We had heard from our friend Suzanne that Santa was at the Paradise Valley Mall already and I thought it would be fun to take Patrick today at lunchtime. We've been reading The Polar Express all week and I think he was ready for Santa. We had to wait for Santa to check on Rudolph (he does that from 12:30 - 1pm every day, according to his sign). So we ate bagels and cream cheese at Chompies and went back to visit Santa.
He was waiting for us. No lines. Phew! Patrick walked right up and got on Santa's knee and leaned back into his chest. I think he likes Santa. We'd been coaching Patrick on how Santa was going to ask what he wanted for Christmas but no such question was asked. Ok, time for pictures. We said "say cheese." So he did. However, no smile. We said "show us your teeth." So he did. No smile. This was the best of the 6 or so pictures they took. Exposed tummy on all of them too.
All in all, it was nice visit to Santa. When Patrick would tell us what he wanted for Christmas during lunch he said "presents, in my hands." I'm sure he'll be getting some of those.
Here were are practicing saying "cheese" to the camera. I took several pictures. This was the cutest. I didn't drop him off that day, we went together (this was last Tuesday). I did drop him off this Tuesday and he didn't even look twice. He had a great time with Teacher Doug and Teacher Kelly. I will go with him tomorrow since it's a co-op. I go every other Thursday and once a month bring snacks. I got hummus and pretzels but I'm not sure anyone will eat the hummus besides Patrick. Maybe I'll cut up a melon too :).
Last weekend I thought it would be fun to go to the Downtown Farmers Market and Sean thought it would be fun to take the light rail (aka Choo Choo Train) downtown. So, we did. It was super fun. We brought our stroller and loaded it with an insulated bag full of ice packs. We got cheesecake from AZ Cheesecake Co., pork (chorizo and ham) from The Meat Shop and hamburger from OX Ranch, honey and all kinds of great goodies. We said hello to Nina and Peter at our produce booth for Crooked Sky. They are the CSA coordinators in Ajo but they also come to town to work the market here in Phoenix. Talk about dedication. You're up at 5 to get to the truck to get to the market to set up and be ready by 7/7:30. Thanks Nina and Peter. :)
It's still a bit warm out but the market has lots of portable fans to cool you down. I can't wait to go when the market opens full time in October!
This last pic was taken Monday at the farm in between 6 week old corn rows. The corn is growing so fast. Patrick is still practicing saying "cheese" for the camera. He's getting pretty good at it.
I flew out to see Jenny in LA and left Patrick for the first time over a weekend. I think Sean and he managed OK without me/Mama. They had lots of fun playing trains and eating out with friends.
Jenny and I saw 500 Days of Summer (the cutest movie!), ate at Tender Greens (her brother Bob's favorite place), went to the Santa Monica Farmers Market, visited the beach at the Santa Monica Pier, ate at Real Food Daily, cooked dinner using the farmers market finds (poached eggs over frisee with bacon balsamic dressing, sauteed eggplant and garlic, and tomato corn chive salad), got a treat at Mashti Malones (had the creamy rosewater and herbal snow), slept in, ate brunch with my friend Tiffany from college, cruised Mulholland and Laurel Canyon, grabbed Slurpees, went to the La Brea Tarpits and shared a burger and rings at Umami Burger. Phew, we were pooped by the end. Such a good time. I'm trying to drag Jenny out here sometime in September/October...
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Theeeennn, the next weekend I invited my friend Jack up to Phoenix from Tucson to go with us and the Dinoffrias to Big Surf in Tempe - had to see where Rick Kane surfed in the movie North Shore. We all felt like we were 12 years old again. It was so fun! Really! We all want to go again. The boys and girls took turns watching the kids and we ran up the ramp as fast as we could to pack in as many rides down the slides as possible - hurricane falls, the abyss and tornado twisters. I can't wait for next time. We did the pizza buffet at Cici's afterwards - and we tried the macaroni and cheese pizza. Weird but tasty.
Sunday we met up with the Schneiders (and Dinoffria's again) for lunch at Chino Bandido. Mike Schneider and Jack and I know each other from working at KAMP Radio. It was nice that Jack and Mike could catch up too.
Later that evening, we met up with the Dinoffrias and Schneiders again for dinner at Metro and the Slow Food showing of Food Inc. - it was a perfect weekend!
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This last weekend, Sean Patrick and I set out to visit "Papa" in San Diego for our last long weekend until November/December. We got there Thursday and went directly to Pat and Oscars for some ribs and a veggie sandwich. We got to meet Keenan's girlfriend Nicole for the first time. She was great Keenan - good work!
We spent the whole day Friday at La Jolla Shores. It was beautiful. Perfect swimming day. Patrick played in the sand and made sand castles. Surf was low key, water was warm and clear and it was crowded but not too crowded. We pitched our tent (after a few hours on the beach) on the grass from lunchtime until we left about 5. Sorry, no pictures from Friday, was afraid to get my camera sandy.
Saturday morning we tried to enjoy a nice breakfast at Dad and Keenan's favorite breakfast place in Shelter Island - Point Break Cafe. The new cook wasn't the best - but Patrick got his yogurt and fruit parfait that he likes so much. We cruised up the coast to Torrey Pines Glider Point to watch the paragliders. I think we'll have to try it someday - it looks really fun.
We spent the afternoon at the Del Mar Racetrack. Papa was clever and thought that it would be fun to park at the Solana Beach train station and take the double decker buses to the fairgrounds. Perfect idea for Patrick, he loved it!! We bet a few races and didn't win a thing, oh well. Patrick did learn how to clap for his horse. He liked number 7 in this race.
Sunday we got lucky and got into the Broken Yolk Cafe in Pacific Beach without having to wait. Breakfast was outstanding and then we took the scenic route to La Jolla's Children's Beach to look for seals. We didn't see but a few seals. That was OK since we had fun playing "I'm gonna get you" in the grass nearby.
If you want to learn more about the fight over preserving Children's Beach for the seals, click here.
We ended the trip with another great lunch at Point Loma Seafoods. Sean had to have his scallop sandwich and I was still full from breakfast - just had the ceviche. It was great. We met up with Sean's friend Jerry and his girlfriend Cristina. Keenan also came with his friend Audrey.
We had a great time and can't wait to plan our next trip out there!
It didn't take long for Patrick to konk out from the weekend.
