Suburban Homestead

One Day, Two Gals + Three Restaurants

I have always had a weakness for packaging. Wrap-up any product or service with just the right colors/fonts/pictures and I'm bound to lean in an take a closer look.

The Chop Shop is one such example. We drove by it several times our first night in Scottsdale, and I couldn't help but be romanced by its playful, retro signage all aglow. I needed to know more! Surprisingly, it is not a pork chop shop, it is a salad chop shop, perfect for our Tuesday lunch stop.

12:00 PM

(No, not me.)

This place was great. We each had the kale Caesar, I had warm chicken added to mine. All items were served up in compostable cups and bowls. It was busy so clearly we were not the only people enjoying their signage decor fresh food.

4:07 PM

A coupon for free guacamole brought us back to our hotel for their happy hour. Out on the patio it was still 100 degrees but with the misters going, we did all right. I love all the color in this place.

7:00 PM

For dinner we got really lucky when we discovered the highly reviewed Bandara just two blocks from our hotel. I almost fell over when we walked in and I found it to be a carbon copy of another favorite restaurant of mine in Denver - The Cherry Creek Grill.  Turns out, same owner!

We shared a giant plate of vegetables, a salad and a slice of banana creme pie.

Before walking back to our hotel, we unbuttoned our pants and swore not to let each other eat for at least another 24 hours. (I think we broke down after 13.)

Scottsdale's Antique Trove

Earlier this morning, while grabbing coffees in our hotel's lobby, we got to talking with a pleasant fellow behind the counter. He had lots to share with us about this and that, the hotel, and the town. When he asked us if we liked to go antiquing we got all excited and started chirping in unison: "We do! We do! We do!"  So he told us about the Antique Trove, properly warned us of all the time we would need to make our way through it, and then even drew us a map of how to get there. (I didn't even know people still knew how to draw maps!)

Let me say that I think I could really benefit from some instruction on how to effectively photograph an antique store. These photos do not even begin to do this place justice. From the moment we walked through the front door and saw deep aisle after deep aisle laid out before us, we knew we were in for something spectacular. So we gave each other one last look, confirmed we each had a phone on us for the inevitable, and went our separate ways.

Here are some of the highlights of our visit:

The Saguaro Hotel, Scottsdale AZ

So I'm in Scottsdale for a couple days. A little pleasure, a little business. I brought my mom because she likes it hot, and being that it was 100 degrees today, she's in her happy place.

Today was pleasure, tomorrow is all bizniz.

I've never been to Scottsdale before - it's adorable! Hard not to be when you're the spa capital of the world, I suppose. We are staying at the newly opened Saguaro Hotel. We ate at the sister hotel in Palm Springs last year and loved it. Super happy to have learned about this place in time for our visit.  I was needing more rainbows and cacti in my life.

We had a great lunch at the hotel's restaurant, El Distrito. I had the fish tacos, she, the chili relleno.

My mom made a great discovery in the lobby and then again in our room - these vintage Arizona Highways magazines from the 50's and 60's! She remembers the publication and was so excited to share with me the incredible quality of photography throughout. Indeed! Here is a closer look:

Fabulous Friday

I realized this week that I wasn't clear in defining my dessert criteria in last Friday's post. (Not that anyone is losing sleep over this one, but...) It's not that I will only eat a fruit dessert if it's in the form of a crisp/cobbler/crumble, it's that I'll only eat a fruit dessert that doesn't contain chocolate if it is in the form of a crisp/cobbler/crumble.

Because I love fruit with chocolate! (Unless that fruit is an orange, of course.)

This all dawned on me when I remembered this other incredible dessert that was also served at the Shrine of the Rhubarb Coffee Cake (aka A Clean Well-Lighted Cafe, c. 1990) -- the equally intoxicating Raspberry Tart. I know it doesn't sound too fancy, I mean we see fruit tarts everywhere, right? But this tart was special because underneath its layer of French buttercream was a thin layer of dark chocolate. Simple yet brilliant.

So I gave it a shot today and I will say it tasted great to us considering all things. Like...considering I chose to use gluten-free flour in the crust (super crumbly)...considering I used too much chocolate (thick layer hard to break)...considering my vanilla cream layer jelled up before I could pour it into tart (think school pick-up), considering all these near disasters, it still tasked great. It didn't cut great, it didn't hold together great, but all the flavors came together well, and we loved it. This is definitely one worth me working on. In the meantime, all you need to take away from this is that every fruit tart could benefit greatly from a 5oz. layer of dark chocolate in it. Oh, and that a molded Eames chair can also serve as an excellent backdrop for a colorful dessert.

