Visiting the Lillards

Jeremy and I took a trip out to California this past weekend to visit our friends who are currently living out near LA. Not only did we want to see Ami, Randy and Resse again, but we couldn't wait to meet their new baby girl, Avery.

After waiting in the airport for 4 hours, we were finally on our way, and landed in LA around 11pm. Fortunately, the traffic is not bad this late, so it didn't take us long to get the car and make it up to their place.

Night 1: bedtime at 12am

Around 6:30am the next morning I heard the pitter patter of little feet running around upstairs and a cute little voice yelling "it's orange, it's orange!"

Let me explain.

In an effort to keep Reese from getting up at 5am each morning, Ami bought this cool little nightlight. It stays blue until a certain time, and then turns orange. So for Reese, Ami set the time at 6:30am and he is not allowed to get out of bed until the nightlight turns orange. Hense the "it's orange, it's orange" call at 6:30.

On Friday we packed up the cars and headed to Disneyland. Not only was this my first trip to Disneyland, but it was my first time at Disney with two little kids. Both Reese and Avery did so well. They made it from 10 am to 11 pm without any trouble.

We went on the rockets, space mountain, small world, mr. toads wild ride, peter pan, haunted house, and a few others. We missed out on pirates, but that's just because none of us felt like waiting in the long line. I was surprised how long the lines were for a friday. Seriously, do they not have school in CA?

Around 5pm we headed over to California Adventure. Think of this as the MGM/Animal Kingdom of Disney World. Just as we were leaving Disneyland we saw Goofy. Of course there were pictures to be taken and knuckles to be given.


Oh, and Jeremy and I had to take our picture outside Disneyland.


Since it was already 5, we didn't do too many rides, just Monsters Inc and Tower of Terror. We mostly just walked around and grabbed dinner before the evening water show, which we learned, you need a fastpass for. Unfortunately by the time we found this out, the 9:00 show was already out, so we got tickets for the 10:15 show.

I will say, the show was fairly entertaining, but no where close to the shows that Disney World puts on. I think that we all thought it was 'okay,' but we probably would have enjoyed the fireworks show at Disneyland better.

Night 2: bedtime 12:30am (note - that's 2:30am CDT)

Saturday we just hung out and relaxed. We checked out 2 farmers markets, went to Trader Jos, and stopped by this awesome little bakery near their house. Okay, it's not so little, and it's very well known. It was packed and you could barely move. The nice man at the counter gave me a free sample of their cheese pastry. Randy asked for 2 to go, but after one bite of that, I knew we'd need at least 4. Mmmm, delicious.

At night Ami and I went to go see Bridesmaids. It's was pretty good, definitely has its funny parts, but its a little long in my opinion. I think this movie would have been much better if it was only 1 1/2 hrs long instead of 2 hours. There was a lot that really didn't need to be in the movie.

Night 3: bedtime 12:30am.

After 3 nights of staying up WAY too late, and getting up WAY too early, we were exhausted. Sunday morning we went for a run in Griffin Park and saw what we could of the Hollywood sign through the fog. Ami and I ran together while the boys took the stroller. The trails were REALLY hilly and I bet they had a tough time pushing the stroller back up to the top. I had a tough time just walking back up. Oh, and check it out, Ami and I have the same shoes.


After brunch, Jeremy and I went to Venice Beach for a few hours before heading to the airport.

Venice beach is, um, interesting. I was happy to go and see it, and now I'll be happy to never go back. The beach itself was surprisingly clean, but the "strand" was super dirty. I felt like I needed a shower after visiting.

Thanks Ami, Randy, Reese, and Avery for having us out for the weekend! We had so much fun!