Christmas Day

Christmas Decorating, The Fun Way

School Christmas Party

John attended his first school Christmas party last week.  I think he had a good time and the cookies looked really, really good.  Maureen helped to make them.

Our Little Bruiser

Last week, John enjoyed his first school Christmas party.  What did he bring to the party?  A black eye that he suffered when he ran into his cousin Ana.  This boy has bumps and bruises all over.  Still, as you can see, he had a good time and it looked like those cookies were really good.  Maureen was asked to help prepare them, so she was really, really honored, thrilled, and excited all at the same time.

Our Fancy Lad

Yesterday, we took a trip to The Grove to pick up the boys' Christmas outfits at The Gap.  There was a killer sale, 40% off EVERYTHING!!!  Anyway, John asked if we could use valet since he really loves the couches in the waiting area.  We only did valet once, but he always asks if we can go to sit down at the couches.  Since it was early, we thought, "Why not?"  We'll be there for an hour or two and it won't be too expensive.

So, we get out things at Gap and head over to the Farmer's Market for some donuts at Bob's.  While enjoying our donuts, John strikes up a conversation with a very nice old man.  Normally, the old people at the Farmer's Market are cranky and don't like kids, but not John's friend.  He has that way about him that makes people want to love him.

So, once all was said and done, we went over to the concierge to turn in our receipts for points and it started to sprinkle a little bit.  A little known fact is that the Grove has something called "Rainy Day Special" where you get complementary parking if it start to rain.  Maureen asked about it and they gave it to us.  So, not only did we have a great day and fine donuts, but we got free valet parking and John got to enjoy the couches he does so love.

Official Shoot with Santa Today

At least they aren't crying this year!

Money Can't Buy You Class

John does so enjoy the Countess' song.  He likes to refer to it as "The Funny Song".

Who Doesn't Love Yakety Sax?

More Thanksgiving Fun

As you might know, our John really likes Jerry Orbach's "Try to Remember".

Thanksgiving Rugby

Soup Party at School

Every year, Plymouth has a soup party the day before Thanksgiving.  Since it is such a special day, I took the day off and attended the grand affair.  Our John was nervous because he doesn't like soup (like father like son).  Thankfully, they had bread and crackers for those of us who do not like soup.

Anywho, it was more of an excuse to play with the other little kids.  John felt great because he took celery into the class as his assignment.  After the party, we headed to Larchmont for some lunch at Village Pizzeria.  Before lunch, we stopped in to say "Hi" to Jerry the Barber since he'd been sick over the last couple of months.  Nicholas was a champ at eating the pizza, but John just wanted to go get the ice cream.  Who can resist the siren song of 31 Flavors?

It was a great day and we had a nice afternoon on Larchmont.  You won't hear any complaints from me especially since Nicholas was in rare form.  He actually paid attention to me and did anything I asked him to do.  What a good little guy!!

John's Favorite Waiter

Several years ago, Maureen was invited to a student's birthday party at an Angels game.  We went and were quite surprised to find that the birthday boy had invited his favorite waiter, Clive, to the party.  I thought to myself, "What child has a favorite waiter?"  Sure enough, John has a favorite waiter.  His name is Joey and he usually serves us whenever we go to "The Breakfast Friends".  Even if we aren't sitting in his station, he'll take the table.  When John plays restaurant, he says his name is Joey.  Now, I understand how a child can have a favorite waiter.

Last Saturday, we had just visited the Farmer's Market and were headed home when we looked up and who did we see?  JOEY!!  Not only was it Joey and his friend Junior, but Joey brought his dog, Maggie, along.  Long story short, Junior was auditioning for a show about make-up artists and created the work of art on Maggie.  After a few pleasantries, we headed over to Blick for some art supplies.  As we are at the cash register, who should walk in?  Joey, Junior, and Maggie.  It was synchronicity at its finest.

