Day 3 - Tourist Whirlwind

Toby was off today so we decided to leave early and try and hit as much tourist stuff as we could. We started off by a great drive out to Malibu. The water was beautiful and the homes amazing. I wish we could live that close to the beach. As we were heading back south to Santa Monica I spotted some dolphins playing so Toby swerved off and almost ran over a cyclist (he loooovvvveees them by the way). While we were looking at them we also saw a seal. Jack informed us that it wasn't a dolphin...he thought it was a whale.

Santa Monica was our next stop and we first visited the pier. We walked around, watched surfers, played on the midway, and took it all in. We then went to Venice Beach and visited the famous Gold's Gym...where Arnold worked out back in the day.

Sam liked to ride like this in the stroller...a man I walked by said, "Oh...there is a kid in there.." like it was perfectly normal for him to be back there.

The crosses represent every soldier that has died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Very humbling...the ultimate sacrifice.

We could not go to Venice Beach without seeing this...thought the sign across the street was hilarious and probably very true.On to Beverly Hills for a lunch at Jerry's Famous Deli and some celebrity home searching. Most of them were behind tons of greenery but were able to see the Beckham's up close. At their good friends the Cruise's we were only able to see their gate. Same as the Playboy mansion. We saw lots of other houses and I am headed back for another day of this (I LOVED IT). We drove around some more and saw sites.

La Brea Tar Pits Playboy Mansion

We then headed back towards home because we had to get some more of those tasty cupcakes...YUMMY! We ate them and the boys played in the local park. Then home and I cooked pork chops, green beans, pasta roni, and biscuits. Now we are relaxing and Toby is gearing up for another long week. I am planning on doing some more research on things to do with kiddos. I am thinking Disneyland is on our itinerary in the next few days but we will probably lay low tomorrow. I'll let you know.

Oh yeah...we did end up going to The Grove last night. We didn't see Santa but we did enjoy taking in the Christmas spirit.