November 29, 2011

Travel Town Museum
Los Angeles, California


"Preserving and celebrating the rich railroad heritage of Los Angeles"


What's not to love about the Travel Town Museum?
Free admission!
 Lots of space for the kids to run and explore!
And  a train ride around the museum!
David ended up loving it too. He said it was one of his favorite adventures we have done so far.

November 25, 2011

LAX & Venice Beach

California

Back in the day when DP was a LA resident, he enjoyed spending the afternoon at LAX plane spotting. He'd grab lunch at In & Out Burger and take it over to the park where there are some awesome views of the airport. About ten years ago, when David and I first met, he took me one of his traditional plane spotting adventures. And today we took Gracie! The planes fly right over your head to the point where you feel like you can almost touch them. It's really neat and Grace tried her best to reach, reach, reach for those planes!

Afterward, we drove over to Venice Beach to play in the sand. We ended up having a
  wonderful afternoon of revisiting our past and creating new memories.

November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving

Los Angeles, California

This Thanksgiving didn't go as we had originally planned.
 Our visitors couldn't make it out, but that's alright because we have plenty to be thankful for...our health, family, friends, and laughter! Bring It On had a lovely Thanksgiving gathering. Grace had the run of the party room and more attention from the cast than one little girl could ever want.

  I'm very blessed to have such an amazing little family. This past week has been rough and I'm extremely thankful for my daughter and husband. They keep me sane during the tough times,  make me laugh when I'm crying, and tell me everything will be okay. And guess what?
They were right!

Happy Holidays!!!

November 11, 2011

11-11-11

Santa Monica

 & Los Angeles, California

We started off our 11-11-11 with a trip to the Santa Monica Pier.

David ended up having the day off last minute and decided to come along. 

Earlier in the morning, it was cloudy and drizzling and I was slightly hesitant to drive almost an hour away and not be able to enjoy the beach. However, Charlotte said let's hope for the best and off we went. The clouds cleared shortly after we arrived and it turned out to be a gorgeous day!

After the day of fun in the sun, we headed home to get ready for the big night...

Bring It On!!!

The show is fabulous, funny, touching, fantastic, and amazing!!!!

 It went by way too fast and I need to see it again ASAP. 

We all know I loved the show in Atlanta, but now it's so much better!

 (Which I didn't think was even possible.) 

I know I'm bias, but the rest of the audience loved it too! 

You could actually hear people gasp when the cheerleaders were flying threw the air and then applaud and cheer when they were safely back on the ground. 

I had the best seat in the whole theatre. I could see the entire stage and David conducting/playing as well. He has worked his butt off and it shows. The band and the cast sound amazing. I am truly blessed to have such an incredibly talented husband, who allows Grace and I to be such a huge part in his theatre world.

We can only hope that the show will to continue to be a huge success and that all of our family and friends will have the opportunity to see the show. I know you won't be disappointed.

 The Peps at the opening night party

November 8, 2011

Potpourri 

& Monday Family Funday

Los Angeles, California

Sometime little things happen that aren't worth an entire blog post, but at the same time they make me laugh or cry or scream and I want to remember them.

This past week was a tough one. 

Grace decided she'd much rather perform in her crib, than sleep in it.

(She took one nap over the course of 7 days!)

Grace officially is potty trained.

 (Granted there are still accidents once in awhile, but she is rockin it as a whole)

David and I were home sick. Bad!

It is tough when Dave leaves for work between the hours of 8 and 10 a.m. and doesn't get home until after midnight. He's tired and I'm tired. 

 I'm even more tired when Grace doesn't allow me that 2+ hour break I cherish in the afternoon. So, as I was having my millionth breakdown of the week on the couch this past Sunday, crying to my husband that I was tired and that I couldn't wait for the show to open so he'll be home more, my awesome little girl said to me, "It's okay Mommy! You can do it!"

 And then I started crying even harder. 

This is Grace on the way to the grocery store...can you tell it was raining? 

Of course, she needed her hat and boots. 

