Thursday, January 21, 2016

LA for Christmas

On our second day of Christmas break in LA, the day started off rainy, so after grabbing some traditional Chinese breakfast from Yi Mei, we decided to stick around Arcadia and keep it casual.  We took the kids to the local Arcadia mall jump n jammin, and it was raining so I guess everyone else decided to do the same thing!  We had to wait about 30 minutes before we could go in.  Andy took the boys, there were soft balls you could shoot, places to climb to do that, and then there was a tiny little 2 and under section that Dagny and I spent most of our time in after she woke up.  

So side Daisy rant... I'm a rule follower, for the most part, so it really bugs me when other people are not.  First, playgrounds with height restrictions.  They're there for a reason, so please obey the rules!  I get it, some kids are unfortunately tall at a young age and not allowed in, I myself was too tall for most of the ball pits at our local Burger King at a young age, and I recall being sad I couldn't go in.  My mom told me to go ahead, but I was a RULE FOLLOWER, so I did not.  If kids go ahead without their parents consent, that is a different story.  But when parents are supporting their kids disrespecting the rules by being in a contained area that is restricted to babies in diapers ages 2 and under, I get mad.

Dagny and I were in this restricted play area and this useless excuse for a father was taking photos of his VERY OBVIOUSLY not in diaper 6 or 7 year olds as they built a huge tower of blocks and then kicked it down, and boy was I irate.  They almost hit Dagny once and she wasn't even near them.  The rules are there to prevent people like this from accidentally hitting little cute babies like Dagny!  Also, if they had younger siblings in there, I might have understood but they clearly DID NOT!  It took every ounce of self control for me not to go over and berate the father and tell him about his awful behavior and example to his kids.  It made me even more mad that Dagny did not have the blocks they were using to climb on, she loves climbing, as evidenced by our trips to gymnastics classes with the boys.  Before these rude obnoxious boys and their father came over, an attendant had come and advised a little 4 year old girl that she was too big for this play area.  This little girl was trying to touch Dagny's face and kept telling me how cute she was.  I wish the attendant had come around when these boys were there too!  I know they could read the VERY BIG sign that was on top of the wall in the play area, and I know their lazy dad saw it.  If he didn't, he surely heard my passive aggressive explanation to Dagny about how big kids weren't allowed in the playground.  .... Or maybe that's why he stuck around.. oh well.


We had these grand plans of places we were going to eat on the Westside (we also planned to spend the day at the beach.. but that didn't happen), but then the rain and the LA traffic made us decide to venture to downtown LA instead.  Andy wanted to try Eggslut in Grand Central Market.  Here's a photo of Grand Central Market.  Now, before I had Jordan, I used to park in that lot right in back of Grand Central.  To get to the LA office, I had to walk through the market, cross the street, and up the million stairs to California Plaza.  While pregnant with Jordan, I used to always get sick from the smells that came out of that market.  Most of the time, I tried to walk quickly and hold my nose.  I wasn't sure why Andy wanted to go there to eat, but once we got in.. I knew why. 
It's only been about five years, but the entire market has been completely gentrified!  It was full of hipsters everywhere and so many cool new and hip places to eat.  We wanted to eat everything!! We were also one of the few families that had kids with us.  We had one stroller with a sleeping Bubba, Dagny in a baby carrier, and Jordan walking with us.  The line was SO LONG, but we found a table and out came the phone.  Jordan enjoyed the screen time while Bubba napped and Dagny waited in line with Andy.  Jordan LOVED his sandwich, ate it all.
Bubba woke up just in time to eat a bit and join in on the screen time (what did people with kids do before technology?)  
I kind of wanted to take the kids up the train by the stairs I used to walk up everyday, but it didn't seem to be working, it was still raining lightly, so we decided to leave and go try some ice cream place called Cool Haus that Andy found online in old town.  So off we drove from downtown LA to Old Town Pasadena!

Parking is quite insane in LA, and Old Town Pasadena wasn't any better.  We found a spot close to a red zone, took it, and I waited with Dagny while Andy went with the boys.  As soon as they got their ice cream, I went in and got mine.  Bubba got pumpkin, Jordan got something with bacon in it, Andy's had french fries in it, and I just stayed safe with salted caramel.  
It was good!  I miss LA already.. so much good food and so little time and now with too many kids to handle, we really have become more limited in our eating adventures.  I think as our kids get older though, we'll be back at it.  Yay! 



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