New Windows

A few weeks ago, we (well, technically a contractor) removed the old, original 1940s, wood windows at the front of the house and replaced them with fancy new dual glazed windows. We added the grills on the new windows to keep with the original aesthetic of the house (changing to non-grill windows would have totally changed the look of the house...something I was NOT going for). In total we replaced 7 windows at the front of the house including in Ellie's room, the living room, and the dining room.

The living room before:


The original windows were single pane (so no actual efficiency was going on there), did not open, and were not in the best shape. Especially the living room front windows. The way the original windows were constructed is that they are made up of several small panes of glass. So looking at the photo above, each diamond is a separate piece of glass held together by over 70-year old wood, deteriorated joints and "structural paint". As much as I love historic building materials, these windows were no longer functional. We couldn't get the diamond grills for the new living room windows, but the square grills look good, keep the original intent, and match the dining room and Ellie's room (which originally had square grids to begin with).

When the contractor first arrived, after unloading the truck, they immediately covered everything in plastic. Then they got started removing the original windows.









The front windows proved to be a little tricky to remove given their condition and the 70 years worth of paint that had permanently sealed them shut. But with a little creativity and teamwork they were able to remove the windows in one piece.












You may think I'm crazy (Nick kinda does...), but I asked the guys to be careful during the removal because I wanted to save all the windows. They were very careful and placed them in the backyard for us. I have these big ideas of cleaning at least one of them up and hanging it in the living room. If they can't function as windows, at least the original historic fabric and aesthetic of the house can remain as art.


All the windows are now installed. They look great and it is so nice to have operable windows at the front of the house. The dual glazing has made a difference, especially in Ellie's room which gets the most direct sunlight. And the house is much quieter. We are all really happy with the results!



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Happy 90th Birthday Great-Grandma Van

On August 11, Great-Grandma Van celebrated her 90th birthday. Nick, Ellie and I were fortunate enough to celebrate with her. We all gathered at Grandma Van's place for some cake and fun.

Happy Birthday Great Grandma Van!

Nick Wins an Emmy!

Recently, Nick and his coworkers who write, produce, direct, and deliver the KTLA morning news won an Emmy for the best Los Angeles morning news program from 7am to 9am.

Congratulations to Nick and his coworkers!!

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The Pasadena Public Library...not just for books!

Towards the end of the school year, Ellie was really starting to get interested in reading. She would ask us to teach her how to read at night and come home from school excited that she had moved up to the 4-letter word work at school. Also, she has pretty much memorized every book she has so she also needed to be exposed to new books. So I figured maybe she was old enough for a summer reading program at our local library. So we checked out our local branch of the Pasadena Public Library.

Apparently it's not just for books. Ellie really enjoys doing the puzzles they had. She does them by herself, starting by putting the corner pieces in the 4 corners of the table.













There were also lots of stuffed animals to play with. Ellie often would clean up the stuffed toys that other kids had just strewn about on the floor (I think she got that from her dad...).







The library also has a butterfly garden. They had caterpillars at the beginning of the summer and now they had monarch butterflies hanging out around the pretty little flower garden with a fountain. However Ellie's favorite part is a giant hill that she likes to run down...



But yeah, the reading program and the books were the highlights of the library. So this summers program had a healthy food theme, "Reading is SOOOO Delicious!"

To participate we just had to sign up and Ellie got a little "passport" document. Everytime we visited the library she would get a sticker in her passport, where we also would list all the books she read (or had read to her) from the library. At her second visit she got a little plastic duck and on her 4th visit she got a special reward, but we'll get to that.

Part of the program also had the kids write or draw book reports. Ellie drew a couple pictures of her favorite parts of some of her favorite books. Then she would describe the picture she drew to the librarian. For every book report she turned in, she got a pencil.







The book report below is from Harold and the Purple Crayon. You can see that Harold is back in bed and the moon is in his window.







Now after her fourth visit, which was this past Tuesday, she got a special reward, after getting her 4th sticker. She got to pick out a book and take it home! We went through a box of eligible books and, no surprise, she picked the book with a pink cover and a little girl dressed up. She also got a special certificate. She was pretty excited.


Of course, there was plenty of "reading" while at the library. She would pick out a book and choose a seat and flip through the pages.






We really enjoyed our summer visits to the library and participation in the summer reading program. I liked that kids could draw pictures for book reports and little kids had the chance to participate. The librarian was great, always excited to see Ellie and other kids when they came to the library. They have lots of programs, crafts, shows, story tellers, etc but unfortunately they all seem to happen at Tuesdays at 10:00am...alas, they don't work with our schedules. Nevertheless, we have become regulars at our library and it is somewhere that Ellie really enjoys.



