Trip to the LA Memorial Coliseum

Last Friday, we decided to head out to LA to watch the Women's lacrosse game - USC vs. ASU.  I think the main reason to watch the game is also because the game is held inside the LA Memorial Coliseum.  This is an iconic stadium!  There is so much history here, which includes hosting the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics and will host again in 2028! 

As per usual being creatures of habit, we park in the same parking lot that we are familiar with - by the Science Center and also the Natural History Museum.  This airplane looks pretty amazing on this level!

By the way, I just realized that it's not the Science Center but the ScienCenter! Who knew! We've been there several times but yet to see the Space Shuttle.  Some day! 

We see the Coliseum through a crack by one of the gates:

Oh boy, come to find out - we have to go to Gate 8.  Thankfully one of the security guards saw us and mentioned it.  Otherwise we would have walked around the entire thing!

Phew! We made it!!!  And funny enough, it's right next to the parking lot I had first suggested.  But then again there is no EV parking here.  So no one better complain about the decision that Daddy made! :-P

Walking through one of several tunnels... 

Ta da!!!  Cool!!

Although it's smaller than I had expected:

I don't know how they used to play baseball games here.  Not sure how a baseball field would fit in here as the field is so oval.  Very strange!

Okay, we are defying a few blocked entrances and perhaps walking up steps that we are not suppose to.  As Bobby always says, ask for forgiveness later:

It's pretty high up all the way on the top seats!  And I can see downtown LA from here. WOAH!

Okay, now to get down... it's pretty steep.  Thank goodness for these railings:

We're now all the way at the bottom, watching the lacrosse game up-close:

By the way, ASU is losing.  Noooo...!!!

Okay, now we are attempting to walk over to the opposite end of the stadium.  Omg, the flame is on!!

Family we-fie!

Oh no, ASU is still losing!

One more photo of the field before we exit:

Here goes!  But oh no, there's a security guard waiting for us at the very top.  There were a whole bunch of plaques along this side but looks like we won't be able to see any of it:

I don't know why but Bobby was very optimistic about the concession stands being open.  I think the boys are obviously proving him wrong still:

"Open up and give me some food!!!"

Pretty cool building, I'd have to say:

Heading back to the parking lot and the boys come up to this.  Makes you wonder what goes on in that little head of theirs:

Yup! I wasn't very far off!  Although I did have to take his sweater off his waist as it was dragging along the dirt:

Just noticed that there are some fancy tile work underneath that arch.  I'll have to figure out another time when we can sneak up to see this up-close! :-P

We are off to the USC Village for dinner.  I found this place a few months ago when Graham and I were looking for a snack after his doctor's appointment (for his collarbone).  There's quite a variety of restaurants here.  Bobby and Graham opted for Italian:

And Mommy and Charlie opted for Japanese noodles:

And of course, Charlie can't pass up on these Spam musubis.  Ha ha!

I got to say though, they are pretty yummy!  

Graham wants to get "roti" so we send him off by himself to get some (he's definitely getting more independent!).  But he comes back with red velvet cake instead.  The bakery is sold out of this yummy bread!  We'll have to come back earlier next time:

Pretty nice when the building light up around here:

I thought we were all done with dessert and then Daddy returns with a massive ice cream sandwich??! I think Graham was complaining about how he couldn't get 2nd dessert.  Ha ha!

Needless to say, we are definitely stuffed after all this food!  What a fun day though.  Glad we were able to finally see the Coliseum.  There's still so much in LA to discover!!

Oh, by the way - my legs were sore for 2 full days after that trek up those stairs in the Coliseum. LOL!!!

So much fog!

It's been crazy the amount of fog we've been getting on the other side of the hill.  I say the other side because literally, it's on the other side of the hill from us.  And that's the side facing the ocean.  We get fog sometimes on our side too as we are not too far from the harbor, but not as bad.

Check out this "blanket" of fog over the ocean in the morning.  You can see Catalina island in the background:

Another turn and more fog!

Driving into the wall of fog:

On the way home that same day, the fog or I guess the marine layer at this point, is still there:

So crazy!

On another morning a few days later, I'm walking along the beach with a friend.  Yup, more fog!!!

And spotting so many dolphins this morning:

It's school pick up time and there's still fog down below:

And there's at least 10 degrees of change in temperature on the bottom of the hill compared to the top of the hill:

Pretty amazing view from the top of the hill!  We are so lucky to live here :-)

Charlie at Disney Production studio

A couple of weeks ago, it's another early morning for a 7am Call Time!  This time it's only for Charlie since they only needed younger kids as Background extras for a TV series. 

What a foggy morning!

As per usual, we arrived at our destination pretty early.  I did find EV parking but couldn't get it to work.  So that took about 10-15 minutes away of our time.  Ha ha!

Mickey on the water tower!

Mickey on the walkway too! Awwww, so cute!

I don't know who is more excited at this point - me or Charlie??! Ha ha!!

We are still too early to check in so it's time for breakfast:

I swear, if we're not waiting to be on the production set, we are eating.  Or okay, we are supposedly doing our homework:

The kids are suppose to log in 3 hours of school work for a 9.5 hour work day.

Look!  It's Mickey!!!

And it's a wrap at 12:30pm so we're hitting the lunch buffet before leaving:

Charlie is definitely getting the hang of this:

And this is probably his favorite part - dessert!!!

Oh wait, what??! Seconds?? And not happy about sharing with Mommy??!

We have one tired Charlie in the car :-D

Another successful work day.  We haven't seen any forms of checks in our mailbox yet but hopefully soon!