Congratulations

John would like to congratulate the Lowe Family on the birth of young Nicholas Lowe!

He Enjoys His Milk

John loves his milk. When he wakes up, he immediately asks for milk (well, that and fountains or water), but it does one good to see our boy enjoying his milk. There was a time when he wouldn't drink from anything but his sippy cup. Now, he's mastered the art of straws, so there's no going back.

Yes, we let him run around in his diaper from time to time. If we let him run around in the nude, he tends to moon us. This afternoon, he gave us several "BAs" as we were changing him and getting him ready for his bath. I suppose he's ready to join a frat if he's already mastered the art of the moon.

Long FUN Weekend

Friday afternoon, we headed to Village Pizzeria for an early dinner. As we walked up Larchmont Blvd, John kept on saying "PIZZA!" "ICE CREAM!" Maureen told him where we were going and I just whipped him into a fervor that almost made him ready to explode! We were lucky enough to grab the big mosaic table on the patio and enjoyed a lovely meal al fresco. As always, John charmed our neighbors with his tales of pizza and ice cream. Our waiter was kind enough to give John a sticker as we were leaving. At 31 Flavors, John had his standard strawberry (much like Papi used to eat), but he also took some mint chip from Maureen and some chocolate from me.



Saturday was the really big day. Since John loves trains, we decided to take him to the train ride at Griffith Park. The Lopez Family joined us for some fun. Everyone, except for Matt Lopez and Nicholas got to ride the train. It was a mixed epxerience for John. He likes looking at the trains, but he doesn't necessarily like to ride the train. As soon as the train started moving, he got a little freaked out. It didn't help when we rode through the tunnel and the other little kids started screaming. That really got to him, but it was over soon enough and we went off to lunch at Pat and Oscar's. It was our first time there. It was reasonably priced and the food was pretty good. Later that evening, we walked to the fountain for John to take some laps and wind down before he settled down for bed.



Sunday, we headed over to the Farmer's Market for breakfast. Actually, we started at the fountain at The Grove because every trip to The Farmer's Market/The Grove needs to start with a trip to the fountain. We ran into John's little friend Julia and her family. They were enjoying the fine donuts over at Bob's. We decided to head over to Phil's for a full breakfast. I must say that I wasn't a fan of the pancakes, but Maureen loved the eggs. It was a full day of shopping that culminated with a trip to Kmart where we bought some clippers to trim John's hair (thanks to Mandy Morgen of Ventura, CA for the idea). He really flipped out when we cut his hair, but he no longer looks like a shaggy hippie. The evening ended with a trip to the fountain. Many of our stories involve a trip to the fountain.

Today was supposed to be a lazy day, but it turned into quite a busy day. We headed out to Target to ride the "Up and Down" and to see the fountain. The fountain wasn't on, but we took quite a few trips up and down the escalator. The sad part of the day involved our elevator being out of order. That meant we had to carry the sleepy John and Nicholas' stroller up six flights of stairs. That wasn't fun. Fortunately, the elevator was fixed and we were able to take a trip to. Take a guess where we went. Yes, we went to the fountain, but we also went to Tuti Fruiti to get some "Go-Gurt" as John calls it.

All in all, I'd say it was a great weekend. In case you are wondering, Nicholas was a little angel through it all.

Our John Is A Cultured Lad

My father made the mistake of showing John a PowerPoint slide show of Mexican haciendas. I say it is a mistake because Our John demands the show on command. He calls it "Water" or "Agua" because a few of them have very nice fountains or pools. Believe me, it's a lovely slide show and all, but when it's finished, he says, "Again?"




Anywho, Cielito Lindo plays in the background. Watch this video and see John sing along. It's at about the 37 second mark, but it's worth it.

Yet Another Good Diversion

After visiting his favorite fountain (pronounced "foun-TAYN"), we went to look for the crazy car at The Grove. They'd moved it because The Sparks were having an event at The Grove (Don't get me started on women's basketball. It'll never work).

Anywho, we found the crazy car and John just chased after it for what seemed like an eternity. Thankfully, he's easily entertained.

Shortly after this video, we went to the bookstore to go on the "Up and Down."