Happy Friday!

 

Wordless Wednesday

Newborn Goats at Toluma Farms

I had a super fun outing this weekend with the little kids while Daddy coached the big guy's baseball game. I was so sorry we weren't all together for this one...few experiences can compete with getting to hold one and two day old baby goats. And the only thing better for me than getting outside and onto a farm is doing it at a farm where cool furniture lines the wrap-around porch of the farmhouse. (Not to mention, there was an Airstream trailer in the neighboring field). Bliss.







I learned about this opportunity by going to Marin Organic's website and searching their upcoming events. (These is a super cool dairy tour coming up on the 18th). Toluma Farms is a young goat farm where they recently began making cheese. April and May are obviously the best times to visit, the surrounding hillsides are completely green and everywhere you turn, kids and lambs are dropping from mamas. Below is a picture of a sheep we watched cleaning her lamb, born in the middle of the night. (We took the opportunity to make a Jordache Jeans ad out of it.)













There were so many added treats to our visit - an enthusiastic volunteer that filled us in on all sorts of additional information, and in-ground trampoline the kids loved, tractor rides provided by the owner and goat cookies frosted with goats milk frosting!







I love these sorts of opportunities offered by some of our local organizations like Marin Organic and Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT). If you are local to the Bay Area, I'd encourage you to familiarize yourself with their websites and to get on their email list to learn about events like this one.

Cinco de Mayo Party

1. She dressed herself and wore it well

2. Taco platter from our local supermercado

3. In intimate circles he is known affectionately (and respectfully) as Señor Thomas

Cinco de Mayo and el Supermercado

Hola! It's been a while, I know. I am finally emerging from a curious funk that plauged me for over a week. This will likely sound like a lame excuse but I've been exhausted, and for no more reasons that the ones we all face everyday. I was unreasonably groggy, like jacked-up on elephant tranquilizers groggy, first trimester groggy. It was awful and I'm not sure why. I finally crawled to the store and purchased some iron and B12. I don't know if that was what did the trick, but I'm all better now.

And no, I'm not pregnant.

I have so much I want to share! Friday's dessert, final thoughts on our trip to Mexico, our trip to a local goat farm, my spring garden - it's all on my radar. But right now we are getting ready to head to our friend's house where we will be having a Mexican Spring Break Reunion Party. I am in charge of re-creating the coconut smoothies we all became addicted to while in PV last month. 

The withdrawls have been brutal. This gentleman told me on our last day just how the hotel made these incredible drinks (they basically double as milkshakes/desserts): piña colada mix, ice, shredded coconut and coconut cream to finish. I'm going to give it my best shot today.  Fingers crossed.

While preparing for today's task, I thought it the perfect opportunity to go explore our local supermercado - Mi Pueblo. It was super cool and such a fun experience for the kids too. They loved seeing the unusual foods like cactus and pig parts, hot pink cookies and the worlds largest display of hot sauces!

This guy was over the moon when he discovered a horchata mix that would allow him to enjoy one of his all time favorite drinks by just adding water. Imagine that! (Although I did warn him it probably wouldn't taste nearly as good as the real deal.)

I will hopefully get some good pictures this afternoon of the prepared spread our friends are picking up from Mi Pueblo. Until then, here are some pictures of last years Mexican Spring Break Reunion Party which our travel companions also hosted on Cinco de Mayo.

We dined on fresh fish tacos and horchata made from scratch.

Fabulous Friday

I could go on and on about my affection for the Rhubarb Coffee Cake that was a signature dessert of A Clean Well-Lighted Cafe, just off the same-named bookstore in what used to be Larkspur Landing. Anyone remember that spot?!?  I waited tables there my last year of high school and that dessert played a large role in the teenage years of my emotional development. While I tried to recreate it once, nothing will compare to my seventeen-year-old-former-self's memory. Nothing.

I could also go on and on for equal time about how little I care for fruit in my dessert. It's a rare colorful dessert that could steal my attention from...say, an all brown dessert. And orange in my chocolate? No thank you. A cherry on my sundae? Now that's just gross. The only exception I can make in the fruity dessert department is for the crisp/cobbler/crumble (and btw - that Rhubarb Coffee Cake totally qualified).  Any warm fruit dish topped with a brown sugar oatmeal mixture AND a scoop of vanilla ice cream is as colorful as I can get in the later hours of the day.

