Adventure in Albany

For Labor Day weekend we headed up to Albany to see Ben, Betsy and Will and Mike and Julie. Saturday we saw the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown which was really fun. I wish we had gotten there earlier in the day (we were busy preparing for our one night of camping most of the morning) so that we could take advantage of some of the events of the day. The kids favorite parts of the museum were the tent with the toys (including a fake cow that the kids could really milk) and the carousel.











As a result of recommendations on the TripAdvisor website, we stayed in CrestHill Suites in Albany Saturday night. The room was really large and had a full kitchen, so it was very comfortable for the five of us. In the morning, after the obligatory swim in the hotel pool, we departed for the Thompsons Lake campground which a quick stop at the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Discovery Center. The kids loved the hands on activities there (see picture), and the outdoor nature trail seemed fun and kid-friendly. We could definitely have spent more time both at the discovery center and on the nature trails, but Mike and Julie were already waiting for us at the campground. When we arrived at Thompsons Lake, we went straight to the beach on the lake where Mike and Julie were already in the water swimming. The kids insisted on stopping at the small but awesome playground just outside the beach. When we got on the beach, the kids were excited to jump right in the water.

After swimming and playing on the sand, we went to the campsite. We borrowed a huge two room tent which was quite a challenge to set up as we couldn't find useful step-by-step directions. Dave was in charge of the campfire and cooking dinner (corn, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken and kabobs) for everyone. Ben, Betsy and Will and John and his girlfriend, Rachel joined us for dinner. The kids fell asleep quickly and slept well--they were certainly tired from the day's activities.

Though the campground was crowded Sunday night, on Monday morning the other campers left pretty quickly. We hiked over to the nature center in the morning and found a letterbox, which was exciting for the kids. Unfortunately, the nature center is closed on Mondays so we didn't go inside, but from peeking in the windows, it looked worthwhile. We still had plenty of firewood, so Dave cooked up some hamburgers left over from the night before for lunch, and we packed up our cars. The section of the campground was closing for the winter, and the park rangers had locked the bathroom to make sure we didn't stay too late.

After lunch, we helped Mike and Julie launch the canoe into the lake, then said goodbye to the campsite and drove to the beach, which hadn't quite closed up yet. We all took turns taking a ride in the canoe, playing in the playground and on the beach (at least until they kicked us off the beach because it was closing for the winter). Before going home we made a quick stop at John Boyd Thatcher State Park because I was excited to see if we could find some fossils. The fossils were not as obvious as I had hoped, but the views from the area near the parking lot and the trail made the stop well worth while. We didn't go very far on the trail because the kids were very tired, but hopefully we will go back soon with a trailmap and perhaps more info about finding fossils.

This is the end of this blog, since the summer is over, but I am looking forward to exploring more corners of upstate New York. Today, Sunday, Sept 13, Laura and I went to Apple Hills Farm to pick apples. Laura loved picking apples--she could easily reach them and pick them off the trees. The apples were very tasty, so we ended up with 4 pounds at $.69/pound. Before leaving, we visited a few goats and sheep behind a fence, and food for them is available for $.50 inside the store. It was definitely a fun outing. We will have to check out other local farms, but any visits will be recorded elsewhere.

Last Fling of Summer

As summer winds down, I have a week at home entertaining the kids. We used our time to both get in our fill of typical summer activities and try out new attractions in update NY. Since we moved here just one year ago, we still have lots of new places to explore.

AFter spending the summer in Los Angeles, I thought that I should take the kids to see a movie. Ideally, I wanted to take them to an interesting movie palace in Los Angeles, but since I didn't, I did the next best thing: take them to a cheap-o movie theater here in Binghamton. Before the movie, we stopped at a park on Oak Hill Road and rode one of the Binghamton Carousels--one that we hadn't ridden before. The park had two decent playgrounds that are probably worth going back to next time we are in the neighborhood. The movie theater was just down the street. We saw the Disney movie, "Up". which was the most appropriate of the 3 kids and 2 adult movies playing at this theater. When we got to the theater a young couple (I estimate college age) was sitting in the center of the first row. Of course the kids decide to noisily plop right down in the three seats next to this couple (fortunately they were more amused than annoyed).

