Natural History Museum

We haven't been out to the Natural History Museum in just about two years. So when my friend Beth told me her oldest son has been wanting to go for two summers now, we made plans to go together. I always kind of hesitate to make the drive out there because you have to go into downtown LA, and traffic down that way is always so unpredictable. But I guess once a year I can muster up the courage to make the trek down there. We really are so fortunate to live in a city that has so many amazing and fun things to do and places to go. And most of them aren't too expensive. Well....unless you go to Theme parks that is.

We spent the first little bit in the dinosaur Hall that was recently (well 2 years ago I guess) added to the Museum. It's amazing all of the fossils they have collected for us to see.

Stopped for a photo op with the kids and these next few pictures pretty much sums up Brandon's energy level anywhere we go.

Boy can't hold still to save his life.

Walked down the hall where I swear they filmed part of "The Lone Ranger".  Carter is at the bottom of this picture, but you can't really see him too well.

Ashlyn's favorite is always the gems and minerals. So many beautiful things to look at.

I think she could have stayed in that one area all day.

After that, we headed outside for a picnic lunch. The weather was perfect today. 

Then we headed over to the Butterfly pavilion, which was the highlight of the day for me. SO many beautiful butterflies flying around. I took a bazillion photos of them all. At one point Beth and I both stopped to enjoy the view and there were literally just butterflies flying all around us. It was so cool. Our pause didn't last long because apparently Carter had picked one lonely little baby daisy and the worker there found it important to let me know how terrible I was for letting him do so. Oh well....such is life. 

This is my favorite butterfly. Isn't it beautiful?

I guess this is the next batch of butterflies. LOL.

Or maybe this is. Hahaha...I'm crack myself up. Funny thing is I didn't even notice this was two butterflies when I took the picture. Oops. 

So during the whole trip, Leah was saying her ear was hurting really bad, which of course started just minutes after arriving at the Museum. So after the butterfly exhibit, which we had a timed entry for, we had to cut our day short and head home to take Leah to the doctor. Her doctor said she had the beginnings of an ear infection so he prescribed her some antibiotics. While we were waiting in the drive through line for her medicine, Carter decided my day wasn't interesting enough and threw up in his carseat from eating a fruit snack flavor he didn't like. I swear this kid has the most sensitive palate. I'm pretty good at detecting his "I'm gonna throw up" signs, so I grabbed a lunch bag, dumped out the trash and had him throw up in that. I know...totally gross. But WAY better than having him throw up all over the car. So that was our day. The good, the bad and the smelly! 

Temple visit

Paul and I got to go to the Temple last Saturday. We don't get to go often enough, so when we do, I just love it. It was a nice session. Wasn't too crowded and we got to go to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner on the way home. 

Santa Barbara Zoo

Every summer we have to make a trip out to the Santa Barbara Zoo. I just LOVE coming out to this zoo and if it weren't a solid hour and a half away, I would be here much more often. The weather is usually really nice and the animals are up close and easy to see. Plus it's not a terribly large zoo so you can easily get to all the exhibits in one day and still have plenty of time for playing at their play area. 

The cardboard hill (as my kids call it) is by far the main attraction. We spent quite a bit of time here and the kids had a blast.

Saw some fun animals including these cute little foxes.

Bunny ears are all the rage lately with my kids. They don't even mind giving them to themselves. Crazy kids.

Got to see the Dino Show where the dinosaur here had some kind of "allergy attack" and kept "sneezing" all over the kids. They thought it was hilarious!

Cute little tortoises who were nibbling on the grass. I couldn't resist taking a photo.

We stayed until the zoo closed and then stopped at the Carpenteria beach to check it out for future adventures. Then before heading home, we stopped at Subway for dinner to try and miss traffic. It was definitely a long day, but we had a lot of fun and I'm really glad we went and got to be with some fun friends.

Playdates

Brandon got to have a playdate with his preschool buddy Carson. The kids got their suits on and had some shaving cream fun. It cracks me up that they love doing this every summer. It's the simplest thing but keeps them entertained outside for a long time. 

Later that day, the girls got to go to their friend Ashlynn's house for a "late over" since neither Tina or I do sleep overs. You would have though we gave the girls passes to Disneyland they were so excited. 

The playdate started out with Leah losing her other top front tooth. Pretty funny cuz she had been trying all day to get the darn thing to come out and of course as soon as she leaves home, it comes out.

From what I hear, the girls had a BLAST just being girly for 4 straight hours. We'll have to do this more often for sure.

Last dollar movie of the summer

One last dollar movie adventure. And might I say....it was painful. Not the kids. The movie. We saw "Racing Stripes". By far the worst one of the summer. And honestly none of them were stellar. But oh well. The kids actually liked it. And it was cheap. So...there you have it. Until next year. Hoping the movie line up is a tad better though.