California Science Center daytrip

Bennett and I set out for the day to meet up with Daddy for lunch across the street from USC at the California Science Center. I love this place...it is free to get in to! Plus it has a McDonald's on the first floor...which at Bennett's stage makes it a nearly perfect place to go to. See Daddy during the day, push buttons on all the exhibits, get McDonald's for lunch...what could be better! Such a great place.

Bennett and Daddy figuring out how sound travels. Bennett loves this exhibit every time we go.

Just in case you were wondering...yes we have a car with us at all times...never leave home without at least 3 cars!

Fun running up and down the little block walls...we must have been in this spot for 20 minutes. :o)

Stop tickling me mommy!

A rare moment of standing still at the museum.

Such a Great Day!

I had the absolute best day this week. Decided one day to take Bennett down to USC to go to the California Science Center and meet up with Dan for lunch. (The Science Center is directly across the street from Dan's work, so he got to play with us for a bit before going back to work). We had an awesome time there, and when I went to leave I decided to drive the route home that ran along PCH and the beach then over the mountains to home. It was so beautiful. I feel so fortunate to be living in So. California where I played in the snow over the weekend and can go to the beach the next day. The scenery was gorgeous and the hills are all green from all the rain we have been having. It was just so nice to get out since I have felt so closed in with having constant colds since Christmas then weeks of rain. Such a great day and such a great drive!!

Ocean view from my car while driving north on PCH.

Drove back on Kanan Rd back to Malibou Lake Mountain Club where Dan and I got married. Just such a pretty place.

A scene in the Santa Monica mountains back by Malibou Lake.

Sledding with Grandpa

Last weekend I took off again to Lake Arrowhead. Dan's family and my mom joined me up there and the kids just had an absolute blast playing in the snow. Grandpa gave free tobaggon rides all weekend! We had a bunch of snowball fights and for some reason, Bennett loves eating the snow...had to taste every snowball before he threw it. :o) Great weekend playing in the snow. We usually don't get as much snow at our condo as we have this year so we have been trying to take advantage of it...I think that the people who live in Arrowhead wish that the snow would stop already though. :o)

Grandpa gives great tobaggon rides!

This was Max's first time playing in the snow..he liked sledding!

Sam and Bennett...first knockdown of several while I was trying to build a snowman that never got entirely built!

Sam.

Red Car - San Pedro

Last Friday night just the 4 Lenhart Members of the family headed out for a rare night out together to San Pedro to go to a sing a long version of the movie Mamma Mia. Before we went to the movie we decided to take a ride on the red car line which is a replica of the historic electric red car that ran all over Southern California from the late 1800's to about 1961. It runs about 2 miles long now along the waterfront in San Pedro from the cruise ship terminals down to the end of the harbor. It was so much fun (even though it was horribly cold when we went!). We had such a blast at the sing a long too (which was a fundraising event to help restore an original art deco movie house that was originally owned by Warner Bros.) Crazy night...lots of rain, but lots of fun (Abba style fun)! Got to meet up with my friends Leah and David, but sadly I have no pics of them to post. All of these pics were taken on my cell phone, so the quality is not great.

We were absolutely freezing because it was windy and cold and raining and we didn't dress properly at all! This is Craig and Mom and Cheryl huddling together for warmth and waiting for the red car to come.

Red Car pulling in to the station. Bennett would say "ALL ABOARD" if he saw it!

Ridin' the Red Car.

Craig riding along ...in seats that incidentally were made just like the originals and the seat backs swivel so you can change which direction you want to sit...forward or backward. I thought that was ingenious engineering for the 1800's! Check out the video below...Cheryl is demonstrating how they work.

Playing in the Snow...