Tuesday, September 1 we went to Alpaca Fantasy World (an Alpaca farm) in Maine, NY. The kids loved seeing the Alpacas up close the and the stuff they make with Alpaca fur was pretty neat! After the farm, we stopped at a playground at the nearby elementary school and had ice cream across the street. The kids size cones were huge and very reasonably priced.

On Thursday we went wading in the creek by African Road Park, and Friday I took the kids for one last fling on the Carousel and the pool. Our first stop on Friday was West Endicott Park so that the kids could play in the pool and I could sit and watch, but Joshua wanted a deeper place to swim. So, after the Carousel ride, I thought that we could go to the Vestal Pool. Unfortunately, the it wasn't open that week, so we rushed over to the Highland Park pool. The big pool was a bit cold for Benjamin and Laura preferred the wading pool, but Joshua enjoyed the big pool a little even though he was lonely because the pool was empty.

Return Home, Finally!!

Friday, August 21 was mostly spent preparing for our trip home--packing, cleaning our rented house the best we could and looking forward to being on our own beds again! We finally managed to go to the Audubon Center at Debs Parks before dropping Dave off at work. The kids had fun climbing trees and playing in the house. We borrowed binoculars and butterfly wings that the kids enjoyed using. Benjamin and I only saw a few lizards (which was still exciting) quickly escape into the bushes, but when Laura and I went with Grandma, we saw lots in plain view.

The rest of the morning was taken up with errands, including mailing books home (I hope we get them soon) and choosing a special snack for the flight home. Joshua discovered some sea animal cheese crackers that the kids couldn't wait to gobble down. We picked up Daddy in time to have dinner at El Polo Loco and then went home and settled down for our last night in California.

Saturday morning everything went smoothly on our drive to the airport and getting on our flight. I think Laura used the bathroom on the first flight 5 times. When we got to Dallas, we had to sit on the runway for over half an hour before we got into a gate, so we had to rush to our connecting flight. The kids were excited to take a train between terminals, and we got onto our second flight, but, as we were to find out later, our luggage didn't. Laura napped for a while on the second flight after screaming for a while that she wanted to be served apple juice. After she woke up, she was too grumpy and tired of traveling to be interested in the bathroom more than twice. The kids were excited to see two Grandmas and one Grandpa and drive back to East Brunswick in our very own van. Dave picked up our luggage at the Binghamton Airport on Monday. It is good to finally be back home!

Getty visit after all!

Benjamin has been asking to go back to the Zimmer Children's Museum, so I decide to head there today and meet up with Cathy, then come back here in the early afternoon to get some packing done. Unfortunately, when I got to the Zimmer, I found out that it didn't open until 12:30 today.

Cathy was psyched to visit the Getty instead, so we went there. The kids loved the tram ride (it seemed longer than I remember) and running around in the gardens (which I am not sure was a good idea because that disturbs the tranquility that adults seek in such places). Then we sat down and ate lunch before going to the family room, which is a hands on activity room for kids. This room is divided into 5 sections. The first has a mask making activity, the second has mirrors and animal magnets, the third is a construction-type activity in which the kids attach each side of a foam cylinder to the wall (this was Benjamin's favorite), the fourth was a bed with books on it (only Joshua checked this one out), and the fifth we skipped because it seemed less exciting. The kids also enjoyed walking around a fountain which had a narrow circular walkway between two pools of water (see first picture with me, Laura and Cathy) and riding the tram back down to the parking lot.

I wasn't in the mood to take the kids into any galleries, though they have free family art treasure hunt cards that would have been fun to try. Instead, since we were passing by Westwood anyway, we went to Diddy Reese, my favorite ice cream place from my graduate school years. The kids were really excited to go out for ice cream, since we do that very infrequently. I thought that they would ask for the ice cream sandwiches (in the past 10 years, the price went up $.50 to $1.50), but they asked for ice cream in a cup with a cookie on the side. I was relieved because a 3 year old with an ice cream sandwich is very messy. Later they excitedly told Daddy that they went to a restaurant that only serves ice cream!

