Weekend recap: burlesque, sunset, and snakes

Thursday (date night):

On Thursday night, after Joe got home from work, we went out for dinner and then drove to the Griffith Observatory to watch the sunset. Apparently a lot of people had the same idea, cause we had to park a mile down the hill and hike up. That worked out well though, since we had Joe's pedometer on, and wound up walking 8,000 steps while we were there. We got to the top just as the sun was going down behind the Hollywood sign. Perfect timing! Ezzy was less interested in the sunset than in walking around and exploring. He loved the museum inside. He would grab one of our hands and then run off, leading us wherever he wants to go. For a 25 pound boy, he is surprisingly effective at dragging you in the direction he wants to go. He even climbed a few flights of stairs while we were there, which he got a kick out of. Ezzy was having such a great time, we wound up staying well past 8. Next time I think we'll bring a picnic and eat on the lawn, which we saw a few people doing as the sun was setting.

Friday (girl's night):

Friday night was my good friend's birthday, and she planned an evening out at a burlesque show in LA for a group of about twenty girls. I've never been to a burlesque show before, and it wound up being so much fun.  There was so much energy in the crowd, and it was a really small, cozy club. Catching up with friends and taking a night off from mom duties was a nice change of pace. Of course, this would be the only night that Ezzy decides to sleep eight full hours. Not sure what Joe's secret is, but I think it has something to do with the fact that we took him to the park and he walked a mile before bed. 

Saturday:

In order to keep up with our goal of walking 35,000 - 40,000 steps each weekend this summer, we headed out to explore our neighborhood on Saturday. One of our favorite things to do lately is to check out open houses, so we hit up two. One house was priced at $2.3 million, and once again, the closet was amazing. I wasn't a big fan of the decorator's style though. Everything was very ornate and fancy and breakable. There was a vase larger than Joseph sitting in a corner in the living room. That kind of stuff makes it hard to imagine living there with small kids. The other house was in the $1 million range, and we actually like it much better than the more expensive house. It seemed more family friendly, and it had a basement and a small guest house in the back. It's always fun to check out other people's houses. We also stopped at a park so Ezzy could stretch his legs. He wound up loving the tunnel at the playground. The slide...not so much. Joe held his hands on the way down a few times, then we tried to let him go on his own and he clung to the side for dear life until Joe came and rescued him. He didn't cry or anything, but he definitely wasn't willingly going down that thing. Silly boy. Afterward we hit up Starbucks, picked up dinner, then relaxed before doing another after dinner walk. This time we let Ezzy walk more. He was obsessed with stepping on and off the curb in the parking lot of a school near our house. It's funny how much he loves stairs. He'll kick his leg straight out, and try to climb the step stiff-legged, instead of just bending his knee. I guess it gets the job done (as long as we're holding on to him for balance). By the end of the day we'd gone 26,000 steps! (Approximately 13 miles.) 

Sunday (family funday):

We started Sunday off with a family hike. Joe found a new-to-us spot up in the mountains that followed a stream and was completely secluded. That's very rare for hiking in So Cal. Most of the trails are packed, especially if there's water in the vicinity. Our only encounters were with some insects, a frog that tried to hitch a ride on Joe's shoe, some tad poles, and a snake! We veered off the trail onto a dry riverbed and I almost stepped right on a black and yellow snake. That ended our off-trail exploration real fast. Before we headed back we let Ezzy explore the stream a little. That boy loves water so much. Even more so if there are rocks he can pick up and throw. 

After our hike my mom and step dad got into town and we met for lunch and then Ezzy showed off how much better he's gotten at walking by dragging Grampa around the mall. By the end of the weekend we had walked 43,000 steps! That's our new record (approx. 21.5 miles)!

Hope you had a fun weekend as well. More pics of the grandparents' visit to come :)