California Science Center--a must-visit!

Last Saturday we went to the California Science Center. Located at Exposition Park, we were able to have a picnic lunch before visiting the museum. Parking was $8. The kids had a blast, and we were grateful for a fun place to spend a Saturday that was relatively cheap (donations for admission).

The museum has exhibits on ecosystems, technology, weather, all sorts of things. I especially enjoyed the "show" on chemical reactions where I learned a few things I should have caught back in high school chemistry class and apparently did not (ahem). ;) We spent a couple of hours at the CSC and didn't see nearly everything, and of course there are many other museums, such as the California African-American Museum and the Natural History Museum, that we hope to visit in the future. The California Science Center and Exposition Park are fun for the whole family!

Funny things about LA #1 and #2

#1. You can walk into a mall, just running a random errand (in our case, buying our youngest daughter's first pair of real shoes ::sniff:: because she took her first steps on Monday!!! ::sniff::), and see a sign that says something along the lines of "Commercial filming here... if you walk beyond this sign it means you have consented to being filmed." Fascinating. My biggest fear as we walked past that sign was that there would be an expose on obesity and I would be filmed. You know how on the news there are always really unflattering shots of headless bodies, camera aimed right at flabby mid-sections? I was really worried I'd be female body #2342987432. Thankfully it didn't seem like that kind of filming, but instead a real movie/sitcom type of scene right in the middle of the mall. Between a couple real kiosks, there was a fake pretzel stand (I know because I ran into the mall for something else last week and didn't see the pretzel stand there) with cameramen and make-up people and screens and all sorts of things around. It was interesting. I wish the kids had been older; we would have stayed to see what was going on a little more closely. Maybe another time...

#2. We have a gardener. Well, more accurately, there is a gardener provided with our rent. This is so odd to me. My husband loves not having to deal with the yard, especially since this type of grass/vegetation is different from anything we've ever had in the Midwest, but it is still odd. Our gardener seems very nice, and I guess it's kind of like in other countries where the economy depends on families even of modest means having nannies, gardeners, maids, cooks, etc. It will just take some getting used to.

We're here!!!

After all of the chaos of packing up our old house, spending the holidays with family, and taking four children under the age of 8 on an airplane, we made it here safe and sound. Since then, the adventures have been no less stressful--a walk-in clinic trip for me for strep, a huge gash on our son's head after he tripped over his feet and ran into a desk at the credit union in the middle of Sony Pictures, of all places.... yeah, exciting stuff, I tell you. We are just thankful to all be here, to be in one piece, and to start our life here in LA.

We love the house we have here! It is smaller than our old house, but we never really needed all of that space anyway. I can see this one actually all being clean at once...someday. ;)

We have already been to the beach once (on Saturday we hit 80 degrees), and between the orange tree in our backyard and the fact that there are restaurants featuring every type of ethnic food imaginable within two miles of our house, we feel incredibly blessed to be here and are excited about the opportunities here.

Back to work... still unpacking. :)