They were so disappointed to have missed the children's museum that we stopped there for an hour after dropping off Cathy at her car. The kids had a great time, even though it is not very big. Benjamin loved the ambulence and the water table. Joshua was excited by the stage and dress up area and the puppet theater. Laura's favorite are the airplane and the lemonade stand. I rushed them out after an hour because I was worried about traffic and wanted to get back to start dinner, but they definitely could have stayed longer. The school bus exhibit was blocked off last time we were here, but Benjamin and Laura had fun playing with it today. We've been making good use out of our Association of Children's Museums membership--I would not be so excited to go to all these different museums if we had to pay admission each time.

Los Angeles Zoo

Now that we are in our final days of our time in Los Angeles, I am trying to make sure we cover the sites that the kids will enjoy the most. For future reference, here is a list of things we won't have time to do:
Getty Museum and Villa--I read that they have new children's activities, so I wanted to go back.
Will Rogers Park to see the weekend polo games
Manhattan Beach Roundhouse, though we have spent a lot of time at aquariums
Orange County Great Park Balloon (free balloon ride sounds awesome).
Franklin Canyon and other nature centers and parks
Cerritos Library

The kids are super-eager to help pack their stuff, which they are haphazardly stuffing into their backpacks. Benjamin can't wait to put his toys to into his new Speedracer backpack.

After driving to San Diego and to Orange County for several museums and other activities, I want to stay relatively local this week and reduce the time spent sitting in the car. Perhaps we will get another chance next summer to see some of the fun things in Orange County that we've missed.

Today we picked the LA Zoo since it is so close, and Laura and I still haven't seen some of it. I wanted to make sure we got to the northwest section, which I hadn't seen, but Benjamin and Joshua saw during zoo camp. Since the zoo is so spread out and requires lots of walking for little legs, I made sure to bring plenty of food and water so that we could take a bunch of rest breaks.

Before we even left the house, one of Joshua's goals for our visit to Los Angeles came true--he caught a lizard! All summer Joshua has been thinking about elaborate traps to help him catch a lizard, but this time, he didn't need one. It was a small lizard that happened to find itself on our patio. After looking at it for a bit, Joshua released it into the yard.

On the way to the zoo, Benjamin gave Laura a spelling lesson ("say C-A-T"). At the zoo, one of the first animals we saw was the rock hyrax. Joshua saw the four babies during his week at camp, and he was eager to see how they are doing. Though he saw most of these animals at zoo camp, Benjamin was happy that we ended up seeing lots of monkeys. He was especially excited by the chimps and described in great detail how they pooped while he was visiting them during camp. The orangutans (difficult to find because not all the animals are labeled on the map) were also fun to watch. The kids were disappointed that the goat petting area was closed, but perhaps by our next visit to LA, the petting area and the new elephant exhibit will be open.

Benjamin is such a voracious reader these days that he finished all the books we borrowed from the library on Monday and we had to stop and get him a new collection on our way home.

Playgrounds and more playgrounds

I picked today to make a final visit to Griffith Park to ride their bikes in the Shane's Inspiration playground before I post them (the bikes, that is) for sale on craigslist. Then we went to the Americana at Brand Mall for a children's concert and to ride on the trolly. The children's folk music by Melissa Green turned out to be better than many of the other kids' shows that we have seen. Fortunately, the trolley started up soon after the show ended and we got to take a ride on it. I think the mall starts the trolley on Tuesdays (kids day) a few hours earlier than on other days. The first few rides around the mall on the trolley were packed full of kids there for the show--obviously the mall is catering to the interests of the kids. Finally, we stopped at Auntie Anne's to use the free pretzel coupon from the summer reading club.

In the afternoon we went to Cerritos Park in Glendale because the kids seem to prefer that water play area to the one in Pasadena, but it was a bit too cool for them to spend much time in the water. They enjoyed the dry spaceship playground anyway.

Today's fun car conversations centered around marriage and building a dinosaur hall. First Joshua asked why am I the only one in my family who is married, besides Grandma and Grandpa. I explained that Aunt Robin is also married. Then Benjamin asked about Aunt Robin's house, because "married people are rich". I told Benjamin that he can go in person to check out Aunt Robin's house.

The other conversation started when Laura said that she wanted to make a dinosaur hall (Benjamin made a dinosaur hall in his dinosaur camp) with doors, dinosaurs and drinks for the dinosaurs. Benjamin started giving her instructions to make a dinosaur hall like he did in camp.