Happy Birthday Uncle Robert

There's No Bad Time for Bing Bang

The boys do enjoy music during breakfast.  John likes to play music on his "computer" while Nicholas likes to dance and clap.  They'll be the best song and dance act since Sammy Davis, Jr.  You just watch.

Rainy Day Fun

Halloween Spooks 2011

John Is A Little Daddy

Last week, John told Grammy that he didn't have a dolly or a stroller.  His cousin, Ana, has one.  His cousin, Adriana, has one.  He said that he needed one.  Grammy, being Grammy, bought him a dolly and a stroller.  Her name is Daisy.  John likes to feed her and sing to her.

Thanks Grammy for turning my boy into Herb Tarlek Jr.

He Was Worried About the Rain

John was very concerned when he went to bed last Thursday night about the rain.  He was worried that he didn't have his umbrella with him at that very moment.  He went on and on, as he does, and worked himself into quite a tizzy.  He's either OCD or has the condition that the little boy, Kevin, had in the movie Parenthood.  PLEASE LET IT BE OCD!!!  Anyway, he was jim dandy and fine when he finally had his umbrella.

Happy Birthday Mama

We celebrated Maureen's birthday on Thursday at the Aquarium of the Pacific. We also decided to stay at a hotel nearby since we knew we'd be too tired to go home after the Aquarium. The boys loved the hotel. Enjoy

Conquering the Inner Fear

We headed to the Larchmont Family Fair today.  I knew it would be hellacious, but Maureen enjoys being tortured like that.  Me,  I'm not a fan, but I deal with it.  After going through the food stands, honestly, how many Korean barbeque stands can there be, we headed toward the carnival attraction.  Once again, we see carnies, but they weren't the unsavory kind.

John took one look at the giant slide and started his "I don't want to go on the slide" which means that he does want to go on the slide.  We even called his friend Mimi to go on the slide with him and he backed out.  About five minutes after that, he decided he was ready.  You can see the results below.  I'd never do that even at my present age.  He's a brave little guy.

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

After visiting the Aquarium of the Pacific on Thursday, we drove back on Friday.  Before we started, we decided, or I should say, Maureen decided that we were going to go to the pumpkin patch in Culver City.  She seemed to like it last year.  I was not impressed and was a little put off by the carny types running the rides.  Anywho, we headed to the pumpkin patch and unfortunately, there was a school field trip there.  It wouldn't have been so bad, but there was this annoying little Asian boy, Felix, who was tossing hay all over the place and being a pest.  Maureen thought he may have been special needs, but I think he was just annoying because some boys are annoying like that.  Plus, I saw his mother picking things out of his hair.  I fear it may have been lice.  I hope not, but it could be worse.

There were no unsavory carny types this day, but I did buy a bunch of tokens that we didn't wind up using since no one seemed to be taking tokens.  So, I'll leave it up to Maureen to take the boys back.

The Fall Festival at The Farmer's Market

Last year, John got a chance to play with Cowboy Dave.  He was hoping to see Cowboy Dave and play with his lasso, but no Cowboy Dave this year.  Instead, Nicholas and he just played in the pumpkin patch.  I think we're headed to a larger pumpkin patch next week.  We may even take the trek out to Filmore to take the train ride to a pumpkin patch.

The Party King

Now taht he has started school, John has been invited to all sorts of parties.  Yesterday, he went to his classmate, Valentina's, birthday.  No, she's not Salma Hayek and François-Henri Pinault's daughter; however, she's still a very nice school friend of his.  And more importantly, she had a great birthday party!


Actually, as the day started John was saying that he didn't feel well and that he didn't think he could go to her party.  As time for the party was approaching, he told Maureen that he couldn't go, so Maureen called Valentina's dad to say that John wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be attending.  Sure enough, a minute after that, John said that he was ready to go.  Thankfully, Valentina's dad said to bring John by later if he felt well enough to visit.


