Zimmer Children's Museum in Los Angeles, CA

On a very busy week we drove to Los Angeles to go play and attend a very fun event, "Cupcakes for Bloggers". I was completely amazed when I arrived at the Zimmer Children's Museum. There was a plane! Yes, a plane inside the museum. The kids jumped into the plane right away without losing a beat. It seemed like magic, because they were so fast! They sat in the plane pretending to be pilots. They even had pilot clothing! Making fun noises and conversations with each other. Soon there after they walked very fast downstairs with excitement.  Downstairs was a hidden treasure of play exhibits. There was a wall of dreams and wishes, crafting room, water ways and a rescue ambulance and a boat. The boat is an actual boat from Hurricane Katrina. The museum was filled wall to wall with wonder and compassion.  My kids played and played until they were tired. At one point they stopped and turned around to say "Thank you for bring us here".  To hear them say thank you made my day as a mother!

We continued to play, paint, pretend and discover the museum. Throughout the event the kids would go from exhibit to exhibit, each time finding a new view on the same play idea. I saw my kids turn on their critical thinking. Which was very inspiring for me. Then I thought for a second how great would it be, if I lived closer.  I know for sure that we would be visiting the Zimmer Children's Museum often, if I lived nearby.

As we said good-bye to the Zimmer Children's Museum it felt very sad to leave such a fun place. If you live in the Los Angeles area, please stop in and leave your note on the famous wall. Maybe  your wish and our wishes will come true. The Zimmer Children's Museum taught us that anything is possible. Thank you Zimmer Children's Museum for teaching us!

Hours of operation:

Zimmer Children's Museum 6505 Wilshire Blvd., #100 Los Angeles, CA 90048 Front Desk: (323) 761-8984 Fax: (323) 761-8990 Email: info@zimmermuseum.org

HOURSSunday 12:30pm-5pm Monday CLOSED Tuesday 10am-5pm Wednesday 10am-5pm Thursday 10am-5pm Friday 10am-2pm Saturday CLOSED

Zimmer Children's Museum

Natural Products Expo West - If you like food

If you like to eat food then you should know what I found at the Natural Products Expo West It is a world of healthy eating, washing, wearing and just living a better life. Some of the products are in our local stores and some of them are on Amazon.com. The Expo has several floors of vendors with amazing stories. All the vendors I talked to have a passion for living a healthy life. Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Natural, Fresh, Kosher, Low Salt and pure living were among the words that were used today. 

I am going to tell you about a few of the vendors that caught my eye and will be used in my household. Let me start with Zydeco bar. It is a bar for a wallop of energy. It was delicious and easy for travel. It is a great energy bar. It is  Gluten free and high in protein that you must try. I loved it because I can pack it for a field trip and not worry about fast food or bad eating while travel. Their website will tell you more about their product, please go and find out more: http://zydecofoods.com/

GoGo Squeez all Natural Squeezable applesauce/banana, apple/strawberry, apple/peach and apple/berry all natural fruit in a pouch. This is a favorite item for lunches and travel. My kids absolutely love it! They love the packaging and I love the health value. Gluten free and peanut free is perfect for school snacks and play dates. You really have to try it. It is already popular with the kids in school and the park here in Irvine.  Yes, I buy them for the kids lunches.  http://www.gogosqueez.com/products/

Another favorite was MilkMakers a mother's cookie. It is made for moms who are breastfeeding to help promote increase in breastmilk. I love this cookie. I wish I would have had it when I was trying to breastfeed. It is a great idea and it tastes great. I think every new mother should try it. The product was recently featured on the Dr. OZ's show of great healthy products. New mothers go out and try it. Pregnant women look for the cookie. Have it on-hand before the baby is born. Friends be kind to your friends and tell them about this cookie that could help them be successful with breastfeeding. Yes, I loved the product.

http://www.milkmakers.com/

LoSalt - 66% potassium Chloride and 33% Sodium Chloride made in Scotland, UK. Bloodpressure, Diabetes and other health issues require you to change your diet and watch your salt in-take. Why not try this new LoSalt and continue to enjoy salt. Salt is something that I love in all my foods. This is why I was so attracted to this product. Started in 1984 and sold in 30 countries.  LoSalt is here in the US and is going to change our diets for the better. This product is Kosher certified and is natural. Yes, I am going to cook with it.

http://www.losalt.com/

To find more healthy products, gluten free, sugar free, healthy living then go to Natural Products Expo West. I hope that you change something unhealthy for something healthy and improve your life. I was really inspired today to change several things in my diet to improve my health. Let's do it together!

I hope that I have inspired you to make positive changes. May all your dreams come true.

Sincerely,

Alma- Field Trip Mom :) 

P.S. Celebrities love Expo West

Disclaimer: All thoughts and ideas are all my own. This is not a sponsored post. 

LACMA - Levitated Mass The Rock

"Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder"

Location was the city of La Mirada

What do you think?

Read the stories:

http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/levitated-mass

You can read more @ the LA Times:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2012/03/lacma-rocks-week-begins-smoothly.html

You can visit Chinatown, Olvera Street and Union Station all at once. #LosAngeles

Union Station in Los Angeles is located off Alameda Street and East Cesar Chavez. It is a busy location with lots of things to do and many cultures within blocks. There is the Olvera Street Plaza directly across the street from Union Station. Here you can taste the Mexican culture with some delicious taquitos. There are also lots of Mexican made items for sale in the plaza. If you decided that you want authentic Chinese food or culture then walk a few more blocks to and you will find Chinatown. The first thing you will see when you enter is the dragon symbols next to the senior citizen apartment building. 