It goes without saying that Ina Garten knows how to make a fruit crumble and when I came across her strawberry RHUBARB crisp recipe, I was happily transported back to 1990. It should also go without saying that it is now 2013 which is why I made this dessert cutting the sugar in half. I still enjoyed the heck out of every last spoonful. Here is my modified version:

 

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp (reduced sugar)

Ingredients

4 cups fresh rhubarb, 1-inch diced (4 to 5 stalks)
4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and halved, if large
3/4 cups granulated sugar (original calls for 1-1/4 cup)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed (original calls for 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup quick-cooking (not instant) oatmeal
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced (original calls for 12 tablespoons)
Vanilla ice cream, for serving (Haagen Daz is our favorite)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the fruit, toss the rhubarb, strawberries, 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar and the orange zest together in a large bowl. In a measuring cup, dissolve the cornstarch in the orange juice and then mix it into the fruit. Pour the mixture into an 8-by-11-inch baking dish and place it on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

For the topping, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, the remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, salt and oatmeal. With the mixer on low speed, add the butter and mix until the dry ingredients are moist and the mixture is in crumbles. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit, covering it completely, and bake for 1 hour, until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown. Serve warm with ice cream.

Fabulous Friday

I love me some Friday mornings. It's just me, this little guy, a tandem bike ride to the store where he's throwing out prom queen waves to everyone we pass, and then back home for some cake making.

Wordless Wednesday

Dinner on the Beach, La Palapa

Wandering Old Town Puerto Vallarta

After our jaunt into PV for lunch at Joe Jack's Fish Shack, the women and men parted ways for several hours. Dads and boys headed back to the hotel, moms and daughters walked the streets of old town looking for adventure, cheap take-homes and ice cream. (Did that sound dirty?)

One of us (with cute red braids) was lucky enough to get a private lesson in quesadilla making from a sweet man who took to her good looks.  She was so excited for the experience.

With a short list of things to buy (shark tooth necklace, bobble-head turtles, Mexican dresses, etc.) we headed north, crossed a small bridge and turned left into the PV’s outdoor market.

This Kid...

Joe Jack's Fish Shack - Part III

It's spring break and for the second year in a row, we are in Puerto Vallarta with friends. (When you have a recipe for success, why deviate?) With a third family in the mix this year, we are having so much fun sharing with them our favorite spots and activities. Eight kids all line-up in age and we couldn't ask for a more perfect set-up. Yesterday we took time out from our all-inclusive, piled into two large taxi vans (there are fourteen of us total!) and headed into PV's Old Town where we took lunch at Joe Jack's Fish Shack. (To get a little back story on JJ's and me, or why this post is called Part III, click here.)

Oh Joe, we love you so. My personal, absolute favorite dish at Joe Jack's is the Fish Tacos 'Baha'. If you are feeling *good* you can take yours grilled. I was feeling *naughty* so I ordered mine battered and fried. No regrets!

The chips and guac are some of the best we've ever had! P. had the octopus because he's just that kinda guy. His wife, B., is one of the best friends I'll ever have. Here is what she looks like in a wide-brimmed black hat, on a Mexican roof top, with the sun behind her back. Hay que bonita!

P. and I are both photography hobbyists and enthusiasts. He's big on the technical stuff which I envy. My brain is not wired to receive such information. ;)

Shrimp tacos for him, fish tacos for Miss Frijoles. We ordered way too much food not realizing that each plate promised to overflow with three giant tacos each!

Get on track to the shack if you are ever in PV. Make sure to make reservations as the tables are limited. The shopping in the surrounding blocks is phenomenal with boutique stores selling interesting jewelry, clothing and homewares (although mostly at Amercan prices). I'll post about our jaunt to the colorful outdoor market next. Stay turned.

Wordless Wednesday

Model Apartment Remodel - Before + After

Last week I was out in Denver working on various projects for several apartment complexes. The most exciting project is one that may or may not get off the ground, depending on the pricing we get back, but I am hopeful that I will be able to oversee the installation of a large community garden and orchard in this complex that is home to many young families. Dreamy!!! I was also in The Mile High City to install a new model apartment in another complex that had been recently acquired by new owners eager to freshen up the units and clubhouse. Now, model apartments are not the world's most exciting sounding projects, but I do love the budget and time limitations that they pose, making each one a different kind of challenge. And since everyone loves before + after pictures, I thought I would go ahead and share a little bit of my crazy week.