He really enjoyed the party.  They had a bouncer which everyone knows is one of his favorite things on the face of the earth.  They had pizza from Bottega Louie.   I must admit taht I was a bit jealous when I heard about the pizza.  Initially, we were going to take Nicholas along, but we decided that he was just too out of control and needed a nap instead.  Oh well, I do have my memories of Bottega Louis pizza.

Autumn Leaves Must Fall

You can tell that his mother shot this video because God knows that I would not have let him play in a pile of leaves!

The Voice

Listen closely and you'll hear the song stylings of one John Dockweiler Gonzalez as he sings the theme to his favorite cartoon, Scooby Doo!

NB, he even does the bat sounds at the beginning.  That's how dedicated to his craft he is.

School Update

John really loves school.  As it was at the beginning, his favorite part is still snack time.  He really loves the lemonade they serve, but he also likes his teacher, Donna, and his "friend" aka school director, Penny (see photo).  In John's world, everyone is his friend.  I'd say that's pretty accurate in most instances.   That boy has such charm and charisma.  He could be a politician.

A Cultured Young Man

Since we joined LACMA, we thought that we'd get use out of it.  It's a nice place to visit and John actually enjoyed looking at some of the exhibits.  As you can see from this photo, he's not quite sure if he likes it or not. He felt that way about most of the modern art, especially the Cristo that was just a burlap bag that was draped over canvas.  Anywho, he was tempted to touch some of the exhibits that looked like giant balls.  The security guard swooped in quickly and put an end to that in no time.

Chef John

Chef John enjoys making muffins.  He made these pumpkin muffins a couple of weeks ago to take to his classmates.  He's quite considerate like that.  He says that he'll make some for me to take to work.  I'm not a fan of pumpkin muffins, but I'm sure my colleagues will appreciate them.  If they don't, I'll give them what's for.

Dancing Rabbi Johnn

John enjoys watching the Chabad telethon as much as I do.

Day One at Play School

John started pre-school last week.  I like to call it play school like Caillou does since all they do is play.  Oh well, here's his first day at Plymouth.

He's a Bit of a Planner

We headed to Costco today to pick up some provisions.   We had to visit the "coldee" room to get the fruit.  He even had to sample the strawberries because he used to getting samples wherever he goes.  That's John's favorite place at Costco aside from the bakery.  He wants a blue ABC cake from Costco for his birthday next year.

John decided that we were going to eat at the Costco restaurant.  He loved eating there a couple of weeks ago with Maureen and Grammy.  Sure enough, he said that he and Nicholas would have a pizza and a smoothie and that Maureen and I would have hot dogs.  Do you think we followed that menu?  We sure did.  Who can resist the great prices at Costco?  It's a madhouse, but it's well worth it.

I asked him if he wanted to throw his birthday party at Costco since he likes it so much.  He said, "That's silly.  You can only have birthdays at houses or parks."

Play School

Thursday was John's first day at Play School, sorry Pre-School.  Caillou calls it Play School, but it is actually Pre-School.  When he woke up, he was quite excited and told me that he was going to school, but he didn't know what he was going to do.  Maureen had been reading "Llama Llama Goes to School" to prepare him for it.

Things went quite well.  He was happy to be at school, but he did start to tear up when Maureen was leaving.  The school director sat him on her lap and he was just fine.  He said that none of the kids talked to him, but then again, he didn't talk to any of them.  When Maureen came to pick him up, he was doing puzzles at a table with his other classmates.

 Maureen promised to take him to a special lunch after school.  I thought they were going to go to Village Pizzeria and ice cream on Larchmont, but they headed out to Tony P's instead.  They shared the caprese sandwhich that John loves and they watched the boats for a while.  There was no side trip to the Ritz Carlton this time.  Oh well, next time, as John says.

They even made a stop into Maureen's old stomping grounds at St. Anastasia.  Apparently, John was trying to answer the Kindergarten teachers questions even better than some of the students.