This past week we took a trip to the theatre again (with Apricot Chicken...see Recipe tab above) to have a family dinner. And this is what happens when No Nap Gracie nods off on the way there.

   

Once we arrived and she ate her dinner it was business as usual for her at the theatre.

A little playing in Daddy's dressing room...

and watching the cheerleaders warm up from the audience.

This week's Monday Family Funday included our traditional going out for breakfast and then to the mall for David's opening night attire. We also had dinner with the Thomas family ( my new friend Charlotte, her husband Anil, Alice and Patrick). Charlotte made a fabulous Indian cuisine feast, we drank wine, had adult conversation and the kids destroyed the house. It was perfect.

The kids at the park

So now it's Tuesday. The start of a new week. Grace is napping right now (Thank you Aunt Elaine (Grace's Guardian and whom I pray to for all things Grace) for helping get that kid back on track!)) 

The countdown to Friday has begun. 

Opening night of Bring It On!

I couldn't be more excited. A. I'm going to get to see the show and B. I'm going to get my husband back!

Rehearsals will slow down and life will sort of go back to normal. 

As normal as touring the country as a family can be :)

We miss you all. We miss our house. And are very much looking forward to the holidays when we get to see everyone! XOXOXO

November 2, 2011

Creation Station

Studio City, California

Shortly before we started touring Gracie said to me, "Mommy, my favorite thing to do is dance!"

So, I did a little research and found "Happy Feet!" 

It's a dance class for 18 months to 2 1/2 years old with parent involvement. 

This is us before heading to our first class. Grace wanted to bring her "lunch box" to school.

Her teachers name is Miss. Rachael and she's great with the kids (and the parents! 

She gets the adults involved just enough and then has the parents

 sit down so the kids get a chance to be on their own.)

Hopefully, she didn't inherent her parents dancing abilities, or lack thereof.

So far she has showed great promise!

October 31. 2011

Halloween

Studio City, California

It just so happened that Halloween was on a Monday this year which, as we all know, is David's day off and Monday Family Funday. To kick off the holiday, we went to Denny's for breakfast and then to Griffith Park. We also made a visit to the Verizon Store where my kick butt husband bought me an IPhone. What a fabulous Halloween present. I LOVE IT.

 Anyway, let me get back on track here...HALLOWEEN! 

So, earlier in the week I had done a little digging on line and found the top 5 neighborhoods to trick or treat around Los Angeles and it worked out that one of the neighborhoods is about a ten minute drive from our apartment. We were sold on going when I read that Will Farrell has been seen in that neighborhood trick or treating with his kids. 

So we hopped into the car and headed to Studio City. 

And then this happened...

She was so excited earlier in the day that she didn't take a nap and fell asleep on our way there. When we got to Studio City and woke her up she wanted nothing to do with trick or treating. She was cold and tired and scared. After many attempts of trying to get her to go up to the houses and Grace clinging on to one of us at all times...

we decided to just take a walk around the neighborhood. 

I suggested we cross the street to check out an over the top decorated house and guess who was standing in front of that house? Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs with their son Walker ( if you don't know who they are...they're Broadway and TV stars, famous for being in the orignal cast of RENT ). We wanted to go over and chat with them, but their son was having a difficult time, as was Grace, so we hoped that we would see them later on. A few minutes later, we bumped into a little girl who was dressed as Minnie Mouse. We convinced Grace that she should follow Minnie Mouse and trick or treat at the next house with her. That's all it took. Slowly, she got the hang of it and by the end of the night Grace was a trick or treat champion. She didn't want to leave. We hadn't eaten dinner and the temperature had dropped, but she didn't care. She kept saying, "One more house...PPLLLLEEAASE!" I am extremely proud of Grace. 

She over came her fear and ended up loving the evening.

Oh yeah, and we bumped into Will Farrell!!! I asked if we could take a picture with him and he said he doesn't do that kind of stuff when he's with his kids. Still really cool to have seen him.

We topped off the night with a pizza party! 

David and I said it's a Halloween we'll never forget and our favorite night on tour (so far)!