Let's start with a pretty picture first, shall we:

Just a couple weeks before I snapped the picture above, the room looked like this:

Above is CB2's Saga credenza - love it! - topped with a Candice Olson light (found at 50% off), faux air plants and a prop flat screen TV. The couch was on clearance at Room & Board and the club chair was from overstock.com. The flooring is -- brace yourself -- rolled vinyl! Looks just like hardwood, no?! A great solution for apartment living.

Before all the new flooring went down...before the cabinets got a facelift...before the faux stainless steel appliances arrived, the kitchen and dining room looked like this:

Then they were this:

All the units will be getting these updates as they turnover and all future tenants will have the option to upgrade to the accent wall colors shown in these images.

Master bedroom and bath BEFORE:

Master bedroom and bath AFTER:

Second bedroom and bath BEFORE:

Second bedroom and bath AFTER:

It took my Boulder-based girlfriend and me a total of 28 hours to install this two-bedroom apartment - and that was JUST the furniture and accessories. It never seizes to amaze me how long it takes to get a small apartment photo-ready. :)

Our Easter Sunday

Easter has always been one of my top two favorite celebrations - next to Halloween. That is, of course, until the "The Holidays" roll around and then those takes pole position... OK, I guess I just like any excuse to celebrate with family.





Whenever possible, I try to host an Easter brunch. The front lawn at our old house just begged for small kids and stuffed plastic eggs. It was usually an event for family and neighbors, two years ago I got very brave and it got even bigger - an egg-ceptional afternoon I will never forget! Last year we were on a road-trip for Easter, so I was excited to get back to tradition this year at the new house. Knowing I would be traveling for work all of last week, I kept it to just family this time, and gave a shout out for help. Everyone brought a dish (or two!) which made the whole thing managable with little time for me to prepare.







All the cousins (on my side) are growing up so fast and this year I had to threaten retribution to get some of the big kids to participate in the hunt (so as not to make the other kids feel tinier than they already are).







It takes some planning to find egg stuffers that meet the satisfaction of kids aged 3 - 13. I always do some candy, but I also stuffed eggs with things like 18" bendy pencils, mini tape dispensers, unusual hair bands, moustache stickers, etc. I love the challenge and am on the lookout for good fillers all year long.



Hope you had a great holiday weekend!

Fabulous Friday

At the risk of sounding like a super annoying overachiever, I should probably just come clean and say that we celebrate half birthdays over here. (For the kids, that is.) It's not because I'm desperate to seek out more work for myself, or because my kids need another excuse to celebrate something, it's just that I have a child with a birthday depressingly close to Christmas, and my heart breaks that her special day often gets lost in the craze of the holiday season. So almost four years ago, I decided to get her a special dessert on her half birthday, and to make her feel a little extra special.

Of course now I have to do this with all the kids. :) Nothing fancy, no hats, certainly no gifts, just a lot of half-birthday talk throughout the day, and a song and dessert after dinner. Today Mr. Noodle reached three-and-a-half years old. He requested Chocolate Mousse and so once again, like most Friday mornings, we took a long walk to the store, gathered up all our ingredients, and came home to make dessert together. I served it up in my mother's beautiful wedding crystal from 1954!  It's been a long time since I've had chocolate mousse (or dessert served in crystal, for that matter) and I do still love it. Takes me back to my childhood for sure!

*El Sol* Vintage Medallion

When I first made it to Palm Springs last year, I took an hour or two to myself, wandering through stores housing retro wares. My favorite, out of all of them, was a tiny hole in the wall called Bon Vivant (457 N. Palm Canyon). Small as it was, this gem still managed to pack a large punch with a bunch of vintage items offered at very reasonable prices. The man behind the counter was sweet and chatty, and I left with eight stainless steel tumblers that we use for unbreakable kiddo milk and water cups. Last month, when I returned to Palm Springs for the second time, I made sure to go back to Bon Vivant. This time I fell in love with one of the many vintage medallions on display. I call this guy *El Sol* and I wore him on a bright spring day recently. He reminds me of something Alexander Girard might have created, or something my mother might once have worn, in the decade before I was born. :)

Fabulous Friday / Accidental Genius

I didn't post much this week, although that's not because I haven't been online. I've been behind the scenes these last few days, making changes to the look of this blog, changes I'm excited to share in the next few days (hopefully). Friday night's dessert is worth coming out for. Strawberry-Coconut Meringue. I've made it before and it was incredible! I made it Friday night cutting out half the recipe's sugar, and it was still incredible!

We started out with Sweet Potato, Brie and Kale Quesidillas, an adaptation from this post.