A Great Diversion for John

Our John likes a few things. He loves water and fountains, but he also likes escalators, aka, the "Up and Down". We went up and down three times before I made him go into Target. Yes, that is him squealing in delight as we go up. He does that all the way up and all the way down. If you listen closely, you can hear him say, "Again!" at the end.

Rocking Out

John enjoys "Make Way for Noddy". He loves the songs. Here, he sings along to Noddy's song about trying once more. If you notice, he really gets into it and starts a bit of head banging. In the last frame, you'll see the sheer delight on Nicholas' face.

Lunch At Tony P's

John loves the marina, so we decided to do lunch at Tony P's to give him a chance to see the boats. After looking at the boats, we had a nice meal at our favorite restaurant this side of Fiddler's Bistro. We were forunate enough to run into Nonna Louise. She was there to support a school fund raiser. We were just there to enjoy a nice lunch at the marina, but we'll go with the story that we were supporting the fund raiser as well. We're good citizens like that. We care for our community

John had the grilled cheese lunch special. Actually, he didn't eat much of it. he filled up on the chicken appetizer, bread, and his favorite beverage, no not a Coca-Cola product, MILK!!! I remember when he couldn't drink through a straw. Now look at him, he's just sipping on that straw like there's no tomorrow. As for our meal, it was quite similar to our trip to Calendar Grill from a couple of weeks ago. Maureen and I took turns walking around with John whilst the other ate. BTW, Nicholas, as always, was a saint. He was quite patient and waited for his bottle without any protests.

We may have to ask a friend who is a member of the California Yacht Club to get us into the club. I think that may just drive John WILD!!!

Saturday At The Park

Last Saturday, we took a lovely trip to a baseball game at a local park. One of Maureen's students asked her to attend one of his games. So, she thought it would be a good idea to take John to the game. We went. I can tell you that he was not too excited over the game. Maureen and I had to take turns in walking him around the ballpark. On a side note, all parents have my admiration for attending their childrens' games. I don't think I'd been that bored since I sat through the movie, "The Majestic."

Fortunately, there was a playground to entertain John after the game. It had your standard play structure and spongy ground. Honestly, do we need to child proof everything in life? Whatever happened to falling down and scraping your knees? Oh well, I can long for days gone by, but they'll never be back.



There were two special aparati on the structure. One was a musical instrument and the other was the slide. John wasn't too crazy about the musical instrument, but he did play with it. He did have LOTS of fun on the slide. Check out his reaction on the video below. It's priceless. Then again, most of his reactions are priceless. Be sure to turn the sound up.

John's Tactics

Most nights, John does not want to go to sleep. He does everything he can to stall. He'll ask for milk. He'll ask for Oswald. He'll even ask for Nicholas, "Baby??" Lately, he has taken to asking for "Mama" or "Daddy". The other night, he started to ask for "Papi". Out of nowhere, he just said, "Papi?" and later he followed it up with "Goodnight Papi." Mind you, we live in the city and my parents live in the suburbs.

The Second Coming of Culacho?

We had a lovely breakfast with Grammy Brady at Fiddler's Bistro. John was quite excited to eat pancakes; however, his pronunciation on it is a little off right now. It sounds like he says "mancakes" when he talks about pancakes.

Anywho, after our breakfast, we walked back to the fountain at Burnside Circle. As part of our activities, Maureen could not resist giving John a science lesson. She saw a pill bug, aka rolly polly bug, and decided to show John how to hold it. When she had it, he was ok with the bug. When she gave it to him, he didn't exactly like it. Still, he was very good and I'm sure he'll grow to love bugs. He is my son and I used to delight in ripping apart centipedes when I was 3-years old.

Happy Mother's Day

To all mothers, grandmothers, and godmothers, happy Mother's Day.

Olvera Street

Now, I hadn't been to Olvera Street since my 4th grade field trip in 1983. I don't remember much about it, but I do know there were just a bunch of stalls all over the place. In the 27-years since then, not much has changed, but that's just me. I'm not going to push my views on my kids. Plus, it's part of John's cultural history in many ways. After all, his grandparents do come from Mexico and he is a 6th generation Angeleno on Maureen's side.






