On my relationship with baseball.

So Z has always enjoyed watching baseball.

While I've never really shared this particular

interest, I thought I'd accompany him to a 

Dodgers game anyway.

Z picked me up from LAX 

after my trip to WA

& I got in a little city-style shopping

(Oh how I miss shopping in Chicago)

while he worked on his

 Holy Week sermons.

Then we just had to eat at 

The Oinkster...

soooo good!

Then off to Dodger Stadium!

The young guys from

The Deadliest Catch

got to throw in the first pitch.

Z knew that I wasn't super thrilled to 

be there, so he decided to get a scorecard.

Neither of us had ever kept score before, 

but he thought it would appeal to 

my librarian self.

And, 

he was right.

I really enjoyed keeping score...

it gave me a purpose during the game

and made things seem to move faster.

I will concede that this game was 

the most enjoyable baseball game that

I can remember.

But don't call me a baseball fan just yet.

Up in Washington state

I'm just back from my sister's house in Washington, 

where we packed in as much visiting, play time, 

and adventures as possible into just a few days.

The first day I visited both boys' preschool classes

and built train tracks with my nephews.

But we decided we should get out & see

some nature while I was there, 

so we headed down the road to

the Dungeness Spit to hike around.

It was gorgeous, but pretty overcast & windy,

making it feel VERY cold!

So we played in the sand for a bit, 

had a little picnic, & hiked back up to the car.

The next morning I let my sister & her husband

go out for a long run all by themselves, 

while the boys and I had a party - complete

with party hats and noisemakers - before

we went outside for some quality chalk usage.

We even had time to dye Easter eggs while I was there!

Simon demonstrated some innovative 

cooking techniques.

(Be sure to wear a helmet & oven mitts

when using a light saber to heat your next meal.)

There was also plenty of hide and seek going on!

Simon likes to count to 2 before coming to look for you, 

so you have to hide quickly!

Please, no more pictures, Auntie H.

I adored seeing these guys

and of course my big sister, too!

When the kiddos went to bed, 

we had a great time catching up

& watching silly movies.

I'm so grateful that I got to sneak in a 

quick visit with them!

Palms

Once a month

we help run a program

for kids living in the neighborhood

around our church.

This month our craft was making

palm crosses since

Palm Sunday is coming up.

I used palms from our yard &

taught all the kids how to fold them 

into these crosses.

They loved it!

I'll be away visiting my sister (yay!) for several days, 

but look for lots of new photos next week.

In the meantime, I've uploaded tons of old

photos onto Flickr.

Some of them have been posted on the blog

but some have just been hanging out on my memory cards.

Feel free to check them out!

Park Life

Earlier this week I went with Z to a park

to hike around with my camera while he ran.

The interesting thing about this particular park 

is that it sits up on top of several bluffs, 

so you have a panoramic view of the mountains

to the east, and the oil fields stretching out to the north.

But there is also a river and canal that run

directly below the bluffs with a running trail, 

and there are dirt paths 

all along the bluffs that lead down to the water.

So you are left with an unusual combination of nature & industry

not typical (in my previous experience) of a park setting.

Best wishes

I hope you all got a fresh start

for a good day today.

Orange slices from our backyard tree

 enjoyed on our front porch one morning.

A closer look at some favs.

So I know that I just

posted the entire set of

photos from The Huntington, but

I want to highlight a few of my favorites anyway.

I hope that you've been enjoying these photos, too!

The Huntington & Beyond

The Huntington & Beyond, a set on Flickr.

In addition to our coastal adventure, we also spent an day in LA & Pasadena before Matt & Chris had to leave.

We met up with our friend Jen for a delicious Greek lunch where we dined just a few tables away from one Dan Aykroyd & his adorable parents. Then we made our way over to The Huntington Gardens.

Unfortunately we didn't have near enough time to get through all of the gardens covering the sprawling grounds, much less make it into any of the indoor art galleries. But I completely fell in love with the gardens, so Z & I will definitely be going back to spend more time there.

It was a bit chilly, so we stopped by Intelligentsia in Old Pasadena to warm up over coffee & tea. We noticed a cupcake shop nearby and could not resist picking some up. Then we followed the signs to the Rose Bowl (Z loves stadiums.) and had an awesome cake break while watching the sun set over the stadium. Even after the cupcakes, we were hungry, and thankfully we found the Oinkster...so good and so much fun!

Don't forget to click the link under the photos to see the whole set on Flickr!