California!

August 1st found us on our way to sunny California- to forget about our NY cares for awhile.... and be with some family.  We had a wonderful time and did lots of great things- although we don't have too many photos to prove it.  But here are some of the highlights:

The LA Zoo (I am just fascinated with the giraffes and zebras!)

A Dodger Game!  It was Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium while we were there this year, so we went along with Grandma & Grandpa & (what seemed like) the entire Mormon population of the Greater Los Angeles area.  Russell M. Nelson was there and threw out the first pitch! And Ella had her first Dodger Dog. (We're allowed to like the Dodgers b/c they play in the National League.  Our American League allegiance belongs to the Yankees).

We always try to spend a lot of time with Jason&Tiffany and their boys when we're there, but I think this might be the only photo I have of our times with them! Lexi really loves Trevor & talks about him all year long- "my friend Trevor in California...."

We visited an aquarium and the (not-so-great for swimming) beach at San Pedro.

We walked around downtown Santa Monica & picked up some cupcakes from Vanilla

Then we visited the LA Temple Grounds (to show Lexi where Mom&Dad got married) and enjoyed our cupcakes

Spent some time at the Skirball Musuem to see the Superman exhibit & the Noah's Ark exhibit (which was the one thing Lexi really wanted to do again this year)

Swam in several neighbor's pools- Lexi is still pretty nervous around water.  Ella is quite fearless.  I wish we had taken time every day to go swimming- they may have both learned this summer!  Maybe next year.

Ella seems to be well on her way to swimming!






We also visited the La Brea Tar Pits, which still actively bubble today!  This is where hundreds (& thousands) of animals met their demise hundreds of thousands of years ago.  No dinosaurs here, though.  They existed even before the tar pits.  Mostly saber-toothed cats and woolly mammoths etc.

And the Museum of Natural History where we worked on a T Rex skeleton

And saw the Paleontology Lab at the musuem:

Ate Gelato! (and lots of other yummy food! La Tolteca! In-N-Out! Teriyaki! Foster's Freeze! Donut Man!)

We helped out in the garden a little bit, too.  And then I did some canning:

One of the most exciting things we did was take a trip to Lego Land.  But that deserves it's own post.

California Report

We recently returned from our annual trip to California. Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:

One of the first things we got to do was meet up with my mission buddy, Jenni and her 2 cute boys at the Los Angeles Zoo. We never served together, and we never even lived together, but somehow we came to be friends and I just love her to pieces. Lexi was chosen to help out with the bird show. You may recall that she was chosen last year, also...


Our next trip was to the Skirball Museum to see their giant Noah's Ark exhibit. It was basically a huge indoor playground based on Noah's Ark. All of the animals were made out of pre-existing materials (i.e. rats made of croquet balls, a rooster from a red boot etc). Lots of activities to do, things to play with, and places to climb. Lexi also participated in a drum circle.


We visited Olvera Street in old downtown Los Angeles, near City Hall & Union Station. After lunch at Phillipes, we explored the little street which is also the location of the oldest home in Los Angeles & the first Fire House. Lots of teeny tiny gift shops selling leather goods, random doodads and Lucha Libre masks.


We took our first trip to Hollywood. In all the summers we've spent in California, we've never gone down to Hollywood. Saw the Chinese Theater, El Capitan, Capitol Records and attempted a *walking* tour that we found on about.com which turned out to be NOT a walking tour AT ALL, but something you would definitely not do without a car.


The Museum of Natural History where we examined the insect zoo, saw a *real live* dinosaur and also dug for dinosaur bones, and walked through the butterfly garden.


Dodgers v. Rockies. Dodgers won! Thanks to our buddy's father, we had incredible seats in the shade on the field level. And after a day game, kids can go out on the field and run the bases! We didn't find out about that until it was too late to go, but otherwise we would have done it. Being a New Yorker, Lexi kept asking when the Yankees were going to play. That, coupled with the Yankees hat I was sporting, probably did not put us in the best light with the surrounding fans, so we made sure to cheer loud for the Dodgers. After all, they were the home team, and if they don't win it's a shame.


The rest of these photos are just miscellaneous from all our time with family and friends. We were able to see 5 out of Matt's 8 brothers, my grandparents and 2 of my cousins who have transplanted here (we missed another cuz due to scheduling conflicts- still bummed about that, K!), the Smiths, and the Russells, who made a huge effort to come down from Oregon for a few days to be with us (they rock).


Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa for hosting us (and all our friends) and for taking such good care of us!!