Los Angeles

 Way back in early January we visited Los Angeles for a few days en route to Canada and in the interests of actually documenting some of our life events on the blog I thought it was about time I wrote a post about it!

We have visited LA on our way to Canada (and on two occasions also on the return trip) for the past three years.  Partly because we like to break up the long trip to Canada with the kids and partly because we love it there.  My husband lived in LA for a while in his twenties and gets a hankering for a visit every now and then.  I love the shopping and the restaurants!  The boys are learning to love it!

We have stayed either in Santa Monica or in Beverley Hills.  Both are great places but if I had to choose between the two locations I would pick Santa Monica.  Choose a hotel along the promenade and then it is an easy walk to the beach, playgrounds and one of LA's best shopping precincts.   If you are travelling with kids the promenade in Santa Monica is brilliant for children and a great place for them to explore and burn off some energy!

Despite our frequent visits to LA we have never 'done' Disneyland.  The boys have never even asked us to go. Everyone from the moment we get on the plane in Sydney assumes that is why we are heading to California and asks the boys if they are looking forward to Disneyland, so it isn't even as if they don't know about it.  They just don't seem to be that interested in going.  They do get excited about our annual visit to Pizzeria Mozza though!  

Activities for kids that they have enjoyed in LA have included a visit to the California Science Centre to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour.   The exhibit wasn't complete in January 2015 but it was still well worth a visit.  The boys couldn't quite believe the size of it, nor that it had actually been into space, and multiple times at that. The rest of the Museum is well worth investigating, it is similar to Questacon in Canberra with lots of hands on exhibits 

The highlight for the boys though was a visit to the Peterson Automotive Museum, the home of the Hot Wheels Museum and all sorts of other fabulous cars.  For my two little car fanatics this was literally paradise.  

They really enjoyed the Hot Wheels exhibit but they also loved the rest of the museum.  It is home to one of the largest automotive collections in the world and of course has lots of cars that have featured in all sorts of Hollywood films.  Including multiple Batmobiles and so on!

Their father loved this one, a 1966 Jaguar XKSS formerly owned by Steve McQueen!

My favourites were a toss up between these two!  Who remembers the movie the above car came from?  I seriously must have watched that movie a hundred times with my brother.

The boys could have spent all day exploring the museum and it is well worth a visit if you are in LA. 

The highlight for me in LA is the shopping and just simply exploring.  All of these photos were taken around Melrose Place as I love it there!

If you are looking for a decent coffee in LA - ignore everything on tripadvisor and other forums. Everywhere we tried was terrible.

Alfred we just stumbled across and thank goodness.  Perfect coffee every time.  They know what a flat white is.  Enough said.

Food wise the highlight of our trip to LA each year is Pizzeria Mozza!  We have two pizza connoisseurs in the family and they rate the pizza at Mozza as they best they have ever had!  Everything that we have ordered there has been fabulous though!

The Ivy at the Shore in Santa Monica is great too for breakfast.  Not so much for the coffee but do go for the atmosphere and the boys rate the pancakes highly!

Look at that bougainvillea.  A visit to the Ivy at the Shore is essential just to walk through that fabulous entryway.  Until next time LA!  

Life lately....

... has been busy. 

A shopping trip to Brisbane.

Nicasso's latest art work.

School holiday activities.  (...that would be the Colosseum made out of Lego)

The Mummy of a 5 year old boy who was missing a tooth (discovered recently via x-ray apparently).  Both were fascinated.

Armchair Collective.

Dinner at Hugo's Manly.  Beef carpaccio is back on the menu, thank you universe for answering.

Peonies from my parents garden.

Looking perfect in my kitchen!!!

The view from my bed when the Jacarandas are in flower is magic.

Love that they are still not too old to try and build these crazy towers out of wood blocks.

A darling little friend for a sleepover.

Admiring street art.

There's also been a trip to Melbourne.  The boys are quite the fans of the pool at The Olsen. I wanted to steal the towels.  I didn't though.

Admiring the Christmas windows at David Jones in the city.

This child is impossibly cool.

This child is still impossibly cute. 

A trip to the Opera House to see 'Twas the night before Christmas.  

and much, much more.... to be documented at some point soon hopefully.  

Merry Christmas to all. xx

Byron Bay....

Not that we really spent any time in Byron, apart from a quick walk through a couple of the shops and one visit to Watego's Beach.  We actually spent most of our time in the pool or lounging about near it....

.....it was hard to motivate yourself to do much else, it is possibly the most impressive pool I have ever seen at a private house.

Then around the other side of the house we had this view.  It was a struggle to leave.

The house is on a working cattle farm, complete with a miniature pony called Gypsy, who was an angel with all the children...

One evening Gypsy had to be "exercised" as she had made a glutton of herself that day.  Crimes included raiding the chicken seed and also the veggie patch. The show she put on was a performance that none of us will forget.  Thank you Gypsy for being such a character!  

The girls came to visit us everyday and were equally as charming. 

We did manage to drag ourselves out of the house a few times.  Bangalow was fabulous and well worth a visit.  Loved exploring all the little shops,  favourites were Bangalow Lounge and brauerbirds.  

Food highlights included Cafe Marius (Lennox Head), probably the best coffee we found in the area and outstanding food.  I can't stop thinking about the breakfast chimigchanga!  Delicious!

... and an absolute must is a meal at Harvest.  A divine restaurant in Newrybar, about 20k out of Byron.   Amazing food, atmosphere and service. Afterwards pop into the deli next door to pick up some fresh bread and cheese.  You won't regret it.  I adored our meal there and the people watching is A1 as well.

It was a fantastic holiday!  Thank you so much to D and V and their families who made fairly epic journeys to come and celebrate my birthday with me.  Truly special friends that I feel very lucky to have, thank you girls!