2014 - August 2nd-5th - Vacation time for Mikayla, Ethan & Ella

We brought Mikayla, Ethan and Ella home with us from Eric's Birthday dinner so that their 2014 summer vacation with us could start. They picked a lot of things to try from Auntie Carrie's book 100 Things To Do In Los Angeles. We picked a few more that aren't in the book to do also. They chose only one adventure that Kendall and Jordan had taken last week. Let the fun and adventures begin!

Saturday the 2nd we began our day at Ella's first request which was to go to Whimsic Alley in Los Angeles, the all-things Harry Potter store. She wanted a repeat visit from two years ago with the hope of obtaining a chocolate frog treat as her mission! We arrived at Whimsic Alley and enjoyed looking through the store and all of the merchandise. Unfortunately, they no longer carry the large chocolate frogs in the nice box as they used to and that is in the Harry Potter movies on the train trip to Hogwarts. But all was not lost ... they now have smaller chocolate frogs with a Potter trading card inside the package. We settled for 2 chocolate frogs for each ... happy grandchildren!

            
             
              
               
            
                      
                 
                               
Our journey continued to The Page Museum and the La Brea Tar Pits of LACMA. No one wanted the sleep over as described in #38 of the book, but they had selected to see the Tar Pits. The Page Museum has been added in the years since we have gone to the La Brea Tar Pits. There is a lot of history shown and explained in the museum. It is really an outstanding adventure to go on.
Oh, oh... Watch out and fear for that Saber Tooth !!
Great walking around the grounds and the museum ...
After the museum, we stopped at one of LA's originals, the Fatburger hamburger joint! Only in LA and not available anywhere else. We all enjoyed our burgers!
             
                     
Another choice made by Ethan was to see the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Carrie had posted the hall in her book as #3. So we headed off for this next stop. The architecture of the building is splendid. We had seen many pictures but had never experienced it first hand. It is an amazing building and we hope to attend a function here sometime in the future. The kids enjoyed seeing the hall and experiencing the splendor.

After looking around the hall and browsing the gift shop, we walked the couple of blocks down to The Los Angeles Grand Park, #60 in Carrie's book. The walk was great, even on a warm LA day and not too far from The Walt Disney Concert Hall. It's a great place to relax, read, people watch, listen to music on your headphones, or play in the splash fountain pool. We enjoyed the park!
            
Sunday morning we all went to Shepard's Grove for church before starting our daily adventures. After a quick lunch at home, we drove to Los Angeles to The Bob Barker Marionette Theater, #37 of The 100 Things To Do In Los Angles where we had reservations for the 2:30 performance of the marionettes. Ella was especially excited to go to this one. The show for this season is titled "Fiesta".
Once inside the theater which seats about 70 people, the parameter is filled with chairs. The show takes place in the center of the room so there is no bad seating. If the kids prefer, they can sit on the red carpet in front of the chairs too. The puppets interact with the audience with the help of their puppeteers. They are simply awesome! It's hard at times to watch the marionettes and not the puppeteers managing all of those strings! These are professional folks that are quite skilled. The show lasts a full hour followed by free ice cream afterwards for everyone.
            
            
            
            
            
Our next stop was Union Station, #27 of the book. It's such a beautiful building and is celebrating it's 75th anniversary this year. We wandered through and absorbed the beauty and history.

Just a short walk across the street is Olvera Street, the oldest street in Los Angeles and home to the Avilla Adobe, the oldest standing home in LA dating to 1818. We looked at all of the shops and carts lining street and toured the Avilla Adobe ... something we had never done on all of our visits to Olvera Street!
            
            
            
Leaving after a great time here, we headed to Beverly Hills to get cupcakes from the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM, an experience only available here. Mikayla, Ethan & Ella got to use the ATM, select their special cupcake and have it delivered for them to take home for dessert tonight. Everyone should experience #2 from the book at least once!

             
              
              
For dinner,  we arrived right back here in Lakewood where we were off to Pieology, our new fast-food type of pizzeria. Order in line and choose all of your toppings ... all at a fast-food price. We has a delicious meal!
Monday the kids had selected to go to the California Science Center to see the Endeavour Space Shuttle, one of Ethan's picks. He saw this one in #24 of the 100 Things To Do In Los Angeles. We had 12:30 tickets, so were able to visit around the Science Center before and after the Space Shuttle exposition.
             
Across the street is the Natural History Museum where the Butterfly Pavilion is toured through September 1st. We had gone last week with Kendall & Jordan and everyone in this group wanted to go too. Seems like #30 is a hit with all ages!
                   
             
             
                   
We then walked the Natural History Museum as saw lots of interesting exhibits.
             
We then strolled the beautiful Los Angeles Rose Garden behind the Natural History Museum.

We had to take Mikayla, Ethan and Ella to one of our favorite eating spots, #14 in the book, Canter's Deli. Always a treat to be at Canter's one of the oldest Deli's in LA. Fantastic food and atmosphere!

And then nothing better to finish off a meal than to get some ice cream! This time we went to one of the choices in #66, The Coolhaus Ice Cream Shoppe. Everyone picked their ice cream and cookie for their own special ice cream sandwich!
Well, our time has flown by. It's the last day for adventures with Mikayla, Ethan & Ella. We packed up for the trip home then headed out for our last few stops. #16, The Watts Towers was first. We read all of the signs on the history and the making of this marvelous art. Everyone learned something and found out there is no junk that can't be be recycled into something beautiful. Nice experience!
             
             
Our last stop on 100 Things To Do In Los Angeles was to take Mikayla, Ethan and Ella to San Pedro and see #64, The Korean Friendship Bell. It is a beautiful piece sitting on top of the hill overlooking the harbor at San Pedro. We all enjoyed it very much. We walked behind the bell and down the incline to take in all of the breathtaking views.

             
             
We drove down the hill to the park where the Point Fermin Lighthouse is located. Again, all of the years we have been down to that area and never went to the lighthouse! It is a different lighthouse, not tall and skinny but actually a house with a light at the top in it's tower. It sits right on the hill overlooking the bay. From it's elevated position, it doesn't have to be tall like a typical lighthouse. We enjoyed looking at it and strolling the park.
             
             
We took off and headed over the tall Vincent Thomas Bridge to Long Beach to pick up Pacific Coast Highway and head for Seal Beach's "Woody's Diner" for lunch. Always a favorite. It's the only place that I know where they serve beer-battered French fries. Boy are they good!
Now it was on our way to take them home. One more surprise stop at Riverside's Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour. No one said "NO", hahaha! Ella enjoyed a double scoop of chocolate while Ethan had the gigantic Brownie Fudge Sundae and Mikayla had the ever so awesome Oreo Sundae.
             
                       
                       
This 2014 summer vacation with Mikayla, Ethan and Ella sadly comes to an end. We had so much fun with them and did so many things in the short stay. They now prepare for school orientation Friday and Monday. The best part of the trip? For us, being with these three marvelous grandchildren! The photo album is packed with lots of pictures not shown on the blog entry, so click this link to see them all!