Someone Is A Little Sick

John's had a bit of a cold since last week.  He's in the final stages; however, his nose is very runny.  Consequently, he needs to wipe his upper lip clean.  Unfortunately, he's done it so much that it is quite sore right now.  I found him on the floor 15-minutes ago putting the bandage on his upper lip.

Two Big Events

This week was a watershed week in John's life.  He sat on the potty and finally made a small deposit (both solid and liquid) and his teacher came over for a visit.  I think it'll be a while before he's completely into sitting on his potty and doing his business, but he seems quite excited about starting school next week.

I'm tempted to post a photo of his potty, but I think that may be pushing it a bit.

Natural History Museum

Sunday, we decided to broaden our horizons and visit the Natural History Museum near USC.  I hadn't been there since I was in the first grade and there was a Muppet Exhibit, so I didn't really know what to expect.  Since it was going to be hot, we knew we'd be in the fine functioning air conditioning for the better part of the morning.  As a special treat, John's godparent's joined us with their two sons, Little Brow Dylan and Matato (that's what John calls them).

There are many things to see at this museum.  We started by going to visit the "Meet and Greet with the Animals".  On display, we were able to see a desert tortoise.  We just kept calling it a turtle because Nicholas kept on screaming "TURTLE!!  TURTLE!!!"  He wanted to touch it, but we were advised that it wouldn't be a good idea.  I had no idea that their shells carried salmonella.  Let that be a lesson to you.  John was a little to scared to touch it even though he said he wanted to.  That's ok, there's plenty of time to grow out of that.  We even visited the Hall of Insects.  John was quite entertained, but Nicholas was a little creeped out and Maureen was just plain grossed out.

Next, our reservation for the dinosaur exhibit was on.  Good Lord, it was a madhouse in there.  You couldn't walk without bumping into another visitor.  Needless to say, the boys weren't terribly impressed with the exhibit (they are still a little too young).  While we were waiting for the Lopez family to join us, we were resting by a window that overlooked the Rose Garden.  At the center of said garden, there is a large fountain.  After John saw that, all he talked about was seeing the fountain.

After lunch, we made it over to the Rose Garden.  John was in heaven because he knew he was close to his fountain.  He loved running around the garden until he reached the fountain.  When he got there, he just wanted to run around the perimeter of the fountain.  He did four laps before we told him that it was time to go.  He wasn't very happy with that because he wanted to stay.  He did get a rose that he really liked.  That calmed him down.  His brother took that rose and played keepaway for a minute or two while John had a minor melt down.  At that, we knew it was time to head home.

 Sure enough, both boys were out in their car seats within 5-minutes of getting into our car, but not before we drove by the fountain one more time.

Tony P's in the Marina

It was such a lovely weekend, aside from the heat.  On Saturday, we headed out to Marina del Rey for lunch and a walk by the boats.  

Quit taking pictures

As usual, we headed to Tony P's for a nice lunch.  John and Nicholas just love to eat there.  Well, John will eat the food and Nicholas will just each the french fries.  We sat right on the water, so John could see all the boats coming and going.  It was quite a treat.  I'm sure all the other diners enjoyed every time John exclaimed, "A BOAT!  A BOAT!"  For the record, he had some of Maureen's capresse sandwich and some of my hamburger.  Truth be told, he loved Maureen's sandwich.  If we just fed him tomatoes and cheese, he'd be as happy as can be.

Let's go to the pool

After lunch, they headed down to take a look at the boats while I paid the bill.  John never understands why we need to pay the bill.  I wish life were as easy as he thinks it is.  In any event, as we are walking down the way, we come across the Ritz Carlton pool area.  Normally, the door is locked, but on this day it was wide open.  John just walks in like he owns the place and starts looking around.  He loves that hotel.  He loves it even more now because he knows that there are a few waterfalls and a large fountain at the entrance to the hotel.  That boy has champagne tastes.  

