Santa Monica Day Trip

Last weekend, Smithsonian Magazine was celebrating Museum Day by providing FREE tickets to any participating museum. I picked out an art museum in Santa Monica that we'd never been to. It turned into a wonderful little day trip for the family.

Before heading to the museum, we went to the 3rd Street Promenade for a little shopping while Gabriel took his nap in the stroller. They've added a fancy new outdoor mall section to the promenade. Here's a picture of the three stories of shops. I love the look with the palm trees, but I don't know what that black and white thing is. I hope it's not some sort of art piece, because I don't really like it.

After some shopping, we went to the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Upon entrance, we realized this museum is actually free every day! That's cool, but sad at the same time, because I thought I was getting something for free that normally costs money. Oh well.

There were multiple exhibits. Some we spent a considerable amount of time in and others we skipped all together. We mostly stayed away from the modern art. I think both Richard and I have a hard time understanding why two circles on a piece of paper is "art". We also noticed an alarming number of the artists seemed to gravitate toward pieces that, let's just say, were not appropriate for all any audiences. We shielded Gabriel's and our eyes and left those exhibits. Slightly disappointing, yet I wasn't surprised. Maybe it was the fact that we were in Santa Monica which made it not surprising.

One of the exhibits was a random collection of "practical art". They had several really cool chairs made of all recycled materials. They had chairs made from glass bottles, cardboard, and even quarters. This one I'm sitting in is made of corks. It was really comfy!

Another item we found was a little dog made of recycled newspaper. Isn't he cute?

I felt like I had to buy something to top off the trip. It's like a family trip to a museum wouldn't be complete without some cheep little thing from the gift shop, right? So I ended up purchasing this head massager. Oh, this thing is WONDERFUL! You move it around your head and all those little wiry things rub your scalp. It makes me want to relax and fall asleep. I love my new little gadget.

Free Cold Stone

I like all things free. Yesterday we got free ice cream at Cold Stone. They were supporting the Make A Wish foundation to which we happily donated.

After donating, we colored our stars which were being placed on the walls of the store. Richard drew a pretty flower. Isn't that cute?

Yummy ice cream! And even yummier because it was FREE!

Musical Baby

Gabriel is so musical. In fact, he'll be coming out with his first album next month. Here's a sneak preview.

How smart are you?

My father-in-law, Bob, sent me this link. It's a visual vocabulary test. It flashes pictures and you have to pick the correct word to describe the image. I took it once, and got an average score. I took it a second time and got below average. Ugh! Although I must say, I got the hard architecture question right, but not the easier question. Guess I don't have a good vocabulary, but I know my math and engineering!

See how smart you are, and let me know. By the way, Bob's score was 2720!
Name That Thing

Lucky Me

I have recently had some luck winning things. I like to enter sweepstakes and giveaways from various places. Richard keeps hoping we'll win the HGTV dream home.

What I have won in the past 6 months:
-$15 gift card to Kohl's
-$25 to use on personalized invitations or cards
-24 volume series on Great Moments in American History - written in short story format for young kids

-baby blue crocs for kids

-$10 Amazon gift card
-$8 off at Albertsons

How to Work Out with a Baby

I'm no longer doing the Insanity work out. Go figure. Richard still works out before coming home, but it was too much for me to juggle. I had to feed and change the baby, put the baby in the car and drive to work, then hope he stayed content while we worked out. I often ended up on the floor with him instead of working out.

So now here's my new work out routine. Feel free to steal it if you wish.

Jog with baby
- This must be done in the morning immediately after baby is fed and changed. Make sure to put sun screen on baby and/or jog in directions where the sun won't shine in his face.
- Towards the end of the run, when baby looks sleepy from all the jiggling of the stroller, start talking and making funny faces. Waving of the arms, blowing bubbles and loud siren noises especially help to keep baby entertained. People may think you're crazy, but mommies are aloud some slack, right?
- It is especially helpful to run errands while you're jogging. I often end a run at the grocery store, Rite Aid, the salvation army drop-off, etc. People try to get rid of you quickly when you're sweaty and breathing hard, so you can often get things done faster!

Sit-ups
- Lie on the ground. Place baby on stomach and sit up toward him giving him a kiss at the top of your sit-up.
- When baby gets tired of that, lie him on your shins as they're horizontal in the air and continue with sit-ups.
- Have a rag handy for the slobber and spit up that you will get on your face.

Push-ups
- Lie baby his back on the ground, and do push-ups right over him. Give him a kiss each time you reach him.
- If baby kicks his legs into your stomach, this gives you an ab workout at the same time!

Lunges
- Let baby play of the floor of his room. Do lunges immediately outside the room so that you pass the door often. Each time you pass the door, make funny faces and loud noises to keep the baby entertained.

Squats
- Hold baby in your arms, and squat until the baby's legs touch the floor. Sing a silly song and bounce as you're going up and down. Having a mirror in front of you is good, as the baby can laugh at how funny you look doing this.

By now it's time for the baby's nap. Change his diaper (again), read him a book, and put him down. After all this is done, you can shower and get ready for the day. When you're done getting ready, the day will be half-way done, and you will have to squeeze in all your other activities/errands before the baby's second nap.

I try to do this 4 days a week. So far, so good!

Hungry Caterpillar 1st Birthday Cake

I recently made a 1st birthday cake for our friend's little boy, Liam. It was a Hungry Caterpillar themed party, so I made the matching cake. I also made a smash cake for Liam to match.