Party Like it's January

So,
   The past few weekends have been busy and fun. 2 weeks ago spurred by the success of the family hike in Virginia over christmas break we set out for a simple hike in the canyons of Malibu to Escondido Falls a 3 tier 200ft waterfall. I was aware that the water flow would probably be disappointing but the other aspects of the trip seemed like a good idea. Very little elevation gain and relatively short all while enjoying coastal weather instead of mountain cold. Spurred on by chocolate and snacks the kids did great and walked the 3.8 miles round trip like champs.

The hike started out oddly, street walking through a neighborhood of multi million dollar Malibu homes. Aiden was in fine form.

Once we reached the riparian canyon things were really pleasant.

The falls themselves were just a dribble. I can imagine that in a wet year they would be really impressive.

I set out to do a little scrambling up to the second tier 100 ft above this spot while T and the kids hung out and snacked.

Zoey took this picture of the falls.

Then Aiden took this picture of Zoey on the rope swing.

Once I returned we set out for the car and stopped a few times to take family pictures.

I shot this one.

Z Shot this one.

Aiden took this one.

This past weekend we had more adventures. On Saturday the weather was supposed to be really nice so we went down to Leo Carillo without Sam to explore the non dog beach parts of the area. We went during low tide to see the caves and tide pools.

The kids love the beach and couldn't resist getting wet.

The kids  collected shells, played with hermit crabs and poked anemones then decided they'd had enough and went to go get wet and explore caves.

Leo Carillo was really nice.

  On Monday we discovered that the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was having a free day for Martin Luther King Jr day. Upon arrival we were told that there was a table for families to gain entrance instead of waiting in the HUGE line outside. We went in and found out that they have a program were you sign up your kids and they can come for free until they are 18 years old. Top that off with the fact that they can get in 1 parent every visit for free. 2 kids + 2 parents means we can get into LACMA for free any time for the next 13 years. NICE.

The kids were really good. I'd personally been hesitant to bring them somewhere full of priceless art so we hadn't tried much other than the local museum. It was great. LACMA has a fantastic collection and since it was a free day the place was full of kids WAY worse than ours.

The kids didn't much care for the paintings or sculptures but really loved the interactive and instillation art works.

Since the LaBrea  tar pits are in the same park we took a short walk over there to see a current excavation pit.

They were digging up Ground sloths, Saber Toothed Cats and Ice Age Horses.

We went for lunch across the street at food truck row. 15 or so food trucks with any kind of food you can think of all park in the same section of Wilshire Blvd. It was delicious and fun to be out and about in the city with the kids.

Then we returned to see Chris Burdens Metropolis II set into motion.

Aiden fell in love.

He didn't leave this spot for 15 minutes.

It is an aestheticised over grown mash up of Will Ferrells basement in the lego movie and a working race car track/ train track. Everything works, everything moves there are cars zipping every which way it's really quite fun to watch. Aiden didn't want to leave.



Other than those trips we've been enjoying the unreasonably warm weather and getting on.

Till next time,

RTSZA