Explora!

While we were in Albuquerque, Jeremy took us to Explora!, their children's museum/exploratorium. It was awesome. I love the look of it and the fact that it had a special parking place for bicycles.


Highlights inside include an awesome picnic area on the roof, the most bad ass elevator ever, a bike you can ride on a tightrope (if you weigh more than 90 pounds, and some great views.


They had some really cool water experiments and lots of hands on play activities. We could have easily let the kids fixate on any of them for a long while, but we were anxious to see everything.


Explora! has some cool wind experiments like this one where the kids get to build "ships" and set them to sail in front of a box fan.


After awhile I felt like we were in a really crafty mom's house because a lot of the activities are things you could do at home, but just wouldn't out of laziness. If we lived in ABQ, I'd definitely get a membership to Explora and let the kids get to know it like the back of their hands.

One of our favorites was the "make your own robot that can color" station. A cup, some velcro, a few markers and a battery can do some pretty cool things. Just watch:



And we could have taken pictures of each other through the giant kaleidoscope all day!


Obviously I could go on (and on), but I'll leave you with some scenes from the Paradox Cafe which is full of all sorts of puzzles, some of them reminiscent of the kids' Montessori materials. All we needed was a nice cup of coffee and we might have never left.


To sum things up--go visit Explora! the next time you are in Albuquerque. It's super fun for the whole family.

Albuquerque

The highlight of our return trip was stopping in Albuquerque to see our dear friends, Team Lewis. On our last visit two years ago, Ani was pregnant with her and Jeremy's second child. It was very exciting to meet little Taj in person. Along with big brother, Bodhi, there was almost too much cuteness to handle.

Hanging out with Team Lewis involves all sorts of good, wholesome fun. We played with bunnies...


Hula hooped...


Picked peaches at the neighbor's house (she also had pears, apricots, and apples)...



Learned about the asequia system that waters the lawns...


Went swimming....


Had a jam session...


and so much more. Warren and Jeremy made the best fish tacos ever with the fish Satchel caught in Sacramento, Ani and I made a killer mango guaca-salsa, and the kids built a fantastic and winding railroad in the living room. The boys all got along great--but Jiro and Bodhi especially. They ran around in their underwear, which was awesome. Warren and I loved catching up with Ani and Jeremy and hearing all about their recent family trips to Nicaraqua and Costa Rica. We had an action packed 36 hour visit to say the least. (Stay tuned for a peek at Albuquerque's awesome children's museum and a great Mexican restaurant we found.)

We hope Team Lewis will come to Memphis soon and let us return the hospitality!

Rocket Fizz

Rocket Fizz
105 South Oak Street (Ventura, CA)
(805) 641-1222


While we were in Ventura, I ventured out for coffee one morning and came across Rocket Fizz--a store that specializes in candy, soda, and fun. As I walked by, I thought, "Better not let the monkeys see this place!" However, later that afternoon, their cousin Natalie asked (in front of everyone), "Can we go to Rocket Fizz?" Aunt Shirley, being much cooler than me, replied, "Sure!"

Here's how it works. Get a bucket and go crazy!


Granted we'd been doing our share of candy shopping in California, but I really had never seen so much candy in one place! (Ok, maybe Wayne's, but that's a warehouse!) They had a lot of vintage candy--notice the candy cigars and cigarettes--as well as some old favorites re-imagined--notice the giant Smarties! And every kind of soda you could imagine! (Warren got a cola nut GuS, Grown Up Soda, which was awesome.) Much to my delight, they had chocolate covered Gummy Bears. (Come on M&Ms, you gotta get in on this trend!)


Rocket Fizz also had Willy Wonka playing on a TV to further amp up the ambiance, which I thought was a nice touch.

I "limited" the monkeys to three items each, but didn't bother to limit Warren or myself! I filled up a bucket, and then Warren went behind me and bought a few extras.


(Clearly, I failed to capture Jiro's excitement!)

Shirley placed a half full bag of bulk candy on the counter and the owner said, "Nope, we only sell full bags. Go fill it up!" Ha!

After we were all paid up and ready to go, sure that Rocket Fizz couldn't be any cooler, the owner hollered, "Who wants a balloon?" A chorus of "Me!" soon followed.


Just outside the door is a sweet little seating area where you can relax, enjoy a soda, and stuff your face with candy. How could we pass that up?


The seating area was almost enough for me to blog about this on Dining with Monkeys!

Back at the hotel, Jiro and I planned out who got to eat what and when.


Turns out Rocket Fizz is a franchise, so you don't have to go to Ventura to try it. But you do probably have to head west. Better yet, save yourself a trip and start your own franchise here! The monkeys and I will be first in line.

