So we loaded up the truck and moved to...

We went to Bouchon in Beverly Hills for Mother's Day. I think it was our only visit to Beverly Hills while we were in LA. We walked down Rodeo Drive and had a lovely champagne brunch, feeling (for a moment) like LA people.

Jonah's not a Disney story, is it?

But I guess Pinocchio is. That's the one with the whale, right?

Another visit (from my good friend Scott), another Disney trip! Ellen's tiny arm is trying to pull Scott down before the whale eats him.

Mincing meat, not words

The Ferry Building has been reinvented as an upscale food market. I browsed there for gifts (and lunch) a few times. Besides all the usual specialists in cheese, coffee, sweets, etc., there is the pork stall. Or as they put it "Tasty Salted Pig Parts."

City by the Bay

I'm in San Francisco for a few days for a conference. Unlike most of my conferences, this one's actually at a really awesome location -- in the Embarcadero right across from the Ferry Building. I took this from the elevator lobby in my hotel.

Batteries very definitely included

Another trip to Disneyland, this time with an old friend I hadn't seen in almost a decade. We both have five year old daughters now, and they hit it off famously.

View from my front door

This winter morning, everyone on Facebook was posting pictures of the blizzard that had blanketed the Midwest and East Coast. I took this picture of sunshine and lemons for contrast. Imagine how little gratitude I received for posting it!

Clustertruck!

We decided to check out the gourmet food truck fad that is sweeping LA (and, to a lesser degree, many other cities). They usually don't make it out to our neck of suburbia or do so at times inconvenient to boring-married-people-with-a-small-child, but there was a food truck "festival" at the Santa Anita Park racetrack, with twenty of the beasts.

Fail. Twenty trucks and 5000 hungry attendees meant lines that were 2+ hours long and trucks that couldn't keep up with demand. They ran out of stuff and shut down. I spent two hours in line to place an order, waited another hour in vain for the food, and finally left, grumpy and starving. We ended up getting a salad at a sit-down restaurant nearby. No wait.

Burgers al fresco

  

One advantage to living in LA is the practically year-round outdoor dining. At a local gourmet burger shop, we have a warm and sunny lunch in mid-January.

Sunday in the Park

Griffith Park, that is. We finally got out to one of LA's iconic recreation areas, a big hilly park in the middle of the city. We didn't go to the LA Zoo (I'm told it's almost impossible unless you get there first thing in the morning) or the Griffith Observatory, but we went to an historic carousel and Train Town, and had a nice picnic lunch. In this shot, Ellen and one of her friends are enjoying a miniature train ride.

Creationist Park

Road trip! We decided to take a family vacation across the southwest to visit my cousins in New Mexico, stopping for a few days in Phoenix on the way. Our first stop is the delightful Wheel Inn in Cabazon, California, known for its great homemade food and pies. Adjacent to the Wheel Inn is a classic example of road weirdness -- giant dinosaur replicas. They were originally built back in the 60s to attract tourists.

In the 90s, new owners turned them into a Creationist museum! Not what you expect to find in the belly of a dinosaur.

Downpour -- trust me on this

OK, so it's hard to tell from the image, but it was pouring and pouring at the time. December is the rainy season for SoCal, what passes for winter here. After months of dryness, we got barrels of rain, almost every day. I was glad to not own a floodable basement, for once.

Winter wonderland

Snow? What's that? Something up in the mountains?

The local mall dumps a few tons of snow on its plaza for a lark. Look, you can wear mittens and throw snowballs and pretend you're freezing to death -- just like up north!

Black tie affair

Our elementary school has a formal charity auction. Quite an array of prizes, too. We bid for and won a "date night" package that included dinner, a movie, wine, and babysitting by a Rose Parade princess!

Nick Live!

We surprised Ellen with a trip to downtown LA to see the Nickelodeon Live show (including her favorites, the Backyardigans). She enjoyed the show but might have liked the popcorn best of all.

Batting lineup

Ellen's belated fifth birthday party was a big hit! She had a lot of girls attend, including some new classmates she's befriended in kindergarten. We held it in a neighborhood park. The entertainment included party games (hot potato, pin the tiara on the princess, freeze tag...), a Hello Kitty piñata, and crowns and helium balloons to decorate. We served pizza, crudités, and cake. No petting zoo, pony rides, rent-a-jumper, or any of that stuff was required.

The card I was dealt

At a work-related meeting high above Marina del Rey. Isn't my place card impressive?

Another early morning at LAX

Pre-dawn at Parking Lot C. A familiar starting point for us on a cross-country flight to Milwaukee for the annual family gathering. LAX is 30 miles away from home and only a really tolerable drive when we can avoid rush hour traffic -- hence the very early or very late departures. MSP used to be an easy ten minute drive from home in Minneapolis. Fortunately, Ellen is a great traveler.

Back in season

The Asian pears are ripening again. We're moving into another fruit season at our house!

If you can read this, you're the man for me

The license plate frame says "Are you the" and the plate is "RYT1 4ME."

If the answer is yes, tailgate her until she marries you.

There oughtta be a law

... and in California, there is! This was stuck up on the wall of a normal, run of the mill, chain restaurant. You should see the big warning label they put on new cars. Don't eat the car -- it might be bad for you.