This is on the corner of Sunset Blvd aka E.Cesar Chavez Blvd. and Broadway. Go to the plaza located at the end of Chinatown. It is a great place to see Chinese inspired architecture with a lucky fountain. You will be able to see and hear amazing things in a short period of time. I hope that you take an adventure and visit these hidden treasures that have been in Los Angeles for decades. Olvera Street has been opened since 1911 and Union Station has been running since 1939. Rich history is captured in a few short blocks of Los Angeles. You may also want to know that Sunset and Alameda is where the famous Hollywood street “Sunset” begins or ends. It depends how you see it. Either way you won’t be disappointed if you take a field trip to Sunset and Alameda or E.Cesar Chavez and Alameda (it is the same corner). 

The dragons are facing Broadway and Sunset Blvd. and right next to the dragons is a Senior Citizen building that marks the entrance of Chinatown. Walk down on Broadway and you will see the heart of Chinatown. To get to the pond you will have to walk a distance, but if you take the bus it will be easier. They have short distance buses that have short routes such as the LA DASH. The bus system is really easy, so just hop on and ask the bus driver how to get to your destination. 

Union Station off Alameda



Inside the Union Station



Shops in Chinatown give you a glimpse into their fun loving culture. Love all the bright colors.



Lucky Fountain in Chinatown.



This the entrance to DSR Design who is the designer to the building below. It is located inside the plaza with the lucky fountain. DSR design, inc. 951 North Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90012


The DSR Design, Inc door is located inside the lucky fountain plaza. There you will see how beautiful and incredible the art and architecture is so much party of the culture.


I loved the colors!!!



You will find many hidden treasures inside Olvera Street Plaza.

The famous Taquito stand is located on the corner of Sunset and Alameda.

The taquitos are filled with beef and rolled in a corn tortilla. Once they are rolled they are ready to be fried for a crunchy shell. While still hot they pour a green sauce over them. The sauce is made up of green tomatillos, jalapenos and onions. The sauce is spicy, but very delicious. I am sure they have other secret ingredients in the sauce, because I absolutely love it. These are the best taquitos in all of Los Angeles.

Have a great weekend!!! 

Thrifty's Ice Cream

A long time ago when I was little, in a very far-away place I call Los Angeles, I enjoyed Thrifty's Ice Cream. I still remember being small and reaching up for the Vanilla Ice Cream Cone at the Thrifty’s counter. Often when my parents could not pick me up from school, they would send my uncle to rescue me. We would jump on the bus going into Downtown Los Angeles to get lost in the city, or as my uncle would say, to pay bills and run errands.  I would be his translator and he would pay me in Thrifty’s Ice Cream.  I would get one scoop of Vanilla and my uncle would get one scoop of Strawberry.   We would then walk outside with our ice cream in one hand and a napkin in another.

Outside of the drugstore there were thousands of people walking fast going from one place to another.  Who knows where they were going? But we didn't care because we had our ice cream and for us we would wait for the bus to return home. Standing on the sidewalk at the bus stop, we would talk about what had happen during the day.  I don’t remember our exact conversations; I just remember secretly hoping that the next week he would bring me back again, and sometimes he did.  Those are some of the fun memories I have of my childhood that I still cherish forever.  These memories have helped guide me as a parent.  My uncle made me feel loved and valued as a child through simple and small acts of kindness.  Those are the memories that have helped me to become an understanding parent.  My uncle is older now living far away with his family, but I still remember what he taught me.  Most importantly, he taught me to be kind, to be gentle, to be understanding and to have ice cream during the week to help bond the family.  The most important lesson is to talk to my kids over ice cream and to do it often.

Today, we went for a few scoops of ice cream and catch-up on what is happening in school. I am continuing the tradition that my uncle started so many years ago although some of the flavors have changed and the name of the drugstore has as well.  My kids love Birthday Cake and Black Cherry Ice Cream not my childhood favorite, Vanilla.   The drugstores' name has changed from Thrifty’s to Rite Aid.  Today, you can get a discount card which tracks how many purchases you make allowing you to receive discounts.  Things have changed as time moves on, however I am thankful that Thrifty’s ice cream is still around.  Every time I eat it, it brings me back to amazing and happy memories.  Going today, I can make new memories with Thrifty’s Ice Cream and my children.  Hopefully my children will have Thrifty’s Ice Cream around to make memories with their children too.

I want to wish you a Happy Thursday and may all your dreams come true. 

 

Wordless Wednesday - Tacos

Time is moving too fast for me....

 

The thing about time is that it does not wait. It does not wait for you to decide to forgive someone or to show them you love them. Time does not care about whom you are or where you are in your life. Time just marches on. Time does not take consideration that you are not rich or not healthy. Time does not care if you are old or young, it just continues on and on. As I sit here and see pictures of the loves of my life. I remember how little they were and how fast time is marching on to make them into grown-ups.  I see how young my husband and I look in the pictures and all the love we have for our family. Time is captured in our family pictures. The time we spent on the San Diego beaches when the kids still had diapers or the day my son had to patch his eye. Time does heal wounds. Like the time the little man opened his head on the stairs. Or the time he opened his lip open. Time healed those wounds.  But time is going too fast for me. My kids are growing so fast that I can barely carry them. I can sit and give them hugs, but not pick them up very much. They are too tall and too heavy for me to carry like a baby. The older little boy is now almost as tall as I am. I think I am shrinking?  I can tell time is moving fast, because their clothes don’t fit them anymore. The kids are growing too fast for me.  I can see it in the photos that time won’t wait for me to be the perfect mom. I have to be the perfect mom now!

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson