Carter and Gavin (Lacey's friend)
Gavin and Lacey
Carter, Andrew (Taylor's friend), Taylor
I know I've said this a million times, but I love the beach. We started off the summer with a bang. We went to the beach before school even got out on a minimum day. We decided to go to Balboa. We have gotten into the habit of having lunch or dinner at Ruby's on the pier and then visiting the Balboa Candy Company that sells vintage candy (well vintage era the 80's) and salt water taffy. On this particular day we ate dinner at Ruby's Diner and then proceeded to the candy store, which was closed! Now this would be
ok if we were all adults, but to kids looking forward to candy...you see where this is heading, right? Well, a kind older woman suggested we take the ferry over to the island as that store stayed open later and we would surely have success there. I quickly calculated the ferry toll and decided to take the plunge. The ride over was fun and we excitedly exited the ferry and looked around for the candy store. You might think I would have asked for more specifics from the lady, but no I did not. We started walking...and walking and walking. In the past I have always driven onto the island, parked and visited the candy store, so I really had no idea how far away it actually was from the ferry. At this point I was seriously questioning myself and wondering what to do when someone finally directed us in the right direction and we walked for another 10 minutes to the candy store. Hurray! It was open, we got our candy and then, we got to walk back! Everyone was extremely tired of walking, especially after being at the beach all day, and Carter said he had had to go to the bathroom since we were on the pier. Nice. It was a great adventure, and a great beginning to the summer. The water, the smells, the sand, I love it. I know Mom, right now you are thinking I am crazy. Which is probably true. But then
you are the one who wears Bronze Goddess the
quintessential summer scent, so who really is the crazy one?
Smile the camera is actually over here!
See the pit behind the "wild animals"
Sloth and jaguar
Woolly Mammoth Bones
undercover in the little theater
We made a day trip to LA to visit the La Brea Tar Pits and expand our knowledge of history. Yah right, I just thought it would be cool. Anyway it was a hot, hot, hot day, maybe not the best weather for visiting tar pits, but we had a great time. As you can see, Taylor is impervious to weather in his invisibility cloak, uh I mean sweatshirt. We explored the pits (well not actually inside them, but around), watched a movie on the pits, saw tons of dire wolf bones, mammoth, camels, sloths, really cool stuff. I'm sure the highlight was the gift shop full of stuff that has nothing to do with the pits. Lame, I told the kids it had to relate in someway with the trip, so they all opted for different rocks...which I guess using the six degrees of Kevin Bacon theory you could tie back into the tar pits in some way. At least they come from the ground!
