Tuesday, March 31, 2009

We're back!

OMG I miss our trip! It's sort of nice to be back--but I really wish I were still there.

We had a very easy trip back--we had a later flight so we were able to sleep in and have a leisurely morning--ordering room service, stopping by Starbucks, etc. We also stopped by this French Macaron place I had been dieing to got--they have beautiful pastel-colored cookies in all kinds of cool flavors like violet-cassis and Italian Wedding Almond. They are delicious! Here is the link if you want to check it out.


We lucked out again in that our flight was early--almost an hour early! That seems unheard of!

The quick flight made it so easy to keep the little ones occupied. There was lots of sticker fun--Pickle decorated her "hair horse.":


And Gooser decorated himself!
Here are a few more random flight pics--that's about all I have today!

I hope to be back in action tomorrow and catch up on all the blog-reading (in between laundry!) I've missed out on.

Thanks for coming on vacation with me!!
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Monday, March 30, 2009

Bye L.A.!

Our last full day in L.A. *sob*!!! We have had the best time on our trip and we are all depressed to leave--the thought of getting back in the school/work/house-showing routine--UGH!!

We had a leisurely morning hanging at the hotel with some room service and then we headed out.

Closer-upper:
I headed off to meet a friend for lunch (Tami--I'm sorry you couldn't make it!!) and we had a nice time at the Cheesecake Factory and strolling around the Farmer's Market. I hit a sticker store to keep Pickle entertained on the plane--she can play with stickers for hours. Here is Pickle and my friend's daughter--they were born exactly one day apart!
After that we made our annual pilgrimage to the Brady Bunch house. This is the house they used for the exterior shots and the owners have since put a fence up--it's cool to see!
It seems I was slacking off in the picture-taking department today--we went to "Japan Town" and checked out some cool stores including Giant Robot One and Two. I bought a cool bag with a raccoon wearing a chef's hat.

Then we came back to the hotel earlier than usual to let the kids swim in the pool--we've had such full days on this trip there was just never time for the pool.

Then we rushed off to dinner, but unfortunately the restaurant was kind of gross. It was freezing but they made us sit outside and the prices seemed too high. Here are the boys:

and Pickle there:
I ordered the lamb shank and I don't know how you can screw that up--but they did! It was completely unseasoned and yucky. I've felt sick ever since...
my rancid lamb...barf!!


Here's one more of Pickle there:

And the boys near a fountain:


So that's it!! We might try to make one more Pinkberry run before we take off tomorrow.

We'll miss you L.A.!!
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Sunday, March 29, 2009

Exhausted Again!

This has been a long day and I'm barely awake--let's hope I can write this!

Today was the day of Don's dad's memorial service so the kids were all dressed up:

We had a nice lunch with Don's mom and a lot of other family members--here's Pickle enjoying her rainbow sherbet:
Mommy and Pickle hug!
Here's a family portrait. I hate how I look in it--but I'm showing you anyway!
Pickle in her pretty dress.
The service went really well and Don did a great job on his speech--I thought it was the best!

Here's Gooser and Pickle after the ceremony:

Later in the evening we went to an art opening by one of my favorite photographers, Chris Anthony. In his new series of photographs my hero, Gerard Way, was a model and there was talk that he was going to be at the opening. I was SUPER excited and made the whole family stay and wait for three (long) hours--but he never showed (Sob!!). I am soooooooo disappointed!!! I was proud of the kids though--they were really good there!

Here's Pickle checking out the photos:


Andy and Pickle at the gallery:

And here's another ugly pic of me with Chris Anthony:
And yet another ugly pic of me with Emily Deschanel--she's in that tv show "Bones" and also the model in one of the photos we own. She's really pretty...She was very nice and said nice things about my kids. Here's the photo we own--it's called "Emily."


That's all for today folks--must get some sleep!!
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Saturday, March 28, 2009

Movie Magic

Another jam-packed, fun-filled day in sunny California!

Here are the kids this morning as we were heading out:

We started out at a cool retro-type breakfast place called The Waffle.
Poor Pickle conked out.
But she woke up just in time to enjoy her waffle with bacon (and butter--her perfect meal)
with a side of bacon!
This place had some really cool waffle recipes--like jalepeno-cornbread and blueberry -lemon (Don had that one and said it was the best ever!) and Patrick had chocolate.
The decor in this place reminded me of the Brady Bunch--so I had the kids pose Brady-style on the stairs!
Then we headed down the street to a great music store, Amoeba. We got a cd and posed on their supercool elevator.
And they had some neat bike racks outside that made for a good pic too.
Then it was off to Universal Studios for some movie-themed fun.
Here are the kids posing with some weird guy who looks like he's made out of bronze. I suppose I should know who that's supposed to be--but I don't!
First we went on a fun tour of the studio that had some surprises for the kids--like an earthquake in the subway, lots of explosions and a shark attack!
We saw the set from War of the Worlds
and Psycho!
After that the kids went on some rides and I hung out with Pickle.
Then we went to see a cool animal show--there were birds, dogs, cats, pigs and monkeys!

Oh--and a fox! Isn't she cute? I want a fox!

Apparently this dog starred in Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Hotel for Dogs (trivia--Hotel for Dogs was my very favorite book when I was little).
We went on a buunch of rides and saw the "Waterworld" show. Don was mean and tricked me into going on th Mummy ride--he went on it with the boys first and told me it was really fun and that I would love it. He knows I don't "do" rollercoasters--but it was this awful superfast scary rollercoaster that went backwards in the dark at top speed. Thanks Don--I'm still dizzy!

We headed to the ocean after that to have dinner at one of our favorite places--The Charthouse. We got there just as the sun was setting and I took the kids outside for a pic.
Here are a couple more I took during dinner:
We were in a semi-outdoor room and it was chilly so they made a nice fire for us!
Pickle was still in bellydancer mode from yesterday and put on a little show for us.
And because Cathy asked so nicely--here are my squirrel feet!
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