Daddy had been gone for 2 1/2 weeks when, for mental health reasons, we needed to go see him. We realized we don't function real well without him. So, at 730 Tuesday (January 27th)morning, I began packing up all 4 kids & all our stuff to set out on a 1500 mile journey to southern California. Go ahead, call me crazy. I did. There's a lot to do when you go on vacation, so I didn't get out of town until almost 11 am. However, we managed to get all the way to El Paso, TX the first night; a total of 647 miles. I really wanted to make it all the way to Daddy in just 2 days, but it took 2 1/2. BTW, when Yahoo maps gives you the mileage & time it takes...go with the mileage, but add about 5 extra hours to your driving time. Especially with kids. We have to stop a lot.
Everybody was so happy to see Daddy, and he was happy to see us! On Friday, we drove down to Santa Monica to see the beach and walk on the boardwalk. The kids, of course, loved the beach. Lil' Coconut collected sea shells, Bug collected rocks, and Pinky Lee just played in the water. They were only supposed to get their feet wet, but Pinks just couldn't help running when the waves came up, so eventually she took a nose dive right into the water. She didn't care. Then we got some lunch and drove up to Beverly Hills. Did you know that Rodeo Drive is only about 2 blocks long?? It was cool though. I wanted to find the hotel from Pretty Woman, which I was pretty sure was called the Wilshire Beverly Hills, and therefore should be on Wilshire, right? Daddy was sure it was on Sunset, so we turned off of Wilshire, onto Rodeo, and up to Sunset, never to return to Wilshire. So, no Pretty Woman hotel. :( However, we did run into the Beverly Hills Hotel which was featured in the movie "Troop Beverly Hills", a great 80's family movie that you really should see. So that was exciting for me.
Then we saw what Lil' C had been asking to see since we started on the trip: the HOLLYWOOD sign. Very cool. The weird thing is, you really can't see the sign until you get way up on the hill. Last, we were onto Hollywood Blvd. & the Walk of Fame. The sun was starting to set by the time we got there, which meant crazy people were starting to show up and we were all getting tired, so we didn't walk very far. There were all these street performers dressed as famous characters that you could get your picture taken with, but then they ask for donations. So we only got a few pics. Lil' Coconut had seen Marilyn Monroe when we drove by, and that was the one person she really wanted her picture with. Aren't they just cute? Marilyn was the only one who didn't ask for a donation. Nice. Most of these people are in front of the Chinese Theatre, which is pretty cool. The Kodak Theatre just down the street, is where they have all the awards ceremonies, which is kind of strange because there's a shopping center inside. I asked the guy at the information booth about it, and he said that they cover all the shops up & it looks very different by the time the red carpet is laid and the stars arrive. I finally found Elton John's star so I could get a picture (woohoo!!!) then we headed to our hotel near Disneyland!
Stay tuned for the Disneyland pics and story!!
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