Anywho, since we were already there, we decided to go to lunch at one of the restaurants on Olvera Street. We wound up eating at the one at the end of the street. Maureen loved her meal, but I wasn't too impressed with mine (it was a bit flavorless). John really liked his enchillads and carne asada. He even drank from a straw for the first time ever. I was very impressed with his skills.


As we walked down the street, he kept on trying to grab things from each of the stalls. We found that he really like the little guitars. We should have bought him one, but we didn't. I suppose I could go there during my lunch break and pick one up this week. I will also say that we did find some authentic guyaberas from Yucatan and some juaraches in John's size. My sister, aka Mrs. Lowther, claimed that they didn't make either in his size. Someone's a bit of a confabulator.

After our nice stroll down the oldest street in Los Angeles, we walked to a little church that played a big part in Maureen's family's life. Her great, great grandparents were married there in 1861 and her great grandfather, Isidore, was baptized there in 1868. There's a nice plaque dedicated to his memory next to the baptistry. Hmm, I wonder if the title of Knight of St. Gregory is hereditary. If so, that would make our John Nicholas Knights of St. Gregory. Let's just decree them Knights of St. Gregory and be done with it at that.






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Union Station

Saturday was National Train Day. As John loves trains, we decided to go to the train station to let him see them first hand. Also, I wanted to teach him that trains do not have faces like they do on the Island of Sodor.




There were all sorts of activities going on. We attempted to get to Union Station by 11 AM, but we were a bit delayed and then we couldn't find parking. As we entered the lobby, there was a giant stage and all sorts of buzzing. Off to the left was none other than Mr. California himself, Huell Howser. As we approached Huell, the Spirit of Troy marching band got up on stage and started to play. Our John did not respond well to that. We had to leave because he hates really loud noises. Either that, or he has inherited Bruinocity from me. I'm sure Grammy would be happy if he went to USC. I just don't want to foot the bill.

We made our way to another part of the station and kept on moving toward the train platforms. As soon as we got away from the music, John calmed down. On a side note, our Nicholas slept through it all. He really started to enjoy the walk through the station because he noticed there was a fountain in the courtyard. That kept him entertained for quite some time. Regular readers will know just how much he loves any form of water.


When we made it to the platform, he was a bit confused. There weren't any trains at the station. Pretty soon, he heard a train whistle and saw a real live train. He was so excited and wanted to run on the platform, but he was very good and didn't whine when we told him that he needed to hold our hand. He's always good about holding hands when we are in parking lots or on the streets.



After toddling about on the platform, we decided to head over to Olvera Street for some lunch. Along the way, we ran into Huell Howser and had our photos taken with him. You can see those on an earlier post.

Dinner Last Night

Maureen and I had plans to have a nice meal at Calendar Grill on Wilshire Boulevard. It's like a fancy Marie Calendar's with a different menu, but they still had the pie. For those of you who think the one at The Bridge is the only one or the first one, you are sadly mistaken. The one on Wilshire has been there for 20-years according to Maureen.

Anyway, John didn't exactly agree to our plans. He just wanted to go outside and walk around, so Maureen and I had to take turns walking around the restaurant with John. Nicholas, as always, was a saint and slept through it all.

On one of our trips around the restaurant, John and I walked by the piano player. John loves music, so he just sat down by the piano and smiled at the piano player. After a few minutes, he got back up and we started our walkabout.

As we were leaving, we had to walk by the piano player. The minute he saw John, he launced into playing "Linus and Lucy". For those of you who don't recognize the title, it's the music from the Peanuts/Charlie Brown cartoons. As you can see, John decided to act like a Peanuts character and get his groove on.

California's Gold

We had a great time at National Train Day at Union Station. We went thanks to Huell Howser. He made a posting on Facebook about the event. Since John loves trains, we decided to make a trip out there (I'll post the full story shortly). When we got there, we saw Huell, but didn't go bother him. On the way out, we ran into him and he was gracious enough to pose for a few photos and even said, "Oh my" when Maureen mentioned that John, Nicholas, and she were part of the Dockweiler Family. Sadly, Nicholas was taking a nap, so we didn't get any shots of him with Huell. Oh well, I suppose there'll be plenty of time for that when/if we bump into him on Larchmont Blvd.

Sorry For The Delay

Our computer crashed. I need to get a memory card reader this weekend to transfer photos, so I won't have anything new until Saturday at the earliest.