Hollywood, Part 1

Ok, this day will be broken up in to two posts.  The internet here is so slow.  So, I'll get about half up today and the other half in the morning.

Newport Beach is on a little peninsula off California.  The way we are situated, we can see the sunrise and sunset from our balcony.  It's pretty impressive.  This was the sunrise this morning.

Then, we headed to Hollywood. We got near Los Angeles every year, but we've never really done Hollywood.  We changed all that today.

But, on the way, the freeway got backed up, so we got off and went through a neighborhood for a shortcut.  My oh my, it was the worst neighborhood I've ever been in.  My heart was beating fast and I was scared.  Every house had bars all over it, even the church.

There was an accident.

This was every house.  All barred up. It was scary.

First we headed to the Original Farmer's Market. David and I had seen it on Food Network and wanted to go.  My oh my, if I lived in this area, I'd eat here every day.

They have a little bit of everything.

The kids got pizza and salad.

David and I went for Mexican.  It was so good!

Oh, and the fudge.  Suzy, this reminded me of your yummy peanut butter fudge. They sell it for $19.99/pound!  Most everything else was very reasonably priced.

Dakri got a clam chowder bowl and Ryan got crab cakes.

Emily and Noah loving on each other. This is a rarer sight than a unicorn.

The boys wanted ice cream.

I got a chocolate covered banana.  My favorite!

We walked into one souvenir shop and I spotted this and thought of my sister. She loved Hollywood.

The girls wanted a frappuccino, so we went to find them one. But, stopped for cute pics along the way.

Then, I went walking down to take a picture why we waited for their coffee.  Big mistake.  So, I get this picture and I'm walking back to them.

On the way back, Stephanie from hair kiosk stops me and asks if I ever straighten my hair.  I informed her that not in California. It's too humid to even try.  She says she can straighten my hair in 2 minutes.  No way.  I take her up on the offer.  And low and behold, it's straight in 2 minutes.

Everyone else comes to find me and she straightens Alanah's hair.

Then, she took Emily's frizzy braids out and she did hers too.  

It was very impressive.  If you know me, you know I don't splurge for anything for myself.  Ever.  But, the flat iron I've been using, I'm not happy with. It makes my hair look fried on the ends.  So, my birthday is in 2 days and I bought the flat iron for $100. She threw in a fancy brush for free.  Probably my biggest impulse by ever, but man this things works like magic.  I really prefer my hair straight, so I figure, heck, I deserve it!

More pics of the kids looking cute.

Then, we got to Hollywood and started our tour.

There were all sorts of characters walking around trying to have you take pics with them, like Freddy Kreuger.

We were off on the tour....behind the girls is the Hollywood sign.

I had time to put on my good lens.

This is Rhianna's house.

This was an overlook of the city. You can see Harry Potter's world at Universal Studios right in the middle.

Me and my kiddos.

And up here lives Gwen Stefani and Pink.  I took all these pics of stars homes and I can't remember who but a handful of them are.

That blue house on the top is Justin Bieber's.

And that castle is Taylor Swifts.

Then, we went to Rodeo Drive.

And here's the Beverly Hills hotel. But, I've already been there.  My Aunt Rosie got married there about 9 years ago.  That's where she had her reception.  Our limo got stuck on a hill on the way there and we had to walk the rest of the way there.  It was classic.

After the tour, Ben got his first Oscar.

This shop was cool.

Here's Tom Petty's star.

What was so sad is all the homeless people. Our tour guide said 100,000 people are homeless in LA.  It's really awful.  Like something desperately needs to be done to help these people.  It breaks your heart.  

We wanted to go to dinner, and then do the was museum.  But, we passed the museum first and Ben can never pass up an opportunity for a picture with Vin Diesel.  

Or King Kong...

Or an Oscar...

Here's the Chinese Theater where a bunch important Hollywood stuff takes place.  Like the Oscars or something like that.

Part two tomorrow.... I'm beat.  

Vacation, Day 3

We woke up this morning to a beautiful day.  Benf got right down to the beach in his pajamas.  

Then, the boys made a donut run.  We found a great donut shop by the pier that we LOVE!

Then, we all headed to the beach.  

Ben was running around sampling some of the sea vegetables.  We were watching him eat them.  Ewww.. But, whatever.  Free sushi!

Emily was being sarcastic with this silly face, but the photos are still cute.

Then, we went in. The lifeguard came over to tell us there were some rip currents and the tide was super strong, so we had to stay in the shallow end.  

Emily and Alanah played some soccer.

David took a nap.

Then, Noah went to feed the birds. He loves to feed things.

At first, there was just a few.

Then, this guy walked right through my photo.  Move dude!

 

Then, all these birds came and he was out of bread, so he ran!

But, all the birds followed him.

Man down!  He almost got attacked.

So, he ran to us for help.

Noah ran under the umbrella, then Ben ran by and they thought Ben was Noah and started after him!

Ben was freaking out!

But, they finally realized, he wasn't food and he had no food.  

And Ben outran them.

Then, we all relaxed in the sand.  So, nice and warm!

David did his annual spin with Noah.

Then, Ben wanted a turn. David told him it would be too hard. Ben is too tall now, but they tried it anyway.

So, back to Noah for some more flying. And, David wonders why is back is hurting.

Right across the street is this cool park, so we walked over there in the afternoon.

This is the bay side. There are no waves and there is a swim area and the cool playground.

Look at Emily's hair. I love her ocean curls.

The playground was awesome.

Then, we came home to shower and make dinner. We had yummy ribs and squash and this amazing sunset.

It's so fun to sit on the balcony and people watch.  This cute gay couple stopped to take a selfie with the sunset.  Then, they had to approve the photo.  I could sit there all day watching people.

And here was another shot of the sunset.

It was a wonderful day.  Tomorrow we are headed to Hollywood.  We were supposed to go Tuesday, but tomorrow is supposed to have some wicked winds here, so we switched it.  So, hello, Hollywood!  We are doing a tour and all the touristy stuff.