smileface

top chef

hallelujah, somebody around here loves to cook!

ride 'em

years and years ago, my dad would go hiking at griffith park on sundays, and occasionally, my sister and i would join him. griffith park, to me, is the observatory and the greek theater. imagine my surprise in discovering a little gem known as train town nestled on the other side of the where i used to spend many childhood days. there since 1948- i had no idea!

adjacent to train town is the real crowning glory- the pony rides.

this is not your typical ponies-tied-to-a-may-pole pony ride. at griffith park there is an actual track, the size you might find at your local public school. $3 gets you two times around. it's great!

an additional perk is that there are 3 different speeds of pony available. slow, medium, and FAAAAAST. unfortunately you have to be 7 years old to ride the latter. my kids did one turn at the slowest speed and quickly realized that slow is for the birds. medium it was!

as you can see, the boy had a hard time appreciating the smells commonly associated with these poor creatures. the girl, on the other hand, we all know that she is somewhat...how do you say...nasally challenged. pony poo smell? no problem!

 
stop shaking your head, kev. he got over it eventually! and this would probably be a good time to tell you that my husband once came to this pony ride when he was a child some 20+ years ago. the very same! only he was such a 'fraidy cat he cried the entire time, and his dad had to rescue him from those big, bad, scary 3-foot ponies.

ah, memories...

ah, los angeles

i really don't know where to begin, so we'll just make our way to the beach.

this is santa monica. a tad on the chilly side that day, but the kids couldn't resist frolicking in the waves. all fun and games until auntie grace spotted a dark, looming mass in the water! which is precisely when they all scrambled back to shore, of course! the rest of the afternoon was spent trying to determine what the mysterious mass could have been. verdict- killer whale.

i love these little jokers.

that seagull you see right there though? what a first class as*hole. he tormented me for 2 hours straight. pecking my belongings and searching in vain for nonexistent cracker crumbs on my shoes. i wanted to kick his bony little bird butt. at one point he took a crap an inch from my blanket just to prove what an as*hole he is. i will never forget that maniacal face...

grrrrr... you almost ruined my day you nasty bird.

almost.

bon voyage

i'm back!

i don't even know where to begin.

the kids and i returned from our month-long trip to the city of angels last week. away from home for five saturdays in a row. that's a lot.

if it's possible for an experience to feel simultaneously like an eternity and a blink of an eye, well, there you go. i feel like we traveled to the moon and back. it was, if you can imagine such a journey, as exhilarating, exciting, and exhausting as it might seem.

much to share, friends. back tomorrow.