull up.  Perhaps, he adjusted himself and the pull-up didn't cover his whoo-whoo dilly.  Anywho, we cleaned it up.  I "spilled" some water under Nicholas' chair and cleaned it up with baby wipes.  I'd say that place was squeaky clean when i finished with it!

To end this post on a good point, John and Nicholas had a very interesting conversation as we were driving back home on Cahuenga.  Nicholas had picked up a stick in Studio City and was doing all sorts of inventive things with it.  He then started to poke me and I asked him not to do it.  At that point, he decides to poke John.

John:  Nicholas, don't poke my nice hair.  You'll ruin it.
Nicholas:  I don't care.
John:  Nicholas, if you ruin my hair, I'll have to tell Grammy and she'll be soooooooo sad.

That's our John.  He's always thinking of others!

Fun in Downtown Part II

As if fun with art installations and playing with school friends on a Saturday weren't enough excitement, we took it one step beyond!  As we were leaving Paige's house, her dad said that we could take the subway back to Figat7th.  Needless to say, we were quite excited at the prospect of riding the subway, for one stop!

We got on board at the Pico Station.  People were getting off at this station to go watch a Sparks game at Staples Center.  Why would anyone want to go see The Sparks????  I have no clue.  Anyway, it took about 10 minutes for the train to arrive at the platform that was above ground.  John was worried that we'd never go under ground, but he was quite happy once we went into the underground tunnel.  Nicholas was tickled with glee as we went through the tunnel.  Sadly, the ride only took us about 5-minutes to get to the 7th and Flower Station.  John wanted to stay on, but it was getting late and I wanted to get out of Downtown before all the weirdos came out.

This morning, John asked if we could take the subway all over Downtown.  I told him that we could take it to certain parts, but that we wouldn't go to other parts.  I didn't know quite how to explain Skid Row, so I didn't.  I didn't feel like I could explain why it smelled like pee down there as you walk down the streets.  He's still too young and sensitive.

Fun in Downtown Part I

Saturday, we headed to Downtown Los Angeles for an exciting event at FIGat7th.  When I worked in downtown, this space was an old mall with a Macys that had closed and a food court that was on its last legs.  2.5 short years later, there's a City Target, a food  court, and full of hustle and bustle.  Enough of my woolgathering about the location and on with the fun.

We headed to an event called Tangled.  It was some sort of artistic piece where kids would tie yarn/string around poles and eventually get stuck in the middle.  The yarn/string would be quite strong, strong enough to bounce on it.  As usual, John was quite reluctant to participate, but Nicholas jumped right in.  Eventually, our John did get in on the fun and even bounced all around.

As if that weren't enough fun, the boys met up with all sorts of school friends.  They met up with Ever, Kathleen, Paige, Krishna, and even Annabelle from downstairs made the trip for the fun.  After all was said and done, we headed down to the foodcourt for some ice cream and lemonade.  On top of that Paige's parents invited everyone over to their place a few blocks away to play.  We made the short walk over and had great fun and pizza from Pizza Next Door.

Even more fun was to come with a ride on THE SUBWAY!!!

Chaparitas

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Gonzalez's Northgate Market on Olympic to pick up some tortillas and other supplies.  In order to keep the boys quiet, we decided to buy them a treat.  They were quite taken with the little bottles of Mexican soda called Chaparritas.  I know we shouldn't have, but we did.  Not surprisingly, they completely forgot about them until today when they were looking for something in the fridge.  So, as we wait for their Blue Pizza, I decided that it would be a good time for them to try them.  Sure enough, they like them.  I guess these boys aren't as white as Maureen feared.