California Trip- Part Two

Jan 9- I took Macy to ride the horses at Griffith Park. The first ride she chose the slow path. She got to pick her own horse and she choose Duchess, a furry donkey (at least it looked like a donkey). Duchess decided to stop in the middle of the track to pee but then wouldn't start back up. Macy patiently sat there and didn't get scared.

The second ride she choose the "fast" track. The horse trotted around the track twice. I love Macy's smile of her getting on the fast horse. It's her smirk she does when she's happy but doesn't want to show it. My favorite thing she said that day was when she got off the fast horse and said, "It didn't stop mommy!" It's so sweet that the thing she loved the most was the horse actually ran the whole time. For some reason it was so cute and brought tears to my eyes.

We also rode the little train ride there.

 And Macy enjoyed a frozen treat. I don't know what the ingredients are, that's a little scary.

Jan 10- This day probably deserves it's own blog post. We drove to La Mirada to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Seymour. Ja wanted to shoot off grandpa's bottle rockets and Uncle Steve filmed it all. My dad came down too and it was like having four 10-year old boys there. They had a lot of fun shooting different things and trying different configurations of air pressure and rocket position to see how high it would go. At one point Ja shot it from the backyard and over the house to have my dad try and catch it in the front yard. 

Macy tried pumping the bottle rocket up with the bike pump. It was quickly discovered the air compressor is the way to go!

Macy pulled the trigger to have to rocket go over the roof.

Ja thought it would make a good video to have the bottle rocket shoot different things thus the bazooka style hold.

He first tried this empty soda can pyramid. Then it was a full soda can. That did not explode as hoped. The bottle would hit the can and break but the can wouldn't be harmed at all. They shot a cardboard box full of leaves hoping the leaves would fly in the air and make a cool slow motion video. But the rocket was so powerful it shot straight through the box without disrupting the leaves.

I have many childhood memories of me and my cousins sweeping sawdust in grandpa's garage. He was always working on something and consequently he had lots of sawdust. I loved the feeling of the soft bristled broom on the smooth garage floor. Every time I smell sawdust I think of grandpa's garage. The little broom was still hanging in the same spot as I remember it. It's on a hook which is right at Anna's level so she took it and started sweeping. 

seriously, I just love that face!

Macy also loved sweeping. I hope Macy can remember doing in with her great grandparents. I'm glad it's a memory we can both share. 

Macy's hair is getting so long!

Grandpa's garage looks the same as when I was a kid! Except he now has an updated mini fridge. It used to be a old brown one that would be stocked with sodas I didn't recognize. 

Grandpa explaining to Ja how to put the fins on the rocket

This is a trike grandma borrowed from the neighbor. It had a squeaky wheel so Macy told us it needed oil. She thought that was funny.

Jan 11- We drove up to Valencia to watch Henry's first basketball game. Afterwards we ate lunch at a park. Henry is 6 but he is very sweet and plays well with Macy. She also enjoyed playing with Charlie.

Macy, Charlie, and Henry

After the park we went to Nathan and Kiersten's house. Henry got a bow and arrow for Christmas so Macy and Charlie practiced (Henry was at a baptism).

Back at Granny Dot's house that night Anna discovered the box of ziploc bags and proceeded to take all of them out. It's impossible to get mad at the sweet little face!