Manhattan Beach - weekend #5 (& 6)

There is something about the beach that is so addicting.

Maybe the waves crashing, the smell of the salty air, sand between your toes, and the sun shining down?

Since L.A. was having a heat wave of 100, it was the perfect day to head to the beach.

Everyone else thought so too....

why can't we ever get away from the crowds?!

Despite this deliriously happy face, I must say....

beach and baby don't mix well!

To preface this, let me remind you what we think of when it comes to the coast:

windy

cold

sunny

FREEZING water

gorgeous

not playing in the water deeper than your ankles

very uncrowded

very little skin showing

Here is what Cali has to offer at the beach:

no wind

hot

sunny

cold water for a minute only

not the prettiest thing you've ever seen

sweating

playing in the water up to above your head

crowds

more skin than you'd ever want to see

We were unprepared for how hot it was at the beach.

All 3 of us were sweating so bad.

Nursing a baby at the beach, in the heat, both sweating, with sand everywhere is not fun. Or easy.

 As is changing a diaper.

Keeping her cool and sunburn free is also stressful.

So we only stayed for an hour and a half.

Chris played in the water while I fed Londyn, then stayed with her while I played in the water.

Playing in the water by yourself is not as fun....especially when you get rocked by a huge wave only to stand up, look around and hope nobody saw that.
After losing my sunglasses to the ocean ....(fist shake)... we decided to get out of the sun, sand, and heat.

We were so happy to find a Cafe Rio nearby for lunch.

On Friday the following week, (weekend #6) Londyn and I drove an hour to meet my old roommate, bestie, and bed bug pal, Candice, for lunch.

She lives in San Diego so we met half way at (a different) Cafe Rio.

An old pic from 2007 since we forgot to take one :(

So fun to eat delicious food and catch up for 3 hours.

Not so fun to get stuck in traffic on the way home for 2 hours.

After all that driving on Friday we decided to just relax on Saturday and go out to dinner.

So weekend #6 was uneventful, but we were just resting up for weekend #7....
which included visitors and Disneyland!!!
Deets coming soon!

weekend #4: Santa Monica

Weekend #4 started with another earthquake at 12:03am Friday morning. 

I had just climbed into bed and Chris was checking on Londyn as it happened.

 This one was a 3.5 magnitude (the 1st was 3.4) and was about 2.5 miles away.

 Chris thought it was awesome to 'surf' the earthquake as he was standing.

No conditioner bottles fell and cracked, so it was a less scary earthquake.

But because I was in bed during both earthquakes AND we have bed bugs, I have come to associate our bedroom with bad things and hate going in there now.

These earthquakes made me quite jumpy for awhile...

We went to Babies'r'us that night and the ceiling started shaking and rumbling....

We looked at each other and thought here comes another earthquake!

Turns out there was a 24 hour fitness next door and it was just people running on the track upstairs ha.

Saturday morning we went to the stake center to get our teeth cleaned for free at a dental clinic and we almost drove right past it....

Who would ever guess that this building is an LDS stake center?

After our gums stopped bleeding we went to the Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade.
They have some pretty sweet street performers.

Chris was inspired by the guitarist on the right to grow his hair out again so it can flow in the wind.

We love pine palm trees!

We walked down to the Santa Monica pier and the beach to feel the water.

And there were WAY too many people everywhere.

Londyn is quite the attraction in those sunglasses. 

She is so good about wearing them and everyone that passed us just loved it.

This week we turned her facing out in the carrier and she giggled like crazy.

How exciting to see the world around you instead of being smashed against someone's chest!

Fall what??

It is bizarre to hear about "changing leaves" when it is still so warm and summery here.

Bed bug update: 

The worst part about having bed bugs is the insanity it causes....

I was getting very little sleep because I was paranoid that every itch/touch/tickle on my legs were bugs crawling all over me.

Solution:

 Yes, I really sleep like this every night.

I can finally get SOME rest knowing that the bugs can only get my ankles.

 And I wear a jacket for peace of mind that my arms don't have bugs crawling on them.

Why am I the only one getting bitten still?!

.......

After not freezing at the beach (read: Oregon coast) we knew we had to come back for more.

Manhattan beach post coming soon.

Labor Day Weekend: The Getty & Greystone Mansion

 Our 3rd weekend here we went to The Getty.... along with the rest of L.A.

It is a big place with lots of different exhibits, mostly art, from a long, long time ago.

....in a galaxy far away...

Giant hymn book.

We are not really art history people, so our favorite parts were the gardens and the architecture of the whole place.

It was very crowded, hot, and full of annoyingly rude foreigners.

But we enjoyed the beauty of The Getty :)

Sunday night we were rudely awoken at 3:30am to the earth SHAKING!

I flung myself was flung onto Chris and had him in a death grip til it stopped.

It was terrifying!

Feeling the earth shake and having no control over when it stops or how bad it shakes was scary.

It only lasted about 5 seconds but the sounds... Oh the sounds!

The earth groaned and there was a loud CRACK that I was certain was the earth splitting open to swallow us up.

Turns out my conditioner had just fallen off the shower door from the shaking....

The next morning the only sign of the earthquake was this crooked picture.

Now we know why all the decorations here are glued down!

On Labor Day we went to Greystone Mansion.

Such a drastic difference from The Getty...hardly anyone there - maybe 10 people?!

 It is a mansion/park owned by Beverly Hills. 

The grounds were incredible and the mansion was mansion-y. (You can't go inside).

What makes this place so cool is that SO many shows and movies have used this place for filming!

X-Men, Spiderman, Gilmore Girls, National Treasure 2, and more more more.

Such a trooper.

That evening we ate at Umami Burger with a former clinic-mate of Chris' and her bf in Santa Monica.

Not Santa MonTica.

inside joke

Why can't every weekend be a 3 day weekend??!

weekend #2

Our second weekend here started off great with some frozen yogurt from Pinkberry.

Our friend Shala told us to try it out and we are hooked.

This was after Chris' first week of working which was a very rough week for me.

Chris was very sweet to stop being a sugar Nazi for a night and take me to Pinkberry.

 Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market and the Grove.

Chris often tells me I am a 10 year old and I couldn't agree more.

So when I saw the American Girl store I had to go in to satisfy my 10 year old self. 

Ha! Check out this Doll Hair Salon!

They really were doing a different hair style on each doll.

They even had a Doll Hospital to repair ripped off appendages and such.

 A doll with headgear?! Too funny.

Chris agreed the dolls were cute.

Maybe someday I'll pass mine on to Londyn...sans head gear.

The Farmer's Market consisted mostly of a bunch of places to eat, not your regular "buy produce" kind of thing.

Grinning at her dad.

This was right about when we saw Matt Barnes and his millions of tatts. 

 After we were done there we headed to Beverly Hills to stroll down Rodeo Drive.

It was packed with tourists and expensive cars, and tourists taking pictures with said cars.

Nothing like walking down Rodeo Drive to make you feel out of place in your $20 t-shirt and $40 capris (a splurge for me).

Londyn's sunglasses are quite the crowd pleaser.

Random people take pictures of her in them ...aka paparazzi.

She fits right in with the celebs of Beverly Hills.