I've been recuperating from the holidays (i.e. trying to get back on a schedule), but I have some really great pictures from the week between Christmas and New Year's when the kids were still home. Here it goes:
Where else do you go on New Year's Eve Day if you live in L.A. but Chinatown! Okay, so it wasn't really the Chinese New Year since they use the lunar calendar, but it still seemed like a fun idea. The kids got it into their heads that they wanted some of the cheap little souvenirs found in abundance there (they all had petty cash from allowance burning holes in their pockets), so we boarded the metro and off we went. Seems silly to drive east to Pasadena to take the metro south into L.A. but it was all part of the adventure.
Rachael was the only one not interested in buying something,
but I think she cost the most in quarters.
Surveying the scene.
She was pretty proud of her purchase. Five bucks never looked so cute!
This trashy little wishing well always cracks us up. There are several tiers of trays to throw coins in labeled "luck", "happiness", "love", "wealth", etc. The lowest, easiest tray to reach is happiness, and the highest, most difficult one is wealth. Hello? Priorities anyone?
The wall of fans.
Will was all about his heelies. And the kung fu swords. (Or whatever they were.) We didn't let him buy one for obvious reasons, but he and Kate actually wizened up by the end of the day and decided to save their money for stuff they really wanted instead of touristy trinkets. The ultimate irony was found in a store with $1 chopsticks that were made in the good ol' U.S. of A. Seriously.
Are there any palm trees in China?
Two fans and some kung pao chicken later. . .
I'm into pictures of downtown lately, and would you look at my luck? I had no idea this bird was even in the picture until I looked at it on the computer back home.
Our New Year's Eve festivities included going to Todd and Shauna's house to party with the cousins over apple pie a la mode and watch the ball drop at Times Square on CNN. That would be 9pm here - perfect timing. I used to get into the whole ring-in-the-new-year-at-midnight thing until I had kids. Now I just want to get in bed since I know I can't sleep in. I wasn't completely off the hook though since Kate really really really wanted to stay up until midnight - just because. The allure of that magical moment when one year turns into another. Brandon somehow manages to function on 6 hours of sleep a night on a regular basis so he just took it as an opportunity to watch The Lord of the Rings again. I had plans to go to bed early, but Kate threw the gauntlet down when she said I was no fun. Me? No fun? Are you kidding me? So I stayed awake until midnight. Just barely. What has become of me? I always promised myself I would be the fun mom and here I was forcing myself to stay awake on New Year's Eve so my tween wouldn't think I was boring! Time has a funny way of changing you.
Rachael insisted on wearing these glasses upside down while she enjoyed her dessert. This is seconds before she starts yelling for a "poon". No matter what we're having, she wants a spoon.
Happy New Year!
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