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Mexican bbq on Alvarado.

We had a picnic just off Santa Monica Blvd. near Beverly Hills. This was some killer bbq that we bought from a street vendor. Mexican food is the best in LA--way better than Utah, Colorado, and anywhere else you might live!

It was such a nice day in LA, so we decided to have some fun outside. Daddy picked this pretty flower for Sloane.

Sloane copied daddy and picked some small white flowers out of the grass. She gave one to daddy not mommy.

Grandest wants to go on Angels Flight Railway when he comes to visit in July, so Lance decided to check it out first. This is a funicular railway in downtown Los Angeles that connects Hill St. to a business plaza. It was first built in 1901, but closed. It reopened in March of this year and we wanted to see if it was any fun--good times. Sloane was stoked and she'll remember it when she goes again in July with Grandest.

Claire hung out with us today. Sloane loves to have her around.

This is the from the top of the hill overlooking east LA.

Sloane looks bored, but she loved it, I promise.

Thanks Claire for hooking us up with some good family pics.

Earlier, we drove up to Eagle Rock, which is on the way up a small canyon toward Pasadena, to check out a bakery/diner that we saw advertised on the Food Network. This place is called Auntie Em's Kitchen. Bobby Flay challenged the owner to a "cupcake throw-down" and lost! We had to see if the cupcakes lived up to the hype. As you can see from the picture, they are HUGE--slightly smaller than Sloane's head. They sell four flavors of cupcake: red velvet, chocolate, carrot, and coconut. We ordered all but the coconut. The carrot is good because the frosting is a not-too-sweet, cream cheese one that nicely complements the rustic cake (it is full of carrots, nuts, dried fruits, and other things that I couldn't identify). The chocolate is really chocolatey. Again, not overly sweet, just good, rich chocolate flavor. By far the best of the three was the red velvet, which is also chocolate, but lighter than traditional chocolate. They must add some red food-coloring to this recipe because these cupcakes look red as fire engines. These also come with the same cream cheese frosting (topped about 2 inches high on each cupcake) but this combination works better than the carrot cake. If you like cake and frosting, you should go to this place! A little crowded, but crazy good cupcakes.

Grace's birthday is May 14th. She is a happy 30-years-old now. Friends from the neighborhood threw a surprise party and decorated our door. Thanks everyone.

On another note, Sloane fell off the couch and broke her face.

Nice shiner.