Ventura

I love going to visit Warren's family, especially his sister. Sure she happens to live near the beach, but she and her husband are just super cool. For starters, they got us a hotel room on the beach.


We took full advantage of our proximity to the water. Despite the somewhat chilly weather, the boys and I played in the waves forever, built a sand castle, watched the numerous surfers catching waves, and we even buried Jiro in the sand. To warm up, we went swimming at the hotel's outdoor heated pool.



After getting thoroughly water-logged, we met Shirley and cousin Natalie for a walk around downtown and some delicious Thai food. Then we went to what has to be the coolest store in the world. I'm just going to give you a sneak peek since I plan to go into more detail on it later.


After beaching, eating, and gorging on sugar, we of course needed a nap. Once that was over we went to Shirley's house to hang out with the family for a bit. Then in true super cool form, Shirley and her husband, Peter, suggested that the adults go out for sushi while the kids stayed home. Shirley made them chicken, rice, and broccoli, which happens to be their favorite dinner. (It included their first vegetable of our vacation!) Before we left, Peter laid down the law. "Noah is in charge, not Jiro!" (Jiro was very outgoing during our visit...maybe a little TOO outgoing!)


Noah is 15 and our funniest cousin. He hasn't seen the monkeys in over four years, but he aptly asked me, "Does Jiro still like beer?"

Our dinner was awesome. We went to Koba Sushi and feasted on salmon tempura, spicy tuna rolls, and avocado and tofu salad. (Among other things!) It was also really nice to have a few beers, relax, and have some adult conversation. Warren and I had been with the kids 24/7 for over two weeks at that point! Shirley and Peter are so much fun to hang out with and give us a glimpse of what our life will be like when the boys are older. (Their oldest, Dillon, is 18 and starting college!)

After dinner, we went to Tutti Frutti to get a treat for the kids. It's one of the new fangled pay by the weight yogurt places where you can get all the toppings you want. We got there just as they were closing so there were slim pickings, but it was enough to get me excited about the similar place opening in Memphis soon. (Fro-Yo? Lo-Yo? Something like that.)

We got back to the house to find the kids all getting along, which was the icing on the cake. We all snuggled up on the couch and watched Harry Potter for awhile before heading back to the hotel.

The next morning we met up with the whole gang at Palermo for some super fancy and delicious coffee and chai.


Then we all went next door for breakfast at the Cajun Kitchen. We had the back patio to ourselves and got to spend our last hour in Ventura enjoying everyone's company and eating a hearty breakfast. (Satchel had gumbo!) I still can't believe how grown up all of Shirley's kids are. All of the college talk got Satchel thinking. He started with, "Can I still live at home since my college is so close?" (He was assuming he had to go to Rhodes since I did.) When Warren told him he could go to college in Alaska if he wanted, he said, "Will you guys move to Alaska with me?" His final thoughts on college were, "Do I have to go?" I told him no.

Of all the places we visit in California, Ventura is the town where we can actually see ourselves living. Family + beach + great restaurants = what more could you ask for? Don't worry, we don't have any actual plans to move, but we hope it won't be another four years before we get to visit again.

We did so much eating in Ventura at so many great places, but I never quite got it together to do a full blown DWM review! (Probably because I was too busy enjoying myself!) Now that I see that most of the places we visited have little or no "internet presence," I really wish I had. And I was so hoping that Palermo had an online menu. You just wouldn't believe some of their extraordinary concoctions. *Sigh*)

Treasure Beach

One of our favorite stops between Warren's dad's house (Milpitas) and his sister's house (Ventura) is the Guadalupe Sand Dune Reserve. We call it "treasure beach" because the first time we went (when Satchel was 3.5 and Jiro was 1.5), Warren hid chocolate coins in the sand for them to find.

There are plenty of other treasures to be found. Some gnarly seaweed and other sea veggies wash ashore that are fun to play with and seagulls and pelicans make their nests in the dunes. Many movies have been filmed here as well. It looks very other worldy.

This visit was a little cloudy and cold, but it didn't keep us from having a good time.

Sweetness

While we were visiting Warren's dad and brother, we went to Japan Town in San Jose. We were to attend the Hatsubon service at the Buddhist Church. (Yes, it's a church, not a temple.) Part of the yearly Obon Festival, which celebrates the spirits of the deceased, Hatsubon commemorates the first anniversary of a loved one's passing. It's only been six months since Oba died, but they include all of those who passed away since the previous year's Obon. I was thrilled that this ceremony coincided with our visit since the boys and I didn't get to go to California and say goodbye to Oba (Warren's mom) in December. I had never been to a Buddhist Church either, and the boys had never been to church, period. Jiro was a little jacked up and I worried about his ability to sit still for over an hour. I encouraged him to take a nap on my lap and thankfully, he did. He slept through the whole service! Satchel sat quietly and listened intently. Everyone at the service had recently lost a loved once. While one priest chanted out a Buddhist prayer, another called out each deceased person's name and then the family members came to the front. When he called Oba's name, we all (minus the sleeping Jiro) got to go to the altar, bow, and drop incense into the burners. Warren's dad lit a candle and placed it in front of Oba's placard further up on the altar.


