California Science Museum (Dec 28)

I am back-tracking a bit to post some of our activities around LA in December.  We were at the Science Center - sort of a random thing we decided to do that day since the boys were on school break.  A quick look at the new football/soccer stadium - Banc of California Stadium, which is home for the new Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC.  Maybe we might put that on our to-do someday :-)

The Natural History Museum of LA is just next door as well.  The parking lot was full when we drove by but a definite for next time.  Graham actually has been once for his school's field trip last year:

The (American) football stadium for the LA Rams is next door as well. The Rams returned to LA in 2016 and are off to the Superbowl next month. Woohooo...!!!  Okay, I digress but so much happening just around this one area.  How neat that this coliseum actually hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984.  And I am just reading online that Los Angeles will host again in 2028!  I wonder if we will still be living here then??!

By the way, those are statues of 2 naked bodies with no heads!  One male and one female, with all the correct anatomy visible. Ha!  I am actually shocked that these statues are out on display. Not something you see a lot here in the US I think compared to Europe.

Okay, Science Museum... here we come!

Pretty neat light display by the entrance:

We are greeted by a couple of really cool jets!  The King Tut exhibit is here too but we opted not to do it.  And later on, we did discover that the Space Shuttle Endeavour is also here and we need to actually pay to see it!  If we had known, we probably would have bought tickets for both but then again, we weren't really planning on that today.

By the way, here's a little history lesson:  The Endeavour is spelled in the British English manner as it is named after the British HMS Endeavour - the ship that took Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery (1768-1771).  And crazy enough, the Space Shuttle actually carried a piece of the original wood from the ship inside the cockpit!

Daddy thinking hard about this one:

Some cool looking satellites but obviously not actual size:

These capsules on the other hand are the real thing!

I don't remember what this one is now... but definitely very interesting looking:

I can't imagine having to eat freeze-dried food all the time:

This capsule was really neat.  You can actually see all those burn marks at the bottom of it from the re-entry into the atmosphere.  I can't imagine sitting in this little capsule - wondering IF you will make it back onto Earth!?!

Graham and Charlie having a little bit of fun (when are they not!):

Uhhh... yes... that's a bicycle up there!  Cycling on a tight rope - nope, we didn't do it!

We head up to the next level and there are more things for the boys to play with:

All the kids wanted to get on this simulator of a bi-plane:

Daddy was not too bothered with the wait as he was busy surfing on the phone. Ha!

Somehow, we managed to sneak into the Endeavour exhibit.  It was an honest mistake!

Above is the ACTUAL mission control center for the Endeavour and below is one of the photos that was on display - with the Endeavour moving along downtown to the Science Center. So cool!!!  Just look at how huge that shuttle is and look at how many people there were that came out to see it!

Once we realized that we couldn't actually see the Endeavour without paying, we decided to check out the other FREE stuff around.  Some of the displays were a bit tight I thought - parents not having a lot of room to move around:

There was a section that demonstrated a flash flood and obviously Graham wanted to be right in it - in the "soak zone":

Now you see him, now you don't! He got soaked all right that he ran away from the area.  Ha ha!!!

Here is another look at the bicycle tight rope.  It was 3-stories up and none of us went for it :-D

Another different section of the science center about reusable energy.  I remember seeing these solar cars on TV a long time ago.  It's amazing how far electric cars have come now in comparison!

A great day at the Science Center today.  Salute from the boys :-)

We decided to walk across the street to the soccer stadium where there is a collection of restaurants and kids get to eat for free.  We were standing at the entrance and then someone walking by waved and jumped and WOAH!!! It's an interactive display!!!  TOO COOL!!!

When Bobby saw this, he started acting like a kid and running up and down the lobby of the building. What cool technology that traces your movements!!!  The kids were a bit short for the display to register so we had to carry them a bit so they could join in on the fun too:

Unfortunately, the kids' meals were just so so but the fried chicken sandwich with a Korean twist was pretty yummy.  It is dark by the time we get done.  Another look at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Another day in the books! :-D

Happy 12th Wedding Anniversary (Jan 6)

12 years!!! Through the ups and downs and moves and kids, we are now in our new home in Southern California.  I was counting the number of cities and homes we have moved.  The count is 9 moves in 6 cities within 12 years.  Phew!!! 

It was a nice surprise when I woke up in the morning :-D

Bobby did admit that he sneaked out in the morning to make a quick run to the grocery store.  Ha ha!  Funny enough the store had a gift card for our favorite restaurant!  Unfortunately, I did not get Bobby anything this year.  I was unwell when I returned from the ice hockey game a few nights ago.  I don't normally get heartburn but I guess my belly was not happy with the food at the game.  And the next day, my body was so achy! I think it was a bad combination with gardening too.  Gardening lately has really kicked my butt!

And the leaky ceiling the night before didn't help either.  It has been raining so much lately - a whole lot more than last year!  We are still dealing with this issue - calling on the original roofing company and the company that installed the solar panels and also the Home Warranty company.  Never a dull moment with our new home! :-(

Well, thankfully by that weekend, I was up and about again and didn't want to turn down a meal at our favorite Chinese restaurant at the mall.  Even the boys love it now!

Well, lets see what this next year brings us.  Like I said, never a dull moment in the Pridgen household.  How could there be when your kids are doing things like this:

That is Charlie by the way, with his smiley box face.  If you lift the piece of paper, there is another flap underneath with a "sad" mouth.  Ha ha!