Sharks, Rays and Squids

On Monday, August 17, we ventured to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The kids have been excited to see sharks and other fish, and I was looking forward to trying out the aquarium setting on my new camera! Of course I had to take lots of pictures.

The outdoor exhibits were the kids favorite activities by far, especially the touch tanks and the playground. The kids were excited by the opportunity to touch rays, sharks and horseshoe crabs. Joshua had the most luck with the longest arm. Benjamin had some trouble, but managed in the end to touch a few creatures. Laura, on the other hand, stubbornly insisted that she had to try to touch every creature that swam by, and I had to frantically hold on to her (much to her annoyancy) to keep her from swimming with the rays and sharks. She did manage to dip some of her hair and head in the water in an attempt to reach the animals passing by.

Another highlight was the Children's Program in which Joshua got to play the part of the jellyfish in a skit in which Sharkalot was searching for the creature that ate his lunch. Laura kept asking me if it was her turn to go on the stage, but I told her that she has to be 6 years old. Now she keeps reminding me that we have to go back when she is old enough. She also keeps asking to go back to Adventure City so that she can ride on the roller coaster for which she was too small.

Joshua's Input on last week.

I liked riding my scooter in Griffith Park. I liked Adventure City, especially the tree top racers. The tree top racers were awesome. It was a roller coaster--first you went up, up, and then you stopped and curved and go straight and then curved again so you are heading towards the roller coaster start and then curved this way and that way and a few lumps and through a tunnel, then you go in a spiral and back to the start. The first roller coaster was dumb because it was so short and for little kids, but I liked the other one. You can crank and crank and crank and roll (the kid-powered train). The giggle wheel was so awesome. It was just a normal ferris wheel. The magic show was awesome. "You need a purple scarf, and a yellow bandana", and the magician took out a purple scarf and a yellow banana. I liked that part the best.

The magnetic sand (Huntington Library), stick when you put it on a magnet. The aquarium had a gift shop--I want to get the horned shark and the squid. Ooooh, yah, rinky, dinky. I liked the eel because I like eels; I like fish. I like underwater creatures. I like the skates, they were cool.

San Diego--they gave us presents. I got a fire portal copter and a kaleidoscope. And we made stuff out of clay (yesterday at the Kidseum). "Ouch", says Joshua's creature. There was a puppet theater and it came with puppets like and alligator, a dragon and an elephant. There was also a goofy looking mask I tried on. There was also another goofy looking mask with take out ears. Yes, but I tried it on, but I didn't have time to take out the ears because it was time to go. That's why you didn't see it (to Mommy).

Ummm, I don't know. My favorite thing was Adventure City.

Off the Beaten Path in Santa Anna

It is fun to discover interesting, less well known treasures. Though today we went off the beaten path to less well known museums, I would hardly call them hidden treasures, especially the second one. We started off with the Orange County Heritage Museum which has the Kellogg House, a historic house with hands-on activities for the kids, pretty gardens and a nature trail. We had our own private tour of the house (there were no other visitors at the moment) which was fun. The house, which was built in 1898, had several period rooms with things that the kids could touch. They played with a telephone, listened to an old record player, and saw some kitchen utensils from the turn of the century. The second floor contained a toy room with many toys that the kids could play with (though Benjamin was disappointed that a train that was off limits), a dress-up room and a school room. Although this museum was fun, it was small, and the Rose Hill Manor Museum that we saw in Maryland was better. I had hoped that we could enjoy a nice, but short, hike in the park, but the nature trail seemed extremely lame.

Later at home, I read in more detail the self-guided tour brochure for the Kellogg House. Besides useful information about the house itself, it mentions that the nature trails are not maintained, so we probably just didn't properly explore it.

The other museum I wanted to visit in Santa Anna was the Bowers Kidseum. They have free admission the first Sunday of the month, but we missed it, and it was likely to be extremely crowded. I was surprised by the small size of the Kidseum. It was just a big room with several low tables, a puppet theater and a dress up area. Masks and instruments each covered several tables. In addition, one small table contained a collection of toys. The dress up area had a mirror, stage and large collection of clothing, hats and shoes. The museum also had two side rooms--one with an exhibit about languages and another in which kids could make things out of clay. The kids loved the puppet theater and the clay projects, and they enjoyed playing with the other artifacts. Although the kids had fun, I thought that the price ($30 for our family of 5) is too much for what the museum offered.

