Spectacular views

Here are just a small collection of amazing views around the area.  This is looking towards Los Angeles from Malaga cove, about 10 minutes away from the apartment:

This is not far from Graham and Charlie's new school. I was driving around some smaller streets and looking at pretty homes. If you look hard enough, you can see surfers and one person on a paddle board:

Pretty blue home and this one is actually a modest one.  Some homes around here are massive and super expensive!

By the way, with all these cliffs and rolling hills, I am learning how to "curb my wheels"!

We stop by Manhattan beach one evening after dinner and catch the sunset.  People love to play sand volleyball here:

Manhattan beach is a lot closer to Bobby's work but there is no way we can afford these homes. And the apartments are smaller and sometimes there is no laundry or shared laundry and if you are lucky, one parking spot!

What a change of scenery from Abu Dhabi!  We really lucked out with our apartment and the boys' new school.  The area here is spectacular!

Quick trip to Santa Monica Pier

A golfer friend was here a couple of weekends ago to visit her daughter.  She was going to start drama school in Los Angeles.  So off we went - as reluctant as Bobby was, and you can see why.  And this is on Saturday!

So busy at the Pier too!

There is is... Santa Monica Pier:

My phone acts up but thankfully I was able to find my friend and her daughter and the rest of her entourage.  And looks like Charlie got a hold of my camera again!

Speaking of Charlie, he insisted on lobster again!  But after I opened it up for him, he decided he didn't want it.  Obviously I couldn't waste it but I had to finish up my lobster roll too??? No wonder my "muffin top" belly is not getting any smaller :-P

The Popeye black-and-white classic cartoon series on TV kept the boys entertained while the rest of us were able to engage in conversation.  And Graham and Charlie loved looking at all the crab and lobsters too:

Did I already mention how busy the beach was?

And the waves were massive!

 We don't stay long on the beach.  And just a quick peek along the pier and it's home time:

We drive by the airport on the way home:

The plane goes right over our sun roof!

Thankfully Graham and Charlie are occupied in the back with the DVD player.  Thank goodness for built-in technology in the car!

We are just a couple of minutes away from the apartment and we spot a cruise-ship in the ocean.  Too cool!!!

Funny enough, Charlie said that he wants to go on a cruise-ship because there's lots of food on it.  Thanks to Alvin and the Chipmunks - Chipwrecked movie! 

Progress in the Apartment

On the first week, I spotted a magnet board with the map of California.  Had to get it of course! You should look at it now - can barely see the map because we have so many things pinned up. Ha ha!

Graham and Charlie's bunk bed gets delivered but it can't get through into their doorway. So the delivery guys have to disassemble it a bit. The boys try and "help":

I think the bunk bed is approved!

Mommy and Daddy are stuck with the air-mattress for a few days. Instead of using the mattress in the Pod, we decided to buy a new one. Thoughts of bed mites after 3 years in storage (and then discovering mold in the Pod once it was delivered completely grossed me out!!!)

Here we are having our first meal in the apartment. Simple penne pasta with butter and cheese.  Sometimes these boys are easy to please. Even with plastic cutlery!

Charlie has to find an outfit for his Alphabet Fashion Show. He was assigned with the letter "C".  C for Crocodile??? Although I think in the end he was convinced it was actually a Dinosaur and not a Crocodile.  Oh well, perhaps it will still be a good Halloween Costume then!

Bought some new plants for the apartment. We will see how well they survive.  The heatwave earlier this week was quite bad for my other new plant that I bought recently:

As there was no furniture when we first moved in, the boys were practicing their tennis indoors. Not anymore after our Pod delivery!

And as if closet space isn't valuable enough, management decided to put a water heater in the master closet??!!  Right here I am the closet as a drying rack.  And of course, now it is completely filled up with hangers and clothes.  It's amazing how many hangers we saved up from our home in Tulsa, Oklahoma:

Our new sofa has arrived!!!  The sofa and love-seat seems so HUGE in this small apartment. What an illusion when we were in the showroom. But it is super comfy. Just have to figure out how to make room for it:

And the pillows... Graham and Charlie LOVES playing with these pillows!!!

