The greatest show on earth

In honor of Josie's birthday, we all went to the circus. And it was actually quite fun! Here, Enzo tried out the wizard hat before the lights dimmed and the show started. Mini Harry Potter!


He's not quite sure what to make of it all.


I got a shot of Enzo captivated by the tigers (with Mema).

Here, Josie waving to the elephant-buddies. (Enzo likey.)

Birthday girl, Josie -- and pregger sister, Claire.

I think Jeff is somewhere in the lobby here -- as he was the entire night -- on multiple conference calls with work. I dunno, something about servers going down and email not working for LA county. Whatevs. He missed a good show.

And unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of all of us together. Mom, Dad, Josie, Claire, Jeff, Enzo, and Auntie Jo. We tried paying for a $30 framed pic of all of us on a fake tiger, but as soon as we all posed, the camera "broke." Again, whatevs.

Happy birthday to Auntie Godmother!

Two playdates in one day

Bridgette brought over Jonathan and Carissa for a morning playdate. The last time we got to see Jonathan was at Jeff's birthday party and he was a sleeping angel in his carseat. Now, he's walking and running around. This little one is ALL BOY! So adorable. Here, Enzo shares his toys - at first, he was like "what are these kids doing with all my stuff?!" Then, he got the hang of it. It was great seeing them co-play. They weren't exactly interacting, but playing nicely - side by side.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic of Carissa, the cutie-pie. Maybe it was because she built a pillow cave and was hiding inside.




After E's nap, we headed up the street to Kylan's house for some swimming. Since Enzo had a bunch of days in the Palm Desert pool, he jumped right in. I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck with the 12" of water and no floaties. We both survived and we both did quite well. After he dried off and had a snack (and Kathy and I got the chance to visit), Enzo got the chance to play with Kylan's toys. Quid pro quo from earlier in the day.

Enzo does Palm Desert (in the middle of July)

We spent the past week in Palm Desert for a semi-last minute getaway. The criteria were that 1.) getting on a plane was not required, 2.) the vacation couldn't overshadow our upcoming Hawaii vacation in November, 3.) we had to feel like we were really "away," 4.) it couldn't break the bank. So we stayed at Shadow Ridge, a sister property to our Marriott spot on Oahu.

Here, Enzo's first trip to the kiddie pool (all of 12 inches deep). What a difference 11 months makes! (Remember the Hawaiian post from November 2008?) He took to the water like a fish in, well, water. Splish splash all day long. Once we tried teaching him to blow bubbles, we couldn't get him to stop slurping up the chlorinated water. Eeww. Of course, we had to make it to the pool before 11 am, so it didn't feel like a bathtub.


Mema was able to join us for a few days before she returned home to save her garden from the heat. It was good times!


The week was glorious -- reading stories, working out, napping, jumping on the beds, cooking, reading, watching movies, and playing.

And eating Cheerios in our jammies.

During a trip to Walmart for Jeff's eardrops and my Red Vines, Winnie the Pooh invited Enzo for a ride. I wonder if we set the precedent for jumping on kiddie rides at the store.


By writing to the Palm Desert Visitors' Bureau, I found out that there was a travelling music show visiting the La Quinta Public Library, as well as a few toddler storytimes. Big hit. And air conditioned. Here is Enzo improvising with his own maracas.

What I did on my summer vacation

Its a bit early for Enzo to start thinking about writing essays about what I did on summer vacation, but its always a great to put some info in a blog for his family and friends. This week is the beginning of summer vacation and this year's location is Palm Desert California. We picked this week because we knew it was going to be a hot weather week in SoCal and being that we like to take things to a whole new level...a 122 degree day was what we were looking for -NOT!

Yes..122 degrees on our first day. Its cooled to 112 degrees- quite an improvement.

During this week, Enzo's Caterpillar buddy got a bath, well Enzo threw him into the bath. That lead to a wash then a dry...rather an incomplete dry. So Caterpillar Buddy spent the night outside. We told Enzo that Caterpillar buddy went camping and build a cocoon. The next morning Caterpillar buddy was dry and toasty from the 112 degree dry heat.

So far lots of effort has gone into getting Enzo to sleep in the resort pack and play, but he is getting the hang of this vacation thing by catching up on his favorite books.

La Habra Children's Museum

We ventured all the way across town (exactly 2.6 miles) to the La Habra Children's Museum. I have been wanting to get there for a while, but today we made it happen. It was a great time, and well worth the free admission (thanks Target - FREE Saturday sponsor). Here, Enzo was checking out the fish.


For those who've spent some time with little E, you know he loves him some buttons. This button made the railroad crossings go up and down so the train could pass through. He dug it.


There was a special bubble show with this guy, Max. I swear he didn't look this high in person.


Enzo was one of the best behaved in the room. Seriously. It was a great lesson in parenting for Jeff and me.

There was a whole exhibit on race cars. I sure wish we had visited before Enzo's racecar-themed birthday party a few months ago. I could have gotten lots of ideas! He turned that steering wheel like it was his job!

Beach ride

Enzo's Uncle Godfather was in town from Phoenix for the week, so we racked up the bikes and hit the beach. What a gorgeous day! Enzo has grown more comfortable with the bike trailer, but this was our first long ride. We covered about 16 miles of coastline, dodging the errent cooler-toting dad or the wayward toddler crossing the bike path. Thank God for my handle-bar bell which sounds like "kindly excuse me sir" but which really means "get out of my freaking way unless you want to be run over."

Note Enzo's glistening legs -- baby sunblock is the best!


Uncle Johnny showing E something fascinating. Probably Wahoo Tacos' black beans, which are Enzo's new favorite.


Enzo seemed to love the frigid water. Or maybe he was in shock. Or had hypothermia.


The 2-3 weekly trips to the park have definitely helped him become more comfy putting his feet in the sand.


But, as I suspected/feared, after 45 minutes of trying to keep fists full of sand out of Enzo's eyes and mouth (after he literally put fists full of sand into his eyes and mouth), we resorted to holding his hands and putting his shades on. This was a brief moment of silence because the camera couldn't capture the screaming, writhing, kicking, and fits full of rage. Just a calm day at the beach.

He really was a champ during this 5 hour excursion and fell asleep in the trailer with the ocean breeze at his back.

Happy birthday, America!

What a wonderful Independance Day relaxing, watching movies, eating and tickling! Enzo crawled into the ottomon where the tickle monster lived!


We've had experience with fresh corn, canned corn, frozen corn and NOW... corn on the cobb!! He likey.


I couldn't find a sparkler to save my life so we created our own entertainment with ceiling fans and dangling American flag-bows.

How can this be comfortable?