Swimming in San Diego

Today we cruised down to San Diego to spend time with Aunt Eileen, Uncle Bruce and Marci. The kids were excited to go swimming there, but disappointed about the lack of kids their age. We got there in time for lunch, and then the kids had a blast swimming with Daddy and Uncle Bruce and Laura got to use her Big Bird float. Joshua and Benjamin had races across the pool.

After we had dried off, we went to a playground at the local 5th and 6th grade school. It was a very unusual playground with odd, futuristic things to climb on and spin instead of traditional monkey bars, slides and swings (unfortunately I left my camera at the house, so I don't have any pictures). Laura was determined to climb up to the highest points and then complain she needed help to get down, so she didn't like it when I forbade her to so high that I couldn't rescue her.

For dinner they took us to their favorite Chinese restaurant by "the swamp" where Marci had recently celebrated her 16th birthday. The kids liked the food, but by this time Laura was so tired that she fell asleep on her dinner plate. She woke up when we picked her up to leave and demanded a fortune cookie. Unfortunately, due to this nap, she stayed awake on the car ride home and kept asking where we were going. She is eager to go back to NJ so that grandma can paint her nails.

Adventure in Adventure City

Feeling guilty that we haven't rushed to take the kids to Disneyland (does this mean that they are deprived of an important childhood experience?), I decided to take them to Adventure City, which is down the street from Knotts Berry Farm. Adventure City is a small amusement park geared toward younger kids that was recommended by another mom in Laura's camp. We had an awesome time. Admission for all 4 of us was under $50 (used a coupon in OC Family Magazine), we parked right near the entrance gate and we only needed a moment or two to walk between rides. The lines for the rides were almost nonexistant (though we did have to wait a bit for the Treetop Racers Rollercoaster Ride because we got on line behind a large group).

The park has about 10 rides, and in about 4 hours the kids went on every ride at least once, if not 2 or 4 times, and saw a magic show that the kids loved. Joshua's favorite was the Treetop Racers Roller Coaster and the kid powered train. Benjamin loved the Barnstormer Planes and the Rescue 911 ride in which the kids got to sit in emergency vehicles while the moved around on a track. The vehicles had stearing wheels and buttons to make the siren go on. Laura couldn't get enough of the ferris wheel and the free-fall type ride, called Drop Zone. She had a fit that she was too short to go on the Treetop Racers ride with Joshua and Benjamin. Joshua went on a second time, but Benjamin refused. He keeps telling Daddy to go on it, but he doesn't want to try it again himself. I was happy that I didn't have to go on many of the rides with the kids, though I was required to go on a few of the rides with Laura. I didn't particularly like the Balloon Racers, especially after I rode on it while facing the "direction to experience the joy of maximum dizziness", according to the sign. In the future I should pay more attention to such signs. After that experience, I had no desire to go on any more rides. The kids also enjoyed the petting zoo, which had goats, sheep, chickens, a pig and a turtle. I don't know if we would have had more fun in Disneyland, but Adventure City is cheaper and much less crowded and stressful. I am sure that we got to go on many more rides and I was easily able to take the kids myself. After running around in the heat of the summer, the kids love cooling off in the rain tent, an attraction which is not mentioned in their brochure.

Sharks in Redondo Beach

Thursday we met up with Nancy and Eric (7 months) at Redondo Beach to see the SeaLife Laboratory and play on the beach. After getting past downtown traffic (one reason I would prefer to living in Binghamton, NY than Los Angeles), driving the rest of the way was a breeze, especially in the carpool lanes on the 110 and 105.

The meters nearby the aquarium were empty the whole day so parking was not a problem, at least on a weekday. The aquarium itself was awesome! The kids loved the shark tank outside, but there were also a few inside tanks--the eels were pretty cool. The highlight of the visit were the outside tanks that require a formal tour, but formal tours were only given in the afternoon once an hour (at least on weekdays). We decided to spend some time on the beach, and the kids and I would try the tour afterwards. Beach access was a little tricky, but we made it and the kids had an awesome time running away from the waves. Lunch was less successful because they couldn't keep their hands sand-free long enough to eat very much. This was Eric's first trip to the beach, so I will have to get his review later.

