The Cool Kids

 What do we do when the weather report says it's going to be 90 degrees at the beach?  We load up the car as early as we can manage, drive on over to the Santa Monica beach house, and lay claim to four chairs in the shade.

 There's nothing better than a lounge chair and a beach towel.

And a splash pad.  There's nothing better than a splash pad on a hot day.

 And a pool.  There's nothing better than a pool. 

 And sand.  There's nothing better than a patch of sand to play in.

 Grace discovered she can fly.  She's a regular Peter Pan!

 And I spent some time just contemplating the beauty

of the day.

After some playtime in the ocean, we practiced our army crawl back to the beach house for some more fun at the splash pad and the pool.

On a Winter's Day

 Last Sunday, we headed down to Redondo Beach to spend a beautiful day at the annual kite festival.  I'd attended two years ago, but I have no memory of it for some reason.

 Grace brought along her Hello Kitty kite, which pretty much flew itself.

 Grace took her chances with the waves, taunting them to catch her.

 She was happy when they did.

And I was happy to work on my sandcastle.

L.A. Snow Day

 I've been hearing a lot about the harsh winter conditions that the rest of the country has been experiencing, but even here in Los Angeles we get our share of severe weather.  Last night, a raging storm dumped a truckload of snow at my school.

 I brought my snowsuit but didn't bother to put it on.  I'm not one of those UGGs-wearing Westside toddlers.

Don't worry, I didn't hit any of my friends in the face with these ice balls.

The teachers built a hill for sledding.

But I mostly hitched myself to a Tonka truck and pretended to be a snowplow.

The Year of the Sheep

 Ben and I took the Metro to Chinatown today to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  We had to change trains twice, but it was pretty easy to get there and we didn't have to worry about parking or street closures.

 Ben and I felt confident we could take a statue of Bruce Lee.

 We got a good curbside seat to view the parade.

There were little dragons.

 And there were big dragons.

 And we topped off our afternoon with a popular Chinese delicacy ... cotton candy!  I love cotton candy.

Monday in the Park with Ben

I celebrated President's Day by heading back to Will Rogers park.

I played a little T-ball, sat in the sand, and shared a picnic lunch with friends and family.

I'm glad I brought my garbage truck, because there were a lot of grass clippings to dispose of.

I did a little regular trash pickup too, to keep the park in good shape for everyone.

And I found this old Buick when I went off exploring.  It had flat tires and appeared to need a lot of work, but it sure was interesting to look at.  

Well, Hello!

 Yesterday, we took a drive downtown to visit the Hello Kitty exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum.  

 It was Hello Kitty overload.

Even little Ben is taller than the real Hello Kitty.

 I only have two Hello Kitty backpacks.  At this exhibit, I learned that there are so many others out there.

Hey, a Kitty mash-up with Elmo!  Cool! 

 Hmmm, this is an interesting interpretation.

 There were so many Hello Kitty products to look at.  Too bad none of them were for sale.

Outside the museum, there were special Hello Kitty activities.  Here, we're waiting patiently for cotton candy.

Ben went all in with the Hello Kitty crown.

Eventually, a Hello Kitty impersonator graced us with her presence.  I knew she wasn't the real Hello Kitty, because I'd learned earlier that the real one is only five apples tall.  Did they think we wouldn't remember that?

Everybody's All-American

 Yes! Touchdown!  And the Patriots are headed back to the Super Bowl! 

 A day after Tom Brady and the Pats defeated the Colts, I headed over to Will Rogers State Park to toss around the pigskin.  There is no sport I can't play.

 Ben went for a short jog.

 He also goofed around with his friend Zoey.

And, in honor of Will Rogers, I showed off my ropin' skills with this jump rope that I happened to bring along.