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.