Museum Day

Last Sunday was just so darned Africa hot.  We were trying to figure out where we could go that had air conditioning.  We decided against a mall since that never ends well with little Johnny Bipolar.  Since we live so close to Museum Row, we decided to visit the George C Page Museum.  For those who don't know about it, it's the museum that is directly behind the La Brea Tar Pits.

Maureen told John we were going to see dinosaurs.  There are no dinosaurs at the George C Page Museum.  It's basically a museum that has woolly mammoth, sloth, and saber tooth tiger bones.  Anywho, we only had to pay for one adult entrance since Maureen had her teacher's id with her.  John wasn't terribly impressed and Nicholas was just freaked out.  John liked the moving mammoth, but he was a bit put off by the moving saber tooth tiger attacking a sloth.

On a funny note, there was a movie playing that gave details about the flora and fauna of Los Angeles during the Ice Age.  We thought this would be harmless; however, there was a rather graphic scene of a horse getting trapped in the tar pits and being attacked by the saber tooth tigers and wolves.  I tried to distract John and we left shortly thereafter.  Nicholas didn't like being in the darkened theater and was whimpering.  Note to parents with small children, avoid the movie at the George C Page Museum.

After our visit, we decided to walk over to LACMA for lunch at The Plaza Cafe.  They have a great cafe with delicious food.  John was a good eater, but Nicholas just ate cheechas, chips, and milk.  As we finished, we headed into the courtyard at LACMA and discovered a wonderland of art.  There were activities for children and John took part in making two great works.  It was so much fun that we decided to become members of the museum.  It's not like our names will be on any building anytime soon, but it gives us a place to go and see fun things.  John really liked the Tim Burton exhibit.  Actually, he liked the little model carousel that was in the room with the black light.  He just wanted to hang out there the entire time.

All in all, it was a great day and now we know about all the fun things we can do at LACMA!



Yes, I was inspired by the museum scene in To Sir With Love to add the music.

Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt

Our John enjoys going to the Tutti Frutti across the street from Ralph's.  He calls it the orange ice cream shop since the decor is mostly orange.  He still doesn't know the difference between frozen yogurt and ice cream, not that it's all that different.  Anywho, we asked him if he wanted to go to a different orange ice cream place (at the Fox Hills Mall), but he freaked out and wanted to go to his "regge" (pronounced "reh-gee") orange ice cream place.  I really think he has some level of OCD.  So, while Daddy went to do the grocery shopping, John, Nicholas, and Maureen went across the street to enjoy some frozen yogurt.  All's well that ends well.

World Champion

Little did you know that our John was a World Champion wrestler.  As you can see, he's very tired from his last match defending his title.  He believes in saying his prayers and eating his vitamins.

Fun in the Sun

There was a time my mother would have been horrified if we had run through the sprinklers like this.  I suppose she just likes the boys too much to say no.  Plus, it helps that Maureen gave John the ok.

He said, "I can't touch the sprinklers." which usually means, "I want to touch the sprinklers."  Maureen told him that he was ok and he just had a ball.

The Zoo Zoo Zoo

Yesterday, I asked Maureen how she felt about going to the zoo if the day wasn't too hot today.  She thought it was a grand idea.  Actually, she was thinking of taking the boys to the beach, but I put my idea forth prior to her talking to me about hers.  That teaches us the following:  If you snooze, you lose!

So, we made the mistake of telling John that we were going to the zoo and we basically had to sell the idea to him.  How do you ask?  We told him there was a train.  After he heard that, he just wanted to talk about the train at the zoo.  Nicholas was just happy to be going anywhere.  He's a good little guy like that.

On our drive over, John asked if we were going to drive by the big fountain and the red train.  The boy has the memory of an elephant.  He forgets nothing.  We drove by the fountain at Forrest Lawn and then we drove by the red train at Travel Town.

