One of the things we're trying to be really intentional about as a family is having adventures together. We realized recently how easy it can be for a weekend to roll around and instead of thinking about what we want to do with our time we just kind of let it pass and pretty soon the weekend is over without us doing anything meaningful, memorable or fun together. Aidan and I head out on a lot of adventures throughout the week--both of us get a little stir crazy just sitting at home so I am thankful there are a TON of places I can take him within 30 minutes of us that often don't cost a lot (definitely one of the perks of living in LA!). However, daddy doesn't get to come with us very often, so if we wanted to start making some family memories we needed to be intentional about our Saturdays together. It turns out that our first MOPS speaker of this year was a woman whose life's mission and passion was just that--helping families have fun, educational adventures together around Southern California. Susan Peterson was an AWESOME speaker and shared her book with us, Fun and Educational Places to Go With Kids and Adults in Southern California. She talked about the importance and value of getting out and having experiences together as a family, and exposing our kids to a variety of places and situations. She was a homeschooling mom of 3 active boys who hated just sitting at home, so when her boys were young (they are now in their 20s) she just started taking them places, anywhere she could find, as part of their education. She started writing down all the places they went and eventually it became a book (which is now in its 9th edition and 846 pages long!). She motivated me once again to continue thinking outside the box and be willing to try new places and things (which isn't necessarily my strong point!). 
So this past weekend, even though I was fighting a cold, we decided there was no time like the present to start working through her book (at least the LA County places!) and try a new place or two together. After taking it easy for the morning to rest a bit, we set off. We ended up choosing a free public park but it caught our attention as we flipped through the pages because it's name is Aidan's Place, named after a little boy with disabilities who passed away. What's awesome is that her book is broken down by county, and then into categories. So I went to the LA County "Great Outdoors" section to find a park or outdoor adventure for us, and then I went to the LA County "Edible Adventures" section to find somewhere fun for us to eat dinner. Such a great book--if you are living in Southern Cal and need a gift idea for a family--this one is awesome and available on line--she tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about visiting a place--how much it costs, how long you'll spend there, if it's good for birthday parties, how to get there, hours, recommended ages etc! Anyways! Enough with the sale's pitch :) We started our adventure at Aidan's Place, a park in West LA, just off the 405 in Westwood Park. It was a fantastic park--fully handicapped accessible, which also means great for a toddler because there are fewer things for him to fall off of or have trouble maneuvering on his own. It also has an amazing sand play area that is set up for kids of all abilities to be able to enjoy this sensory experience.
This kid LOVES to drive anything and everything!
I loved that the little boy whose name this park has spelled Aidan the same way we do!
Beautiful random park in the middle of a big city!
A great sand play area--kids who are in wheel chairs can still access the sand in buckets atop those platforms.
I love that I snapped the camera just as he was making the "thank you" sign to a little girl who gave him back his bucket!
After about an hour and a half of sliding, scooping, driving and running around we packed up to head to our next stop on the adventure--dinner inside a choo choo! (We knew this would be a hit with the train-obsessed toddler!) We headed to Carney's, which I'd never heard of but is apparently a famous LA landmark known for their hot dogs (and other yummy, but not so healthy dishes!) There are two Carney's, which we learned the hard way. One is NOT as close to our house, on Sunset Strip, which of course is where we went. The other is in Studio City, which is the one I thought my iphone was taking us to. Whoops! (she did tell us that in the book, but I wasn't paying attention when I pulled up Yelp's reviews....) Oh well, it was fun to see another part of LA--although the toddler stuck in his car seat while we navigated Sunset Blvd's Saturday afternoon traffic was less than thrilled...
They took 3 train cars and turned them into a fast-food type restaurant that sells a variety of hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, chili-cheese fries (which they are famous for--and they were delicious!) and some healthier options--wraps and grilled tacos. We would definitely visit here again, Aidan thought it was so good I had to go order him a second hot dog (which he ate--yikes!) so he'd leave my food alone!
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