L.A.

Chad has a meeting in L.A. this weekend so we made a family adventure out of it. 

Friday we headed up the 405 and made our 1st stop: the LA Fashion District. Blocks upon blocks of wholesalers selling men's/women's/children's clothing + flowers + jewelry + textiles...everything you can imagine. Our favorite stop [being the deal hunters we are] is Santee Alley. Basically --  a true alley with hundreds of shops selling anything & everything knock-off from perfume to hair straighteners to men's suits to sunglasses. Imagine the swap meet -- dirtier -- mostly in Spanish -- mostly 99 cents. Gotta love it!

While Chad was in meetings Saturday, Keller & I took in the sights.


Los Angeles LDS Temple

Loved the new Visitors Center w/great interactive displays Keller loved.

Griffith Observatory + Hollywood Sign

Keller thought it was 'awesome' to see the Hollywood sign since it was featured on his favorite 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' movie.

Griffith Observatory was a wonderful stop. Totally free. Keller loved it. He got to see the sun through a telescope. He got to look at the displays of the moon, the seasons, the tide....maybe we have a scientist on our hands?


A smoggy day in L.A.

A cool 18 foot telescope where we were able to view Venus -- ya know -- only 88 million miles from Earth. Totally cool!

We drove most every major road in Hollywood: Sunset, Hollywood & Santa Monica Boulevards. The Kodak Theatre was all set for the Oscars. We drove through Beverly Hills & saw Rodeo Drive. We drove through a few top notch 90210 neighborhoods. 


Great L.A. adventure for the weekend....

Abe Came to Breakfast....and Juan Show Us Around

Had one more day of weekend to celebrate Presidents past.....

Abe Lincoln came to breakfast at our house. Along with our friends, the Spencers. [Who just moved 5 minutes away...We are happy friends again!]  Chad aspires to be President with his pancake artistic abilities.

Next, it was off to Cabrillo National Monument. Great views of San Diego & the Pacific [which I don't think I will ever tire of seeing].

Our friend, Juan, showed us around:

We also checked out the tidepools. Unfortunately -- tide was in. The kids used their presidential strength to get this rock moving:

Even little VP Colton found a smaller rock that needed some pushing:

We finished the day off with a place that any Mexican-wrestling-lovin' President would enjoy: Lucha Libre. Totally unique taco shop decked out in Mexican wrestling motif:

Check out the wrestling mask in the fire extinguisher case: 'In case of emergency, break class, put on mask, save the world.'

The gold booth only C H A M P I O N S are allowed to grace:

Ice T anyone?

Keller's best mean wrestling face:

San Diego Harbor + USS Midway

Took a stroll down on San Diego Harbor on Friday night. A perfect sunset to end the week.

On Saturday we took advantage of February being Museum Month [stopped by Macy's & rec'd a booklet that gave us 1/2 off all museums in San Diego this month. Not too shabby!] and headed down to the USS Midway Museum.

 This was the best museum we have visited here in San Diego. This was a real slice of American history. An actual Navy Aircraft Carrier that was decommissioned in 1992. You get to see all parts of this floating city -- mess hall, bunks, 'the brig' i.e. jail, engine room, captain's quarters, post office, doctors/dentist offices.....

<----- This was one of the Ready Rooms: Where the pilots would assemble before a mission to go over all logistics.




















Every Ready Room featured coffee & the mug wall.
                                                      ---------->

Every squadron that was stationed on the USS Midway had a specific patch. These were a few of our favorites:

Have a confession -- Love the Navy uniforms:

 Keller was a bit freaked out of the ship in the beginning. He has a bit of claustrophobia...and a real fear of mannequins. Yes, mannequins. He flipped out with some of the displays. He calmed down & worked his way through a series of questions and earned his'wings' at the end of the tour. This was one of the great docents supervising his 'pinning' ceremony:

I   L O V E D the USS Midway. It was intriguing to see the inner workings of a real Navy aircraft carrier. I felt a lot of pride since my grandpa served in the Navy. A great stop in San Diego.

Marchant Favorite Things

Since Oprah's not around anymore to share her gargantuanly-overpriced Favorite Things list anymore, we'll fill in:

CHAD 

                                                        MXN FLAUTAS

Roberto's in California is no Roberto's in Las Vegas. We've discovered the next best thing at MXN -- another fast food, way-better-than-Taco- [H]Bell type place. Chad LOVES their flautas & it's right on the way home....so Keller & I may get some rolled tacos out of the commute.