We get to the zoo and the boys are all skittish because they don't know what to think.  We rent a double stroller and John doesn't want to ride in it.  Nicholas enjoyed it until John decided to join him.  At that point, he decided that he had to get out of the stroller.  Lesson for the day, get two single strollers.

The first animals we see are flamingos.  All Nicholas could say was, "DUCK!  DUCK!  DUCK!"  Apparently, all birds are ducks to him.  John was a bit more subdued and liked looking at the flamingos.  After the flamingos, he started asking about the train incessantly.  It got to the point where we abandoned all hope of seeing any animals and went to find the little train.

When we got to the train, the ride operator told us that it was closed until the end of the bird show.  To kill time, we decided to see the bird show.  Neither boy appreciated it.  They both were freaked out by the birds flying over the audience.  John was freaked out by the carved wooden bird on the stange.  He kept on calling it the Big Angry Bird.

Sadly, we left the bird show and decided to leave the zoo since both boys were getting restless.  Nicholas did not want to part with his spacious stroller and John was in tears over not riding the train.  The train was you standard carnival ride.  Oh well, it was a good experiment and we plan to try it again when it isn't too hot and the boys are a little older.

On a funny note, John decided that we were going to go to a park.  He said, "We are going to the park.  We'll take our new green stroller and walk there.  Ok?  Is that a plan?"  We had to break the news to him that we only rented the stroller.  Still, it was rather spacious and Nicholas just loved lounging in it.

Summer Vacation

Some of us don't get to enjoy the summer to the fullest.  For those that do, they can take a few days to spend some time at the beach house with their friends.  Fortunately, John has some friends with a house in Newport Beach where he goes for rest and relaxation.  It's tough being a famous international playboy like he is.

John was happy to spend a few days down at the Wiseman house and bask in the sunshine with his friend Aly and Jake.  THere were a few blow ups along the way, but those were few and far between.  As long as he had his cheetos and trains, He was as happy as a clam.

Samples at Trader Joe's

If you want to win John's eternal devotion, give him samples of something. He loves goign to the sample station at Trader Joe's and trying everything. Today, he ate grapes for the first time since it was at the Trader Joe's sample station. As Maureen is telling me this wonder, a clerk offers us samples of the fine Trader Joe's mini ice cream cones. When John sees this, he immediately hands his grapes over to Maureen for safe keeping. I don't blame him, the ice cream was really good. Thanks Trader Joe's!

Mid August Birthdays

We had two very important birthdays on August 10 and August 17, Mami and Papi's.  The boys were so excited to celebrate and take them a fine cake from Hansen's to enjoy.  As you can see from the photo, the boys didn't wait for the birthday boy to dig into the cake.

Traveltown at Griffith Park

We took a trip to Traveltown a couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, the boys were both very excited. We took two trips. On the first one, we went to San Clemente. On the second one, we went to Chicago.

Sorry for the delay in posting, but it took forever and a day to finally get it uploaded to YouTube.

Yakety Sax

Water Taxi Fun

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Marina del Rey for a ride on the water taxi. We went all along the Marina and managed to have a good time even though Nicholas was screaming for the vast majority of the time. After our ride, we got to have dinner at Tony P's where we had chicken and french fries. YUMMY!!

Chilling at Ralph's

We visited the blue Ralph's with an elevator.  In their summer section, they have some garden furniture.  John decided that he needed to rest in the chairs for a little bit.  This boy was born for a life of leisure.

Matinee Idol Good Looks

John's hair had been looking quite shaggy the last couple of weeks, but since he hadn't felt well, we couldn't do anything about it.  Since he'd been feeling well for a week, we were able to visit the Yellow Balloon yesterday.  He behaved like a champ.  I'd say he's learning to enjoy his hair cuts, unlike Nicholas. 
Anywho, as soon as we walked out of the shop, he said, "Time to go to coffee place." in reference to The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf across the street.  It seems that no hair cut is complete without chocolate milk and a blueberry muffin from Coffee Bean.

