Holiday Family Activity - A Visit to Olvera Plaza

Here’s a fun, free and festive thing to do this holiday season: Visit Olvera Plaza in Downtown L.A! I walked over yesterday during my lunch break and the first thing that caught my eye was the beautiful life-sized nativity scene. It takes up the entire bandstand area with hanging aluminum stars that illuminate it at night.

The shopping is simply fantastic with everything and anything Christmas-y that bears a touch of Mexico: There is a Christmas tree standing in front of rows of colorful papel picado (Mexican tissue paper banners). There are shops with varieties of nativity scenes and Mexican-themed ornaments. There are also piñatas, wreaths and streamers to celebrate the holidays, con gusto.

If you visit Olvera Plaza, don’t forget to stop by the oldest house in Los Angeles. The Avila Adobe Home is a free admission museum and even some of its antique furnishings have been decorated with a touch of Christmas Spirit.

And happening nightly at Olvera Plaza through December 24— Posadas! Posadas are like a presentation of the journey Mary and Joseph experienced on their way to Bethlehem. Every night the Posadas feature ballet folklorico presentations, a candlelight procession and the breaking of a piñata, beginning at 7:00pm.

For more information, call (213) 485-8372

Feliz Navidad!

En Español

Aquí les va una idea sobre algo que pueden hacer esta temporada de fiestas: Visitar la Placita Olvera en el centro de Los Ángeles. Ayer fui durante mi hora de almuerzo y la primera cosa que me llamó la atención fue el hermoso nacimiento que ocupa todo el espacio del kiosko. Hay estrellas de aluminio picado que cuelgan e iluminan las estatuas de Jesús, María y José.

El mercado de la placita está divino y surtido con todo tipo de decoraciones y artículos navideños que por supuesto tienen su toque mexicano.

Hay un árbol de Navidad ubicado en frente de hileras colgantes de papel picado y tiendas con una variedad de nacimientos y esferas con temática del folklor Mexicano. También puede encontrar piñatas, serpentinas y se pueden apreciar bellas coronas navideñas.

Si usted visita la Placita Olvera, no se olvide de pasar por la casa más antigua de Los Ángeles. La residencia Avila Adobe es un museo con entrada gratis. Ahí el personal se dio la tarea de decorar algunos de los muebles y accesorios antiguos con un toque navideño.

¿Y que sucederá cada noche en la placita Olvera hasta el 24 de Diciembre? ¡Las Posadas! Habrá ballet folklórico, canto aguinaldos y piñata todas las noches, a partir de las 7:00pm.

!Feliz Navidad!

Para mas informes llame al (213) 485-8372

The Building Room

The Building Room's Central Playground

Looking through my Groupon cell phone app one day, I was surprised to find an offer for a five-day admission voucher to a children’s activity playroom, located in my neck of the woods.

This was quite surprising since most child-activity related Groupons are nowhere near my house and mostly located in more kid-friendly and diverse areas like Pasadena, Downtown and the West side. But this offer was in West Covina so naturally, I purchased.

It was a 5-day pass to the Building Room for $20. 

It really wasn't an amazing deal considering children from 10 months to a year (like Benny) pay $4.00 for a one-day general admission ticket. Still, it seemed like a good thing to buy in support of the local economy.

We frequently take Benny to the local library so changing up the evening activity venue was a good idea, I thought. Quite frankly, I wasn't disappointed. 

This new indoor playground is a good escape for children. According to the website, the Building Room is designed to look like a local neighborhood with themed rooms that surround an indoor park.

There are all sorts of building blocks and activities for children. As you can imagine, Benny’s had a ball (literally!) each time we’ve taken him.

Places like these seem far more instrumental for a child’s development than say, Chuck E. Cheese (which Benny loves too) but it’s up to the community to support and continue to visit this relatively new venue in order to keep it open and successful.

Did I mention you can host a child’s birthday party here?

The Building Room is sorta' hidden in a corner

The Building Room is located at 1208 W. Francisquito Ave. Ste. F West Covina, CA 91790

Vegas with Baby & on a budget -- Part 4

There's no question that if you're traveling with an infant who's beginning to eat table foods, you're not going to choose to dine at a sushi restaurant. Good thing we didn't travel to Vegas with an infant who's beginning to eat table foods (Benny)!

On our last night in Vegas, we decided to go for sushi since we had heard that the Yellowtail restaurant inside the Bellagio serves an amazing Filet Mignon Roll.

My hottie and I made reservations and on our way to dinner, we couldn't help but notice that Vegas restaurants nowadays have touchscreen menus available for patrons to check out the meal line-up before entering....Ahhhh! gotta love technology!!

At Yellowtail we were seated in an area with a view of the Bellagio Fountains, which was lovely.
We ordered several types of sushi and the Filet Mignon roll was unbelievable. I could have probably had three more all to myself but...moderation, everything in moderation!!

Filet Mignon Roll

We also had the most amazing Asian-fusion crème brulee for dessert-- Ginger Crème Brulee. Paul said it was the best he's ever had.

