Museum of art

One of my goals when we moved here to Los Angeles was to explore it. I've always been nervous driving into LA by myself, but now that I live right here in good old downtown Hollywood.. it's time to say YES to exploring ALL THE THINGS!

Today's photos brought to you by LACMA! I registered online for their NextGen membership, so Wyatt and I both got in free!

Urban carnivores

One of the great things about living in this great big park are the lectures that the Friends of Griffith Park host periodically.

Tonight a researcher from UCLA discussed her research about rodenticides and their impact on bobcats. We have a bunch of bobcats here in gp, which was one of the areas she studied. It's a pretty clear correlation now between when these poisons are introduced into the environment and the fatalities of the urban carnivores,  with enough of an increase in deaths due to mange that that became a focal point of her study. Recently, Griffith Park's famous mountain lion P22 was found to have mange, most likely due to the correlation between the rodenticides he is exposed to amd the inflammation to the immune system it causes.

Interesting information,  and there's a lot more at urbancarnivores.com and on the facebook page of the same name.

#200happydays day 17

Baby wearing

Makes me feel like such an in tune mother.

Nothing makes me happier than spending the day in a sunshiney park with unschooling moms while cuddling my baby close in a sling.

Trip to Sequoia

The one good thing about Fresno is that it's an easy drive up to Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park and National Forest. Our friends loaded up their toddler, while we loaded up the baby, and we drove a beautiful hour to get there.

We checked out Grant's tree, we went to the Chicago Stump, and on our way back stopped at a beautiful meadow. My husband has a remote control drone that he attaches his Go Pro camera to, and so a lot of our stops are based off of where he thinks he can get the best video.

#200happydays Day 14

I can feed him anywhere!

entertaining babies

we found a field!

Grizzly Falls

Mini family vacation

#200happydays Day 13, in photographic form...

Visiting our friends who just moved to Fresno, we had all sorts of fun...

Torturing our son on our car trip to Fresno...

Little family portrait

Baby absolutely enthralled by the ceiling fans

Baby BFFs hanging out

Wyatt's dog, friend, and protector

Time to swim... and totally unsure about this wet stuff

Trying on hats!

Chlorine and remote control helicopters

First, my happy days post was going to be about loading the car up with baby and husband, swimsuits and go pro, and heading to my sister's to swim the day away. But then I got home and discovered a new and fun photo editing app on my phone.

Today really was a sweet, simple day. We outlasted three different servers at a restaurant for lunch, swam for hours watching little kids learning how to swim, had frozen yogurt, and flew my husband's drone with his new first person goggles. And of course, all this with Wyatt oeering out of his carseat and over shoulders, taking it all in. He makes every little experience sweeter.

#200happydays day 7

Say cheeeeeese

It sounds cheesy to say that my best friends are my family, but it is very, very true. There is no one I would rather spend time with than my sisters, no one I think is smarter than my mom and no one I find as delightful as my dad.

One sister lives in San Francisco now, and came down on the bus this week. My mom picked her up in the early morning at Union Station, and since I was awake feeding the baby, they brought breakfast to my house. We sat on the front lawn eating pancakes and talking baby talk to Wyatt.

Of course,  I forgot to take pictures of that.

But here are some of Wyatt with my family.

#200happydays,  day 6

Wonder

I remember before we were married taking my husband to Disneyland.  "That was fun," he said, "it'll be more fun when we take our kids." Same thing at the apple orchards. We both looked forward to seeing all these places through the eyes of little children.

Every day my baby is a little more alert. Every day his field of vision seems to expand, and he expresses more. Today we were walking through The Lab ( used to be called the anti-mall), in Costa Mesa, when we parked his stroller underneath trees that had been yarn bombed. It was sunny, there was a lot of light playing in the branches, and he was delighted.

We were lucky to get photos of some of his experience. Everything is brand new for him. And I'm so lucky, as I watch what he's watching, that it is all brand new to me all over again, too.

#200happydays day 5

Dragontree

My mom and a few of her friends started Dragontree park day, a weekly get together of unschooly folks in long beach, many years ago. I was one of the oldest kids when it started, and pretty quickly was too busy with college and stuff to go every week, but whenever I could I'd go back to park day. Recently I realized how important this group really was to me, and started making an appearance more often, and then prioritizing my schedule so I could go more and more.

Yesterday I brought Wyatt,  the first second-generation dragontree baby to his first park day. He's the youngest dragontree-er, but just barely. This is a picture of Tsiri, a mere four weeks older than Wyatt. Hard not to imagine them getting older and playing together, since they are so very close in age...

Le Creuset!

I have a six week old baby. I spend a lot of time awake at three in the morning. The number of food network shows I watch since Wyatt's birth has increased dramatically.

My favorite show is Pioneer Woman. I've cooked from her blog before, but I have been recording and watching (and rewatching) (and rewatching) her shows now, and have been having kitchen envy like crazy. I've been paying close attention to the dishes and tools she uses, and am at a point in my life where I just want the good stuff.

That being said, I've been coveting her Le Creuset enameled cast iron cookware pretty freaking bad. Hours of breastfeeding has involved a lot of my researching brands, recipes, and uses on my phone.

Last week I scraped together enough target gift cards to buy a 7 quart Lodge dutch oven, but then I found out the Le Creuset outlet was having it's summer sale...

I told Frank, the gentleman who assisted my sleeping, strollered baby and I that I would give him a shout out in my blog. He has no idea how happy he made little wanna-be food network star me. I love this outlet, I love taking my baby on adventures (three freeways were closed, it was a gamble getting here), and I can't wait to use my saute pan/skillet combo!!!

Enchiladas

I am lucky to have an incredible husband. The few weeks right after Wyatt was born, our house was at its cleanest, thanks to him. We ate great homemade meals, again, thanks to him. 6 weeks later and it's about time for me to start figuring out how to balance the things that need to happen in the house, with baby timing.

I'm excited tonight because I made a good looking dinner while baby hung out with me in the kitchen. We sang along to my Leeann Womack pandora station and he hummed happily while I chopped, prepped, cooked and washed dishes. He started fussing right when I put the last dish away. Such a thoughtful baby!

The enchiladas were great. I mixed some ricotta cheese with enchilada sauce, and put a spoonful of that mixture along with a thick slice of mozzarella on each corn tortilla. I lightly fried each tortilla first, and dragged through the sauce. Topped with sauce, cheese, onion, cilantro and black olives. Sourcream and avocado got added after. Canned beans and corn for sides... thank you easy food!

Photos. .. baby chipmunk cheeks, the view of the kitchen from baby perspective, and the finished delicious product.