Los Angeles - 26th March

In the morning, we packed up and left our little house, and parked at a nearby Target shop. We walked down the road a bit, taking in the very un-English trees and houses, and had a yum breakfast at Denny's (where we were the only non-Mexicans in the whole place).

After breakfast we went to Target, and got some water and a few bits. I was disappointed with it really, and only bought one thing - a roll of Minion Duck Tape!

We had an inordinate amount of trouble trying to wheel our trolley back to the trolley park - it just seemed to stick to the floor... ended up carrying it there!

We then drove to Venice Beach, changed into our swimming costumes, and went for a walk along the pier. Looking back to the sea front, Scott and I could see the building we stayed in last time we were here!

A gorgeous day!

The kids played in the sea for a bit, and I sat on the beach just enjoying the heat (and looking very white!) After a while, Scott and the kids went off to get changed, and I lay on the beach on my own... lovely!!

We then went and hired bikes from a place nearby - the kids each had a bike, and Scott and I got a tandem!

We cycled along the beach cycle path all the way to Santa Monica fairground. I sat on the back of the tandem taking pictures and just soaking in the gorgeous beaches, palm trees, people, parks (like Muscle Beach) and colourful shops! It was wonderful! I'd not thought bikes were a good idea, because I didn't realise there was a dedicated cycle path, and thought the kids would keep getting in pedestrian's way, but it was just great. The weather was heavenly too.

Lucy and I stopped off from cycling to climb up on the giant Lifeguard chairs, and an Australian couple offered to take our picture.

We cycled for an hour, then dropped the bikes back and drove to Hollywood. There was a lot of traffic, but it was fun seeing all the famous roads, and palm trees everywhere.

Also on the way, we drove past the Los Angeles Temple, and stopped off for a walk around the grounds. Although the temple is on a busy road, once we got up to the grounds, it was gorgeous and peaceful - very beautiful.

We then parked in an underground car park near the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. We went for a walk along the road, looking at all the stars on the pavement with names in them. Saw these guys just walking along too!

Part of Hollywood Boulevard was closed off in preparation for some red carpet event at the Chinese Theatre.

We couldn't stand on all the hand and foot prints outside the Chinese Theatre because a lot of the area was cordoned off, but it was fun seeing them all!

We then headed back to the car and up to Griffith Observatory. On the way I tried to contact James Marinelli (who used to be in Huntingdon Ward), as he works nearby and wanted to meet up with us. I couldn't get through on the phone though, so just Facebooked him that we were nearby, and hoped for the best!

We were just reaching the Observatory, when we hear this huge shout ''HEY - NO ENGLISH PEOPLE ALLOWED HERE!!'' or something like that... James! It was nice to see him!

We wandered around the Observatory, and then stood in front of the huge pendulum clock inside chatting for ages, before James had to head back to work.

We then went down to the lower level and looked at the planet display.

Lucy hanging out with Einstein.

After that, we drove a short way further up the hill, and parked up, then walked to a look out point of the Hollywood sign, and out over the whole of Los Angeles to the sea. I got chatting to a couple of guys from the Isle of Wight!

After that we drove through fairly heavy traffic to our Motel 6 in Ventura. We were pretty tired by now!

It was hot! And at 7pm!

The sky was lovely as the sun set.

Once we got to the Motel, we couldn't be bothered to go out for a meal, so Scott just went over the road and got us all cheeseburgers, while I took it in turns with the kids to blow up the two airbeds we had bought with us. All of our rooms in the Motels we stayed at had two double beds in them. Sometimes we could get extra fold out beds put in our rooms, but sometimes we had to use the airbeds. The kids just took it in turns on them. At the Motel 6 in Ventura, our two rooms had adjoining doors, which was good.

I shared a room with Tom and Harry, and stayed up late, uploading my photos onto my laptop and putting them on Facebook. It was fun seeing everyone's comments on my photos from the day before!
I didn't have a good night's sleep - I think I had about 4 hours altogether, then Harry woke up at 5.30am. Everyone else slept fairly well though.