Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Today we had two adventures. First, we went on a short hike in Rubio Canyon. We got to see some of the remains of the old Mt. Lowe Railway. We didn’t get far enough up the trail to see the big landslide that covered the waterfalls, though.

After this, we went to Griffith Park to see the L.A. Live Steamers, but when we got there, the sign said that they were closed today. So we went next door to Travel Town to see the trains there. Lucinda had fun climbing on the trains.

After all this, we had lunch at Chevy’s in Glendale.

Last Saturday, we found a large praying mantis in the back yard. We put it in a little cage and brought it in for Lucinda to see. She took it to school yesterday to show everyone. Last night, we went out to the garage and caught a large spider and put that in the cage with the mantis. This morning, all that was left was a small pile of legs in the corner of the cage.

Lucinda spent the night at Aunt Maggi’s, and today they had a baby shower for one of Aunt Maggi’s friends. Lucinda was very excited about the party, and she had a lot of fun.

Lucinda had a big day today. First off, our neighbors had their grandchildren visiting today, and Lucinda had two other little girls and a puppy to play with. Then in the afternoon, her friend Sofia came over to play. Daddy cooked lunch for the four girls, and they all played until 4:00, when it was time for Lucinda to go to Aunt Maggi’s house for a sleep-over.

Today we went to San Pedro to ride the San Pedro Trolley. This is a 1.5 mile section restoration of the old Pacific Electric line along the waterfront. They have two cars that are new replicas of the old Red Cars, and one actual restored old car. We rode on Car 501, which is one of the replicas, and along the way, we passed Car 1058, which is the restored original Red Car.

We rode the trolley from to the end of the line and visited the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. This is a nice, small aquarium that is focused on exhibiting local Pacific marine life.

We had a long weekend, so here’s what we did:

Sunday we took a trip to Orange County so that Lucinda could visit with Grandma and Grandpa Tarantino.

While they played with Lucinda, we went to Caspers Wilderness Park and did some hiking. We walked up the West Ridge Trail, making a big loop around the west side of the park. It was kind of hot, but still a pleasant hike. Even though the hills there are not all that big, the amount of up and down in the trail made it pretty hard overall.

We took Lucinda to the Natural History Museum Saturday. We saw the butterflies, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon in the Discovery Center. Lucinda likes playing in there, since they have a lot of things to touch and see, as well as live-animal demonstrations. They also have the Insect Zoo, which she finds interesting.

Today we celebrated Lucinda’s ‘half-birthday’. We took her roller skating in the morning. The Moonlight Roller Center in Glendale has a beginner’s skating lesson for kids on Saturday mornings. Lucinda did the lesson, and then we stayed for the morning skate afterwards. She did pretty well for her first time. Pictures at www.1134.org/lucinda/photos/index.php?string=&ayear=2003&amonth=8&aday=30&byear=2003&bmonth=8&bday=30&submit=Search

In the evening, we got some little individual-sized chocolate mousse cakes for dessert as Lucinda’s ‘half-birthday cake’.

Lucinda and Mommy rode the new Metro Gold Line today. They took the train to Union Station in Downtown L.A. Then they walked over to Olvera Street and spent the afternoon there.

Cathy’s birthday is today, so we all went to dinner at Cafe Bizou.

Lucinda is really quite au courant for a four-year-old. When we told her we were going to a gay wedding, she didn’t bat an eye. But she did ask, “Is it two boys or two girls?