"Adventures" with Staci. Also without. 

so. yesterday I headed up to a nice big park so my boys could run off a summer's worth of steam. and my friend staci came with us and the kids had fun jumping in the creek and getting wet from armpits to tennis shoes.  when the low blood sugar and cranky faces set in we decided to head to a place in Culver City to eat. 

a mile or so down the road my phone rang and staci said she'd pulled into the lot of a place called Numero Uno Pizza and it looked fine and maybe we could just eat there so I turned around and we all headed in. the 8 of us were the only ones in the restaurant. It was dingy, and filthy, and smeary.  and then the pizza came. 

on the restaurant's website it says, "The company has built a strong reputation around exceptional food featuring only the highest quality ingredients for our toppings including 100% whole milk mozzarella cheese".

really? hmm. "strong reputation" eh? well I got 3 words for ya. 

NEVER. EAT. THERE. 

and then. Staci hears about this place in Redondo Beach called Seaside Lagoon.  and she was going to head down there with her folks and didn't it sound amazing? sure, yeah, sounds cool lemme call Betsey and it sounds good to her too so we'll see you there yay! 

NO. NOT YAY. 

the first sunny day we've had in weeks had turned cloudy by the time we got there.  thousands of small screaming children ran and played in the shallow waters beneath fountains.  instantly the children were lost from sight. a trip to the bathrooms produced a smell that I hope to scrub from my memory.  betsey said, "at least the water doesn't stink" and we called staci to see if she had arrived yet. 

"no. we're running late. is it bad?"  yes.   "is it as bad as the pizza place yesterday?"  just about.

she laughed. "okay, I'm not coming." 

WHAT?!   so Betsey and I sat on the sand and nursed and talked smack about utah, gave the 10 minute warning and shot out of there like a bat out of some place cold, crowded and briny. 

by the time we got home the water had ripened on my children's skin and clothes and did, in fact, stink. (sulfer, maybe?)

this newfound friendship may be the death of me! staci, next time i get to pick.