Los Angeles, California: In spite of Dave and I being in charge, both children (and our granddog, Reese) survived the first night in our care. Lucy goes to bed before 7p and Leo tries to get in bed around 8p. They both wake between 6:30a and 7a... though for some reason, I felt it necessary to set the alarm on my phone - just in case.
Who was I kidding? The sun peeped over the mountains and we had two kids in our bed. Breakfast, playing, getting us all dressed, lunches packed, teeth brushed, vitamins... and then they also have to have sunscreen applied (high 90s all week in Los Angeles) and then have their heads sprayed with a rosemary-infused conditioning spray as lice prevention (also new to the routine this year). The spray, Fairy Tales Rosemary Repel, must work. Luckily the kids have been spared the dreaded lice that seem to be very common in elementary schools. (I did crack up, just a bit, when I read on the label that the spray is gluten, soy, dairy and nut-free.) The conditioner actually lets me comb through Lucy's morning Brillo-pad and it smells amazing. Available at amazon.com. The stuff I learn from my daughter.
Dave drove Leo to school, then returned with the car and I took Lucy to school. Dave jogged while I was away, and later Dave and I went to a favorite Los Angeles cafe. I follow The Village, on Instagram and they were advertising their annual "13 days of Halloween" daily treats. Today they had Monster Eyeballs.
I've never had an Ohio Buckeye candy, but I pretty sure the Monster Eyeballs are from the same genre, with some sort of blood-shot-pupil garnish? The kids LOVED their after school treats... and bounced off the walls for several hours after.
As long as we were there for Monster Eyeballs, we had brunch. DT had pancakes, but I ordered their Atwater special - one of their most popular dishes: a polenta cake, fried with crispy Parmesan cheese, topped with sliced tomatoes and scrambled eggs and spinach, then topped with bacon... unless you are of the no-pork persuasion and ask them to substitute avocado. So delicious.
Leo's afternoon pick-up schedule seems to change every day, and today both kids were home with 30 minutes of each other. Lucy was already down for her nap (in the guest room... with me) when Leo came home. He joined us. He was already in his pajamas, because today was "pajama day" at school. Convenient.After napping, Our Posers posed (Leo fairly rapt with the Batman bed in the new Pottery Barn Kids catalog):
Too cute.Until my next update, I remain, your "Leo's not getting that Batman bed" correspondent.