Just before 1, we headed back to the car, dumped the beach stuff in the trunk and rushed to the aquarium, a few minutes late to the 1pm. We were disappointed when they told us that the tour had reached capacity and we couldn't join them (but we should line up for the tour 15 minutes early). The kids weren't so excited to wait around for an hour, but they loved watching the sharks in the tank outside the tour area. While I was deciding what to do, a tour guide was reluctantly starting a tour for another family, and I managed to beg our way onto that tour. The tour guide was awesome, extremely knowledgeable about the fish and very good with kids. The kids loved looking into the tanks of lobsters, sea stars, skates and halibut among other animals. The halibut were cool because they started off lying on the bottom, then with a puff of sand, they would be rapidly swimming around the tank. The kids were excited to be able to touch some animals, including one tank with sharks. Windows in the sides of some of the tanks made the tour friendly for even the very little ones (like Laura).

By the time we left the aquarium, got gas and drove back to Eagle Rock, the library summer program culmination party was about to begin, so we went directly to the library. First we experienced an African storyteller tell us why the sky is so far away. Then the librarian had a drawing for a bunch of pirate prizes and free books for the kids. Joshua won a small stuffed bear dressed as a pirate and picked Captain Underpants Extra Crunchy Book O' Fun, and Laura won a toucan pinata almost as big as she is and picked a bug dictionary book. Benjamin, feeling left out since he didn't win anything in the drawing, ended up with a flashlight from the reading prize treasure box and a dinosaur book. I was thrilled that the 4 ft long stuffed lions had already been claimed by the time Joshua and Laura's names were picked in the raffle. Then they made treasure boxes (glued small pieces of paper onto a pastic container) and ate plenty of cookies.

The car is always a good place to have fun conversations with the kids. Today's topic was who is Daddy's mother and father and why Daddy's mother is not married ("Because she is not rich", according to Benjamin).

Children's Garden at Huntington Library

Today we checked out the Huntington Library (actually the gardens more so than the library). I definitely prefer art museum that have interesting gardens--it is relaxing to break up the quiet, somber atmosphere of the museum with airy, cheerful gardens. Visiting the Huntington was great, especially with Nitin who gave us an awesome tour. We took a quick look in the museum at the Blue Boy painting, and the docent standing in the gallery gave the kids an awesome mini-lesson about the painting. I also enjoyed seeing the inside of the building and the beautiful antique furniture on exhibit.

By this time Joshua was complaining that I hadn't yet produced the fun that I promised, so our next stop was the conservatory which had lots of hands on activities. The kids favorite activity was looking through the microscopes to see different kinds of leaves close-up (see photo). Then we continued on to the children's garden which had plenty of water play areas, plant tunnels to run through and water spraying areas. Joshua loved playing with the magnetic sand (see photo) and the musical instrument which kids can drop rocks through to make music. Laura and Benjamin loved splashing in the tables filled with water and the small rock-filled stream. If I were to go back again, I would definitely have my kids wear water shoes--I suspect that kids are not allowed to go barefoot.

Of course as soon as they stopped playing, they realized that they were hungry and we rushed home for lunch. By this time, Laura was in first place for the dirtiest kid award (see photo)! As we walked back through the conservatory, the kids were enticed first by the bug-eating plant exhibit which had microscopes for up close views and movies of the plants in action. Joshua started searching around for bugs to feed the plants. I liked the exhibit with the dead pitcher plant that identified the bugs it ate from the undigested remains. We also discovered the fish tank in the rainforest and the underwater camera which has a control to move it around. When we were finally ready to leave, the walk to the entrance gate and then to the car seemed three times as long as going (perhaps because the kids were now tired and walking really slowly).

On the topic of fun conversations with the kids, Joshua started off explaining reasons why we probably don't have a car without a top: 1. Because most of them only seat two people and 2. Because people who don't wear a seatbelt might go flying out. Benjamin then explained that only the states on the edges have beaches (so California and New Jersey have beaches, but Pennsylvania and Ohio do not; New York does, but not near us).

