Little Family Getaway to LA

I say it was little because we were only gone three nights and I say "getaway" because we all got to play hooky from school and work for two days. Who doesn't love that?!
Luke had a conference in downtown Los Angeles for three days, so somehow we were able to convince him to let us all tag along. I wasn't really sure what me and the kids were going to do, but I knew we had lots of options. We left Wednesday evening to avoid traffic and it gave us plenty of time to pack everything up after a busy day at work/school. On the drive down Luke is talking to me about an article he read earlier in the day, that took place about 1mile from the hotel we would be staying at. It was pretty gruesome, but to sum it up.....a younger man went missing the end of January. Apparently they found his body in a hotel water tank earlier that day. I was pretty grossed out. It began to out some fear into me about the part of town we'd be staying. I am usually pretty independent...but I wasn't feeling it so much with three kids in tow. Luke pretty much told I shouldn't be walking around downtown LA "exploring" especially with the kids. Ok. Got it.
The hotel we stayed at has appeared in lots of movies I guess. When we walked into the hotel from the parking garage there were dozens of movie posters up. So...we were feeling a little better about where we were staying. It appeared it was the kind of hotel we would never be able to afford if we were footing the bill ourselves. 
Our view from the 20th floor.....

Pretty neat--you can "rent" workout clothes. No excuses....except I would rather shop and eat cupcakes. :)

 Wiggy liked snuggling in to her own bed after Luke left each morning.....

Thursday morning I decided to take the kids to The Grove. It was only a few miles away, but with traffic it took us almost 30 minutes. :(
We went to Dylan's Candy Bar first and then walked down to the Farmer's Market. I gave the kids each a few dollars for them to pick something out during the day. Bubba spent his right away on an assorted mixture of Jelly Bellies. Wiggy ended up finding a "Tangled" sticker book, from one of the shops at the Farmer's Market. Tubbs was harder to please. He looked and looked but decided to save it.

There was a kids' show in the grassy area, in front of the shops, so we watched that for a bit and saw some funny puppets. There were PLENTY of nannies there with little ones. You could tell. It felt like an episode of "Jessie." :)  We walked around and shopped a little. THe weather was so nice! We grabbed some Jamba Juice and Sprinkles Cupcakes for lunch. It was wonderful!! I do think that makes me mother of the year.

We headed back to hotel around 1:30pm because the kids were officially checked out. I thought about finding somewhere else for us to go for a few hours, but I wasn't too sure about where. Since Wiggy was especially cranky, I thought heading back was the right option. Dragging her around when she hasn't had a nap, is like letting someone knock me in the head every 2 seconds. It's not very fun....or smart.
After Luke got back from his conference we headed to "Pink Taco" for dinner. I had seen this restaurant every time we drove down Santa Monica Blvd and it was a perfect opportunity to try it out. The atmosphere was very family friendly, so we were able to take the kids no problem. Unfortunately, the food wasn't as good as I'd hoped....particularly for what we paid. I took a risk trying the lobster enchilada...and since I don't really care for lobster in the first place, I don't know what I was thinking. The sauce was amazing, but that's about it. The kids each had chicken fingers and they weren't too impressed either. 
After dinner we walked around the outdoor shopping area next door. The kids liked running around, so it was nice to have them burn some energy before heading back to the hotel. The kids and I each had a small hot cocoa since it was chilly.

Friday morning I was going to try and meet up with a friend from HS who lives in Manhattan Beach. She gave me some recommendations on places to take the kids. Her husband and kids were home sick that day, but I made the short drive over and took the kids to a fun place. I really wish we had something like this where we live. It had an area to run and crawl around, but they also had a huge gymnasium and a reading corner. They offer "day camps" too for older kids. We paid for two hours and by the time our time ran out, the kids were exhausted. It was the perfect amount of time.

(Wiggy let me french braid her hair for the first time this morning. Too bad it looked awful by lunch time, from all the running around.)

Friday evening we were looking for something to do that we would all enjoy and had never done before. Luke did some googling.....an we ended up at the Griffith Observatory. It was really neat and we went right before sunset.....which I highly recommend.

We ended up at the Cheesecake Factory at The Grove for dinner. Delicious. After dinner Luke drove us to Sprinkles ice cream for a late treat. I love that man....almost as much as I love salted caramel ice cream. :)
It would be seriously bad news to live this close to a Sprinkles joint. I think I would end up being on the Biggest Loser.

Back to the hotel with a belly full of ice cream. Life is good.....

Saturday before heading home, we headed over to the 3rd street Promenade in Santa Monica. We walked around a bit and ate some lunch. We were ready to be home. Luke had read another news story about a TB breakout in downtown LA. Seriously!? We had a great few days away.....with plenty of treats...but ready to be home. I think we had our fill of Los Angeles for a while.