Downtown

We took the kids for a urban adventure yesterday. Due to their love of trains and animatronics, we decided to blow their minds by taking the Gold Line to Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown LA (yes, that is a small film shoot behind Sadie and I). Clifton's is as authentic as they come - a true 1930's cafeteria that has operated consistently and been owned by the same family for 80 years. It doesn't not get much better for a 2 year old than eating mac and cheese next to a man-made waterfall and life-sized plastic deer. We were a bit too distracted by trying to keep the kids out of the waterfall and multiple trips to the not-so-nice public restrooms (we're potty training) to take photos,so I grabbed the top two photos from the net.

Nothing Like a Good Laundry Basket

The kids love laundry baskets. One of their favorite games is to load up their "boat" with all their stuffed animals and blankets for a long ocean journey. More often than not, they take their boat to Maine. We have a number of children's books about Maine and many involve the sea and boats, including, of course, Titus Tidewater. Not to mention photos and video of our last trip to Maine and going on John's boat. I can't even imagine how excited they will be for our next trip to Maine. Let's just hope we can convince them to leave the majority of stuffed animals and blankets at home.

I'm a Climber!

We do have two climbers on our hands. You might not be able to tell from the angle, but Jack and Sadie were about 10 feet off the ground in this photo. Jack, in particular, is fearless and was swinging from the bar above. While it is a bit terrifying to see them scamper above my head it was hard not to enjoy the beauty of the crystal blue sky and this unusually warm afternoon at our beloved Lacy Park. January in LA sure can be nice.

Delaware - NJ Trip

Another delayed dispatch from the holidays - Two days after Christmas we hit the skies and headed east. We also hit travel delays, but managed to survive the long days in the airport and in the air on either end. The kids were thrilled to see Pud, Mum, Pup, Grandpop, and whole slew of family. As you can see the big hits were the snow and Mum and Pup's house. The snow did start to melt towards the end of the trip, but that did not stop the kids. There was plenty of time to warm up at Mum and Pup's, where it is always tropical. Inspired by their great grandfather's legacy the kids tried out a little crime fighting - or at least some mugging for the camera. They might not strike fear in the hearts of criminals yet, but just give them a few years.

A belated Christmas Post

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We have been pretty focused on settling back into our normal lives, but I am aware that a much belated post on Christmas is due, so here goes:

We had a nice quiet Christmas eve at home. J. made dinner and we sat down as a family for a wonderful dinner including my first rendition of figgy pudding. The kids were very excited to be given cloth napkins and taught to toast their glasses. Once the kids were in their Christmas PJs and snugly in bed we sent to putting out the presents, which had been hidden away up until then.

On Christmas morning the kids woke up at 5:00am. We have no idea if it was due to Christmas (they did not ask to go open presents) or simply a fluke. After fruitlessly trying to get everyone in the house back to bed, we gave in at 6:00am and decided to have a very early Christmas. At first the kids were most excited by the fire in the fireplace, but quickly noticed the presents, presents, and more presents. We started with their stockings from Santa. Santa was kind enough to fulfill Sadie's Christmas wish and bought her purple chocolate. After a few pieces of chocolate we managed to pry the chocolate out of the kids' hands and move onto the abundance of presents.

There was a lot for the kids to be excited about. They spent a good 20 minutes going around on their inchworms from Uncles Craig and Ken. Their were many wardrobe changes as they opened presents with clothes in them. Jack had to wear the Curious George t-shirt also from Uncles Craig and Ken, which he then accessorized with a beanie from Momma Su. Sadie was most taken by a ballet dress from Grammy and Papa. It took us about 4 hours, but we did manage to open all the presents by 10:00am. At which point we all went down for a long nap.

We spent the afternoon making calls to our family far and wide, and then headed over to our friends Jay and Jen's house for a big Christmas dinner. We had a wonderful dinner and didn't have to clean up! We were home and settled in by 8:00.

It was our first Christmas in our own home, and hopefully the first of many wonderful Christmas' to come.

COOKIE!!!

Happy 2011! In the world of photos we're still back in 2010. January will be dedicated to trying to sort through the bazillion Christmas photos we have. Our Christmas festivities began with a cookie decorating party at Jay and Jen's with some of Sadie and Jack's friends including Mimi, Tatum and Zev. The kids were gaga over the endless cookies, frosting and sprinkles.

The all-you-can-eat cookies could only be topped by one thing - a visit from Santa! Even the parents at the party were surprised when Ol' Saint Nick dropped by. He'd dropped a little weight and may have been recovering from a hangover, but that did not dampen the kids' delight one bit.