Benjamin: I liked the magnet thing. Yes, yes, yes (he enjoyed playing in the water).

Birthday Party BBQ

Dave enjoys using the nice BBQ on the patio, so we invited some people over for dinner. I wanted to invite Nancy, Blake and Eric over for dinner, because Nancy and Blake made us an awesome dinner when we were here 5 years ago. Then at the last minute Dave decided to include some people from Emcore (who didn't come) and some former graduate students from University of Cincinnati (who did come). Much of the day was spent shopping, cleaning and preparing for the BBQ. In the morning we attempted visit #2 to the Audubon Center at Debs Park, but we found out that it is closed on Sundays.

Since we've been staying in the neighborhood of Eagle Rock, I thought it would be neat to visit the actual Eagle Rock. We went north on Figueroa under the 134, and then drove around looking for a sign for the park. As we were about to give up, I noticed the big towering rock just off the highway with some picnic tables in front of it. The road widened slightly by the picnic tables, and two other cars were parked there. So we parked and got out to admire the huge rock and imagine that we could see an eagle in it. I've heard that the view from this park is spectacular, but, we found out, not from the picnic table area. We then started up the narrow path, but as the steep drop off one side of the trail seemed dangerous with the kids (especially with a 3 year old who likes to do her own thing), we gave up on the hike after a few minutes.

The party in the evening was fun. Dave enjoyed making dinner on the barbecue, and we admired Eric's newly acquired crawling skills. Laura kept calling it a birthday party.

Monday morning I took the kids to the Shane's Inspiration playground in Griffith Park. It has a small tricycle area in which the kids enjoyed riding their bikes and scooter. Laura kept stopping at the gas station and the general store. The kids also enjoyed the playground and the huge sandbox. After trying out a metal slide, Laura explained to me that some slides get hot and some don't. Eventually the kids were ready for lunch and we managed to leave.

In the afternoon we went to a LACMA-sponsored workshop at the Arroyo-Seco Branch library in which the kids used pencil and pastels to draw a neighborhood. Benjamin drew an airplane over LA with buildings and people hiking on a green hill (Griffith Park). Joshua drew a general landscape that might be seen from the plane complete with the plane's shadow on the ground.

Tuesday morning, Joshua woke up and said that he wanted to go to the "3rd science museum that we went to", by which he meant the La Habra Children's Museum. So, we went back there where the kids spent much of the time playing in the theater. Afterwards, we swung through Alhambra to pick up Daddy and see a Swazzle puppet show (Joshua's request) at the Arroyo Seco Branch library.

Sea Anenome and Hermit Crabs

Today we went to the tide pools at White Point in San Pedro (for info, see http://www.greatoutdoors.com/published/explore-white-point-tidepools). Even though we got there just past high tide, we were still able to find lots of wildlife among the rocky tidepools, which was crowded with other wildlife seekers wading through the water. We managed to reach a large, relatively flat rock outcropping about 50 feet from shore. At least one route there was shallow enough for all the kids to walk there. By searching the crevices in the rocks, we were able to find large and colorful sea anemone and crabs. We saw lots of snail shells, most of which were inhabited by hermit crabs, but a few of which actually had snails in them. We enjoyed watching the hermit crabs scrambling around. We saw quite a few tiny fish, but we even caught glimpses of some bigger fish hiding among the rocks. Unfortunately, the lifeguard said that we wouldn't see sea stars because people take them.

The other tidepool area in the southern area of Los Angeles is down the road in Abalone Cove, Palos Verdes. On our way home, we tried to stop and see the Point Fermin lighthouse, but the parking lot and Point Fermin Park, itself, were too crowded. We probably should have tried to walk to the lighthouse from the tidepools (though I don't know if the kids would make it there and back without complaining).

I planning a really fun last two weeks of our Los Angeles adventure, and I found some great attraction coupons in the OC Family magazine (Orange County Family), including buy one adult, get a child free for the Aquarium of the Pacific and SeaWorld. We will definitely take in a couple of major attractions that we haven't seen yet--perhaps Getty Museum, Bowers Kidseum, Aquarium of the Pacific, or Adventure City (a small amusement park for the younger kids) and revisit some favorites like the LA Zoo, Griffith Park, La Habra Children's Museum and the California Science Center.

