Adventures with Mommy.

Ok, back to finishing up all of our vacation posts. During the week while Robert was working Elena and I did some exploring in and around the LA area. I was very proud of myself for driving and getting around without any problems! I even used the carpool lane! :) Of course we hit the beach~

We found some nice parks~

I even made the drive up to Pasadena for Kidspace Children's Museum one day!!

Elena really loved this place! We started off in the little kid are where she did puzzles, read books, met some new friends and even had music time.

Then we ventured outside and found a construction site, tricycle race track, and water tables.

We took a little hike around the perimeter of the museum and found a drum set that you play by shooting water at - of course Elena loved this and didn't want to leave! The only way I was able to drag her away was to promise there was more water to play in down the path!

And boy oh boy was there ever water to play in! A life-size example of the water cycle to be exact. Starting with rain ~

which then drains down creeks and steams~

and ends up in some sort of body of water where it evaporates and condenses up into the clouds and starts all over again. Which is exactly what Elena did here - over and over and over again!

When I finally convinced her to leave this nifty little area we ventured indoors.

She dug for fossils,

got to touch a turtle~

and explored the world of bugs. Let me tell you - not my favorite subject! But I acted very interested for Elena's sake - ewww gross!

 

Her favorite area was "Bugsy's Diner" where you could build your own insects, serve up some interesting grub, and pretend to wait on the customers in the to-go window. It really was a pretty creative idea, a bug comes to the window and asks for something to eat - then you have to figure out which of the nasty dishes they prefer. The funny thing is if you mess up and give them the wrong dish they pretend to spit it our and act like it was disgusting.

Then we found the mother of all climbing towers. This was very cool - and soooo tall. But Elena made it to the very top, all by herself!

She even got to do an 'earthy' art project from dirt, grass, etc...

I finally convinced her to eat lunch and then she hit up the interactive fountains before we left. Fun times!

Good thing I read the reviews and brought some extra clothes and a towel along (with all that water I'm not sure why I didn't just bring her swimsuit though!) She was worn out and crashed as soon as she hit the car seat.

The last really interesting place we went was Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach - it is the biggest, nicest, most awesome park I have ever seen!

Not only did it have a huge play area,

but it also had a great picnic area (and I just happened to pack our lunch that day).

There was also a pretty pond where we fed ducks, and lots of seagulls.

As you can see by E's reaction - those seagulls are loud when they want another piece of bread!

Then we kept walking around the pond and realized there is a whole other side with play equipment too! And even nicer than where she had already played! She was a happy little girl and even found a couple kiddos to play with her so she could do this cool teeter-totter!

Finally she cooled off in the mist by this neat light house.

What a great week of Mommy-Daughter bonding! :)