Megan's Visit

Theo was very happy to have a new friend staying with us for a few days this week.

Theo liked walking around in the outdoor courtyards and gardens at the Getty Villa in Malibu and he was surprisingly well behaved in the antiquities galleries.  

enjoying an outdoor statue that visitors are allowed to touch

The museum has a great children's room where you can build urns out of blocks,  decorate your own vases, and play with big Greek musical instruments and weapons made of foam. 

decorating our vase drawing at the Getty Villa children's room

putting on a show in the shadow theater with Greek props

playing in the sand at the beach playground in Santa Monica

on the swing at the beach

showing Theo the ocean up close for the first time

he was very interested in the waves but got scared when he went closer than this

we ran into these two friends on our way to the duck park at the Venice canals

Theo checking out another duck 

Megan now knows "Otis" by heart

Cooking Up a Storm

the little chef

Theo's kitchen

He loves to "cook" while I am making dinner.

On Sunday we went to Franz's house and had a traditional Bavarian dinner of roast pork, red sauerkraut, knoedel (bread dumplings), and weissbier.  Yum!

Forrest, Theo, and Moritz looking at the picture book "Hier in den bergen."

Charlotte saying "no drooling in my tent, Theo."

library storytime

don't mess with this guy

More Fun

Theo and his friend Franz at the Zimmer Children's Museum this morning

Julia, Franz, and Theo playing with the school bus

Theo and Franz in the kitchen of the play restaurant

ships ahoy!

overboard!

two little boys giggling hysterically 

bookworm at the Culver City library yesterday

conducting a train in a Culver City park 

this week Theo learned how to stick out his tongue

Noah's Ark

Today we took Theo to the Skirball Jewish Cultural Center in Los Angeles where there is a great children's exhibit called Noah's Ark.  The exhibit is a giant indoor wooden "boat" made up of several different play areas filled with animals, toys, and all kinds of activities.  Everything is hands on and interactive so Theo had a great time exploring. 

Theo and a new friend loading animals onto the ark with a conveyor belt.

pushing a cart full of wooden fruit and animal puppets 

playing with animal toys on a little ark

Everywhere you look there are levers and wheels that you can push and pull that make all the big animals move around and make loud noises.

A friendly lion over the door.

All over the exhibit there are play areas, books, puzzles, instruments, and other activities.  We didn't get a good picture of it, but in one spot there was fake animal poop on the ground that Theo got to sweep up with a baby-sized broom.

trying out a hammock swing

Forrest and Theo having a tea party with another new friend.

more friendly animals

an owl with fan wings hanging from the ceiling

J'accuse!

J'accuse!

nothing escapes the accusatory finger pointing

lunch with friends Elias, Natalia, and Violeta

petting Simon

typical L.A. traffic

The Zoo

we took Theo to the zoo in Griffith Park this morning

pointing at flamingos

here is a giant gorilla

here is the perplexed face Theo made when he saw the giant gorilla

giant tortoises

brushing a goat

brushing another goat

can you see the snow-capped peaks in the background?