The rest of the week in LA

Thursday: Mike decided he could go to work late on Thursday, so we all went to breakfast in Hollywood, where we commenced eating the largest pancakes in the world. We had three orders of pancakes, but we could have easily just gotten one and had plenty to eat. But they were so delicious, they are the type of pancakes dreams are made of.

Breakfast was fun, and we drove back the scenic route through Beverly Hills, which is always entertaining.

After breakfast (and a pancake/jet-lag induced coma/nap) we felt the need to move around a bit, so we borrowed the beach cruisers and headed towards the Santa Monica Pier, and rode along the beach for awhile. When we needed a break we hopped off, drug our bikes across the sand (since we didn't bring locks), and sat on the sand and looked at the ocean. It was lovely. Riding back was more dangerous as there was a lot of traffic at that time which was terrifying.

Friday: Friday morning Britney had a doctor's appointment so we volunteered to watch the kiddos so that Mike could go with her. We took the kids to the park, where we hung out and played, after Joseph and I got bored we headed back with the promise of ice-cream from McDonalds, which was way messier than I had anticipated, but the kids lover it. I have to say it is nice being the aunt who can curry the favor of little children with promises of $1 ice cream cones without a single thought to the consequences. After ice cream and an impromptu Jehovah's Witness lesson inside the McDonald's to which we were made unwilling participants, we headed back to the house watch some shows and wait for Mike and Britney so that we could go to lunch. For lunch we went to Tacos Por Favor. Joseph had been dying to "go to there" for weeks. Seriously, we would be in some random Southeast Asian place and he would say stuff like "You know what? I can't wait to order like 14 tacos from Tacos Por Favor." He didn't go that overboard in the end, but the tacos were as good as we'd been dreaming. After lunch, Britney and the kids had to leave for Arizona, so Joseph and I headed up to Malibu to Zuma beach, for some beach time where we relaxed until it got too chilly to justify sitting around in our bathing suits.

That night I finally ate at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. I always think about going when I am in LA but had never been, and it was delicious. Totally worth it, even though Joseph and I both had stomachaches afterwards.

Saturday: Saturday morning we woke up and headed straight to the beach with my brother to try and surf. None of us were very successful and the water was freezing but it was so fun. I almost didn't get in the water because it was so cold, but I am so glad I did. It was a blast. For some reason you just feel cool sitting on a surf board, even if every time you attempt to ride one you nose dive and get pummeled.

After a quick wardrobe change we headed down to Anaheim to meet up with some friends for a late lunch and Angels game. We met in downtown Disney, which I had not realized was actually a place you could go hang out and not only the amusement park. Then we headed over to the baseball game. The game was fun, the Angels won, and it was fun to catch up.

All in all a great Saturday.

Sunday: I slept in later than I had in years, I think the time change was finally catching up to me. We went to church, made burritos for dinner, watched tv, napped and got packed to go on to Costa Rica. It was a little weird leaving the country again, after we had been back. Our flight left at 2 am so we had to leave the house around 11 pm. Worst flight time ever, we were tired, plus the flight was only 6 hours so you didn't get very good sleep on the plane.