After a fantabulous vacation in California with our little family last week, we're adjusting back to real life, including mounds of laundry (haven't even started), piles of homework (pretty much finished--whew), and trying to calm down our completely insane three year old in the post-vacation doldrums. (Though "doldrums" can't be the right word, as it seems to suggest things like sadness and quiet. His constant yelling and brief-but-intense temper tantrums are anything but quiet.)
We left at the crack of dawn on Friday, Oct. 29 and made it in time to check into our very interesting hotel, located right in the hood. And I mean the hood . . . where they were having a "Soul Brothas" Harley convention the weekend we were there. And where the walk from the gated parking garage to the front desk smelled constantly of pot. Whoopsidoodle. Guess who learned a little lesson about double checking the neighborhood despite trying to save a few bucks on a hotel? That would be me.
We did get to clean up a bit before heading over the my good friend Erin's Manhattan Beach home to watch the sunset from her roofdeck. We took the kids down to the aquarium at the end of the pier, watched the sunset from the roof while drinking sprite and water (despite Isaac begging for some of the "cream soda" he noticed everyone else was drinking), and headed over to Twelfth and Highland for some yummy appetizers at Erin and Stu's non-rehearsal dinner.
*Imagine some really cute pictures of my kids exploring an aquarium and touching starfish and stuff. I swore I took some. I was apparently incorrect in that assumption.
When we got back to the Horrendous Hood Hotel, the building seemed to be literally shaking from the Harleys that started up about every two seconds. We made a quick decision that if we wanted any sleep at all, we'd better check out and go elsewhere. We quickly booked a room at the Barlow B&B (Zach's aunt and uncle) in Burbank and headed up there as soon as we could get everything in the car. It was a good, good choice. Not only did we have beds and showers and breakfast, we also had the best company available: Dennis, Annell and Hannah, J & Shannon and their kids and Zach's parents, Dana and Delwyn. Thanks to Dennis and Annell for taking us in with all the other visitors you had.
On Saturday, we took it easy and the kids had a blast playing with Dennis & Annell's little dog Tucker. Lucy and Tucker found a rat out back that Zach had to kill and I was so grateful that I didn't have anything to do with it. Rodents fuh-REAK me out big time. Dennis and Annell took us and Dana and Delwyn to the L.A. Zoo. The kids were excited to see the animals, and even more excited that they were handing out candy for Halloween.
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