More baking....

You've seen Hannah bake cookies with Mom. Here are some pics of Hannah baking with Dad.

Here we are making a heart-shaped pizza for mom for Valentines Day.

As you can see it turned out really well...

And here we are making buckwheat crepes:

Surprisingly everything we've made has been pretty tasty!

California Science Center

A few years ago I went to the California Science Center and had a good time. I like any science museum where you get to learn about physics by pushing buttons and turning knobs. So one day I took Hannah to the CSC hoping to do this, but sometime between our visit and the time i last went (maybe about 6 years), the CSC added an entire wing to their building called "Ecosystems" and it just recently opened a few months before our visit. I had no idea! So we had to check it out.

There were lots of cool exhibits but the main attraction is definietly the Kelp Forest Aquarium.

It even has a Wave Machine and Tunnel. With a Touch Tank nearby!

The Aquarium of the Pacific will charge you $25 a person to see this, but the CSC is absolutely free!!! (donations recommended though)

Despite all the photos of marine life, Hannah's favorite part of the visit is the Porcupine of the Desert Ecosytem.

This isn't really a photo I took at the CSC. The porcupine exhibit dark so its hard to take photos.

Anyway, the California Science Center was so cool we went again two weeks later when Lola visited!

And no trip to Exposition Park is complete without a stop at Mercado La Paloma!

Mercado La Paloma is a Latin American Food Court where they have Yucatan Food. And they have a play area in the middle so you can eat while your kids play. Why don' t more places have this?

So what about the buttons and knobs? Well, the CSC has replaced a lot of those exhibits with touch screens. No offense, but we already have an iPad. But with the Ecosystem wing, who cares? We'll definitely be back to visit the porcupine thats for sure!

Gold Line to Olivera Street

I've always enjoyed riding on trains. I have no idea why I'm drawn to them. Probably because they make you feel like you aren't in Southern California, because really who rides trains here?

Well, I thought I would share my love of trains with Hannah by taking her on her first train ride to downtown LA!

We started at the Del Mar Station in Pasadena. There's a fun, kid friendly restaurant literally at the station (Le Grand Orange), and you can even see the trains come and go while you eat.

We took the Gold Line because unlike the closer Red Line, the Gold Line is entirely above ground.

Union Station

Apparently Hannah didn't think I had enough spending money.

Olivera Street! We used that dough to buy about $25 worth of musical instruments. Take that, Kindermusik!

Hannah begins her Churro addiction here.

Going Home!

We had a great time downtown. We haven't done it since though, because it takes just as long to drive to the Pasadena station as it does to drive downtown. Now I know why no one here takes trains!

First Solo Pony Ride!

Where else...at Griffith Park!

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

Kids and Ponies. Enough said!

Duck Phobia and Dad Fail

Over the course of the winter, Hannah developed a fear of ducks. This is 100% my (dad's) fault. Here's how it happened:

There's this outdoor mini-mall in Valencia that has a duck pond in front of it. This looked like a nice place to feed ducks, so I took some old bread and give it to Hannah. She was having a great time feeding the ducks -- as long as she was on the bridge over the pond. Being part of a mall, I made the assumption that these ducks were tame.

This was a bad assumption.

We decided to get closer the ducks so we got off the bridge and stood out in the open to feed them. They soon surrounded us.

This is when dad should have chased them away. But one of the ducks, eyeing some bread in Hannah's hand, lept up to her and grabbed the bread away from her, biting her hand in the process. Fortunately the bite didn't break the skin. But the bite did scare Hannah enough to the point where anytime she saw a duck she freaked out. Oops.

Hannah would not even go near a duck for almost 3 months. I felt bad for a few weeks, but after a while it just became silly. They're ducks, come on!

Well one day we were planning on being in the area of the duck pond, so in oh-so-clever attempt to cure her of this fear, I took Hannah back to the scene of the crime.

I gave Hannah some bread and told her to get to it. Did it work?

Surprisingly, yes! This time she just stayed on the bridge and she had a great time. Phobia cured! I guess you do learn a thing or two from watching decades of bad sitcoms!

Hang In There...

No, this blog has not been cancelled. Dad has just been lazy. For four months.

But he will be posting regularly again soon -- mostly stuff that he should have posted a few months ago and didn't...

Baking Cookies

Fun In The Rain

When I was a kid i loved to race leaves in the gutter after a big rainstorm. I tried showing this game to Hannah. Here are the results:




The real craziness is this movie is me trying to stop the inevitable...

The Coop

What is the Coop you ask?

The Coop is an indoor play area in Studio City created by two moms who wanted to create a more adult-friendly play area.

For kids there's a rope tunnel (a little scary for little ones), indoor slide , bubble pool, step game pad and an indoor jumper! Although it looks empty here, it gets pretty crowded around 3:00pm, once school lets out.

Luckily there's a room in the back with a kitchen set that kids can play in if things get too crazy in the main room.

For adults there's a coffee/snack bar and some magazines.

With the rainy season coming, I'm sure we'll be coming back quite often.