The dessert came from a great book my SIL gave me a short time after we got chickens and I started this blog. Notice the subtitle. :)

This book is filled with great recipes and photography, especially for fans of backyard chickens. Such a great gift!

Honestly, half the sugar didn't stop us from licking our plates - literally! Adapted from original recipe found here.

MERINGUE

4 egg whites

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut

FILLING

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt

2 teaspoons tablespoons sugar

2 cups halved fresh strawberries, quarted

DIRECTIONS

Toss strawberries with two teaspoons of sugar and set aside to maserate.

To make the meringue: Preheat oven to 300ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites with the salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Beat in the cornstarch, lemon juice, and vanilla and continue beating until firm peaks form. With the mixer running, very slowly beat in the sugar (this should take about 1 minute). Continue beating until the egg whites are stiff and glossy and the sugar has dissolved. Gently fold in 1/4 cup of the coconut. 

Pile the meringue in the center of the parchment paper and spread evenly making a circle shape 6" in diameter (it will puff and expand as it bakes to about 8 inches in diameter). Gently smooth the top and sides of the meringue. Sprinkle the top and sides with the remaining 1/2 cup of coconut. 

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the coconut is golden brown and the meringue is firm on the outside. Slide the meringue and parchment paper onto a wire rack and cool completely. Gently peel off the parchment paper. 

To make the filling: Beat the heavy cream in a medium bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until soft peaks form. Add the yogurt and sugar. Continue beating until firm, but not stiff, peaks form. Pile the cream in center of the cooled meringue; top with the strawberries and natural juices. 

 

Serves 5 - 8, depending on how much willpower you do or do not have. ;)

 

Sunday Morning Magic

I caught Miss Frijoles moving about the family room this morning in a pair of my very tallest stacks. I caught it on camera and went about my business. Then I found her in a new game, and a new set of shoes. She kept it up, moving about the house, from fort to horse stable to train tracks, deep in imaginary play, always wearing a new pair of something from Mama's closet. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was young. I was always creating far away lands in my mind, room and backyard. It melts me to see her do the same.

Fabulous Friday

Happy Saturday! I know it's the weekend and I know we are all gathered around our kitchen tables at this point sipping tea and coffee, iPads and laptops out, catching-up, waking-up, cartoons on, jammies on, but I couldn't help but post this Friday's surprise - it was a true winner!

Yesterday, the little man and I kept our end-of-the-week tradition going when we sat down on the floor with a stack of Ina's cookbooks and contemplated pretty pictures of decedent desserts. Together we agreed on her Fresh Lemon Mousse. He was sold on the image alone, I was extra excited knowing that his big brother and Nana are lemon lovers. All three grandmothers would be banding together to tackle the kids while Daddy and I went out to celebrate a old friend's 40th. I had high hopes that six mouths would polish this off and leave no temptation for our late night return. No such luck. Daddy and I were licking spoonfuls of this lovely as Friday turned into Saturday.

Artichokes to Cake Pops

The final leg of last week's road trip had us driving home from Carmel on Sunday. We were ready to be back. With two kids sick, and our final night spent in a motel with dubious cleaning standards, we just wanted a hot shower at home, and to crawl into familiar beds...but not before making a couple stops at some of our favorite old-school points of interest.

First stop: Watsonville for artichokes and butternut squash.

Second stop: Capitola for Gayle's Bakery and Rotisserie.

I have been one of many faithful fans of Gayle since my college years in Santa Cruz. Everything I have ever eaten here, from sweet to savory, has been incredible. Which is why I NEVER miss the opportunity to indulge in a little bit of a lot of things she dishes up, whenever I'm nearby.

Breakfast consisted of egg and bacon croissants for the wee ones, and huevos rancheros casserole topped with a poached egg for me. (I must try to recreate my dish at home. So colorful and fun to eat!) After that, I was emotionally unable to deny my children their first cake pop experience.

Our Sunday night dinner!

A Look Inside Our Santa Barbara Hotel

How fun is this room?! It was ours for a night when we stopped over in Santa Barbara on our way home from Disneyland. It is my understanding that The Agave Inn is owned by the same people that own The Hamlet Inn,where we stayed last year on our spring break road trip. It appears - and I'm totally guessing on this one - that *the owners* had the great idea to buy some old-school motels and funk them up a bunch with some simple tricks like - bright paint, modern IKEA furnishings and affordable poster art. Both experiences have inspired me to dream of buying an old motel and fixing it up into something wonderful.



