Ten on Tuesday

1. Tomorrow is my dad's last day of work before retirement. He's looked forward to this day for a long time and we're so excited for him! We're also excited that he'll be on his retirement schedule, which leaves lots of room for visiting his grandsons. :-)

2. Stupdendous -- that's the word on the street. The boys caught the start of an episode of Sesame Street and have been using the word "stupendous" nonstop for the last 3 days. My favorite was Hayden's quote in the bathtub the other night, "Benjamin just had a stupendous toot!"

3. I am so done with diapers. I'm just not ready for the challenge of potty training our very stubborn red-headed youngest child. His barking order to "get that nasty diaper out of the way!" as I changed a real doozy this morning really put me over the edge. I have got to get this boy into underwear!

4. Despite his stupendous toots and nasty poops, he has quite the imagination. He loves to build "landscapes," as he calls them, with the legos. That consists of numerous blocks stacked together on a small square mat. They really do look like a little city scape!

5. Hayden had his official 5-year check-up at the doctor's office last Friday and weighed in at 40 lbs (41st %) and 44" tall (66th %). Unfortunately he failed his hearing test. He's on the mend from a cold so the doctor said he may fail, so we've got to bring him back in 2 months or so. I can tell he's not hearing that great right now, so let's hope it's just the lingering effects of the sniffles. He also came up with 20/30 vision in his right eye but 20/50 in his left. That could have been due to his fidgeting and shyness, but maybe not. So a trip to the optometrist is now on the docket. Otherwise, he got a clean bill of health and bravely took his 3 shots in stride.

6. Now that he's had the immunizations, he's all ready for Kindergarten! I got a flyer a few days ago about Kindergarten Orientation, which is right around the corner in April. How is my baby almost in Kindergarten?!?!

7. Have you seen the 7-up commercial with Cee Lo Green? Apparently, Hayden has. And he thinks he's the baby version of Cee Lo in the crib. He hasn't stopped making the "paahhhhssshhhhtttt" sound that mimics the soda can opening for the last 2 days.

8. The boys went to a birthday party on Sunday morning and took home these cute little stuffed monkeys. Ben ripped the arm off of his within 30 minutes of being home. Super Dad came to the rescue and grabbed my sewing kit to reattach the arm. Did you see last week's episode of Modern Family? At least this was an at-home repair and not a trip to the "doll hospital"!

9. Hayden went to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon at the Roundhouse Aquarium on the Manhattan Beach Pier. He had a great time, got to touch a shark, a sea star, shark teeth, and learn all about some of his favorite sea creatures. He had a great time!

10. Today, we drove down to the Palos Verdes peninsula for a stop at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center, where they watch for migrating whales. I'll devote another post to that since I have several pictures, but I'll share just one as we headed around the peninsula. It's fantastic! Views for miles, mansions along the cliffs, just gorgeous!

Aunt Emily came to town!

While Erin and Samantha were in town, we also had another visitor: Aunt Emily! She enjoyed some time with the boys on Sunday and then I joined them for fun on Monday afternoon and Tuesday. Since we had such a gorgeous day, we loaded up the bikes and headed out for one of our favorite activities -- a bike ride down the Strand!

We rode down to Hermosa Beach and played in the sand by the pier. . .

And then we loaded up and headed back to Manhattan Beach for their weekly Farmer's Market to grab some pretty sights and lunch!

We headed to the end of the pier and stopped in the Roundhouse Aquarium for a few minutes and enjoyed some ice cream from the Manhattan Beach Creamery. Yum!

We headed back home for a little rest before Emily's red eye flight out that night. And while our adventure surely was fun, we also enjoyed just hanging out at home. Lots of art projects, coloring and stories were to be had (even when a certain 5-year-old was on picture strike).

Thanks for the fun visit, Emily! We can't wait til your next one!

Beverly Hills

Last weekend, my two bestest girlfriends made the trip to Los Angeles for some girl time. Rich graciously shooed me out the door to enjoy a much-needed bit of R&R from the home front. Erin arrived late Thursday night, so when the sun came up Friday morning I showed her how the Shertzers roll, with a bike ride down to the Hermosa Beach pier.

The boys rolled home with some ice cream and then we picked Samantha up from the airport. I gave them the brief tour of El Segundo and when Rich got home from work early Friday afternoon, we jetted out the door for Beverly Hills!

We stayed in a fun little boutique hotel called The Avalon and our first order of business was opening a bottle of Proseco and relaxing in the mid-century modern surroundings!

We got ourselves dressed up and headed out to dinner at Chaya.

The Hamachi appetizer was my favorite thing, although the Ginger Fizz cocktail I had was pretty darn good, too. And the chocolate croissant bread pudding for dessert. . . to die for!

A few more pictures of The Avalon. . .

The secret little rooftop garden we discovered. . .

. . . with the gorgeous views of the city!

Saturday morning, Erin had a few sessions so I came along to Franklin Canyon Park. I went for a run, exploring some trails and after quite a climb, was treated with a fantastic view of L.A., Santa Monica, and even the Pacific ocean in the distance.

(hi there -- love my shadow at the bottom of that one!)

We got ourselves cleaned up and headed down Beverly Drive.

We scored some sushi for lunch then headed to Bouchon Bakery at the recommendation of Erin's friend Amanda. The Parisian Macaroons did not disappoint (should I confess that we actually went back again the next day for some more?!) nor did the beautiful gardens we sat in to enjoy our treats.

Next, we headed over to Hollywood to spot the iconic sign and play tourist.

We checked out the Kodak Theater and were a bit clueless about the bleachers set up outside. I just realized the the Oscars are this weekend, so I'm sure they were set up in anticipation of the big event. The lobby is pretty cool with the "red carpet" steps and pillars denoting the Best Picture winners through the years.

We couldn't miss Grauman's Chinese Theater...

Or the stars on the walk outside the El Capitan.

We laid low on Saturday night and then hit the Beverly Hills Farmer's Market on Sunday morning for some snacks.

We hit jackpot with the baked goods tent!

Strawberry-Cream Cheese Croissant and a Bacon-Gruyere Croissant to share... yum!

The Beverly Hills city government buildings are nice and understated. . . just what you'd expect, right?! ;-)

We headed to The Ivy for lunch and were star searching the entire time. The day before we spotted a blue Bentley outside with may or may not have belonged to Paris Hilton (no sign of her, though). And while we dined, we may or may not have seen another celebrity in the back. No one that we knew by name, but she just had this aura about her that said "famous."

Celebrities or not, the food was amazing. And sitting outside enjoying it on their porch was a perfect setting. . .

Just around the corner was the design district and Stella McCartney's ivy-covered building was just too adorable not to take a picture of.

We continued the feast, stopping at Sprinkles Cupcakes to pick up some treats for later. I'd say it's worthy of the hype!

We battled holiday weekend traffic to head to Santa Monica and up the coast a ways to Malibu. The beach was perfect and a nice place for a little nap and respite from the crowds.

Then we dove head-on into the mess of people to see the Santa Monica pier. It was a crazy madhouse of people, so we didn't stay long.

And rather than get prettied up for a last night on the town, we jumped into jammies and feasted in our room (and we may or may not have ventured back out for more macaroons from Bouchon. . .)

We did, most definitely, sneak out for some late night pizza, though!

Before dropping the girls off at the airport for their flights, we made one last iconic L.A. stop for a burger at In-N-Out.

And then I sadly had to say goodbye. I can't wait til we do it again!