Bowling and a Country Concert in the City

It was kind of hard finding something that 8 kids ranging in ages from 3 to 14 could do that was fun for everyone. After much thought we decided to take them all bowling. Well….it went pretty good for my four, but the twins lost their attention pretty quickly and then poor Heather and Ty just ended up chasing them all around the bowling alley. We made the workers quite irritated. They were way grumpy with us and didn't want to let the 3 year olds bowl in the first place, which I thought was weird being that they have "kids bowling" advertised all over the place, but whatever. We still had a fun time and then grabbed lunch at Jersey Mike's afterwards and went to Ty's house to eat it. 

Then that night me and Dez got to have some one on one sister time down in Century City at a "Country concert in the city". Jamestown Revival was playing, which is my cousin's cousin's band if that makes sense. They were awesome and totally got the crowd up and dancing and having a good time. They played for about 45 minutes and then Shelby Lynne played for a good hour and a half. I had never heard her before but she's a good soulful kind of country singer with a beautiful clear voice. It was so nice and relaxing. We got our blanket all set out on the lawn, got dinner at The Stand and had a great evening. I was so glad to get to spend some time with my sissy, just me and her! 

This picture was just to help us remember where we were parked, but Dez thought we might as well make it a fun shot. 

My view while laying on the blanket waiting for the concert to start. I was originally going to bring the kids with me, but once we got there, I was really glad I decided not to. Only a few people had kids with them. And if they did, it was like one little kid. Besides the fact that it went pretty late and there is no way my kids would have lasted that long. 

Plus it made it a much more relaxing evening for me for sure!

Runyon Canyon and Hollywood

 I got to go hiking with Heather and Dez up Runyon Canyon while she was here. It was such a nice hike and really fun to just be with my sister's enjoying the nice outdoors. It was a good 4 mile hike with a pretty good incline at some spots so I got a good little workout in while I was at it. And the views were beautiful!

Afterward, we went into Hollywood to have lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. It was a really fun morning and I'm glad we were able to go together while the guys were at Comicon and the kids were at home with sitters. 

 I opted out of the booty shot. LOL!

Definitely not my favorite part of where I live, but it seems to always be super crowded so people must actually enjoy coming down here. I was just hungry and wanted something to eat!

Hanging at home later that night. We got together with Ty and Heather and all the kids to have dinner and play games. 

Jam Band

Ashlyn's been going to a Summer Jam Band twice a week since school got out. They ended last night with a band concert at Vincenzo's pizza in Newhall. That meant we got dinner and a show. She really enjoyed it because they got to play fun popular songs like "Roar" from Katy Perry. Sad thing is she was the ONLY flute player in her particular class, so we really couldn't hear her over all the loud clarinets. But I know she was playing and I've heard her play her songs at home, so that was good enough for me. Dez was in town so her and Ty and Kamron came to hear her play too, so that was super fun!

This kid...

definitely knows how to relax.

At Brookes house on Monday where I got to hang out with my Encino gals for the afternoon. Renee is in town and it was SOOO fun to get to see her. She's as beautiful and as sweet as ever. And I got no pictures, except this one of Carter in the hammock. Ugh…

Then yesterday we hung out at Becky's pool with lots of friends. Carter decided to take a little nap on the lounge chair next to Ashlyn.

And here we have Carter with Kylan and Khloe crashed out in our bed while Paul and I were at dinner with Ty, Heather, Dez, Chad and Brent. There was a babysitting snafu, so Callie was sweet enough to watch my kids plus Heather's twins for the evening. She's a super star!

An overnight date for me and Paul

For Mother's Day, Callie gave me a free over night date. I figured I better cash in before she headed off to college, so even though we had just gotten back from the beach the day before, I packed back up and Paul and I took off for the night. It's Dreamworks 20th Anniversary, so they gave all their employees two free tickets to a Dreamworks celebration concert at The Hollywood Bowl. We have never been there, even though we've lived here 11 years now, so we didn't know to bring blankets and jackets and a picnic dinner. We still had SO much fun though and I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Next time we'll know better though and come prepared. 

Jack Black was the host and he was hilarious. There were songs from different movies Dreamworks has done over the years including one of my favorites from "The Prince of Eygpt" sung by a lady named Judith Hill. She was incredible. The night ended with fireworks and the composers of the music, including Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman, rocking out on electric guitar to "We Believe" from the Shrek soundtrack. It was incredible. So even though our seats were pretty lame, we didn't even care. It was still so much fun.

We found a cute little hotel in Glendale close to the shuttle station that took us to The Hollywood Bowl. It was built in the 1920's and was probably the tiniest room you have ever seen for a hotel. But the bed was the most comfortable thing ever and I totally felt like I was sleeping on a cloud. We slept in as long as we could and then packed up and headed a few doors down to Porto's bakery for the yummiest brunch! I haven't been to Porto's much (only had a few cakes from there for birthdays and such). That place is amazing and I can't wait to go again!

We had plans to go use our Universal Passes for the day, but once we parked we realized our passes were blocked. We made the most of it and shopped around City Walk, watched a movie, and had dinner at Tony Roma's. It was such a nice little get away. Thanks to Callie for watching our kids and holding down the fort so well. I'm gonna cry sheets of tears when she heads off to college!

Beach House day 2

 We spent the whole next day down at the beach. The weather was gorgeous and the kids were having a blast. I could have stayed out until dark, but we were getting hungry. 

                           

Leah is the cutest little helper and Kylan just adores her. This is her taking Kylan up to the bathroom for Heather. "Our" house was the one on the far right. It was beautiful. Nothing like mooching off your brother's vacay! LOL

Khloe decided the beach was far too relaxing and decided to take a little nap. Heather told me she had done that pretty much every day that week.

Two little peas in a pod enjoying the water and trying to make their legs into mermaid fins with the sand.

Carter and Kylan playing their own made up game in the garage.

And Callie came out to visit that evening after work. My kids were thrilled and even though we had just showered and gotten cleaned up, they wanted to go back down to the water with her.

And we couldn't leave without watching one more sunset. Then we tried to shoot off some fireworks a neighbor of theirs had given them, but after getting two up in the air, some other neighbors further down started shining their flashlights at us. We decided we better stop before someone called the cops on us.

It was such a nice little mini vacation and super nice of Ty and Heather to let us come crash with them for the night.

Beach House in Oxnard

Love when days start like this….. (had to call a locksmith to have him drill out the deadbolt that broke in the locked position).

And end like this….. (Ty and Heather invited us to spend the night with them at the beach house in Oxnard they rented for a week). It was pure heaven! 

Ty even built a firepit in the sand and we sat out until almost 11pm roasting marshmallows and hanging out.