Dinosaur Hall and Flying Machines

Every morning Laura checks with me to make sure she is going to camp. Wednesday was butterfly day. We made butterfly picture frame, butterfly wings and butterfly books, and we went to the butterfly pavillion. Benjamin came home with a pom-pom launcher and Joshua took pictures of the roller coaster they made during camp (see photo). In the afternoon, Benjamin also saw the butterflies. In the third photo, paleontologist Laura is putting together the dinosaur bones.

Thursday was snake day for Laura; she made snakes, painted a snake and saw a live snake. Joshua made a container to keep an egg from breaking when dropped from a height of 20 feet (see photo) and Benjamin brought home a balloon-powered boat. In the afternoon, Joshua made a bird whistle and nest and went looking for birds in the rose garden. Benjamin made another dinosaur diorama, this time about dinosaurs living in the water. After camp we stopped at the Eagle Rock library to try our hand at drawing pirate-themed cartoons with Dave Boatman the cartoonist. The kids had fun drawing but didn't pay all that much attention to the detailed instructions.

Friday was finally the last day of camp here in Los Angeles. Laura took her toilet-paper tube binoculars to look at the birds in the natural history museum (see photo), dissected an owl pellet and then had free time to make her own creation. Joshua used a laser pointer to observe sound waves and brought home his contraption so that we can try it together. Benjamin brought home some flying contraptions. In the afternoon, Joshua's program talked about human powered flight, and he brought home a collection of airplanes. Benjamin made his dinosaur hall and saw the tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur show. After camp we played in the museum again. They loved the TV studio area of the 3rd floor discovery room, and they insisted on playing in the shadow wall area in the Identity exhibit.

Laura starts camp

The kids were excited about the first day of a new week of camp in Exposition Park, especially Laura. Benjamin has Build It, Race It, Fly It camp and Joshua is doing Funtastic Physics camp. Joshua came home with a paper airplane and Benjamin with a paper whirlybird which he called a robocopter. In Laura's camp we talked about camouflage, and we went to look at camouflaged bugs in the discovery center.

After I picked up the boys, we ate lunch and then Benjamin wanted to show us around the Aerospace building in the Science Center. They especially enjoyed the Wright Plane simulator and the airplane launching area.

In the afternoon, Joshua had Feathered Friends camp and Benjamin Dino-Mite camp. Laura had to run errands with Mommy. Benjamin was excited that he dug up some bones and assembled a dinosaur. He also went behind the scenes in the Dino-Lab. Joshua was disappointed that he didn't get a snack during camp. After camp, we went to a weekly LACMA program at the Los Feliz library (paint is the topic of the month). The kids got to paint with dry tempura paint cakes (they looked like watercolors). Joshua painted a building, Benjamin painted a fire engine next to a burning building, and Laura just made a mess.

On Tuesday, Daddy decided to hang out with us at the museums instead of going to work. Laura's topic of the day in camp was tortoises. First we read about them, then we did some crafts, and finally we saw a real tortoise. Joshua compared the buoyancy of a clay boat with an aluminum boat and Benjamin made a rocketship. Then we all went to El Pollo Loco for lunch. In the afternoon, Benjamin made a dinosaur diarama, and Joshua dissected an owl pellet. Daddy and Laura spent a little time in the science museum. Finally, after camp was over we saw the Under the Sea 3D IMAX show with 3D glasses (see photo). The kids haven't seen a 3d movie like that yet, so they were awed! We really felt like we were in the water right there with the fish. Benjamin and Laura stood up and tried to touch the fish and coral reef, so we had to make sure they didn't trip over the seat in front of them.

On our way back to Eagle Rock we saw a fire in the hills just above our neighborhood. From the house, we could hear the helicopters flying overhead and dumping water on the fire. Fortunately by bedtime the fire was almost contained. For dinner, we went to Nitin's house where he served a few Indian dishes and pizza. The kids enjoyed watching It's a Bug's Life in his home theater while the adults ate and Nitin and Bruce showed off their elaborate house updates.