Picking Our Perfect Pumpkin

From the day we began our lives together as a family, I knew exactly what I wanted: the vivid memories of my own childhood- going strawberry picking in farm fields, sledding down huge snow mountains, spending countless hours making sand castles at the beach, etc. I know Preston won't remember any of our family adventures at this age, but I find joy in building these traditions as a family. So, naturally, visiting a pumpkin patch was high on our to-do list this season.

The pumpkin patch we took him to was one called Tina's Pumpkin Patch in Sherman Oaks. One day, we'll get the purist experience of going out to a real farm pumpkin patch. For our first time, we really didn't mind that this was just a dirt lot off a busy intersection 

There were so many different pumpkins of all shapes and sizes, we had a hard time choosing THE one. Finally we went for the one that most resembled our sons head. Is this mean? Hahah. I think someone mentioned one time he looks like a little pumpkin, and I totally see it.

 

Instilled in my memory from this trip is Preston's look of bewilderment as he was examining this giant orange orb. In a short amount of time, he was decidedly dissatisfied with sitting next to a pumpkin and, in usual fashion, had to let his feelings be known with loud grunts. After much coaxing, dissatisfaction gradually ripened into tolerance and then fascination.

 

The day was so hot. We felt like eggs sizzling in a frying pan. Understandably, Preston looked like Mr. Grumps in 90% of the photos we took of him.

What I love about Preston at this age is how engaged he is with the world. His endless fascination with everything around him is amusing to both of us, but also a good reminder to not just look but try to really see and listen to the world in that untarnished way. 

Right now I am so smitten with the three of us. One day, probably in the near future, I know that I will want Preston to have other siblings to play with, but  at this instant, I'm smitten with our tiny little family. Pretty sure Preston relishes the attention too, hahah.  

A Secret Garden in Pasadena

After a crazy afternoon dealing with missing mail packages from USPS (don't even get me started...) and a nice family dinner, we came to Arlington Gardens in Pasadena. After doing my own little research, I came to found out this garden uses the same space as a demolished mansion called Durand House built in the 1900s. This was the largest home in Southern California at the time. (Isn't history neat?) After lying vacant for over 40 year, its been specially curated to be a quiet oasis for the public. And we Choi's are deeply grateful for this labor of love. Coming from the East Coast, pockets of greenery are a welcomed respite.

This is the kind of place most people probably drive by every day and never take notice of! It's such an ideal place to go if you want to sneak away on lunch break or just lounge in the shade on a hot afternoon. There's plenty of benches and tables for that.  We came on full stomachs, so we spent the hour meandering the pathways and enjoying the creative design landscape. We saw a few families having their own photoshoot,  so we joined in!

  

One of the sweetest moments... I was setting up our camera for a family shot and heard Preston's gurgly laughter behind me and started snapping just in time to capture this candid moment with his daddy.

So I know he's only 7 months old, but I swear he seems this close to walking. He hasn't even mastered crawling yet though.

  

We stayed until the sun was setting, and it was beautiful. I tell Danny the best time of day in LA is when the sun goes down. In the daytime, the sun is so glaringly bright that it blinds you from seeing anything. At night, the skyline isn't that impressive compared to some other cities. But when the sun sets, somehow the haze-filled sky produces brilliant twilight hues and LA looks perfect. So yeah, we ended the evening on a perfect note.