Just the 2 of us (Travel Town/Pony)

This morning Astrid and I went to Toasted Bun in Glendale and got some breakfast. It was comical walking in holding Astrid and being asked, "Just two?" It's always been "Two and a baby?" This morning Astrid even got her own menu, but she got the standard fresh fruit plate. No surprise there. She sits in her high chair, reads her books and eats her organic raisins until her fruit is brought to the table. She loves looking around and people watching. I don't see many babies out at restaurants, let alone just with their moms.

When we got home she walked up and down the hill for 30 minutes and made an effort to step on every manhole cover and touch the blooming flowers.

For the second day in a row I pushed her nap back until 11 AM and she had just one nap. Again she took a 3 hour nap and when she woke up she was in a great mood.

After lunch we went to Travel Town in Griffith Park, and rode the miniature train. (I wish I had photos of it, but my camera charger is kaput at the moment.) Astrid's admission was free, and my ticket was just $2. The miniature train comes with it's own conductor dressed the part and really gets into it. He rings a bell and sounds the whistle and waves to all the kids. And he personally thanks every single person who rode the train.

The bell is pretty loud. The conductor warned us that it was loud, but it still caught me off guard the first time. If you have small children, you should be forewarned. Astrid who was sitting on lap in one of the box cars was startled by it. The second time she started to cry, but after I reassured her that everything was okay and the train started going and she felt the wind on her face, she started smiling and pointing to different things she saw, like the horses.

Afterwards we went to the Pinwheel Palace and I bought Astrid her first pinwheel. She would smile and laugh out loud watching it spin around in the wind. When passing the pony rides, I stopped to pay $5 to have this Polaroid taken of Astrid sitting on a live pony. I know Uwe is going through withdrawals not seeing his little girl in 2 days, so I went to Kinko's afterwards and had the photo scanned so I could post it.

This was the tamest pony I've ever seen. At first I thought it was stuffed because it wasn't moving. Astrid was cautious at first but after she touched the pony, she broke out into a big grin and the pony nuzzled Astrid. After that she was all over it. She pet it, touched its nose, it's ear, and kept trying to touch its eye.

She didn't like the photographer who strapped her in and immediately started crying, but stopped by the time this photo was taken.

The photographer asked me if I wanted to remove Astrid's hat. I'm glad I left it on. She looks cute wearing her wide brimmed sun hat, sitting on top of that pony on a beautiful summer afternoon.