I needed a shoe and coat rack so off I went to find IKEA.  It was about 45 minutes away and what a confusing store.  You are suppose to start on the 3rd floor and work your way down to the bottom. Well, I was going against traffic, going through the warehouse section first.  Anyhow, saw the coolest thing ever. A belt to take your shopping cart down the steps!

What a cool concept! I am easily amused :-)

Boys are trying to help Mommy with the Ikea assembly.  I think Graham is trying to instruct Charlie with something???

Tada!!!  Love it!  Love it so much I had to actually buy 2 units. Very functional and hopefully it will look somewhat organized.  I did hang up some lights around the frame. Maybe that will draw the eyes away from the mess :-D

Oh, I cut myself this first week.  I actually burned my finger first - trying to take something out of the oven without a proper oven mitt.  And then the next day, I cut myself using an improper (and obviously very sharp!) knife.

I thought I had downloaded the photos from our Pod delivery onto my laptop but obviously not.  Will be sure to provide an update on that!  The apartment became even smaller when all our boxes and other things arrived from the Pod.  And we also had our new desk and coffee table delivered this week. Both furniture are also larger in size than expected!  Our dining table arrives tomorrow. Can't wait. I have been standing a lot in the kitchen - obviously to cook and also while eating my dinner with the kids and Bobby.  They sit on the stools by the kitchen island.  How did I end up with the short end of the straw??!

First day of school!

After visiting the Enrollment Center for the 2nd time, the boys were finally able to start school! And actually they are still requiring more paperwork.  It's amazing how strict they are on needing proof of address!
The lady said they could start on Thursday, Oct 5 but it was ME that was not ready! So, we decided on first day of school being Friday, Oct 6.  Boys were so excited:

New school bags:

Snack and lunches all packed. They are actually allowed to bring nut products to school and just have to make sure the don't sit on the "Nut Free" table. 

Parked and walking in.  And actually, Graham and Charlie are so comfortable now that I don't even have to get out of the car. Just have to drop them off at the curb!  Which means I can drop them off in my PJs???

Happy First Day!

There was a Flag Ceremony at school that Friday and the entire school was gathered in front of the office building, in the parking lot. It is such a small school!!!  There were probably only about 300 students. I suppose maybe because it is just an Elementary school. 
It's cute how the kids hang their bags outside the classroom.  These would melt if it were Abu Dhabi. Haha!

Both boys molded right into their classes.  Charlie even came home with a Halloween witch!

It has been just over 2 weeks and Graham has already lost 2 water bottles.  That kid I tell you!!!  Well, just waiting for our boxes to arrive from Abu Dhabi as I know we have lots of spares in there!

Moving in!

We moved into our new apartment on October 4th.  We were basically still at the apartment since we have no furniture and our Pod from Tulsa had not arrived yet.  There was a delay in paperwork - very annoying! In the meantime, new door mat for our new Happy Place!

By the way, the Graham and Charlie are insisting on sitting in these large shopping carts.  Welcome back to the United States. Ha ha!

The gym is equipped with TRX bands. I will need to familiarize myself with these - eventually :-P

There is a spinning bike too! And the room has a TV that can be connected to various workout programs. Looks like fun!  Eventually...

The boys run around the new apartment and after a few hours their feet are filthy!!!  Already noted the management.  The apartment has been newly renovated and obviously the floors were not cleaned properly.  YUCK!

I am loving the new large stainless steel sink.  All the appliances are new too. YAY!!!

We have discovered that there are two ways to get home to our new apartment.  This one is downhill from the other side of the hill.  View is spectacular but the constant braking can be quite tedious!

Look what we saw one day coming home!  A hawk with his lunch (a rabbit):

Welcome home! On a clear day, you can see Catalina island on the horizon.

The only thing about this place is there is no air conditioning!  Seems that if you are a certain number of miles away from the coast, air conditioning is not required.  Thankfully there is mostly a nice breeze from the ocean. Although we have had to buy a few fans just to drown out the noise from the pool during sleep time!