LACMA

Queztalcoatl exhibit:

Penetrable, aka Noodle Rain:

Trash Trucks!!!

Suffice it to say, the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation Open House 2012 was a huge hit. Food, trash trucks and treats like his very own yellow hardhat were a lot of fun for everybody. More pics on Flickr for interested grandparents, and we'll definitely do this again next year!

Park Day: UCLA Sculpture Garden

Things are looking up, said the toddler. (Jackson explores the inside of Richard Serra's gargantuan TEUCLA steel sculpture.)

Jackson insisted this was a waterfall not a fountain, and he thought it was fantastic.

This sculpture made of steel girders serves as a fine bench and it was Jackson's favorite sculpture by far. (No one seemed to mind if people touched the art!)

More climbing fun.

Bye mom!

Bonus funtimes: One of the groundskeepers let Jackson help rake up some leaves! 

Overall this was a beautiful spot with lots to see and do (plus some great birds for me!), it was easy to get to from UCLA's P3 pay-by-spot parking structure, and we'll definitely be back in the future.

Raspberry Jamble

"I can make jam and drive carpool and have play groups. Maybe that's enough." -Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy


I doubt Meredith Grey was saying anything nice about SAHMs when she voiced the above, but whatever, lady. I made jam. I have a lot of berries I need to do something with, so gimme a break! This was fun, and I need to do another jar soon, since the berries are ripening faster than we can eat them off the vines. (P.S. Do you think I can freeze these since I don't know how to do the boiling water bath thing?)

Pairs well with English muffins and the book Jamberry, by Bruce Degen.

Park Day: Ken Molloy Harbor Regional Park

This was our park day two weeks ago, but my camera batteries died so just posting this now. Sorry for the delay, grandparents! :)

This is the park where Reggie the Alligator lived his renegade lifestyle for a year or so. His owner-abandoner picked a wonderful place to dump him--the park proper is a vast wetland, and there's a wildlife sanctuary on the far side. Large swaths of this park are quite inaccessible (at least as far as urban parks go), and it's apparently a great spot for birdwatching, but I don't think we'll travel down here again for kiddie times. They have good play equipment and the ducks and geese are a nice bonus, but the driving distance and the scattered trash were a turnoff.

In grand Los Angeles tradition, a scenic view...of the oil refinery. Heh.

Race ya!

Duck duck geese.

Garden Documentaries for Happy Hippies

When my last kid goes off to college, I would like to go off and be an intern at Geoff Lawton's Zaytuna Farm in New Zealand. Amazing.



And while it's irritatingly not embeddable, this Back To Eden documentary about a charming Christian crackpot in Washington state teaches about the benefits of using shredded tree mulch in the garden and is decidedly worth a click when you have a little time.