Day @ The Museum

Last night we took in dinner and a stroll at the Grove and Farmers Market. The light was good and I was compelled to take these photos of our night on the town. The boys love watching the fountain shows and taking rides on the tram. It's a little like Disneyland only much smaller and a whole lot less crowded.


We ate at the Gumbo Pot and were happy to see that Dupars has finally finished their remodel. This is where I had my first taste of real cherry pie and it was sublime! I still think about it every time I pass by or hear the name Dupars.


Today I decided that I am going to squeeze our membership to the Natural History Museum to its very limit. I would take the boys out for a day trip by myself. Sometimes I feel like a mental patient slowly making my way back to the road of sanity. Am I ready to take this next step? Well... I am happy to report that our little excursion has left us none the worse for wear. We came home without a scratch, but just barely.


Our outing started just before noon. Once we got to the museum we wandered around, slowly making our way down to the lower level where the creepy crawlies are kept. We took everything in, all the while happily clicking away on our cameras. To our surprise we bumped into a fellow Gymboree kid, a little boy named David and his grandad. What followed was about 10 minutes of Rhys and David scurrying around the room running from aquarium to aquarium screeching and pointing at the different bugs, animals and snakes behind each glass. It was sweet but a little hard on the ears.


Afterwards we went to get a bite to eat at the cafe. We sat down and had a pretty peaceful meal, until a group of youngsters sat down at table next to us. They were engaged in a little play which consisted of slapping each others hands on top of the table. It was at this point Rhys decides that he needed to reprimand them with 'hey no fighting!' in a really vociferous tone. I had to explain to the mom that he was just imitating what we usually tell him. Luckily we were pretty much finished with our lunch by then!


Everything was going pretty smoothly, a few bumps here and there, usually our main problem was with Rhys running around ahead of us, but not anything too out of control. That is until we left the main building on our way to the Butterfly Pavilion.


It was at this point that Rhys got disoriented and LOST. There's a maze of a ramp located near the entrance that allows for strollers and wheelchairs to easily circumvent the long and awkward flight of stairs leading to the museum. This is where Rhys had been running up and down. One minute I see him running to and fro on the ramp and the next 'poof' he's disappeared! At first I thought he was further down the ramp, so Henry and I ran over to get him. But he was no where in sight! I walked back up the stairs and onto the main floor thinking maybe he went back inside to see the dinosaurs again.


Wouldn't you know it he was walking around the roped off dinosaur bones and to my appeasement looking rather agitated. (The picture posted above was taken earlier in the day). A large family headed by both mom and dad came up to me and were relieved to see that he found me. They said that he was really scared and so they were keeping an eye on him. The mom told me every time she tried to approach him to help he would back away from her truly scared. Unbelievably this happened in a matter of 10 minutes! He was soo glad to see me that he didn't give me much grief for the rest of the outing.


Henry has caught the photobug and took a bunch of pictures today.


I'm really anxious about school starting up for the boys next week. Henry is pretty much set, I just have to get some last minute supplies and drop off the new emergency contact card by the end of the week. Rhys is another matter altogether! Rhys is entering Pre-K and other than the month stint over the summer it's the start of his first real year of school! We are all very excited.

Brand Spanking NEW!

Dena and Brian had their baby Brady yesterday afternoon. Congratulations to the new parents!







I've been inspired! I've been inspired by the work of Sheye Rosemeyer and saddened by the tragic story of her daughter Ava.


Today the boys had some fun with Rhys' new camera. Henry took the bulk of the pictures; I took the ones with Henry in them (except for the last one -that is his self portrait)and I'm not sure Rhys took any :{

Interlude in the Car

This is how we spend down time waiting in the car.

Rhys' Fourth Year Party

Rhys' Fourth birthday party was yesterday afternoon, and for me it was a whirlwind of activity that lasted the whole week before and then some. This was somewhat ironic considering I had planned it to be extra small this year. Once everything was in place I was able to breathe a sigh of relief and relax enough to have some fun. It turned out very well despite Henry's bee sting.


He decided to run around barefoot and was unlucky enough to step on a bee! Luckily Kenny was able to pull the stinger out and my Uncle Patrick was on hand to impart some sage advice on helping with the pain of the bee sting: get a black teabag, soak it in hot water, squeeze the excess water out until you are left with a damp teabag, take the bag and place it on the sting as a compress. It worked wonders!


Just as I took this picture, my brother Ben instructed Henry to smile 'cause Mommy's blogging this for sure!

The theme of the party was Harry Potter mainly because Rhys has taken a shine to all the movies. We were unable to find any Harry Potter decorations at any of our local stores and because I got on the project so late I was unable to order them online.

So... Kenny took charge of decor and you can see the results for yourselves. Hilary outdid herself with these adorable cupcakes in the shape of wizard hats! Also on the menu was Chinese Chicken Salad from Feast of the East courtesy of Angele and then there was Muni's Famous Baked Beans! Mom very generously made her mouth watering salsa, extra yummy tri-tip and brought a bagfull of bagettes. We also had a variety of pizzas from Abbot's Pizza Co. and we tried a new punch suggested by Hilary. It was a concoction of lemon lime soda and raspberry sherbet topped off with ice. What could be simpler or more refreshing. It was a huge hit with both adults and kids! Everyone kept asking for the recipe and couldn't believe how simple it was to make.