                                           LATE NIGHT STUDY SESSIONS 

Chad's schedule varies from day-to-day. If he has day classes he's home for dinner & to give Keller his needed Daddy attention until bed. If he has night classes he's home after 9PM. His latest schedule will also entail watching TV in bed with me until I'm just about to fall asleep [some nights it's like 8:39PM] & then he gets back into the study groove, heads downstairs & usually doesn't come back to bed until after 1AM. Even on the weekends it's hard to break the habit. Keller told him he's now nocturnal. 

MONSTER 

After his 1AM bedtime you can imagine his love of this item for an 8:30AM class. But, my wonderfully cheap husband will ONLY buy them if they are on sale. When Ralph's had a sale a few weeks back -- we could have supplied enough energy for a small country with his stockpile.








KELLER

THE PRICE IS RIGHT

Keller & Grandma have a date every weekday at 10AM for 'The Price is Right'. We've caught Keller impersonating Drew Carrey & letting us know 'You've won a new car!'. He told Chad the other day that he has seen a commercial almost a thousand times. Chad inquired, 'Which commercial?'. Keller's response, 'The Jazzy Scooter.' Chad told him to stop watching old people shows. [In Keller's defense -- I used to watch The Price is Right at my grandparents house. I understand the powerful drug it can be!]

CALENDAR on the WALL

To coordinate schedules in our house we have a master calendar that hangs in the kitchen -- all appointments, meetings, T-Ball practices, etc. are there. Keller LOVES the calendar & routinely tells us at various times of the day when our next appointment is & how many days until a family member's birthday. He gets a little thrown off when things aren't there & we head out the door. It's his OCDness in action.  We're trying teaching him 'to go with the flow'......

TYSON CHICKEN NUGGETS

The little dude has professed his brand loyalty [Da*n you, Price Is Right] to Tyson Chicken Nuggets. No other brand will do. Oh...and his favorite dipping sauce: applesauce.

DANA

TAHOE...GROUNDED

My beloved vehicle is often restricted to short trips to the grocery store, church or 7-11 for a much needed Dr. Pepper or Redbox.  Gas prices being the way they are [[Da*n you, Price Is Right...J/K]....She's grounded to a short leash in the neighborhood. She desperately misses the open road & splashing in puddles.

NETFLIX, DVR, ON DEMAND

With Chad being Mr. Studious Student these days -- I have a new hot date every night. Maybe it's Neal Caffrey [White Collar] one night taking me on a NY adventure. I  might have a fancy formal dinner with Matthew from Downton Abbey another. Perhaps even learn a lesson on shipping with my friends on Shipping Wars. It's a beneficial relationship for all involved. But, I will never date Drew Carrey .

[[Da*n you, Price Is Right]

PINTEREST

Pretty sure Pinterest has made me a way cooler Mom by finding projects for the 5 year old & me to work on/games to play. I think it's made me gain 5 lbs in its dessert recipes.  I should be losing those 5 lbs. with the fitness plans I pin. It also gives me a lot of great ideas for places to travel & ways to decorate my home when I become a millionaire.    It sucks you in. Somedays you love it [when you find that perfect quote or recipe] & somedays you hate it [really, do I have to decorate, craft & cook for every holiday including Groundhog Day? But, yes I did in fact get a Groundhog worksheet pinned from a teacher's wall last week. Maybe I should revise & say Da*n you, Pinterest!]

I [Heart] You

It was a  festive Valentine's Day at our house. It's fun to have a kiddo that thinks all the little stuff is fun & exciting. We started the day off with customized cereal for all:

Chad's Frosted Flakes: "You're Great!" 

Keller's Cinnamon Toast Crunch: "I CEREALsy love you."

Grandma's Captain Crunch: "You are the CAPTAIN of Valentine love."

We also made heart-shaped cinnamon rolls. [Ya know, my favorite no-muss cinnamon rolls from the can...]

Forget a gourmet restaurant....We had a customized delicious lunch at home. As with any special meal in our house -- what did we eat? S T E A K.

Everyone had a place setting with card & treat: [Kel scored a new Mickey Mouse shirt]

And then came dessert.... I was served THIS wonderful, chocolate-coma-enducing-probably -1587-calories- per-bite cake that a dear friend had made for a dinner at their home a few months back....

 It earned 2 thumbs up:

Great day had by all....with all that lovey-gushy-mushy stuff too.