Hollywood Bowl and Library Tour

Wednesday, July 22 we started off with a craft at the Pasadena Library with a stop in Alhambra to give Dave a good shirt since he biked to work and forget a fresh shirt to change into. Then we ate lunch at Teri and Yaki, a fast food type Japanese restaurant in Pasadena. They had given out coupons to summer reading club members for a free meal, which the kids were eager to redeem. Though not spectacular, the food was good, the kids were happy, and Joshua actually ate the chicken. By the time we got back home, it was 3:00pm since the kids' multiple bathroom trips during lunch and during errands after lunch slowed us down considerably. I got the kids a snack from the house, and we went to the Los Feliz library for a humorous puppet show by Swazzle called "Goldilocks and the Three Buckaneers". Joshua and Benjamin were mesmerized by it. Afterwards, I dragged them to Cerritos Park to play in the water again before heading home.

Thursday, July 23 we started off with a Summersounds show at the Hollywood Bowl. The performace took us on a visit to East LA to learn about Mexican music and dance with SammyDee (who lives at 24th and Hoover in the show). After the show, the kids made tin paintings and Day of the Dead masks. In the afternoon, we went to our local Eagle Park branch library to see a pirate magic show by David Skale. This magic show was not nearly as impressive as the first one--Illusions by Allen at the Pasadena branch library. Joshua thought that the pirate magic show was funnier, but preferred Allen because he performed more magic tricks.

On Friday we journeyed to La Habra to visit the Children's Museum there. Benjamin was excited from the moment he saw the train cars outside the museum, especially the red caboose. The kids started off in the theater room (see photo) which contained hundreds of costumes, a working microphone and working sound effects room. They could have played there all day. They also enjoyed the riding the carousel, touring the caboose, climbing on the dinosaurs outside the museum (see photo), and making Gak. Benjamin was fascinated by the typewriter in the caboose, and enjoyed dressing up as a fireman in the theater room. Laura's second favorite activity was grocery shopping.

I finally dragged the kids away from the theater, and we drove to Alhambra to give Dave a ride home (since he had biked to work). Before going home, we checked out the water play area in Alhambra park. Much to the kids' disappointment, we didn't end up staying because I was annoyed that they were charging for both adults and kids to go into a tiny water play area. To make up for it, Saturday afternoon we took the kids again to La Pintoresca Park in Pasadena which has a bigger, free water play area and adjoining playground!

Saturday morning we went to the William H. Hart Park in Newhall, near Santa Clarita because they were having a family program. While it was not nearly as crowded as July 4 at the Rose Bowl must be, the kids enjoyed the crafts (toilet paper tube binoculars, and pasta and bead rattlesnakes) and the live animal program. They even had skins from skunks, badgers, bobcats and cougars and owl wings for us to touch. The park also has a barnyard area, a herd of buffallo, and tours of William Hart's mansion, which I was told is very child-friendly. Though the buffallo are not always visible on the walking path to the mansion, we managed to spot three buffallo near the sign about them. Dave and I enjoyed seeing the mansion, but the only child-friendly aspect of the tour was that it was very short. Joshua and Benjamin were impressed by the bear skin rug in the living room. Someone mentioned a bird sanctuary on top of Pine Mountain in Frazier Park, which I will have to remember to look up, though it doesn't seem like it is worth the drive this summer.

Since our local section of Colorado Blvd (the main thoroughfare in Eagle Rock) is lined with Thai restaurants, I thought it would be fun to try one. So, in the evening, we decided to try Classic Thai because it had the highest rating of local restaurants on Yelp. Though the restaurant was empty, we were not disappointed with the food. The kids gobbled down the heavenly chicken which was recommended by someone on Yelp. Next time, I would like to sit on their peaceful patio.