Thankfully

It wasn't an appendicitis.  He just had an ear infection.  Still, it was quite disconcerting to hear the possibility of the appendicitis.  He's almost back to his usual self.  We had a lovely breakfast at Fiddler's Bistro this morning, so we are pretty much back to normal.

Sadly, Nicholas decided that today was the time to take a bite out of John's arm.  He didn't draw any blood, but his sharp little teeth left a great mark.

Rough Couple of Nights

John isn't feeling to well right now.  He has a stomach flu virus.  At least, we hope that's what it is.  Dr. K said that was the most likely cause for his feverish behavior, but he did say there was an outside chance it was an appendicitis.  Let's hope it's only the flu.

Visit to the CoinStar Machine

Back in November, we paid our first visit to the CoinStar Machine at Ralph's.   John loved it and wanted to play with it some more.  We found some coins in bags a couple of weeks ago and decided to take it to the CoinStar machine.  John decided that he'd handle the transaction and placed the coins on the tray and fed the machine.  Since it was his show, we decided that he could use that money to buy ice cream and a Scooby Doo magazine on Larchmont.  John netted $22.22, but we still haven't picked up the ice cream or magazine.  That'll have to wait until the weekend.

Dancing King

On Nicholas' blog, I mentioned that he loves eating bread like his grandfather and me.  John's also a chip off the old block because he loves to dance like his other grandfather and his mother.  I'm told Grandpa Dick was quite the dancer at Uncle Rick's or Maureen's parties back in the day.  Maureen just LOVES to dance.  So naturally, one of the boys would be a dancing fiend.  It's our John.  I'll post a video of all his latest dance moves in a couple of days.  I need to go through a bunch of videos to find his best moves.

Yummy Shake Milks

John has taken a liking to strawberry smoothies.  He loves to make them at home.  Recently, I introduced him to real ice cream milk shake aka shake milks, in John-speak.  Sunday, we did some shopping at the Beverly connection and John asked to go to Johnny's Rockets aka Johnny Rockets for shake milks and hamburgers.  Since he asked so nicely and had been quite good at Old Navy, we acquiesced.  Honestly, the boys have me wrapped around their finger, so they get most of the things they want. Fortunately, it's things like donuts at Bob's or a trip to the fountains.

Anyway, we had a lovely meal and John and I enjoyed our shake milks.  When the bill arrived, I was surprised by the bill for two adults and two toddlers.  It was $51 without tip.  What the deuce?  When did bad hamburgers and decent milk shakes turn into a $50 meal?

The Birthday Party, Sort of

Birthday at The Grove

Someone enjoyed his day at The Grove and The Original Farmer's Market last week. I wonder who?

A Trip to Petco to Pick Up My Fish

This was John's birthday present from Maureen and me.  He seems to like Blue.  We'll see how long that lasts or if Nicholas accidentally kills him.

Shelby's A Saint

She watched Scooby Doo with John on his birthday.  I'm sure she would much rather have been doing anything else, but she was a real trouper and hung out with the birthday boy.

Guess Who Was A Grumpy Gus at His Birthday Party?

After weeks of planning and days of preparing, the birthday party was finally upon us.  For weeks, John kept on asking, "Is it time for my birthday party?"  What happens on the date of the party?  John decides to be anti-social and scream while his guests are arriving.  He basically spent most of the party inside before he finally decided to join the party and have fun in the "bouncing" aka the jumper.

On a side note, Daddy flipped out a bit when John screamed and cried during the cake.  He just couldn't take it anymore and took a walk to the front yard.  It was quiet there and he could bet a rest from the noise.  It's good to take a walk sometimes.

I know I said he wouldn't have another birthday party, but that's not going to be the case.  He's just a little boy who gets overwhelmed when he sees too many different faces.  Once he had time to adjust, he was ok.

