The Start of our Totally Awesome CA vacation

Thursday night we picked up our cousin Kenny and his friend from the airport. Although, it was a late night pick up we were all more than excited and willing to sacrifice the sleep to surprise him!

Kenny, Brian and I still had to work on Thursday morning, which gave Little Kenny a chance to visit with his other cousins.

Our caravan of 2 cars, 6 adults and 2 kids picked me up at noon and we all filled up a Chipotle before we hit the road.

Kenny holding Jacob up so he could see them make his food... interesting choice of holding method

Kenny and I started the trip with Kenny Jr. and his friend and then traded at the first rest stop for the boys… the idea was we would just keep switching to mix it up, but that didn’t happen.

I loved that we got to witness the boys first encounter with the windmills! I think every kid is impressed and filled with wonder about the giant, wind propelled, white giants that line the desert road outside of Palm Springs, but it was amazing to see their little faces filled with wonder as they stared out the window.

Jacob

Little Brian

Kenny surprised me with a new water proof camera!! He put the float in the glove box and when I went to grab a tissue (I was still fighting a stupid cold) I discovered it. I asked what it was and he played dumb until I said it looked like a float for a camera! He let me have it at the next stop! He had already charged the battery and had it all set to go! Splash Zone here we come!! 

Our our next potty break our car stopped at the dinosaurs. There was a blimp in the communication between the cars and we were split up, so Brian’s car stopped at the next exit. We always pass the dinosaurs behind Burger King on the way to CA, but have never stopped before. The boys were very impressed and thought they were VERY real looking… so real in fact that they wouldn’t take a picture under the T-rex… ha ha

This is Little Brian running from the T-Rex 

Kenny, Me, Little Brian and Jacob

The boys

Little Brian

Kenny

We climbed up inside the long neck dinosaur and discovered there was a shop inside, filled with over priced dinosaur treasures. The boys were SO well behaved and didn’t ask us to buy them anything!

We walked over to Burger King to use the restroom and the boys were crowned Kings.

The boys were SO good in the car and entertained themselves most of the way… We had them in our car for over 5 hours and it wasn’t until the last hour when they started to realize they had been locked in a car most of the day… stuck in LA traffic with two little boys who were FULL of energy, giggles and chit chat…. We were more than excited to make it to the hotel and get out of the car!

Once we checked in we all went for a walk in search of our CA time (8PM) dinner… at that point I don’t think it would have mattered what we ate… we were all hungry and tired! We chose to eat at In and Out Burger, but there was not enough seating together so Kenny and his friend went outside... Little Kenny still entertained us through the whole meal. 

My Mom, Jacob, Little Brian, Brian

For some reason my brother and Little Kenny like to pretend they are gay lovers... weirdos... but they make us laugh!

And so it began... 

For some reason the cousins decided to hit the town… so Kenny, Brian, Kenny's friend, Kenny Jr. and I loaded into Brian’s car and headed for Hollywood while my mom watched the boys and relaxed in the hotel room.

I was surprised to see the Hollywood area was as lit up at the Las Vegas and just as busy with people, cars and cabs! Brian let me (and Kenny followed thank goodness) jump out of the car while they fought traffic and parked the car. I was so surprised that the Hollywood Stars were so… accessible! I was star struck probably and staring at the ground… I walked into more than one person that night – ugh. There were tons of people dressed up like stars and would gladly provide a photo op for a tip. 

Kenny and my brother in the car 

The Grauman's Chinese Theater was one of my favorite stops of the night! I was super excited to see and touch the new Twilight Saga square!! It was fun to full "Bella's shoes" and put my hand in Edward's hand print: )

Even though we were totally exhausted and I was super cranky that night I am glad we went to check out Hollywood!

Our hotel was super lamo and felt like we were sleeping on box springs filled with rocks... But hey thats what you get for saving money and getting a cheap hotel that is close to Universal Studios!