Ginger Creme Brulée

We will return to Yellowtail one day. That's a fact.

That evening, we gambled a little more...had a few free drinks on the casino floor and eventually walked back to our room to relax for the rest of our last night in Vegas.

Have you ever heard of Hash House A Go-Go? It's a restaurant that serves up extra-large breakfast meals that are actually full of flavor and texture. This was another Vegas goal-- to have the Sage Chicken & Waffles at Hash House A Go Go...Oh, and we did.

First I ordered their signature watermelon, kiwi lemonade (without alcohol, of course) and I went for the Snickers Pancake. Yes, a pancake with chunks of Snickers chocolate. It was so darn big, I compare it to the size of a steering wheel. When Paul's order arrived, I just started giggling.

That meal was so big, we could have shared with another couple and still had leftovers. It had biscuits, mashed potatoes & gravy, waffles, fried chicken and special sauces all sandwiched together. I am not kidding when I say it was scrumptious...but it defeated my diet efforts and workout accomplishments thus far.

How were we supposed to drive home so full? In any case, we did and before leaving, we bought Benny a Hash House A Go-Go meal bib!

And that, is how we concluded a trip to Vegas without baby but with baby in mind constantly (We missed him so much). I have more tips of places and things to do with babies in Vegas...just shoot me an email and I will be glad to help.

Vegas with Baby & on a Budget -- Part 3

So again, we did not take baby to Vegas -- but we did manage to stay within our budget when it came to gambling, shopping and entertainment.

On the second night of our trip, we made reservations to eat at LAVO because Paul wanted to taste the one pound meatball he saw on the TV show, "Man vs. Food".
So we went.
LAVO is located inside the Palazzo Hotel & Casino, which is adjacent to the amazing Venetian. We decided to walk to LAVO from the Vdara. I was all made-up, dress & heels and since we had 1/2 hour to get there I figured, why spend money on a taxi cab? So we walked (bad idea).
Well, we arrived late but fortunately, they still honored our reservation and even gave us front-of-the-line tickets to stay and dance the night away with DJ Paul Oakenfold (the offer was there for people who purchased two entrees at the restaurant).

LAVO's amazing one-pound meatball!

The one pound meatball did not disappoint. It was delicious. It had whipped ricotta cheese and just the right amount of spices and tomato sauce to make it deliciously gooey and tasteful. He was a happy man. I ended up ordering a salmon dish which was also very good. For dessert, we were recommended the strawberry cheesecake so we went for it.

 

After a long night of dinner and dancing, we decided to walk back to our hotel (again) and on our way there, I bumped into this little pink vending machine that sold flat shoes on the go (Emergency Footwear)!!! This is available so that ladies like myself who simply could no longer walk in heels, deposit a crisp $20 bill and after selecting shoe size and color, a new pair of flats is dispensed allowing for one to walk comfortably the rest of the way. Genius, right?

The next day in Vegas, we had an early morning work out and felt like Mexican food for lunch. So we walked to the Aria and discovered Javier's... I had a lunch that was yummy, delicious and nutritious-- the chicken breast with poblano pepper. Paul went for the enchiladas. From there, we explored the strip where I found an pigeon-shaped chair outside of the Aria (clever) and posed for a picture. We also learned that the new Cirque du Soleil show, Zarkana, was dark that week (booo)... but we made it to the Bettie Page Store where I wanted to buy everything!

View of Javier's from the Aria Casino Floor

Decent Menu of Imported Beer & Spirits

At the Bettie Page Store I tried on a cute flower print dress but they didn't have my size. Paul was gracious to patiently wait outside the fitting room as he checked on his sports bets.

The dresses here are so elegant & classy!

The Bettie Paige clothing store is a real treat to those of us who love the pin-up culture...there's actually a shop located here in L.A. but the Vegas store is just so unique!
Later that afternoon, we headed to the Bellagio for dinner at Yellowtail to try the famous filet mignon roll.
On our way there, we stopped to check out the world's biggest chocolate fountain, which is a great activity for kids... :-) This fountain allows for white, medium and dark confectionary grade liquid chocolate to flow through more than 500 feet of stainless steel piping. The chocolate rises 27 feet from the lower level pump room and it took 2 years to engineer, plan and design... the only thing missing were the oompa-loompas :-)

A few steps from the chocolate fountain is the Bellagio's Majestic flower display. It's whimsy, colorful and beautiful...another place where children love to hang out! It's far enough from the casino floor to remain fresh and smoke-free and a visual treat for all ages. Benny would have been intrigued to be here.

The flower display change every season. This time around, the summer exhibit offered giant birds, a Chanel Perfume display frame and this cutesy little (giant) snail that was made with approximately 1,500 cut flowers.

Snail Flower Detail

Incredibly gorgeous... I love flowers.  The last leg of our trip, including dinner at the Yellowtail and breakfast at Hash house a go-go will be posted tomorrow!