Last Day Play

Our last day in California was full of playtime.

We played at the park and we played at my parent's house.

At the park, Ephram finally conquered the little suspended stepping stones.

He had been staring at them on every park trip,

But was too tentative to attempt them.

In true Ephram fashion,

It took three visits to the park,

And enough time with his mommy turned away,

So that he could brave them on his own with no watching eyes.

That's just Ephram's way.

When it was time,

(Actually more than 30 minutes past the time we should have left,)

We drove to Long Beach, 

Hopped on a plane,

And made it back to Seattle.

This trip to California was our best yet.

We can't wait to return.

Welcome Back, Farrell's!

Do you remember Farrell's restaurants?
I had a birthday party at a Farrell's in fourth grade.
I don't remember all of my parties, but I do remember that one...
Because Farrell's was awesome.
I think the Farrell's around Riverside were all shut down within the next year.

So, earlier this year, when my Facebook friends down in California started posting about a Farrell's,
I knew I'd have to find a way to pay it a visit.

On our last night in Riverside, we met up with a few friends,
And Andy's sister and her kids,
At the brand new Farrell's.

It is pretty much just as I remembered it.
Which is to say, awesome.
It is loud.
There's a ton of commotion.
The food is good.
Apparently, if you ask for a pickle with your dish, they will bring you a whole platter of them.
They have a balloon animal artist.
Who knows that your three year old would much rather have Pluto than any old dog.
And their servers are willing to get into sword fights,
With balloon swords wielded by seven year olds.
Even Macie hung in with all of the alarms,
And the beating drums,
And other various crazy noises.
She thought it was grand.
And it was.

(And the ice cream... delicious and in large portion.)

Farrell's, welcome back.
I'll be back soon.

Castleview Park

Andy's dad lives right next to a cute little park in Riverside.

Most of the parks we visit there are smart.

They have a seperate play area for toddlers from the play area for the big kids.

I wish more parks were like that where I live!

We had a great afternoon playing at the park with Grandpa Kovar.

My kids were all pink, sweaty and happy.

(And Charlie was a bit covered in dirt.)

Even Macie got in on the play, climbing onto some of the equipment and rolling around in the grass.

I love it when we have a park all to ourselves.

These pictures are from a night we spent with Grandpa Kovar.
Ephram was teaching him how to use his device.
It was pretty cute!

The Yard on Cornwall

Just some random pictures from one perfect evening of play in my old front yard.

The Park at the Bottom of the Hill

When we visit my parents now, we try to spend some time at the park that was built in the ravine next to their neighborhood.  It's a really nice park, and a nice walk there and back, that the kids love playing in.  On this visit, I brought my camera along one morning.

Downtown Riverside

Back in Riverside the next day, we decided to spend a day around our hometown.
When I was growing up, I loved going to downtown Riverside.
For awhile in high school, I remember they had Downtown Riverside Wednesday nights,
During which the whole area was a big street fair.
I don't remember if it was a seasonal thing or if it went on more than a year,
But I remember having a lot of fun the times that I went.

There are so many nice buildings down there too,
The biggest and nicest of which is the Mission Inn.
The Mission Inn is a special building with a lot of history,
And also an operating hotel.
Growing up I also loved the Public Library and it's gazebo.
The library is huge and has great meeting rooms,
One of those rooms was the site for many of my piano recitals,
Including my senior recital.
The gazebo is beautiful, (and was off limits during this visit!)
And I also liked wandering through the shops and restaurants that were there.
But we hadn't gone to wander that area since we moved away 15 years earlier.
So, yes, I planned a downtown Riverside day with my parents.

We started with lunch at Rubio's.
Rubio's was not in Riverside when I left.
But I wish it had been.
And it is always on my list of places to eat when I come home.
I love a good, simple street taco.

Then it was off to downtown, where many of the shops had changed,
But a few important ones remained,
Like the old used book store and Simple Simon's.
We had fun wandering the area,
Balancing on walls,
Stopping on bridges,
Staring into ponds,
Seeing the bird and cannons at the Mission Inn,
And getting slightly wet while avoiding a few choice people at the fountain.

We ended our day with a trip to Rite Aid for some Thrifty's ice cream.
I'm glad that the ice cream has remained in these stores despite all of the shifts in ownership.
(And I sure do wish that our Washington Rite Aid's would carry Thrifty's ice cream!)

We had a really great afternoon.  I may just have to add this to the list of things to do again.