SoCal 2010

This is going to be a monster post. Be prepared...

The kids & I took off over UEA to go see the Blakes in LA. It was so great to finally get to see where they live and picture them there, although I still can't believe that they're there for good. La Canada (how do you type the spanish 'n'?) is a beautiful town, set up against the mountains. It rained pretty much the whole week we were there and looked like this...

Add Erin's huge pine trees in their yard and we decided it felt more like we were visiting Oregon. The rain didn't stop us from venturing out, though. And neither did the traffic. We definitely spent many hours in the car. See what I mean?Here's the rest of the trip highlights...

Hanging out with the fam

Blakes have a pool and not even the cool'ish weather would deter my children.Erin's a cuddler. Always has been. It's not weird for two grown women to cuddle, right?I was afraid that this little girl would have forgotten who I was. But we bonded again. She followed me around like a puppy dog. I seriously miss her.I mean, look at her!
Elle and her Ali. :)The kids slept in a heap near each other.And Elle spent the whole week trying to carry Kate around the house. Kate wasn't a fan. You can just tell by her face that the constant attention was tiring.Pushing her in the shopping cart worked much better.

3rd Street in Santa Monica
Such a cool street (no cars allowed) where you can shop, eat, browse artists' wares, listen to bands, and see things like this. What the?



The Grove
Posh outdoor shopping center, and the location of my one celebrity sighting. The TV show, Extra, was shooting there so I caught a glimpse of Mario Lopez (dimple guy) interviewing Giuliana & Bill Rancic (of Apprentice and E! fame). Kind of cool, although Giuliana had more makeup on than I would have thought was possible.
Only in LA. Think the doggy digs his get-up?
The reason we were at The Grove was for the American Girl store. We girls had a very girlie afternoon.A doll hair salon. No kidding.And doll holders in the bathroom.I was hesitant to introduce my girls to American Girl because I knew there'd be no going back. But it's a magical place and the girls were thrilled. We did have one tumble on the escalator, unfortunately, but the store's ambiance made it all ok.
Long Beach Aquarium
After a quick trip to the aquarium, we drove along the beach down to Newport and Balboa Island. I want to vacation there, in this house, someday. Amazing, eh?Definitely had to have a Balboa bar while we were there.

DISNEYLAND
Our last big outing was Disneyland. Grandma had arrived by then so she and I took the 5 cousins. In the pouring rain. We knew it would be raining, though, so we were prepared with ponchos and raingear. And it was still fairly warm so we were fine. Here are the kids right as we got there .......and here they were at the end of the day. Cracks me up.We played hard and had so much fun. One up-side to going on a rainy day is that we walked straight onto almost every ride.I mean, when does that ever happen? After the kids rode Splash Mountain, the ride operator just let them go again since no one was in line. It was amazing.

Such a great trip. The kids are great little traveler's now -- they watch a couple of movies and don't realize how much time has passed. Elle's favorite part of the drive was the giant chair in Beaver, Utah.We're coming again soon, Blakes! And next time we'll bring daddy. :)