After shoveling maybe 3 inches of snow off of our driveway on Friday, getting off the airplane in 80 degree weather was quite a shock! Within an hour of being on the ground, Henry was on a beach in Malibu up to his...well hair...in the ocean! Why did we even bother to roll up the jeans!?Henry LOVED the water...and was pushed over by the strong waves so often & injested so much sand, that I originally thought that the sand was the cause of his sickness. (There was honestly two tablespoons of pure sand in the "throw up bucket" Monday morning!)
Monday the Woods helped us to explore LA & Hollywood. It included a trip to Beverly Hills & Rodeo Dr., the Chinese theater, & some houses of the rich and famous. We also experienced Venice Beach (where they have sand playgrounds, ice cream, and bicyclists who "almost"/did hit Henry) and In & Out Burger!
Tuesday we went to the Ronald Reagan Museum which is located in one of the most beautiful areas of the world! (It's also a great museum if you're ever in the area!) Henry threw up at our picnic lunch there, validating the theory that it was not sand that made him sick! So, we cancelled the babysitter for the night & took all the kids with us to our "dinner out." Good thing too, because within maybe three hours, Abigail, Andrew, & Tyler were all throwing up too! Henry also sprained(?) his wrist at the restaurant, minutes before the first throw up incident there. Here are the 4 sick kids & me the morning we left! :)
MANY thanks to the Woods who went through all of their Tide & Lysol because of us!! They are the best hosts!!! We had a blast & can't wait to enjoy your company again!So we called the Allens in San Francisco to tell them about our illnesses...and it turns out that they had a death in the family and were going to have to head back to the midwest on Friday...so we decided that we would head up on Wed. as planned, in order to atleast spend Thursday with them! (Plus, no ADULTS had gotten sick up to this point, and we were hopeful that the kids were over it!)
When we arrived Wednesday, they were really excited to see us! :) See Barbara below! :) They had prepared a delicious steak dinner for us, with some of the biggest steaks I've ever seen or eaten!
Thursday I woke up feeling very sick, but we enjoyed the NASA museum, where Henry got to stand in a "simulation" of the space station ("where Aunt Jan's friend lives!") and we all thought that it was a fun stop! (His favorite part of the trip at one point was "watching the movie at the space museum!" We didn't think he saw the movie...) Turns out that "Aunt Jan" (my sister) was TALKING to her friend Sandy Magnus that day as well!! (Sandy had CALLED her from the space station!!)
After Barbara came back from a mandatory meeting at work (in which she had to deliver some "bad news"), all six of us went on the Allen San Fran tour. It included the Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39 (with sea lions), and the boys' favorite--the cable car trip to China town!!
We are so thankful for the time with them and bummed I don't have pictures of all of us together!! The next day, Mike drove them to the airport and then we went to Coyote Point Museum which was the perfect day stop for the boys! We saw a bunch of animals & saw a lot of nature exhibits. The boys liked playing with a fan that would blow pieces of pool noodle into the air. Who would have thought! :)Our last day in California, was amazing! At the Allen's suggestion, we went to Ano Nuevo and saw the elephant seals in the middle of their mating season! You walk right up to them (with a guide) and see hundreds...maybe thousands of 15 ft. long seals. They are HUGE!! We saw them fighting, trying to mate, and mama seals nursing their babies. They move like inchworms, but they're so huge, it's really weird. The funny thing is that you usually need reservations weeks in advance, which we didn't have--and there "happened" to be an opening on the waiting list for five minutes after we parked the car. We felt really blessed. It was a "wild" experience! (Plus add in the 3 mile walk -- 2 holding kids (no stroller allowed), and Henry learning to pee outside)! Henry thought the best part was "playing in the sand." :) The video just shows the view from one of our vantage points.
Well, that's our 2009 trip in a nutshell! We're hoping to see the George's in St. Louis this weekend and then we should be here in KC for quite a while!