It was a really beautiful service and I liked hearing the priest tell us that even when someone dies they are always with us, because they help make us who we are. And we also realized that we weren't alone, since everyone there had lost someone.

After the service, we walked over to a Japanese restaurant that Oba liked and feasted in her honor. Unfortunately, we discovered the monkeys' dream restaurant, a ramen house, after we'd already eaten.


We did some walking around, but most of the shops were closed. Much to the monkeys' delight, we found a grocery store with a huge Japanese candy stash. We couldn't resist stocking up.

Jiro insisted that we get these mini hamburgers made of cookie and chocolate.


They're actually really good. I've had cookie/chocolate mushrooms by the same makers before.


They also, inexplicably, make cookie/chocolate tree stumps.


Is this dude a hippie or a lumberjack???


In America, "crunk" is a combination of crazy and drunk, or so I'm told. In Japan, it's a combo of crunchy and chunky.


I just bought these because they were cute. I don't know how I feel about eating someone's face though, so I mailed them to my house sitter in a care package.


Jiro said we had to keep these and I'm glad that he did, because they were yum. The tops were strawberry and they melted in our mouths.


Did anyone else hear the radio spot where NPR staffers tasted all of the Kit Kat flavors they make in Japan? Warren and I were very interested in the fact that candy companies there come up with new flavors so often. When I saw the banana Kit Kat, I had to get it. It was very banana-y. Very.


These were probably my favorite. I didn't know what they were until I tried them. They are the equivalent of chocolate covered gummies, which is awesome since I recently told Warren I thought that M&Ms should make a gummy flavor. (We became addicted to pretzel M&Ms on our drive west.) Jiro and I very much recommend that M&Ms steal these flavors.


Lastly we picked out a few gum flavors, since the monkeys love to chew gum around the clock. I only got to try the fizzy soda pop one and it was intense.


Overall, it was a very sweet day.

San Francisco

We had such a good time in San Francisco. We were only there a day, but definitely packed in a weekend's worth of activities! Our first stop was Japan Town. After an awesome lunch (read about that later), we explored the stores. The monkeys were most thrilled by the huge Japanese book store and the many Japanese toy stores. We also visited a pretty cool origami shop and a manju bakery. The boys bought some cool toys and silly bands of all things!


Next we went to eat some crazy flavored ice cream (read about that later too), and then it was down to Fisherman's Wharf. We spent a good hour in the penny arcade. I've never seen so many old timey games. It was a blast.


We also did quite a bit of walking around. The kids loved running along the bay, and I loved marveling at the people who were actually swimming in it! (There's a swimmers club that meets nearby. They wear wetsuits, FYI.) Other highlights included Jiro losing a tooth, Satchel getting swarmed by Japanese tourists that loved his five finger toe shoes, and eating clam chowder out of sourdough bread bowls.


Too bad we didn't have more time to explore. I love San Francisco!

Gone Fishin'

We rolled into Folsom, just outside of Sacramento, where Warren's oldest brother and his family live, at 11pm. We actually ate dinner on the road and the monkeys were again asleep, but once they heard their cousins' voices they woke up. They only had one request of Uncle Neal and that was to go fishing the next day. My one request was that we didn't go at 6am.

After a good night's sleep, we headed up to Caples Lake near Lake Tahoe around noon. It was beautiful, and again mostly snow melt, so we didn't even try to swim.


Neal helped everyone get their poles set up. Rather than repeatedly casting, they just set the poles in the ground with bells on them.


Literally three minutes later, Jiro's bell rang. (He had just told me he was bored and was lobbying for his DS.) He ran over and reeled in his first ever fish, which also happened to be the largest trout that Neal had ever seen anyone catch on that lake. Everyone was excited and couldn't help saying things like, "Dang! Look how big that fish is!"


A few minutes later Satchel caught a much smaller, but very respectably sized rainbow trout.


Cousin Ali also caught a fish and then there was a bit of a lull so all the kids ran off to play.


They all get along great which was nice and made for a lovely afternoon.


Satchel and Ali both caught another fish each and at the end of the day we had five to take home, and planned to grill the monster ASAP.


Back home, Neal grilled 500 burgers, 600 hot dogs, 700 pieces of pork, and 800 steaks.


The kids stayed busy jumping on the trampoline.


Then finally, Warren grilled up Jiro's fish, which was delicious.