Swim Class Part 1...

We stopped taking Jack to private swim lessons late last year.  Jack seemed to get scared of going to his swim class and he just wasn't learning anymore.  Plus, it was winter time so we thought lets take a break.

Aya and I decided to enroll him back in swim class a few weeks ago.  We didn't go back to the same private lessons but enrolled him into group lessons at the local YMCA.

So far Jack seems to love his new swim class.  Jack hates anything on his face like masks or hats or goggles, but all the other kids have goggles so when I asked Jack if he wanted his own he said, YES!

I don't know why but I think it is hilarious when Jack wears his goggles!

Jack Running at Sports Class...

Food Network Part 5…

Okay, this is the joint that started it all for us, Hodads in San Diego.  We saw there bacon burger on tv and Aya and I both said, “We have to go and try that burger!”   From that day we started writing down places we wanted to go and as you saw a few weeks ago we went to a lot of local LA places. 

Since we were going to San Diego for Sea World and San Diego, Aya and I said we have to go to Hodads!   The place is right along the beach and it was packed!  Aya waited in line for 40 minutes to place our order:

Since Jack and Stacy were sleeping in the car after the Zoo, I was waiting with them but the wait took so long that when they woke up we all joined Aya in line:

Aya’s Hodad’s Bacon Burger:

Let me just say that this was probably the *BEST* bacon burger I ever ate!!   If only there was a Hodads in LA…

San Diego Part 4…

The last time Aya and I got to see Trish and John was a few months before Jack and Lily were born.  Jack and Lily are only 3 weeks apart. 

 

They both got along great and had fun playing together and going to the San Diego zoo!

San Diego Part 3…

I know I went to the San Diego Zoo when I was a kid but I don’t remember it.  I definitely didn’t remember how “hill-y” the San Diego Zoo was.  Up and down…it was a lot tougher walk than the LA Zoo.   It seemed like the zoo made more access for a bus tour and made smaller paths for people to walk on.  I dunno, maybe it was too hot but it seemed like I just walked the park instead of looking at the animals.

The animals we did look at weren’t even real!   Jack and the elephant:

Jack and the gorilla:

Jack and the sabertooth tiger:

Jack and the eagle:

Jack and the vulture:

San Diego Part 2…

Okay, let me save some of you parents some money on a trip to Sea World.  Here are some pics of the Shamu show:

The Sea Lion show:

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Jack had fun on the tea cup ride:

Jack loved controlling the Elmo plane:

San Diego Part 1…

Our original plan was to head down to San Diego on the weekend to visit our friend Trish and take our kids to the zoo.  After we thought about it, we decided to take Jack and Stacy to Sea World and the zoo.

Stacy was a champ at Sea World.  She slept almost the entire day.  She didn’t mind being strolled around and sitting in the sun to watch the shows.  Jack seemed to like Sea World as well.  He didn’t pay attention to the shows as much as I thought…he was more concerned with E-A-T-I-N-G.   Just like his mom!

The second we got to Sea World Jack was hungry and wanted a sandwhich:

Up next was popcorn and churro.  Jack wanted popcorn but saw my churro and then he decided *HE* wanted the churro AND the bag of popcorn!

Sea World totally suckers you into buying a bigger bag of cotton candy because the bigger one has the carrying bucket!

 

All in all a fun day at Sea World!

2 month checkup…

Stacy had her two month checkup last week.  Everything checked out a-ok as she had a clean bill of health.

Stacy is now, 10 lbs 6 oz and 22 1/4 inches long.

Stacy had her first round of immunization shots.   She didn’t fair as well as Jack.  Jack hardly flinches when he gets a shot but Stacy cried like a girl.

Bouchon…

Aya and I celebrated a belated birthday dinner at Bouchon in Beverly Hills.   My mom originally offered to watch Jack and Stacy so I could take out Aya for her birthday but  we decided to wait until my dad retired so both Grandpa and Grandma could each watch one kid while we went out to dinner.

Dinner was great.  The food was good, the ambiance was good and best of all it was good to be at dinner without any kids!    Definitely will be going back as Bouchon is probably in our Top 5 list now.

Food Network Part 4…

I have been to Bay Cities Deli before but Aya has never gone.  I personally hate going there because it is chaos to park and it is chaos when you get in because the place is packed…especially at lunch time.