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Exploring L.A. :: The Orange County Fair

This past Saturday, the family headed down to Costa Mesa in Orange County to visit the O.C. Fair. Fortunately it was cloudy and cooler than it has been recently so it wasn't too hot and we all got to enjoy the fun. So the OC Fair is very similar to fairs that Nick seemed to be familiar with in the Midwest with the games, rides, and livestock. There was actually a livestock fair. I know California is a large agricultural state, but a livestock fair in Costa Mesa? Yep, that happened. Now everyone was excited about something different. I was hoping to see some fun crafts and yummy looking cakes and treats as part of the showcase, Ellie was excited about the animals and the rides, Nick...can you guess? Nick was most excited for the weird fair food.

So lets talk animals first. There were two areas of animals, there was a farmyard/barn set-up and a livestock area. The livestock had oxen. Have you ever seen an oxen team up close? Oxen are enormous. Anyway, the farmyard/barn area was probably my favorite. There were baby chicks that you could touch and pet.

Then we saw the piglets. There were baby pigs with their mom. These piglets were only 3 or 4 days old. It was amazing watching them play and cuddle with their mom. I think the piglets may have been my favorite...

       

 

Oh yeah! There were also pig  races. In Costa Mesa, there were pig races. Yep, there was a little track and little pigs raced around the track. They even jumped over hurdles. It was quite entertaining. Ellie even was brave enough to go sit at the edge of the track with other kids to get a super up-close view of the race. I don't think she knew what to make of it. She said she liked it, but I think like all of us, she thought it was a little odd. Here we are like a mile from the beach, and there are pig races going on. Weird right?

 

Nick and Ellie then found some animals that they could pretend to ride...silly people.

Then we headed inside for the showcase events. It was pretty cool to see the doll houses, quilts, wood crafts, baked goods, etc...that people had created and submitted for judging. We explained the ribbons to Ellie and she got quite excited to search for the blue ribbons because, "those people worked really really hard and did their best". A new category at fairs is scrapbooking. They had tons of pages of scrapbooking and even full books from people. That was a new one for me.

Ellie and I then had a chance to decorate a cookie. There was a demonstration of a technique for decorating. Ellie and I were just happy to have a snack. It was fun, Ellie stayed very focused, and she did a great job. It was fun to participate in an activity together. 

Then it was time for the rides. There were two different zones of rides. One for the big kids (most rides you had to be over 48 inches tall) totally aimed at teenagers and with rides that there was NO WAY I was going to let Ellie ride. I mean these things aren't even anchored to the ground! Then there was the KidZone, with rides for the littler kids. Granted, there were still some rides that I wouldn't let her one (still, not anchored to the ground) but there were some that were deemed acceptable by me. Like the Super Slide. Ellie and Nick had to ride on the same potato sack. Both of them had a great time. Then Ellie had a chance to explore a fun-house, which she said was fun. Then there was a crazy ride that went around in a circle really fast forwards and backwards. Ellie thought it was a hoot.

There was also a game designed for little kids. Basically kids had to choose a duck, and then throw it into another pool. Five times. That's it...pick a duck and throw it into a pool. You do that five times and you get a prize. Not rigged, easy, so not a carnival game. But Ellie enjoyed it and walked away with a "duck" (aka a platypus).

Then it was time for food. There were giant signs at vendors everywhere we looked. It was totally overwhelming. I mean, check out some of these crazy foods:

So what did we eat? Well Ellie and I enjoyed some corn (grilled in the husk...totally delicious!), Nick got a foot-long corndog. Then Ellie and I enjoyed a funnel cake. The corn was Ellie and my favorite.

But because you can't go to the fair and be surrounded with tons of deep fried this and that...we had to try something weird. Nick was totally stocked for the chocolate covered bacon. He said it was as good as he thought it would be...which according to Nick was REALLY GOOD. Ellie decided to try the deep fried oreos. She got a four-pack and was generous enough to share with her parents. I wanted the deep fried Twinkies...but apparently they were out. I know real Twinkies are a hot commodity these days...but I was still a little bummed. So I got a deep fried Klondike bar, which tasted like an inside out funnel cake.

So we all had a blast at the fair. Definitely something for everyone. However, I think we are all deep fried and livestocked out...at least till next year.