Day in Santa Monica

Running from the waves. She can do this all day.

Aria picked this horse to ride on while at the indoor merry-go-round.

At the arcade, trying out their rides.

On the pier.

Santa Monica beach, the pier is in the background. See how dirty it is?!

I decided to carpool with A. to Santa Monica on Wednesday. A. unfortunately had to work so Aria and I spent the whole day, except for lunch, by ourselves. I love Santa Monica because there's so much to do there especially now that the S.M. pier is open. Aria and I started off the day at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market. It's held every Weds from 7 AM - 3 PM. It's one of the biggest Farmer's Market that I've been to, offering all sorts of organic fruits and veggies, fresh bread, herbs, plants, cheese, and even ladybugs. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer Kettle Korn which is a must to me for a great Farmer's Market. I did purchase a big container of strawberries for A. for only $5. He said they were very delicious. I didn't have any because I'm not a berry fan. After the market, Aria and I hit Old Navy. I had a coupon for $10 off of a $50 purchase that I wanted to use. I found some great buys. Bikini tops and bottoms were less than $4 a piece! Things were actually cheaper than priced when I took them to the register and I had to go back and shop some more to meet the $50 quota. Crazy. A. called around 1 PM and we met up with him in front of his work. We ahd lunch at a Japanese Restaurant called Sushi Mon that was located right next door. Lunch was delicious. Aria and I shared the chicken teriyaki and A. had sashimi. The portions were surprisingly large which was great because Aria and I were really hungry. We went up to his office after lunch so to meet his co-workers. Afterwards, Aria and I headed off for the beach. We stopped off at the Santa Monica pier first because that was right before the beach. I was surprised by how kid friendly the place was with the rides, arcade, carnival games and the wonderful indoor merry-go-round. We spend an hour on the pier, enjoying a frozen yogurt and finally stepped on to the beach. I have to say the Santa Monica beach is filthy compared to Zuma beach which is just 15 mins North. There was trash everywhere. I was paranoid that Aria would step on something nasty. Regardless, Aria had a blast at the beach. She didn't seem to mind the trash. She went searching for rocks and found 6 little ones to take home. We left the beach around 6PM. The walk back to A.'s work was hell. I had to lug the stroller, mat, backpack, and Aria over this freeway overpass. She was very cooperative through it all. I had such a great time with her that I think we might do it again on Friday.