Hopped Off The Plane At LAX

 Jess had a meeting out in Los Angeles last week, and Noah was next in line for a special one-on-one trip, so they hopped on a plane and headed out to the City of Angels.

 

 Everyone travels cross-country to play carnival games, no?

 Seriously, dude won like 13 stuffed animals from various "claw games."

 Jess texted me this pic titled, "Write your own caption."  To which I responded with the only obvious choice:  Brothas from anotha motha.  He said these guys were awesome - spent their own money to win Noah a hat.

 What did Noah do while Jess had his meeting?

He ran it.  Here he is deposing a client.

Okay, he was actually playing on the ipad,

 and watching movies under the table.

 

The day after the meeting, they took a ferry to Catalina Island for the rest of the trip.

 

 It was really horrible there - no scenery, no fun outdoor activities, no nice weather ...

 

They took a submarine ride down into the ocean and Noah was able to feed the fish so they came up to his window.

  Straight up awesomeness.

Glad they had such an amazing time.  Glad they're back home.

 

Oh, and about that "dream and a cardigan" (er, red Old Navy hoodie)?  Apparently it was never taken off.  WTH, Dad??  Just sayin'.



The Thaw

If you read my last post, you'll be glad to know I've pulled myself together and have not assaulted the ice cream man yet.  Actually, the sun has been shining with increasing frequency, the kids' energy is being channeled into spring sports, and I think we've made it over the winter slump!

 

Some of our coming-out-of-hibernation fun:

 

 Evening dance.

 Okay, there may have been a few snowflakes here a couple of weekends ago (warranting a fire and legwarmers), but warmer weather has since come and is staying!

 Getting ready for dance class.  Apparently she's practicing her "All the Single Ladies" moves.

 Batman birthday party!

 

Jess and Noah took an amazing trip to Los Angeles this past weekend (pics to follow).  Thankfully, Ben, Eliza, and I were too busy to miss them too much.  Not to be outdone (okay, we were miserably outdone) by the Pacific Coast, we headed out to the zoo:

 and our favorite restaurant:

 and, of course, Friday Night Ice Cream:

 One satisfied customer.

 

On Saturday, we took a friend of Ben's and went to an indoor rock climbing facility:

 Eliza was not about to sit out and watch, so we harnessed her up and ...

 "I'm Rock Star Climbin'!"

I'll end on a sweet note, literally.  Found this in Ben's backpack from a little girl in his class:

Oh the sweetness.  I can't take it.



Ice Cream Man

Excuse this brief interruption of the peaceful, enjoying-the-small-things loveliness that I recently posted about.  Because, if you don't hear from me for a while, you can assume that I'm in jail after finally losing my shit with the ice cream truck driver who loudly dings, blares music, and screams a creepy "Hello-o!" in front of my house EVERY. DAY.  At naptime.  And wakes Eliza up.

That is all.

Be scerred, ice cream man.  Mama's coming for you.

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

Mid-February Photo Dump

Happy Valentine's Day!  Despite days and days of rain and cold and the monotony of winter, we've been enjoying lots of small moments around here (partly inspired by the Enjoying the Small Things blog on the sidebar).  Contrary to the overwhelming commercialism of this day, I'm feeling truly happy and blessed.  Without all the hoopla of busier seasons, I find there's room to savor the kid-dom that I know will be gone in a flash.  Here's some of the kid-dom happening now:

 

Eliza's really into pretend play.

 (Please forgive the seen-better-days toaster-oven pan.  I have to assume everyone's toaster-oven pan looks this way, no?)

 "I'm Miss Lindsey, a babysitter!"  (Apparently, our go-to sitter wears her purse this way.)

 Just countin' my money.

And this is what happens to the bathroom while I take a shower.  Whatevs.  Small price to be clean.

 Noah had a lunch and puppet show date with a friend from school.

 So glad he's still willing to do some daily "love time" with Mom.

 

Last weekend, Ben participated in his first chess tournament.  We're talking 10 HOURS of chess, people.  Actually, it was more like a total of 30 minutes of chess and 9 1/2 hours of waiting between rounds.  But he LOVED it.  He lost more rounds than he won, but he had an awesome attitude and I was really proud of him.

 

Our Friday Night Treat Night tradition continues.

His face says it all.  Begrudgingly sharing his icee.

Too cold for icees?  Indoor s'mores to the rescue!

 

  Happy hearts day!