Character Counts

k received an award at school today and I was able to attend the assembly.  She received the “Character Counts” award; this month’s focus was “respect”.  It was nice because the teachers prepared a short explanation of why each child received his/her award. 

At the end of the clip, when k is receiving her award, you can hear some of the girls in her girl scout troop cheering for her—aww, how encouraging.

Now we just have to make sure that “character counts” at home, too!  It is a good reminder for all of us. 

LA Zoo

Someone gave us coupons for $1 children’s tickets to LA Zoo so we decided to check it out.  D had never been and I cannot remember the last time I went.  It didn’t seem familiar to me at all, so I guess it’s been a long while.


Hello, Mr. Meekrat.

I always enjoy looking at flamingos, but they smell pretty gross.


The kids were most impressed by the Asian elephants.  k said that she’s seen elephants on television, but this was the first time she remembers seeing one in real life.  I guess n won’t remember this elephant encounter either.


D’s favorite was the rhino.

I always like the giraffes.


The howler monkeys were making a racket.


The chimpanzees provided some exciting entertainment.

Don’t mess with this guy.

The newest exhibit is called LAIR, with reptiles and snakes.  In retrospect, we should have gone here first, because it was crowded.  Plus, the kids were losing steam.





Kids losing steam.

We refueled at a place called Dino’s Hamburgers in Lincoln Heights.  We ordered two 1/2 chicken plates which was more than enough food for us.  Crazy that this plate of food, plus 3 corn tortillas plus a small container of cole slaw plus a drink was less than our Intelligentsia bill.

Intelligentsia

We opted out of fighting the crowds for Black Friday and went to the LA Zoo.  Beforehand we stopped in Silver Lake, aka hipster central, and checked out Intelligentsia.

We ordered a hot chocolate for the kids and a macchiato.

I thought the macchiato had a sour aftertaste, but what do I know?  I do not claim to be a coffee/espresso expert.  The hot chocolate was good—not too sweet, but again, it was a tad sour.  We added some of the hot chocolate to our macchiato and made our own mocha.

D was lamenting that he forgot to bring his beanie for the hipster photo op.  We figured out that all of his clothes are way too baggy for him to ever look like a hipster anyway. 

It’s all about the name/branding.  That’s why they can charge $7+ for our two drinks and we’ll willingly pay for the experience.

Scenes From Our Thanksgiving

We are truly grateful to God for who He is and all that He has given to us. 

As part of our Thanksgiving tradition, we did a mini hike at Peters Canyon in the afternoon.

This time we took a different route on the Willow trail. 

I had fun taking pictures of the trees.  Some of them seem to be growing horizontally.  It was nice because the trees provided a lot of shade.  I cannot believe how warm it is still…this is November? 

As usual, my mom did the vast majority of the cooking.  As usual, everything was delicious. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pieology Soft Opening

We’re on a roll with the soft openings.  On Saturday we went to Pieology at the Spectrum.  They gave away a free pizza or salad and drink for each person.

We again arrived one hour before opening.  We were the first ones, but a small crowd soon formed.  Fortunately, they let us in about twenty minutes early so we didn’t have to wait the full hour.  This time D came prepared with a magazine.  The kids entertained themselves.

n’s turning into a little ham.

The pizzas were good—nice crisp crust.  I thought the amount of topping was better at Blaze, though.  The pre-made salads had walnuts, but they were able to make a salad with walnuts in a separate container for us. 

I really like the branding of this place…down to the take-out boxes.