Aya and I got the Bay City specialty, the Godmother.

 

Phew.  I don’t know why we didn’t spread out our eating while Aya was on maternity leave but we sort of crammed it all into one week.   Aya and I are going to need wheelbarrows to roll are fat butts around town!

Food Network Part 3…

Okay, no more pastrami for us this week.  Now we moved on to Hot Dogs!   There was no reason for us to go to the valley so this time we truly went out just for food.  We went to try Fab Dogs.

A super small place so it is no wonder you hear the line is out the door.   I got a breakfast burrito with 2 hotdog, chili and frito’s.   Aya got the house special Fab Dog.  Both were super good.  It was so good that I went back in line to try a different hot dog.  Phew, after 4 hot dogs I was stuffed.

Fab Dogs is moving in a month or so up the street to a bigger location.  I like Pinks but driving to Hollywood sucks, the parking sucks and the lines are always hella long at Pinks so I think Fab Dogs is my favorite hot dog joint!

Food Network Part 2…

It is going to sound like Aya and I were on a Pastrami kick but it is merely a coincidence that our next restaurant was the world’s famous Langer’s in Downtown.     Let me start out by saying, it is a crappy area and I wouldn’t suggest going there at night time if you are a girl but during the daytime it wasn’t so bad….just as long as you don’t mind being around a million mexicans.

Langerts also has curbside service if you call in your order…which is what we did.   We got the famous #19:

I dunno what I expected…maybe more like Johnnies or the Oinkster or the Hat with hot pastrami.  This was strictly a deli style pastrami sandwich.  At first I didn’t like it so much but as I kept eating, I kept thinking, “Damn, this is pretty darn good.”   Also, it didn’t seem like a large sandwich but when I was down I was in total food coma.

Again, better than Johnnie’s?  No, but if I was in downtown passing by MacArthur park and I wasn’t going to score drugs, I would definitely stop by Langers again.

Food Network Part 1…

As you all know Aya loves to eat so it is no surprise that she also watches shows on the Food Network.   I suppose she has worn me down as I too watch some of the Food Network shows.  Some of our favorites is Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, The Best Thing I Ever Ate and Man v Food (which is on the Travel Channel).

Whenever we see a show and they visit an LA eatery we always say, “Maybe we should check it out some time.”   Sadly, we usually don’t go but last week was the week before Aya goes back to work so we made it a point to go out and try a few of these places since we had the time.

Our first stop on your road trip:  Oinkster in Eagle Rock.

Now I am no foodie, so there are no pictures of the food because I am so hungry I just want to eat my food NOT take a picture of my food.  Oinkster specializes in Pastrami and brisket.   Aya and I got each sandwich and split them both.  The verdict…get the pastrami.  

Is it as good as Johnnie’s Pastrami?  Probably not.  Now if I lived in Eagle Rock, I don’t think I would drive to Culver City for Johnnies when I could go to Oinkster but I might go to the Hat in Pasadena.  Oinkster was probably a tad bit better than the Hat.

Battle of the Bugs…

First it was a battle with the crows.  Luckily it seems the crows have migrated  someplace else for now.  The next battle was with the crickets but it seems like the crickets are gone now.  Maybe they couldn’t deal with all the cold weather we were having.  Heck I am not complaining.

The latest battle was with BEES.   Ever since our house got a new roof, we get bees ever other year or so trying to make a hive in the shingles of the roof.  The problem with the bee’s is that they some how find a way into the house.  They get in thru the roof and then come in thru the recessed lighting or the bathroom heater vent.

Luckily the bee’s are so tired they are near dead when they finally make their way into the house.  It is just inconvenient and when Jack was younger he got stung once when he went to pick up a bee.

Here is a picture of the dead bees.  They always die near the sliding glass door because I think they are trying to fly outside.

Itty Bitty Sports…

I did not like Jack’s last sports class.  I guess the class was okay but the instructor was lame.  I decided to try a sports program sponsored by the YMCA.

So far, I don’t like it.  There is too many kids and the class is indoors.  INDOORS!  Who has a sports class indoors?   Oh well, at least the competition is better in this class. 

The first class was t-ball and Jack did ok.

Hopefully the class gets better or we won’t be signing up for this class again.