Basketball, Dancing, and Beach Towns.

So,
   As promised last week here are some pictures of Aidens Basketball game. He made 2 baskets. He missed a few more. He cried a bit. We cheered and then consoled and then tried to send him out there. His team only had 5 players show up so him crying on Mommys lap didn't help anything.

He seems to have been traumatized by this beat down and spent the rest of the game crying.

Grandpa grover came up for the game. We cheered. Some kid picked his nose and ate it and another kid vomited all over the court. It was a lot to take in at 8am on a saturday morning.

On Thursday of last week I had the pleasure of attending a Father Daughter Dance with Zoey at her school. I bought slacks and a shirt. We ate tiny portions of food then cake. I tried to dance with Zoey and she looked like she wanted to leave. Eventually she saw her friends, asked if she could ditch me and proceeded to have a great time until I broke in for a slow song, which she wasn't too pleased with. It was fun for her.

On Saturday after the basketball game (sorry for the time jumping but I'm not going to fix it now!) we took grandpa to the rosamond exotic feline breeding center and rescue. Teresa is still taking the classes that require us to travel around to fun places.

This one sings back if you sing to it.

Grandpa went home on Sunday morning and we set out for Ventura to see the Ventura County museum of Art (again for Teresas class)

We walked around downtown Ventura.

Mission San Buenaventura.

Diner lunch.

We ended up at the beach along with the rest of southern California because the weather in crazy nice lately.

Zoey is getting braver.

That is all.

RTSZA

Zoey Awards and Ballet

So,
     Last month Zoey had her first awards ceremony at school. Aiden and I attended to cheer her on only to be told there would be no cheering. I put away my bullhorn and got out my camera.

Teresa getting her class in order for their awards.

Zoey receiving her award from her teacher Mrs. Upah 

Showing off her awards.

We've also signed Zoey up for ballet and Aiden up for basketball through the YMCA. Zoey had her first class on Wednesday. Aiden starts this coming week.

So far she likes it.

We've also been out and about taking hikes in the ridiculously nice weather. We went to a ghost town called Mentryville which was one of the first Oil towns in CA and is now used mostly for movie shoots. While we were there they were filming a movie and firing off blanks. The kids were fascinated.

Aiden picking the M&M's out of the trail mix which is half the reason he likes hikes.

The house on the left is the original Mayors house from the early 1900's. That is where they were filming so this is the closest we could get.

Other structures left from the town.

Teresa with the film shoot.

We've also been taking advantage of the early spring to ride bikes. Aiden wanted Grandpa and Grandma to see that he is big enough for his bike now.

There are still training wheels but he loves to ride it.

I've set a goal for myself to hike at least 200 miles this year so I've been out hiking whenever I can. I've found a few closer locations to take short hikes and yesterday I took a much longer hike. If you're interested in following along I post my hikes on facebook usually. Yesterday I hiked about 15 miles in mostly complete solitude. The hike had many of the things I look for in a good trip, wildflowers, peaks, difficulty, a bit of scrambling and a naked older german fellow who I surprised coming around a bend on my way down the mountain.

From the left, Mt lukens, setting moon, huge white sage bushes and me. 

Rare to find a spring flowing this strong in such a dry year in southern California

That's all for now. I'm sure there will be a post coming with Aidens sure to be epic basketball skills.

Till then-

RTSZA

Party Like it's January

So,
   The past few weekends have been busy and fun. 2 weeks ago spurred by the success of the family hike in Virginia over christmas break we set out for a simple hike in the canyons of Malibu to Escondido Falls a 3 tier 200ft waterfall. I was aware that the water flow would probably be disappointing but the other aspects of the trip seemed like a good idea. Very little elevation gain and relatively short all while enjoying coastal weather instead of mountain cold. Spurred on by chocolate and snacks the kids did great and walked the 3.8 miles round trip like champs.

The hike started out oddly, street walking through a neighborhood of multi million dollar Malibu homes. Aiden was in fine form.

Once we reached the riparian canyon things were really pleasant.

The falls themselves were just a dribble. I can imagine that in a wet year they would be really impressive.

I set out to do a little scrambling up to the second tier 100 ft above this spot while T and the kids hung out and snacked.

Zoey took this picture of the falls.

Then Aiden took this picture of Zoey on the rope swing.

Once I returned we set out for the car and stopped a few times to take family pictures.

I shot this one.

Z Shot this one.

Aiden took this one.

This past weekend we had more adventures. On Saturday the weather was supposed to be really nice so we went down to Leo Carillo without Sam to explore the non dog beach parts of the area. We went during low tide to see the caves and tide pools.

The kids love the beach and couldn't resist getting wet.

The kids  collected shells, played with hermit crabs and poked anemones then decided they'd had enough and went to go get wet and explore caves.

Leo Carillo was really nice.

  On Monday we discovered that the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was having a free day for Martin Luther King Jr day. Upon arrival we were told that there was a table for families to gain entrance instead of waiting in the HUGE line outside. We went in and found out that they have a program were you sign up your kids and they can come for free until they are 18 years old. Top that off with the fact that they can get in 1 parent every visit for free. 2 kids + 2 parents means we can get into LACMA for free any time for the next 13 years. NICE.

The kids were really good. I'd personally been hesitant to bring them somewhere full of priceless art so we hadn't tried much other than the local museum. It was great. LACMA has a fantastic collection and since it was a free day the place was full of kids WAY worse than ours.

The kids didn't much care for the paintings or sculptures but really loved the interactive and instillation art works.

Since the LaBrea  tar pits are in the same park we took a short walk over there to see a current excavation pit.

They were digging up Ground sloths, Saber Toothed Cats and Ice Age Horses.

We went for lunch across the street at food truck row. 15 or so food trucks with any kind of food you can think of all park in the same section of Wilshire Blvd. It was delicious and fun to be out and about in the city with the kids.

Then we returned to see Chris Burdens Metropolis II set into motion.

Aiden fell in love.

He didn't leave this spot for 15 minutes.

It is an aestheticised over grown mash up of Will Ferrells basement in the lego movie and a working race car track/ train track. Everything works, everything moves there are cars zipping every which way it's really quite fun to watch. Aiden didn't want to leave.



Other than those trips we've been enjoying the unreasonably warm weather and getting on.

Till next time,

RTSZA