The top of this castle toy box used to be Malena's favorite perch until I took it away in fear of her falling about a year ago. I brought it into the "new" toyroom (aka, their old bedroom) and this time I found her AND the boys getting a view from the top.

Later, after a day of swimming, I came upstairs to find Malena, still in her bathing suit taking her nap ON TOP of the castle. Yes, she is asleep. And yes, she must be comfortable, because usually, she squirms all around her bed, and actually ends up sleeping of the floor even though it has a bedrail. Maybe I'll get her a bunk bed when she gets a bit older. :)

HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD

Yes, that is the infamous HOLLYWOOD sign in the background. Look. See it. Past the palm trees and smog. Yeah, there it is. Well, we decided to go see the Go Diego Go Show playing in Hollywood with my sister's family. I rarely go out to L.A. anymore. I worked there for 6 years and had a 2 hour commute (each way), so I'm pretty done with the place, but once in a while, my kids will get a small glimpse of the freak show. :) (I say that lovingly).

But before the show, we decided to have some lunch, so we waited about an hour at Cheesecake factory and finally decided to go for quick pizza before we missed the show altogether. Here are the kids in front of Cheesecake factory on the "Casting Couch" and later at the pizza place. They are sitting at the "bar" looking out at the passers by and guess who sits right outside the window? PIRATES! My boys were in LOVE. They LOVVVVVVVE pirates! They were so excited. The pizza pieces were HUGE, and I couldn't believe it when Jacob ate the WHOLE thing! Pirates have big appetites. :)

Here they are before the Diego show began. It's blurry, because it was dark, and before I could get a better pic, an usher came over and told me no pictures, even though there were hundreds of flashes going off, but oh well. I almost decided not to bring Malena along. I usually leave her with a sitter with things like this, like movies, or baseball games. Things she has to sit still for and pay attention for a long time, but I decided she has matured a bit, and we'd try it. To my surprise, the boys sat there during the whole thing like they were just too good for all of it (though they started to show they enjoyed it a bit at the end), but Malena was dancing in the aisle NONSTOP! She absolutely loved it. I am sooooo glad I brought her. I should have known.

After the show, we decided to stroll down to Grauman's Chinese Theatre where all the stars have their prints and sigs. Here are the boys trying some on for size.






For those of you who have never been, on Hollywood Blvd., there are a bunch of actors who dress as characters and available for pics for tips. So we pretty much stopped at most of them. My how The "Little" Mermaid" has matured. Uhhmmm....





The kids really got a kick out of meeting all the celebrities ;} But look at their faces when we come across the PIRATES again! They were sooo happy. Jacob got to tell them that he wanted to be a pirate when he grew up. The pirate's answer? "Ay, that'll be good in the business world, Matey." Never thought of it like that. Hmmm. Maybe pirates are getting a bad wrap after all.


So, the pirates are favorites of the boys, but did I mention Darth Vader (a.k.a. Darth Mader as in the Tow truck from CARS)? Pirates are cool, but Darth Mader is the coolest guy around! You should have seen the boys when we saw him IN PERSON! Just look at their faces. Funny thing is, later inthe month, we took them all to my friend's b-day party. A HUGE Star Wars fan. The biggest fan I know. For entertainment, one of his friends came dressed as Darth Vader and performed (with Star Wars Music) a whole Happy Birthday Joseph, speaking to Joseph, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BOYS! It was awesome! Best thing is, after that, he took off his mask, and sat down at our table for dinner. The boys were flipping out, asking him questions about his light saber, how they have some at home, what color they were. Where are the storm troopers! It was HILARIOUS! So now, the boys think they have met, in person, and had dinner with the REAL Darth Vader (and think they know what he really looks like). I had to move them to the other side of the table to let the poor guy eat. I couldn't stop laughing, and I don't think the boys will ever forget it. Thanks Joseph for inviting us to your birthday, and Ed for a night my boys will remember forever!

One for the Blog

You're not going to believe this one. I didn't. Recently, we have let the dogs back in the house. Ahhhhh. It was mostly for Joshua, as he has been unhappy lately, and the dogs (all animals, actually) make him happier than anything in the world. So the dogs have been in the house for about a week, with NO accidents! Better trained than Joshua, actually! LOL The day we let them in, we took Joshua (the other two were at school) to the store to get a new crate to put in the boys room to sleep with them. He was so happy, and everything was going great until tonight... Josh has not been going to sleep very well and whines for the first hour or two. He was doing the same tonight as usual, and i thought nothing of it until I heard, "Mommy, help." Still nothing out of the ordinary, he says that to coax me in there all the time. Then he said, "Get me out of here." Ok, that was weird. I went in and went to his bed (in the dark) and he wasn't there. Then I heard the little voice again, "Get me out of here," coming from the dog crate! Yep, he went in there with the dogs, zipped the door behind him, and couldn't get out! Okay, I knew he liked animals, but this is getting ridiculous! And yes, I got him out. :)