This morning we went to Super Car Sunday, which was something Jon came across while doing some research. It was a really cool car show that takes place every Sunday morning and it was a really neat combination of half a million dollar cars and restored classic cars. Lots of Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, Aston Martin's, Shelby's, etc... you know, cars that cost three times more than our house! The boys enjoyed checking out all the cars, and I enjoyed that fact that while Jon enjoys seeing a nice car every now and then- he's really not a car guy!!
After the car show we went to Barnes and Noble. We were only able to bring a few books with us to LA so the boys have really been missing out on some good reading time. We spent about an hour just hanging out in Barnes and Noble reading books- some old favorites from home and some new ones we found here in LA. It was so peaceful and relaxing and just wonderful to see the boys enjoying time with books again! We even let them buy "Goodnight Los Angeles" and "Goodnight Beach" to add to their Goodnight World series collection. We did not, however, let them buy Walter the Farting Dog Who Got Banned From the Beach- which Jon read to them and which may be the worst children's book ever written in all of eternity.
After our relaxing reading time, we decided to drive into the city for another adventure. Jon and I have always been big fans of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution show and we knew that Patra's from season two had to be somewhere in Los Angeles! Patra's was a locally owned fast-food/burger joint that Jamie Oliver challenged to break away from the billion dollar industry that is slowly killing Americans by serving healthier food. Dino, the owner, was initially quite resistant, but when Jamie Oliver showed him all of the crap he was serving in his normal burgers and fries he was able to convince Dino to try changing some of his menu items... including leaner and more naturally raised beef, whole wheat buns, and a cabbage slaw instead of french fries. So we just had to check it out for lunch!!! It really was just a local burger joint... but they were still serving Jamie Oliver's food :) So the boys and I ordered a Revolution burger and Jon ordered a Red Hot burger- both were the healthy versions of fast food burgers that Jamie Oliver created. And just as we got our food, Dino walked in! Jon introduced us and let him know that we are from Detroit and that we just had to check out his place while we were in town. He was taken aback when we told him that this was the first time the boys were eating "fast-food" and it was only because of the healthy choices he had. He couldn't believe that they had never eaten a single thing from McDonalds or Burger King! As we were finishing our meal, he came back to see how we liked our food and spent another 10 minutes talking to us about the show and such. Knowing how resistant he was on the show (and to some degree understandably so), it was nice to let him know how much what he and Jamie Oliver did together means to us as parents who are trying to raise a healthy family. It was just such a cool experience to get to sit down and talk with him about all of it! I hope we were a tiny reminder that while there are a million people out there who will eat fast-food on a daily basis, there are also soooo many families like us who work hard to eat healthy, natural food and that we need people like him to start making healthy changes more mainstream. And in case you were wondering, the burgers were fantastic!
After that we met one of the boys' managers at the park for a little golf and playground time. We are just so grateful that BTM was willing to take on the boys given our location and situation. There hasn't been much going on as far as work for toddlers so far while we've been here but Lynda and Mary are trying to put them out there when they can... and we are so appreciative, even if nothing works out at all!
Take a deep breath George, our day isn't over yet! Next we went to Griffith Park for a picnic dinner with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. The park was quite crowded, but we were able to find a spot in the shade to put down a blanket and some open space for the boys to hit golf balls while all the grown ups ate and chatted :) It is so awesome to get to spend so much time with my family while we are here! I just wish we all lived closer and got to visit like this more often. When the boys started to get restless we decided to go searching for the drum show we could hear... boy were we in for a surprise! We found the drum show, but it was a little more than we expected! I'm still not sure exactly what we stumbled upon. I think it was just a spot where anyone with a drum can come and they all play together. There were all kinds of different drums and it was really neat to see them all play together. But there was also quite a lot of marijuana smoking- some discreet and some not so discreet- and a seductive dancing woman who was going to end up taking her clothes off at some point before the evening ended... so we decided to leave before the boys got high and/or saw their first stripper. I'm pretty sure neither of those things should happen for the first time, or any time for that matter, in the presence of ones parents and great aunt and uncle!
Enjoying some reading time
Worst. Book. Ever.
The boys were SO excited that they have been to all the places in their new books!!
Patra's
Caleb with his Revolution Burger!
The boys with Dino!
Our most interesting LA experience to date :)
No comments:
Post a Comment