Anorak Magazine

Look what came in the mail! Anorak. And all the way from England. And boy are we smitten.

It has cute activities ...



Great wee stories ...



And super cool colouring pages!

Our Santa Monica Hotel

THE AMBROSE



OK, so I can't exactly tout this find as kid-friendly. It's not exactly. Perhaps kid-accepting with some small issues. First I will tell you why I love this place and then the kid related caveats.



First of all, it's very stylish and our research turned The Ambrose up as having the best value. The aesthetic is Asian meets California "Green" with a bit of whimsy thrown in.



What are these hearts on the end of these 3 red banners? I don't know. But I love them.

A yummy continental breakfast is included and is served in the lobby each morning. And my favourite part? This taxi!



For free [well, a tip for the driver], this taxi will take you to restaurants or sites in the area and pick you up again when you call. Saves headaches of parking down at the Pier or navigation problems in the big city. And in a stylish, old car too!

The downsides then? The room we had was quite small [although it had a very nice sized patio]. Especially once we put in the roll-away cot for Spud. Nothing we couldn't work around of course. And there was a very tall, thin, precarious mirror that surely would have been knocked over by Spud if he was any younger. It was easy enough to tuck out of the way though. And there were one or two other breakable items around that would have made me nervous with a toddler.

That's it. Otherwise, it was a perfect stay.

Half Day: Santa Monica Pier

SANTA MONICA PIER | TRAVELS WITH KID
Check their website to find out when and what is happening before going. There may be limited things open at certain times of the day or week. What follows is what we managed to fit in about 4 hours.



First we strolled to the end of the pier; we bought postcards, listened to buskers, saw a pelican up close.



The Aquarium
By donation for adults [around $5 per person] and children are free. This small and well run aquarium is hosted by enthusiastic and informative volunteer staff that really know how to engage the kids. And me! I learned more in this little place in one visit than I ever have at our very own rather large Aquarium at home.



Highlights
· The touch pool with volunteers pointing out interesting tidbits about the animals
· Feeding the star fish, fish heads and the sea urchin, kelp
· The wee octopus 'dancing' and changing colours
· The embryonic sharks almost ready to come out into the big world
· The sea hare! You really have to touch this guy.



We stopped at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company for lunch ... check out my post on kid-friendly eats in LA.


The Carousel
Simply beautiful, all wooden, carousel built in 1922. Spud went around and around.



In addition, there's a roller coaster, a solar powered ferris wheel, outdoor trapeze school, arcade, and all the other fun traps you would expect.

Photo Friday #22

LAGUNA BEACH, CALIFORNIA | TRAVEL WITH KID
Spending a lot of time in the pool. Of course.




Exploring the incredible beaches in the area including the discovery of small, interesting caves.








Designing roller coasters in the sand.




Strolling and noting the incredible flora of the area.




Going on kid-directed photo shoots.




Enjoying our favourite lunch spot, Ruby's Autodiner
50s style Burger joint (with decent salad options). Food the way kids like it, a characaturist on hand that works for tips, and a cool keep-the-kid-busy-until-the-food-shows-up pack including 3D glasses.




And our favourite dinner spot, Avila's El Ranchito. It's worth it just for the guacamole.



Hey, why not share your travel pics on Fridays too ... at Delicious Baby.

Birthday Party: Egyptian Theme

SPUD TURNS SIX AND THERE IS SOME TREASURE TO BE HAD

The INVITE
Yup, that's Spud in robber garb, inviting his wee friends to raid tombs and build Ancient Egyptian stuff with clay.

Note I took a few liberties on some of the hieroglyphics; balloons, the number 6, a birthday cake. Hee.


Let's Make a MINI CLAY SPHINX
We booked the party at a local kids art studio and they led the kids in each making a clay sphinx.

The studio is going to fire them and we can pick them up in a few weeks. Can't wait!

UPDATE
Photos of all the little fired sphinxes are up!

Desert and Water Colour Inspired TABLE SETTING
Golden, sandy coloured tablecloth and water blue napkins. Some of the cups were blue and some jewel encrusted [re-purposed from a pirate theme]. Spud's Playmobil Sphinx and loot bag containers as a centrepiece.

Happy Birthday BANNER
For the banner I alternated the backgrounds between papyrus, water, and an Egyptian stripe motif [I photographed the black and gold stripes on Hubs headdress modeled below] on triangles. We cut out each one, punched two holes on the top, and simply strung them on some twine.

Treasure Birthday CUPCAKES
Each of the wee guests' blue or beige [water and sand coloured] cupcake had a shiny new quarter hidden in them. We slit a hole on the side of the cupcake paper, at the bottom, and inserted a quarter that was wrapped in a small square of wax paper.

Nile Water PUNCH
Organic Pomegranate Blueberry juice with raspberry sorbet added.

Treasure-themed LOOT BAGS
1. Candy Bag. Each child took a turn raiding the pyramid.

· chocolate gold coins
· gold chocolate ball
· silver heart chocolate candies
· gold and deep blue MMs [found at bulk candy shop]
· candy ring [not shown here]
· gummy snake protecting the loot

2. Treasure Bag

[Spud worked very hard drawing the Nile on his little tomb container here. At some point he declared "I've just about finished colouring the longest river in the world!". [He started to complain about having a sore hand from colouring so much and Hubs stepped in to finish it up.]

Spud and I took some books out of the library that taught us a bunch about hieroglyphics in a kid friendly way. We shared the task of decorating the treasure bags, each one totally unique.

· Glow in the dark bracelet
· Gold bead necklace
· Play snake
· Craft gems
· Egyptian play figures


Personalized THANK YOU CARDS
I took notes of what Spud said when he opened each present and added a quote to each thank you card.

OTHER PARTY RELATED POSTS
· Party food idea for a Paint Splatter Party
· Jungle Party inspired by Curious George
· Indiana Jones Party activities and food
· Robot Party Activity: Control Panel Craft

Our Egyptology

Two more sleeps until Spud's buddy birthday party. This year's theme: Ancient Egypt. It all started when his great aunt gave him some of the new Playmobil Egypt set for Christmas.
Check out this little animation.



He quickly became smitten with the idea of discovering hidden treasures and thwarting robbers trying to steal them. This led to this year's theme and I thought, also a great opportunity to learn more about Egypt in the weeks leading up to the big day. First we went to the library to learn about hieroglyphics. Here's a sneak peak of our work on the goodie bags.





You might notice that we took some liberties with the hieroglyphics, adding some of our own, like the birthday cake! We also found this great book filled with all sorts of Egypt themed activities.



We had fun making papyrus boats out of bendy straws.





MATERIALS
· 16 bendy straws
· tape
· twine/string
And a few nights ago, Hubs showed us a documentary about the Nile which inspired Spud's work here ...



"Hey, look Mama, I'm almost finished colouring in the longest river in the WORLD!"