Beach girl

Another weekend, another happy girl. Molly had such a great weekend and so did Mom and Dad. After the farm visit for Easter she came out to a fancy dinner with us to celebrate "uncle" James' birthday. We went to a restaurant that has been Michelin rated, one of only 9 in L.A. But it's pretty casual and she eats at the sister restaurant all the time since it is 2 blocks from our house. She is quite the gourmet. She stole the shrimp out of Dad's risotto, sampled Mom's quail sausage and left most of her plain pasta in red sauce behind. She shared uncle James' panna cotta and even fed it to him on her finger which he was a trooper about and ate it. "Uncle" Chris enjoyed an after dinner espresso and Molly dipped her finger in the remnants of that too and after a second dip to everyone's surprise she tipped the tiny cup up to her mouth and looked quizzically at Dad when no more tasty treat came out. She flirted with the waiter who taught her to say "ciao!" and we had two different tables of people pass by as they were leaving tell us what an adorable and well-behaved child she is. (Ha! Fooled them again!) Here's to hoping it lasts for the plane ride to Florida that happens in just two days.
Today she went with us down to Hermosa Beach to visit an old friend of Eric's who owns a summer house right on the beach. She shows no fear whatsoever about oncoming waves and it makes Mom crazy. If Molly had her way she would have dove head first into the surf. Later in the day she had her first back yard easter egg hunt. A busy weekend for a busy girl who was all smiles for 48 hours.
Tonight she looked at pictures of Grandpa and Grandma in anticipation of seeing them soon. She sure does know who they are and immediately points to "Pa!" in all the shots. I've charged the camera and cleared the memory card in preparation for the trip. Our iPhoto is up over 4000 shots. In very short order we will need a new computer with a huge hard drive.

Happy Easter

Molly spent an exciting morning at the Underwood farms for a little Easter fun. You can see for yourself all the things she did and we were only there for 90 min.
She got to pet a bunny...

She continued her love affair with train rides (good pictures Mom)


She made friends with a goat...

She saw her old friend the Easter Bunny...

climbed a haystack...

She took this warning very seriously...

she clowned around with Mom...

All in all another great day. Happy Easter everyone!

Meet the Easter Bunny

Mom and Molly went to see the Easter Bunny today. Molly was a little freaked out and wouldn't sit on his lap but did give him (her?) a high five! Relax grandparents, we got the professional bunny photos of her with the bunny (with Mom close at hand) to send to you. At the bunny hut they were giving away paper crowns. This being Hollywood it was a cross promotion of the DVD release of Enchanted. Also at The Grove is a trolley that takes you from one end to another and now that Molly has braved the train ride at Disneyland she was all over it and made Mom ride the round trip four times! She wouldn't get off until the conductor grabbed her up and let her ring the bell.



Also we wanted to say congratulations to Julie and Glenn who are in China right now and falling in love with their girl Natasha. They were some of the original Mollyholics following along while they were waiting (longer than we did!!!) So happy that they are finally parents to a real stunning beauty of a girl.

Splash time!

Molly had a playdate with her good friend Matilda today. (Molly calls her Da!) They went over to the Ecostation to see exotic animals (and even touch a big python!) After lunch Matilda came over so Molly could show her the playhouse. Of course they loved it and played in the kitchen like a pair of chefs but it was when Matilda found the fountain that they really went nuts. Matlida figured out that if you put your finger right over the spout it makes the water shoot out like a geyser. When Molly joined in it was only a minute before they were soaked. Who knew our landscape project included our very own waterpark!

Disneyland!

Well, we just got back from Molly's first trip to Disneyland. She LOVED it. She spent the day with Mom and Dad and Mom's east coast friend Kim and her daughter Natalie (age 7). We made it all day long until 9:45 with only a 45 min. nap in the middle. We thought she would be a wreck but she was a great little girl all day long.
She started out on the teacups -



She rode the circus train, Winnie the Pooh's adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean and Roger Rabbit's Toontown and nothing scared her! Some of the rides were loud and crazy and freaked Mom out a little bit but she never shied away.

She also met Minnie, Mickey and was a little leery of Pluto at first but she came around.


After such a long day we thought she'd be exhausted sooner but she kept going. When she finally pooped out though she was OUT! Mom had as much fun as she did though and is already planning a return trip and buying a season pass. There are still more rides to ride. We're once again so proud of our girl for being so good and sharing her joy.

Sunny days

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we live in southern California. In other parts of the country March is a harbinger of better days to come. The cruel February onslaught has passed and even if you're still digging out from the latest blizzard at least its March already and the end of the tunnel is in sight through flurries and the occasional sleet storm. But not so for us. Today was as picture-perfect as it gets in a commercial for some kind of prescription medicine or laundry detergent. The nice thing is that now we don't need to go any further than our own back yard to enjoy it. The yard is really coming in and with all the rain we've gotten already this year these warm days really make it start to look great. Flowers are blooming and plants are growing and Molly is loving it. Just sharing some more great shots of our little supermodel. She remains a very happy girl. Just clowning with Mom and Dad makes her the happiest of all.

Fish!

Molly went to the Long Beach Aquarium today with Nana G and Poppy and had a great time. She got up close and personal with tons of fish, jellyfish, sea birds and seals. (the otters were sleeping) She loves to get out and run around and interact with exhibits at places like this. She tore through the joint in no time flat.

She loved the touch tank with Mom.
Of course there was a stop at the gift shop where she got a word book about ocean creatures and some tub toys of animals she had seen that day. They gave her a giant shopping bag for our few items but she loves to carry her own bag whenever she can so even though it was taller than she is, she insisted. I got some great shots while running ahead of her.



Next stop is the science museum downtown. We'll have to do that one soon.