Californians....for the weekend

We just got back from a lovely trip to the LA area with the immediate Crozier clan to celebrate my last brother-in-law's graduation. We enjoyed much-needed and basically homework-free long weekend together IN THE SUN! I woke up this morning feeling rather refreshed and rested despite all the activities we managed to cram in.

After landing in Ontario, we joined the Senior Croziers and Scotty (the to-be graduate) for lunch at Taco Nauseo, a place that claimed to have "The World's Best Fish Taco Since 1978." I actually preferred the shrimp taco myself and looking back, deemed this lunch to be the best meal of our trip. We spent the remainder of the day in Pasadena, reconnecting with our good friends Jackie and Brant and Miss Maddie Mae. Unfortunately, I didn't pull out my camera until after dark and so didn't capture a whole lot of great shots.

Except this one which I just love!

Maddie and Isla had a BLAST together and spent most of the afternoon chasing each other up and down the hall in the Himes' apartment, giggling and laughing all the way. They are actually only 2 months apart although Maddie has almost a good head on Isla height-wise. :) I love the last shot of the two girls when we asked them to kiss each other goodbye. Isla totally leaned in and went for it!

We stayed in Covina in a rather spacious room at the Radisson. Our little family ate most breakfasts in the room to save $$. We made Isla eat naked since strawberries were involved! We totally improvised and used plastic bags for "plates," hotel cups for bowls and tp for napkins.

I came away from this trip feeling like we seriously have a superstar traveler for a daughter. I don't know if she just has the perfect disposition for traveling or if it is a trait she has learned with all the traveling we have made her do but she was such a joy basically the whole trip. We were only stationary in one place for her to nap in an actual bed ONE time the whole weekend and she somehow survived (and thrived!) on only brief power naps on-the-go. She even stayed up until 10 PM on most nights and had a bad cold. I fell in love with her all over again (times two!!) this weekend but I'll save some of that for a later post....but look at her here. How could you not?

John and Tash arrived late Thursday PM so we all met up on Friday morning to attend Scotty's convocation ceremony at Azusa. The sun was out which made me a very happy girl. Next, all of us (minus Scotty who had ooodles of papers to write the whole weekend), headed to the J Paul Getty Museum for a couple hours of culture.

Isla didn't so much appreciate the art and preferred to push her own stroller through the exhibits, taking out anyone and anything in her way. As you can see, she can't see where she's going.

She threw a full on fit (she was sooo tired) in the European Impressionist Gallery (which boasted three stories of open, echoing halls) when we folded up the stroller and told her she could no longer push it. Thankfully, I found a nearby outdoor patio where she had a little alone time and a timeout (only after the nice French museum employee tried to offer her hard suck candies to make her stop screaming--a total choking hazard!) She and I spent the rest of the time at the museum wandering the courtyards and exploring a "family friendly" exhibit while Graham saw the "real" art. We were at least able to walk through the pretty gardens (the family picture above) before we called it good and took off for Santa Monica.

Isla just LOVED the beach! We kept asking her if she wanted to go to the beach and she would say "BEACH!" Once we got there, she was saying "Beach! Cool! Fun!" It was pretty adorable. The waves sort of freaked her out but she liked the "bubbles" in the water. And the "ducks" (seagulls). She sat and cheerfully played in the sand (and ate snacks) while the rest of us visited.

Of course we had to make a quick trip down the beach to see the famous pier.

I took a series of candid pictures of the family walking. John was leaping into the air in every one of them.

That evening (after getting stuck in horrid Friday night traffic), we pulled Scotty away from his paper and went out for Mediterranean food back in Azusa. The following morning, we met up with him again for a delicious breakfast out before leaving him to hit up Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I think we all thought it'd be a much quicker little trip into the city but with traffic and all the driving, it ate up most of our day.

We made a random stop at Greystone Park, since it was on our Hollywood map and we were nearby. None of us knew what it was but it turned out to have this gorgeous French-looking mansion on the property which has been featured in TONS of movies (most recently, Social Network). The whole place brought back wonderful memories of France and now I'm itching for another European adventure.

Looking rather intrigued...

....by the "acrobatic" turtles perhaps? Give 'em a break! It's spring for crying out loud! They've gotta do their thing.

Of course a trip to California would not be complete without a stop at IN-N-OUT for a burger (and fries and a milkshake for us "big" people...) And yes, I did let Isla have her first fast food hamburger. She found it rather curious.

Finally Saturday night came around, the reason for our trip! I love my inlaws....they totally spoiled us with this trip!

Thankfully the ceremony was outside and there was plenty of space for Isla to run around with the other kiddos her age in the back/off to the side. She wanted to "walk" for the majority of it but I made sure we were back in our seats to hoot and holler when they announced Scotty's name.

I LOVED spending lots of time with these two people.

The Crozier boys! I love that Graham looks like he's the youngest. He admitted this weekend that he's looking forward to going gray so that people will actually believe that he is a nurse practitioner instead of thinking he's a student like they do now. (He gets a lot of panicked patients saying "Please tell me you're not my doctor!!")

Congrats Scotty and thanks for graduating and giving us a wonderful excuse to tour around California! I only wish we could have hung out more...And thanks to the Croziers for our Californian Adventure (and all the extra helping hands with Isla and our luggage!)