And we picked up a "free" Ping Pong table recently too so we are busy trying to train our next Olympian! 

Nah... not likely.  And I said "free" because we actually had to rent a truck to pick up the FREE table.  The total cost for the truck was $35 so maybe still not too bad considering the cost of a brand new ping pong table.

It is probably much easier to train a professional napper and TV watcher.  Graham is definitely a natural at this one. LOL!!!

Ahhhh..., good times!!!  May the adventures continue! Love you lots, honey!!! XOX

First ice hockey game - LA Kings (Jan 3)

Since the boys are still on their school holiday break, we decided to take them to an ice hockey game - Los Angeles Kings vs. Tampa Bay Lightning.  The Saturday afternoon game was way too expensive, so we had to opt for a Tuesday 7pm game.  Thankfully the excitement kept Graham and Charlie awake the entire time!  We are back at the Staples Center - our last time here was for a Monster Trucks Jam.  Amazing how they switch out this place for different events!

We are slowly getting familiar with players' names and the mascot Bailey.  Can't be too difficult to remember/recognize a player with no front teeth??!  By the way, we have the boys wear their Ball-Hockey jerseys.  Their team is sponsored by the LA Kings!

We check out the rink before getting to our seats.  What a fun atmosphere!  The fog by the way was machine-made. Ha!

Family photo op!

Just as we find our seats, all the boys head out to scout out for some dinner.  While they were gone, I realized that you could actually order food from our seats!  Daddy bought some fancy tickets!!! Well, now that the game was almost starting, the boys were missing out on the light show!

Wow!!! What an introduction!!!  The boys actually did make it back in time to see some of the light show and intro of the players.  And the SUPER LOUD horn goes off and the game begins!!!  You, in front! SIT DOWN!!!  And oh, the family sitting behind us were so noisy!  They had to much to say during the game.  Sheesh!

Graham seems quite excited and into it.  Or is it because he sees gals with short skirts cleaning up the ice???!  Obviously still too young yet for that.  PHEW!

But seriously, the gals that clean the ice... their skirts are really short!

It is the end of the 1st Period and the LA Kings is already down 3 to 0!!!  All because of all the penalties and how much time the team is spending in the box.  Maybe we need to get our own "penalty" box at home :-D

Graham is less than enthusiastic now:

Still good on this other side!

More lights!!!

End of 2nd Period and now the score is 5 to 1.  AAAAAaaahhhHHHHH...!!!!

Well, at least the boys are enjoying the dancing in between!!!  Anything to try and get on that Jumbotron :-D

The LA Kings did lose but nonetheless, a great first experience for ice hockey.  We are slowly checking off these sports on our to-watch list!

As we leave, we go out a balcony to see the large Christmas tree across from the Staples Center.  There is actually an outdoor ice-rink there. Maybe we will put that on our list for this next Christmas :-)

Happy New Year 2019!!!

Can't believe it is already 2019.  Where did 2018 go??!  It didn't seem that long ago that we had just moved back from Abu Dhabi.  I can still see all those boxes in my mind - in the living room of our apartment - waiting for the movers to show up.  Gosh, I guess I still can't get away from moving boxes as there are still so many in the garage and also scattered around the house.  Anyway...

To start the New Year, we decided to go to the LA Zoo Lights.  Charlie was fast asleep.  Graham was maybe halfway there!?? I think he is still sometimes getting used to his new glasses:

The line looked long when we parked but it didn't occur to us that it would get THAT long!!!  Funny enough, we let the boys nap an extra 15 minutes in the car, thinking we were a bit early. What a mistake that was!  It took us almost 45 minutes just to get through the line and to get through the front gate. Phew!

Never going to make THAT mistake again.  Ha Ha! And it is cold tonight! I think the thermostat in the zoo said 40F.  Brrrr...!!!

Christmas tree is still up!

Cute monkey lights around the "market" area - where the souvenir shops are.  We bypass those for now:

I was trying to get a nice family photo but it's a bit tricky with the lights! This is as good as it will get:

Doesn't take long for Graham and Charlie to scout out some gadgets/toys:

Happy Charlie!

These row of lights on the wall were quite fun:

Daddy was being quite funny here.  Ha ha!

Here is the tunnel of lights - fun but I felt that the tunnel was too short :-\

Another blurry photo!

There were a couple of dancers at the end of the light tunnel.  One had a lit hoola hoop and the other with a couple of lit batons.  I'm not sure if their outfits were family-friendly. Maybe I am being old-fashion??!

There was also a light/laser show in a small section of the zoo, over a small pond.  They probably could have opened up some more area so it didn't feel so cramped:

At this point, I think we are starting to compare the light show to the Phoenix Zoo Lights.  Bobby and I both agree that Phoenix has it down a lot better!  Perhaps the LA Zoo is just a lot bigger so it was more difficult???  We don't see any animals tonight other than 2 white swans sleeping:

There was a Reptile building that was lit inside too but the line was too long.  We come across a few reindeers with cute Christmas-related names.  I can't remember any of them now except for Cinnamon :-)  Did you know that the reindeers' antlers grow and shed their antlers every year??? Who knew!

Having some fun with our shadows:

We are heading out and this is probably one of the most colorful spots in the zoo:

It is a late night but we have two happy kids!  I guess that is all that matters these days :-)

Happy New Year everyone!!!