California Vacation: Kidspace, Pasadena, and "Down Time"

On Saturday of our vacation (the 20th), we took the kidlets to Kidspace in Pasadena, CA. Kidspace is located very near the Rose Bowl... how neat is that?

Both kids were wanting a nap on the way to the museum... Julia was already ready for her nap when we left...



Since it had been misting / sprinkling / raining that morning, we were given the "Rainy Day" discount. The kids still had fun, though, checking out things. There was a raindrop tower, which Julia and I made it up about four raindrops before we BOTH determined we were up too high. Also, there was a lot of bugs there! The most fun was in the "toddler" room, though... a playroom for kids under 4, and you could let them run wild in there.

Julia enjoyed the slide that she could go down ALL MY HERSELF!



After the museum, we took the kidlets to Cheesecake Factory in Old Pasadena. It reminded me a lot of shopping in a "downtown" area of Brisbane when I was in Australia back in 2002 for work. It was neat; seeing stores right on the street... stores you would typically see in a mall.

The kids did really well at Cheesecake Factory, and we had an amazing server (yay for Crystal!). Julia enjoyed pizza that day. She also enjoyed playing with a napkin on her head...!





After lunch, we headed to Montclair to where Jared and Katie live. We hung out in their condo / apartment for the afternoon, letting the kids play with Will's toys. Jared made the kids a wonderful dinner (which, sadly, none of them ate very well... oh, well!), and the kids also watched Kung Fu Panda.

That night we put the all three kids to sleep at Jared and Katie's, and then Jared "watched" the kids for us while Katie, Wanda, and I went out for a drink and appetizers. Katie and Wanda had really large beers (and I had a Shirley Temple) at Heroes & Legends Bar & Grill in Claremont. We had a good time (despite the horrid service...!). It was simply wonderful to get out together and spend some kid-free time together. This was the first time since arriving on Wednesday that we didn't have at least two kids attached to us. So, we enjoyed the couple of hours we were together.



After drinks and such, we went back to Jared and Katie's and hung out for a bit. We headed back to the hotel (with the kidlets safe in their car seats) around midnight and got back around 1 am and hoped the kids would sleep in...!

erin