Colorful People

Today we took the girls to Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach. We walked between the two and had lunch at Whalers (used to be a KC Chief's bar before new mgmt). We walked more than ten miles so we are enjoying some cookies right now :)

Do you like people watching? I love people watching. Concerts are the best places for it. We thought Stephanie and Kelly would enjoy some people watching at Venice Beach today. It is known for its colorful people. No matter what day you go, you will always find something or someone entertaining.


You may see the Reggae man with a large guitar playing for a few women...

You might see the girl in the grass exercising with her hula hoop....
You might find the older couple sun bathing....
Or the man riding a unicycle.....

You might see the guy with skin tight shorts....
A man offering you to hold his very large snake...
You might see the guy who paints himself and his dog gold.....
Or my personal favorite, the man in the patriotic speedo trying to pick up girls.

Upgrade to the Big Boy Bed

This morning we had to lower Harrison's crib so we figured it was time to adjust Will's bed too. He had been in his crib with a crib tent on it for a few months since he had been able to climb out. We had been putting it off since we knew that he wouldn't nap again. And we were right. He was very excited about his new bed so he jumped right in and curled up. A few minutes later, we knew he wasn't sleeping when heard him walking around in his cowboy boots and saw his hand under the door :)

Ronald Reagan Museum

Today we went to the Ronald Reagan Museum. It was very interesting and we could have spent all day there but with the boys, that is not possible. It truly is an amazing museum. We weren't allowed to take pictures but I did take one of Air Force One.

Aquarium of the Pacific

Yesterday, I picked Kelly and Stephanie (Scott's sisters) up from the airport. Since we were close to Long Beach, I thought it would be fun to take them and the boys to the Aquarium. It was really fun. They had a lot of different fish there. The sea otters were cute but the colorful salt water fish are always my favorite. Will and Harrison really enjoyed observing all of the different marine life. They had lorokeets outside and we failed to miss the sign before entering their area, "Lorokeets will land on you. Do not brush them off as they will bite you." We pretty much ran through that exhibit as I hit the floor once. They try to take you out. All in all, it was fun. Now we are off to the Reagan Museum.

Back at home

The boys, Belle and I came home this afternoon. The Sesnon fire is close but I think we are going to be just fine. It smells like someone is burning leaves outside but not necessarily in a good way. It is an overpowering smell that hurts when you breathe it in. There are ashes everywhere. My chest is still hurting really bad from yesterday. The good thing is that the fire is now on the other side of the 118 Freeway from us so it is unlikely it will jump the freeway. It is loud at our house as dozens of helicopters continue to fly over with their water drops. The other good thing is that it doesn't smell inside our house like it did yesterday so it is manageable to stay home now.

How crazy. I never thought when we moved to California that we would experience all of these things within a 3 month time span (earthquake and fire). I like California but come on, can you throw us a bone here?! And now that there is this fire, we can expect all of those fun animals and creatures to make their way into the neighborhood (scorpions, rattlesnakes, more spiders, coyotes, etc). At first I liked that we were so close to the mountains (3 houses down) but now....I don't know.

Fire Update

We had a mandatory evacuation soon after my last post. I wasn't able to get much more in the truck besides ourselves. We headed back to our house after 5:30pm and were let back into our neighborhood. After eating dinner and watching the news, we decided to leave. We could see flames from our house and the newscasters were saying that winds were supposed to reach 70mph tonight. I am glad we left for our safety even though William will not go to sleep now. He thinks we are having a slumber party. As we left our neighborhood, there were 7 firetrucks just waiting. If you look at a map, Santa Susana pass is where the fire is (Porter Ranch). The Santa Susana turns into Kuehner which is our exit to our house. It is scary and we just hope we wake up tomorrow to good news.

Getting ready to evacuate--California Wild Fires

These are pictures from our front door and it is getting worse fast. Porter Ranch, as you see on TV, is a couple exits from us. We live off of the 118 Freeway. The range you see in the pictures are the Santa Susana range they are speaking of. There are about 20 helicopters above our house. If you walk outside, it is really hard to breathe. I have loaded the truck up with necessities right now but I am going to try to get as much stuff in it God forbid they can't get it under control. Boy, I love California.