Post-Cruise Fun in CA

I meant to post this a while back. But obviously it didn't happen. Oh well.

I've learned to just let this blog be what it is - a somewhat haphazard gathering of memories and photos and thoughts that ebbs and flows based on what else I've got going on and what my energy levels are.

After we got off the boat, we had a couple days to enjoy the warmer weather and sights of southern CA before making the long drive home.

We started off at one of my favorite places on earth - the Getty Museum. Why do I love it so much? Gorgeous architecture with great curves, angles and textures, an amazing amount of travertine imported all the way from Italy (each block a work of art on its own), unique and beautiful gardens, wonderful manageable collections from many periods of art displayed exquisitely, lovely setting overlooking LA, a great sketching room where kids can try their hands at art, headsets that tell you about each piece of art if you want more information, and it's all free (thanks for leaving all this to us, J. Paul Getty!). I love getting excited about art with the kids.

Here's the Getty in photos:

One of the twins' favorite things about the museum is that you get to ride this cool train up the hill from the parking garage to the museum.

 

  

I loved seeing how Oliver approached his sketching - he carefully drew each muscle in the feet and calves of this statue.

 

  

 

 

 

When we were done at the museum, we headed to Hollywood Blvd to check out the Walk of Fame and the Hollywood sign - stuff we've never done with the kids before.

As I looked at all those stars on the pavement and handprints in the cement in front of the Chinese Theater, I realized that there were lots and lots of names I didn't recognize. There are a lot of people who are famous or who have been famous who really aren't know to all that many people outside of certain circles. Being famous is relative - and often seems to be more trouble than its worth. And often it seems that people wind up sacrificing relationships and morals to get the fame they crave. They may get their "star on the pavement" or whatever other recognition that looks really exciting - but ultimately, being well-regarded by those closest to you is the only thing that really matters in the grand scheme of things.

But it was fun to find a few favorite famous people . . .

 

And we found a great view of the Hollywood sign.


Then the next day, we headed to San Diego to spend a good chunk of time with my dear sister Charity who was in San Diego to run a 1/2 marathon.

We visited Point Loma and fell in love with the place - ocean all around, beautiful lighthouse, great tide pools.

 

We learned all about what life in a lighthouse in the late 1800's would have been like and how the lights used to work. Lighthouse keepers and their families had simple, busy, solitary lives in gorgeou

 
This is the first European explorer to set foot on the west coast:

 

 I love the sparkly sea all around.

We found some interesting sea snails and clams. But I think we needed lower tide to see the best stuff.

 

Silas found himself a little personal cave and was pretty darn excited about it (see him tucked into the rocks?):

 

Then we went over to La Jolla and found a bunch of seals on the beach and were able to observe them up pretty close. They were so darn cute!

We stayed until sunset so suck the last out of our beautiful day with Charity:

Oh how I love being with my sister Charity who drinks in beauty and adventure the same way I do!

Then we spent a whole day driving home. Which actually isn't a half-bad way to spend a day now that the kids are older and don't cry or need to stop all the time. We had our own little church services in the car - Jared assigned each child a topic to research in the scriptures and present about. It was great to see that they could all do a good job with this with very little help from us. And we did a lot of talking and reading and snacking.

What a week we had!



After the Getty, we realized we weren't far from Hollywood and we figured we might as well check it out. We walked down the "Walk of Fame"