My mom, Bennett and I headed back up to Lake Arrowhead for Saturday and Sunday while Dan and his guys had their monthly LAN party at our house. Figured we would play in the snow again since it is pretty rare that the snow stays this long at mom's condo. It is so fun because we can basically play in the backyard of the condo. Bennett just loves it. This time Grammy took him out sledding and made a snowman with him. He loved getting dressed in all of the snowclothes and snowboots. Just makes me laugh that he walks like the StayPuff Marshmallow Man when he is in his snow gear. :o)

We have a Mr. Potato Head at the condo, and Bennett thought that it would be funny to put the funny tongue and glasses on himself....I think he missed where the glasses were supposed to go....I don't think you can see through your nose dork. :o)

Dan's Birthday - 37 years old - whoo hoo!

Happy Birthday dear Dan.....your 37!! Ugh - he will forever be younger than me! Well, we didn't rent a bouncy house for his birthday, we'll save that for Bennett! But we did have a nice dinner at home with my mom and Cheryl on his birthday, and the next night went out for an adults only birthday dinner at Vitello's with Dan's family. Always love an evening out. Happy Birthday Dan!

Cheryl gave Dan an LED flashlight that straps on to your head for when you work in places that you need to have your hands free to do so....pretty much for when he works on his computers. :o) (Especially since there are no mines around here for him to go trudging around in. :o)

Bennett is showing off his many multitasking talents...wearing the head flashlight and playing the harmonica at the same time....what can I say....he has skills. :o)

Dan's Aunt Mona - 77th Birthday at Disneyland

Dan, Bennett and I joined Dan's dad Nick and Dan's Aunt Mo for a day at Disneyland. Mo turned 77 this year and had never been to Disneyland! She always wanted to go and what with this being the year where you get in to Disneyland for free on your birthday it was a perfect chance to go. She is out visiting here from Minnesota for a month. She said that her favorite ride of the whole day was Pirates of the Carribean. We had a great day.

Nick and Mo in front of the castle.

Me and B on the Tea Cups - he LOVES this ride! Something about 2 year olds and spinning around incessantly! Bennett finally got to meet Mickey Mouse!

Riding the train. Bennett kept shouting "All Aboard"...even when we were already moving. :o)

Finding the hidden treasure on Tom Sawyer's Island...well Pirate's Lair now....and the treasure isn't really that hidden!d

Snow, Snow Snow!!

My mom, Cheryl, Riley the doggie, Dan, Bennett and I made a trip to Lake Arrowhead to mom's condo to play in the snow for the weekend. The snow on the mountain off the back of the condo was great for sledding down, making snowmen, and having a few snowball fights. The weather has been great and we are having a nice time relaxing here. The condo doesn't always get snow that stays for very long, so it was fun to come up and take advantage of it right out our back door! There was about 2 feet of snow there.

Our attempt to get Riley to pull Bennett on the sled. She was totally willing to do it too!

Can you guess where this snowball is going to land just judging by Dan's defensive pose?? Smack on the head! :o)

World's tiniest snowman. About 18 inches tall. :o)

Yumm....Snow tastes good. We were just glad that his tongue didn't stick to it!

My one and only artsy shot of the trip. This is off our balcony with the twinkle lights on the railing overlooking the backyard.

New Years Day 2009

Caution: Content of this post may contain info about USC, all diehard UCLA fans skip this post if you are unable to read about USC. :o)

Just kidding...well, not about the USC part! We were rooting for USC to win the Rose Bowl this year. (I'm sure all of my friends who are UCLA fans were instantly Penn State fans for at least one day ;0) My mom brought a cake over the night before that just happened to have a USC logo that was exactly the same as the logo on the shirt Dan was wearing that night. Pretty funny. Had to also get a picture of Dan and Bennett wearing their USC shirts. Very cute...matchy matchy. :o) Dan was very happy with the outcome of the game...Go USC!

Remote Control Grandpa

Bennett will find any excuse to get someone to drive one of his remote control cars and when Grandma and Grandpa came over last week, it was no exception. He suckered...I mean...coaxed Grandpa into driving his remote control truck around the foyer till the batteries ran out. :o) Boys and cars...that's all I'm sayin'.