While in Santa Barbara, we (barely) made it to the zoo. With only an hour and a half left before closing time, we powered through this beautiful gem of a zoo and managed to see all the animals. Sadly, it was not as magical as we might have hoped (think extreme sibling rivalry) and ended with a three-year-old's *toot* turning into a *diarrhea explosion*, and me walking out the front gate with a bare-bottomed little boy in my arms.

THE SURVIVOR'S GUIDE: Doing Disneyland Dandily, not Doggedly

The following is a guest post by our travel companion Granny A.

I have been to Disneyland before, but only once, during the sixties, on my honeymoon (first). Therefore, and of course, it was without children.

Being invited to join Jeanice and her three beautiful children for a visit to this, the wonderland where happiness abounds, was a huge compliment and promised a wonderful adventure. 

Not only that, but I have now been invited to write about the event on this blog.

There is a potential downside. There is an editorial policy. It requires that the piece be uplifting, positive and helpful. This is not my usual style. Sardonic, sarcastic and sassy would be more descriptive, particularly when speaking of a place where happiness reigns supreme. Here is my attempt.

Disneyland is like everything in life. At the extremes, there is a good way and a bad way to do it. I, in my positive mood, will describe the way we did it - the good way. Now I may allude to the bad way but you will have to be on your toes to catch it.

The most important thing to do is stay at a Disneyland Resort Hotel. This is important for several reasons.

• For a slightly exorbitant fee the car is parked and you never have to see it, or more importantly, drive on LA freeways the whole time you are there. Your energies are better expended elsewhere and your patience may be sorely taxed. Traffic jams are an unnecessary drag.
• If you stay in the resort you can take a break midday when whining, tantrums and general bad manners surface. Instead, chill the children poolside.  Even if they have a pool at home they love it.  It may seem counter intuitive: spending all the money to come to Disneyland and then staying aloof. However, the whole idea is to make, or keep, the kids happy and this will do it.
• If you stay at a Disneyland Resort you get an hour of "magic time."  Roughly translated, it is an hour before the masses are allowed to enter. It is not an undiluted blessing. First there is a line to get in to be line free. Second, the lines that are formed by these elite groups are most territorial. I discovered this truth in a line for California Adventure Park - Never send a child as a place holder. Fortunately the guy behind the 8yo was merely sarcastic. He said: "Unless you marry my wife, I am ahead of you." I protectively put my arms around the 8yo, smiled up at the guy and said: I don't think he is ready for the responsibility."

But even with all of this, be sure to take cell phones. I was left behind in the family's eagerness to get on the "Tea Cup Ride". They were able to text and tell me they were in the tea cups. I was taking a another family's portrait, then I made a joke and I laughed so hard at my own joke that I fell down. The joke: The Dad had a University of North Dakota tshirt.  I said: Did you really go there? Then I said, "Well I guess so! Who would brag about that! Harvard, Stanford perhaps..." I knew I was safe using wry, self-deprecatory humor. Look at any map that includes Canada, it is right over the border. My fall down joke was that my parents fully intended to name me for the city I was born. You look it up.

There is a caveat. Disneyland this way is very expensive. I think that many children are forced to make a choice: it is either Disneyland or college.  At age six, what would you pick?

More later (if I am ever asked again),

Granny Alexis

Wordless Wednesday

The Accidental Tourist

I made a big, big mistake recently when I accidentally booked our trip to Disneyland the week after our school district's ski week. I don't know how it happened exactly (honest truth), but it did, and so we just decided to roll with it. Last week we stayed local while everyone else was traveling, and now that school is back in, we are down south introducing the three-year-old to places like The Madonna Inn, Disneyland and Santa Barbara.

Last night we spent the night in the Jungle Rock room at The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. You can imagine the kids excitement when they first walked in...

Wordless Wednesday

Lights Out

Our electricity just came back on...as did our furnace. :)

Everything went black right before dinner, and so much to the delight of all three kids, we ate pasta by candlelight. When the eight-year-old suggested we listen to a bedtime story on the iPad, Daddy said, "No way - are you crazy?! This is your mom's dream come true!"

So with great enthusiasm, they pulled out their sleeping bags and set-up camp on the linoleum-tiled kitchen floor. (Ouch!)

And without any further hints as to what magic he might have in store for this rainy night, Daddy went into the garage, reached up into a dark crevice, and pulled out a very special book that he had, at one time, squirreled away for just this sort of occasion. Surprise, surprise, wee ones. Tonight your daddy spoiled you with the first chapter of The House at Pooh Corner.

ps - after much fussing, we finally convinced all three kids to move their camp to a carpeted area, right off the linoleum kitchen tiles. :)