For this entry I've ventured into the realm of video. I shot a very short clip of us all singing the birthday song, and decided since blogger has included a new device for posting video I'd give it a try. Just click on the play arrow at the bottom left hand corner of the above clip. I've also posted photos from Rhys' 4th Birthday Party click here.

My high school friend Ann arrived with daughter Ashly, her sister Jennifer and Jennifer's daughters Catherine and Rebecca. It was so nice of them to make the long trek out for Rhys' party. And since Velvet was on hand with Gus and Nicolette, the three of us were able to have a mini-reunion!


I woke up completely regretting Rhys not opening his presents in front of all the party goers, but both Kenny and I were so darn exhausted towards the end of the party that the thought of sitting and opening an endless array of presents seemed too much. So in lieu of viewing it live I took a bunch of pictures of Rhys opening them up this morning. You can find it at the link I posted above.

I want to send out massive thanks to everyone who was able to make it, and also to those who were unable to join us but were there in spirit. It was a very nice way to kick off the start of what will hopefully be another incredible year full of momentous milestones for Rhys. Thanks again!

Breakfast Break & Filming Down the Street... Again

This morning Kenny suggested that we have a leisurely breakfast at the Coffee Co. Cafe. We loaded up the boys straight from bed and into the car. Had another delicious meal of waffles, crepes and french toast, which was somewhat dampened by the inexplicable need for some at the table to bang their utensils around as if they were in a rock band.


Afterwards we took a quick stroll across the street and ended up doing some window shopping at Office Depot. Observe how a television in any locale invites my boys to feel right at home (ouch!).


On the corner down the street from us stands a house that's been on the market for some time. It seems that the owners had initially obtained the services of a realtor a while back only to put up a 'for sale by owner' sign up months after. Well now it's for hire as a film locale, for the past few weeks now one can spot a half dozen movie type trucks and trailers milling about the neighborhood.


Tonight on our way to meeting Kenny we passed by these now familiar images and found a new one. Across the street from said house a Channel KCAL9/CBS2 news van was parked in the driveway of another house conducting an interview. How exciting. Just thought I'd share.

Happy Birthday Rhys!

Today Rhys is Four years old! He officially turned four early this afternoon. I look at him and think that it's been the longest four years of my life, yet in the same breath the time has passed so incredibly quickly.

When he woke up this morning I kissed him and said 'Happy Birthday'. After a multitude of birthday wishes from friends and family his consistent response has been 'no, i don't want it'! And when we start singing Happy Birthday he covers your mouth and requests that you 'stop it'. It'll be interesting to see how he'll respond on Saturday. I have been completely whacked from the heat and party planning details. This year we've decided to hold an extremely small gathering in celebration of our little guy turning another year older. It's a little hard considering the size of our families, but nonetheless it's in the works.

After class last night we drove down to the Marina and spent some time at the Sports Chalet where Kenny presented Rhys with his first bday present. A tee ball stand with ball and bat! Afterwards we scurried over to Fatburger for a light snack and ended the excursion with a look see at Barnes and Noble where we read bedtime stories to the boys.


We finally got around to watching 'The Last Mimzy' courtesy of Mike (thanks!), the kids love it, and they have included it to their video rotation. It's a surprisingly entertaining story.

I've been perusing some of the blogs I've included on the Essential Viewing Sites today. Arianne added another well written piece that is just stellar and very touching. Jamie had a hilarious entry about Thomas the Tank Engine and an amusing photo of Elmo in a most unfortunate position. Most surprising of all was a link off of Jamie's entry to a blog my brother Ben has set up, which I found wildly entertaining! Here see for yourself at www.chynnamann.blogspot.com. Also want to thank Hilary for adding a mention in her blog! Here's a sample of one of the things I've worked on for Hilary:


And the finished product in the wedding color (pink & brown)



I cheated on the image... its stock, but it's the formatting and overall design that is the real challenge. Another fun project in the bag.



PS Want to wish a very Happy Birthday to Lily who turned five yesterday!

Like Totally Eighties

I've been dying to post this. I so HEART etsy! I had to lay off because this is where I found Jamie's bday gift, see above. But since the party was last night it's safe to show now. Isn't it perfect? We topped it off with the card below. Kenny and I have been brushing up on Photoshop and came up with this.



We are fresh from the party which was a lot of fun. It was a good time to travel in the car with the AC blasting. My brother was dressed to party 80s style!
(Rhys, me, mom & Ben)



Here's Ben with the Birthday Girl and my cute little niece Alyssa all 80s glammed up!


Kenny as 'Biff' the preppy guy, with Henry in the foreground.



I got a chance to catch up with Valerie from my old working days at MTV. Doesn't she look fabulous in 80s gear?!