(un)Spooky Art

I saw this outside Addie's classroom.  Her skeleton is doing the butterfly yoga pose.

Family Hike

Last Sunday was a lovely fall day, not absurdly hot day like it's been the last two months after a relatively mild summer. We went to Franklin Canyon right above Beverly Hills to see the turtles and ducks and take a stroll. Xavier rode in his carrier, screeching if we didn't keep moving. Eliza managed to slip into the pond within 15 minutes of arriving, soaking her shoes. Miraculously, a second pair of socks accidentally hitchhiked into our backpack so we were able to keep going. We ended our walk with some play time in the visitors center.

Eliza with a Mommy shadow

Spooky Art

A few pieces from Addie in the halloween spirit.  Plus a poem she penned.



This weekend we will go get our pumpkins and finish up our costumes. The girls are getting excited for  trick-or-treating!

Oldies but Goodies

Madonna. What a spectacular production with some of the most amazing dancers I've ever seen. I had almost no expectations since I haven't heard Madonna's music in probably two decades and had never seen her perform before. At 50-something, that girl puts all of us to shame.


The suite was practically behind the stage.


Check out the drummers playing while suspended in formation


Then last week we saw Neil Young at the Hollywood Bowl. He still has this magical voice. We also saw Book of Mormon (hilarious!) and The Black Keys (completely not my style of music). I have seen more live music this year than I have in the last 5 combined. All of these fun nights out have pretty much wiped us out with $80/night babysitting fees but it was a good run!

Zombie Boy X

A short film created by Cap in honor of Xavier's bipedalism, having given up crawling this weekend after two months of practice and experiment.

Shuttle Bug

I admit I have caught the shuttle bug. I can't say I've ever been an air and space nut, and I agree with Obama's decision to retire the space shuttle program. I guess though that space flight has been in our blood as Americas more than I recognized. When Endeavour made it's final flight to LAX piggy back on a Boeing 747, I just had to see it. I went with co-workers on Friday, September 21 to the top deck of a parking garage at the airport. We got a pretty great view of Endeavour coming in through the palm trees, flying over the South runway and then circling back around before landing. I burst into tears, surprising myself.



Endeavour has been hanging out at the United Hangar at LAX for a few weeks while the construction on the temporary pavilion at the California Science Center is finished and opens to the public on October 20. My firm has the honor and privilege of being the engineers for the orbiter's temporary home at the California Science Center with careful attention to keeping the surprisingly fragile shuttle safe in the event of an earthquake.

The orbiter is making its way through the streets of Los Angeles on a two day trek from the airport to CSC. I wasn't able to sneak out during the day to see it when it was still parked in Westchester near my the office so when I got home that night I was starting to panic that I would be missing the opportunity. Even though it's been a sleepless week, I had to do it. I texted my friend to see if her husband, a shuttle nut and photographer, could be convinced to come with me on this recon mission.



Thanks to twitter, I knew the shuttle would be parked until midnight at the intersection of La Cienaga and Manchester, just 6 miles from my house. We headed out around 8:30 after our respective kids were in bed, not knowing what to expect. I was imagining the shuttle sitting in a creepy neighborhood in the dark cut off by police barricades, but when we go there the area was filled with people and the shuttle was completely illuminated. Entrepreneurial vendors were even hawking t-shirts and bacon wrapped hot dogs. Turns out Toyota was filming a commercial with the shuttle and the iconic Randy's donuts in the background. The crowds kept piling in even after we left at 10pm. I would have liked the girls see it but it was just too late with too many people shoving their way through a mob.

It was really an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I'm glad I made the effort (and thanks to Cap for staying with the munchkins at home).

Happiest Place

I know . . . Legoland, Eliza's birthday, the school dance and now Disneyland. Really?  Did I mention I'm exhausted?

Addie's friend Kinsey from pre-school days invited her and Isa for a Disneyland Birthday Redux. The three girls did this last year and had a blast. Cap took Addie because Xavier was a newborn but this year, I got to go. And boy do I love Disneyland. I never thought I would but I do. A lot. I had to use super Mom willpower not to stay until it closed at 10 pm that night but it was a school night (so we left at 8:30 instead!). The girls had breakfast with the characters chanting Minnie, Minnie, Minnie! and then had their hair and make-up done at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. The birthday girl's dad works for Disney so is able to get all of us in for free and discount everywhere we went. The girls were all equally adventuresome going on all the big roller coasters (Space Mountain and The Matterhorn were firsts for me and Addie) plus Splash Mountain, Star Tours, Haunted Mansion and my favorite, Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm not sure who had more fun, me or Addie!

The School Dance

As a fundraiser, Addie's elementary school hosts a Fall Family Dance. Just imagine 100 kids jumping and running around for 2 hours while parents tried to carry on a conversation over the music. Eliza had a blast too chasing Addie and her friends around.

I picked out this special party dress (with her approval of course) but she accessorized it. How grown up does she look in these photos?