Week in LA day four, LA Zoo

Our last day in LA was New Years Eve.  First, I caught this cute picture of Claire and Mateo having some ipad time.

We then decided to head to the LA Zoo.  The kids were excited to learn that they still had Santa's reindeer at the zoo!

A stop at flamingos for Grandma.  

We watched the gorillas for a while, they were walking around and making noises at each other.

We saw most everything and walked a lot.  The kids were starving so we decided to head out.  The weather was so nice all day.

For New Year's Eve we made fondue for dessert.  The kids loved the chocolates and all of the treats to dip inside it.  We had a great week in LA and can't wait to see our cousins again.

Week in LA day three, horse camp

Lisa's girls have attended a horse camp not far from their house a few times and Lisa found out that they were having winter sessions.  So we were able to sign all of the kids up except for Mateo.  Grant and McKenzie were in one group and all of the older kids were in another group.  They loved the camp and learning how to ride horses.  I wish I remembered the names of the horses, as the kids talked about them for a long time.  This picture is Grant's class.  He is second from the back.

McKenzie on her horse.

Grant looks so cute on the horse!

After the camp, they had to help take off the saddles and put them in the barn.

Grant and McKenzie were in the morning session, so we brought the rest of the kids over at lunch time, ate lunch and then the older kids had their camp.  The obligatory mostly looking group photo.

Mateo and I trying to get a selfie.

Andrew on his horse.

Then Taylor, you can't tell from this but she loves horses.

Chris trying to control his horse.

Claire loved that she got a white horse.

Elaina on her horse.

Getting ready to get off the horses.

Since they were the last class of the day they also got to help feed the horses.

That night, we met up with most of Ryan's family (Landon was sick) at a trampoline park.  The kids had fun bouncing with each other.

I also managed to get my siblings to take a picture.

Lisa read to the kids each night and they all listened intently.  You can see her on the bottom right.

A week in LA day first and second days

After Christmas we headed down to southern California.  Natalie was in Las Vegas for Christmas so we both decided to go to Erik's house to spend the week together.  We were surprised when we got to the Grapevine and there was snow!  I pulled over at a rest stop so that the kids could touch the snow.  

It was total excitement, but it was cold!

When we got to Erik and Lisa's house, we got to meet their new kitten Jenna.  

The next day we went to downtown LA to the Peterson Auto Museum. There were a lot of really cool cars there so we had to be extra careful with the kids.

The first car!

The kids in front of the original Batmobile.

They could actually ride in this car.

A replica of Lightning McQueen

These were the pictures of the outside of the museum.

We walked down the street to the LA County Museum of Art where they had a bunch of outdoor exhibits and sculptures.  These light posts were really cool.

We were next door to the La Brea Tar Pits so we looked at all of the dig sites that they had outside.  We were going to go inside, but the line was really long.  

An interesting sculture/tunnel.

So cute!

We ended the day at the Grove shopping center.  Elaina had never been to an American Girl store, so of course we had to go since we were so close.

Then to Dylan's Candy Bar across the street.  So many fun choices.

The Christmas tree was so big I couldn't even get the top in the same picture.

The sunset and Hollywood sign were so pretty that night.