Hooray for Hollywood!

Joe had to head up to Los Angeles today for his weekly doctors appointment, so the kids and I decided to join him so we could do a little sightseeing. While Joe was getting his physical, we went down the street to The Grove to walk around for a bit. The fountains are beautiful and Zoe's favorite part is the American Girl store. We went in for a few minutes, but Cooper was not very happy to be there, so we didn't stay long. I also love the old Farmers Market that is there. There are so many little food vendors with delicious meals, baked goods, and treats.
After Joe was done, we met up with some old friends of ours, MaryLou and Danielle from Colorado who are temporarily living in the LA area. We hadn't seen them years, so it was great to visit, even if only for 1/2 hour! I can't believe I didn't get a photo!

Now it was time for the tourist part of our day! We drove over to Hollywood Blvd. to see Mann's Chinese Theatre. The kids aren't really old enough to know a lot of the celebrities that have their hand and foot prints there, but they enjoyed seeing them all and measuring their own feet against theirs.

(Zoe found the cast of Harry Potter)

(My week of Mary Poppins continues...I found Julie Andrews!)

(Cooper liked the Lion-Dog statue that guards the theatre)

Walking around Hollywood Blvd. was quite an experience. Let me just say, there are a lot of strange people in this world! It was fascinating to walk up and down the street. There were lots of people dressed as characters and would ask for $ to have your picture taken with them. Cooper was very impressed with the Star Wars guys, so we gave in!
We also got to see a lot of the celebrity stars on the ground. The kids found a few they recognized too. Cooper liked this Godzilla one!
Next to the Kodak Theatre (where the finale of American Idol is filmed), we found a Nestle Toll House Cafe. Really, what could be better?! We were able to make up our own ice cream cookie sandwiches! Yummy!

(Joe and Cooper got the big ones, Zoe and I stuck with the minis!)

Our next outing took us to Griffith Park. It was nice to see some greenery again and the wide open spaces! You could spend a lot of time there riding bikes or running the trails. After driving around for a bit, we decided to head up the Hollywood Hills to the Griffith Observatory. On the way up we saw some stunning homes and the Hollywood sign!

The observatory was a really neat experience for the kids. They loved the huge pendulum in the entry, all the exhibits, and the huge telescopes.

In one area, they had a huge display of all the planets. Each planet was separately shown with its individual information such as the temperature, the length of a day and year, etc. They also had a scale at each one which you could stand on and it would tell you what your weight would be on that planet. On Pluto, Zoe only weighed about 6 lbs! I think I would like to live there!

(It was a bit overcast, but the views were still beautiful!)

Overall, we had a great day in L.A. The drive home was really long though! We made a quick stop at A&W for dinner, and made it home in time for bed. Hopefully we can go back over the summer and see a few more places!