Happy Birthday John

Starbucks or Coffee Bean

John enjoys going to coffee shops.  He even knows that Starbucks has green straws and Coffee Bean has purple straws.  For the record,he likes the purple straw store.  It seems that Maureen is trying to teach him how to be a barrista.  I think he's off to a fine start.

Saturday on Larchmont

Before this gets any further, no we didn't eat at Village Pizzeria.  We headed to Larchmont to drop off some old baby clothes for donation and to pick up some smoothies at Jamba Juice.  John is quite the connoisseur of good fruit smoothies.  He's a berry man and loves the Strawberry Blast at Jamba Juice.  We stopped and sat for a while and took some good shots of an introspective boy and his beverage.

Grocery Shopping

Saturday afternoon, we stopped in at Ralph's to get some groceries. John likes to go to this particular shop because we get to ride an elevator. Another bonus to our trip is that they have fun kids shopping carts. In this case, cars at the front of the carts.  John would not let Nicholas ride with him even though Nicholas was begging and pleading (we eventually found another cart of the little one). 

Anywho, John would just wave to the other shoppers and honk his little horn.  If he saw something that we need to buy (e.g. cheese or milk), he'd tell me to stop because he "had to get out of his car."  He'd get out pick up whatever it was that he needed and then climbed back in before he'd say, "Let's get moving."

We killed two birds with one stone.  We were able to do our grocery shopping and take John on a fun ride.  It's far cheaper than Disneyland.

Pequeno Baillarin aka Tiny Dancer

Our John just has the music in him.  Watch as he feels it.  Nina Simone would be proud.

Daddy's Little Baker

As a great surprise, our John helped Maureen bake some chocolate chip muffins on Friday afternoon.  Maureen thought the texture was off, but I still thought they were good.  It had the consistency and feel of a thick bread pudding aka buddin (as my Nana called it), but I really liked it.

Lunch at Tony P's

To celebrate our sixth anniversary, we headed over to Tony P's for some lunch.  Our destination was two-fold since we'd been talking to John about seeing the boats for a while.  Sure enough, he enjoyed his lunch and was quite vocal when he was ready to go.  Fortunately, he was kind enough to allow Maureen and me to finish our respective meals before we went for a walk along the strand.

Next month, we plan to take a trip on the water taxi around the marina.  He loved it last year and he'll ove it even more this year.  We even bought him a special nautical wind breaker at Old Navy in preparation for this summer expedition.  Be on the look out.

The Smoothie King

John loves berry smoothies.  He loves to make them at home.  For that reason, we always have yogurt and strawberries in our refrigerator.  We even have a little blender that doesn't make any sound to make smoothies for him.  He doesn't like the Magic Bullet because it is too noisy.

If he sees a smoothie on a menu, he wants to drink one.  Yesterday, we were headed to Ralphs to pick up some groceries and Maureen mentioned that the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf had a new berry smoothie.  I told her that she was crazy and that they didn't make smoothies.  When Starbucks did that, it was a fiasco.  Sure enough, there was a big poster on the wall with a big berry smoothie.  I stand corrected on that one.  Apparently, John liked it, but it was a little too cold in his hands.

Pizza and Ice Cream Party

Maureen went away for a couple of days, so I had the boys all to myself on Monday night.  Nicholas, still being to young, fell asleep about 7:30 PM.  John, being the rake that he is, decided that we were going to have a Scooby Doo, pizza, and ice cream party.  When the pizza was delivered, our John ran to the door and greeted the delivery guy.  He was so happy to see our dinner.  While watching Scooby Doo, I thought he had forgotten about the ice cream and told him it was time to go to sleep.

Since he never forgets anything, John says, "Daddy, where's the ice cream man to deliver our ice cream?"  Who was I to say no to such a bright young man.  Fortunately, we had some strawberry ice cream and he just enjoyed every last bit of it before he decided to call Maureen, ask her to bring him a Scooby Doo toy, and then go to sleep.  He's a bit too sharp for his age.  I'm going to stay on his good side.