Thursday, April 30, 2009

Huntington Beach and Disney

Bryce's sister and her family came out for spring break to go to Disneyland and see the beach. We met up with them for beach time at Huntington Beach and dinner at Disneyland. The kids love it when they get to hang with their cousins.

Bryce and her big sis Christi

Isabelle with her cousin Arielle

Conner, Lincoln and Winston playing in the sand

Toby (standing) Jim, Christi and Steve having lunch

the cousins having some great beach time together

the kids at The Rain Forest Cafe at Disneyland

the tribe at The Rain Forest Cafe

We're being told not to hang on the Lego wall (we are such rebels)

Bryce and Christi enjoying the night.....

Monday, April 27, 2009

LA FREE FUN!

We next moved on to LA. We got to hang out with my super cool cousin, Ryan! He had us over to BBQ & swim one day. Our kids have decided Ryan has the coolest job ever! (He's in film) And they kept trying to get him to take them to work with him so they can watch new movies. He met up with us another day too at the LeBrea Tar Pits which was really interesting and FREE one day a month, which happened to be the day we were there. A must see if you are in LA! There is tar still bubbling up from the earth. not really what you expect in the middle of LA! Lots of really cool ice age fossils of huge sloths, dire wolves, mammoths and lots of others! There is an open excavation pit where you can watch them work too. We boondocked right across the street from the pits. Nothing like free camping in LA!

Bryce, Isabelle, Winston, Conner, Ryan and Lincoln

Steve, Isabelle, Winston, Conner, Lincoln and Ryan

The fam at the tar pits

Tar pits

Conner, Ryan, Lincoln, Isabelle, Steve and Winston

that's a BIG Bone-r

Conner, Isabelle and Winston

Ryan and Lincoln

Pit 91 is still pulling stuff out

Pit 91 (lots of tar)

Ryan, Bryce and Winston

Where we stayed for a few days in L.A.


Right next door, on the same block is the big LA Art Museum (can't remember the real full name??) It is free (donations) after 5pm. We only got to see 2 of the buildings, before our kids good behavior had expired. LOL! Steve took pictures of some Picasso's, umm yeah they yelled at him, cause no photography was allowed. Then we snuck and took some pictures of some Jackson Pollock's (he's a relative of Steve's).


Isabelle, Lincoln and Bryce in front of Picasso's art

Steve in front of Jackson Pollock's work

We also went to the Griffith Park Observatory. We parked down by the Greek Theater and watch a big coyote wonder around the parking lot. This is an amazing planetarium and it is FREE! We did pay to watch a laser show which was really cool. As it got dark we could see the whole city lit up. Great views! They also had some big telescopes out on the grass and we were able to see Saturn and it's rings.....very cool!

the Hollywood sign is across from the Observatory

Isabelle in front of the Observatory

L.A. view from the Observatory on the mountain

view of the Observatory on our hike up to it

Coyote near the parking lot at the Greek Theater.

Oceanside & Hollywood

We are still trying to do catch up on our blog from the last 2 months. Sorry we've been slackers! Just playing too much to write. The end of Feb after the Families On The Road (FOTR) rally we got to hang with a few of the families for a few more days in Oceanside. The high lights for us were the beautiful beach with gold sparkles...amazing! Watching sea lions and hearing them "bark"! Sitting around the camp fire with good friends and fun jam sessions.

Lincoln

Burnie created in the sand

surfer

Dolphins swimming around the surfers

John from the Wild Tribe Fam cutting Winston's hair

Steve & John setting Winston up for a hair cut

Winston playing on the beach


Then we were off to Hollywood, where we met up with other friends. Hollywood....meaning the strip, was not what I was expecting. Crazy, wild, crowded and very touristy....maybe that IS what I should of expected?!? Great people watching and fun street shows! A ton of people are in costume and wanting you to take pictures of them and they expect you to tip them....pretty much they harass you. So if you ever go be prepare to avoid them or bring lots of 1$s.

Winston & Isabelle at Walt Disney's star

Winston is amazed by the bird on his arm

Harry Potter star's - hand prints

Isabelle putting the bird to sleep

Winston was pretty stoked on this Limo

Conner by Ozzy's star

Snoopy & Winston

Isabelle, Kelby & Winston near Darth and his Storm Trooper

Isabelle, Winston & Conner near Bumble-Bee the Transformer

Isabelle near Marilyn Monroe's hand and foot prints

Gayle, Conner, Winston, Isabelle & Bryce with the King

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Joshua Tree, FOTR rally and sk8 parks

So we are trying to catch up on our travels. We are running about 2 months behind. So the next few blogs will be our adventures from the last little while.

We spent a few nights in Joshua Tree National Park. It was a cool area, but a bit sad & stressful for us. Our beloved cat Smokey jumped ship and Burnie (our bus) broke down. We plan to head back someday to enjoy it more!




So thankfully it was beautiful in Joshua Tree and the stars were amazing....cause it was freakin COLD at night, yeah ice on the INSIDE of our windows...that cold! We had no internet or cell reception and we were broke down. Some way nice guy camped across from us and came to our rescue....Matt you are the BEST!!! Thanks again!


Lincoln finally pulled out this tooth that had been lose for a LONG time. Isn't he cute!
The kids really loved the boulders and had a blast hiking and climbing and finding hideouts.



Yeah my kids ROCK!!!
Do you see the face?
Ride the wave!


CRAZY..... LA traffic on the way to the FOTR rally!
We had so much fun at the CA Families On The Road rally! 14 families that travel full time. 40 something kids, art, hooping, making icecream, movies, drumming, guitars by the bonfire, playing on the beach, swimming, riding bikes, making great friends and amazing memories!!!



Exploring cool tide pools!


Icecream with friends on the beach....yummy!
DeMichaels, Sloans, & Bennets.......cool people!
More hot mamas and kiddos at the Rally!
Isabelle & the Dudley chics
How many men does it take to fix a skooile? I think we had 5 guys under there! Thanks again for helping us!!!!
Shredding it up at the SK8 park!




This is where Lincoln became "PRO"!!!


Sweet rigs!!!