Hello, finally got around to another blog. We have been hardcore tourists in the last week, with having Mum here. Sooo tired, but we've seen heaps.

I guess it starts with halloween. I've never seen so many lollies (caindee) in my life! Neither have the kids, not in their wildest dreams. Check out all those lollies...

And these were just Ellerys - mulitply this by 4! I was kind of hoping that if I let them have free riegn over how many they ate, maybe they would learn that lollies are not so great as what they imagine. Unfortunatley it just didn't work - this is what I woke to the next morning - at least they ate breakfast first.

They managed to demolish all these lollies injust two days - every single one - and nobody threw or complained of sore tummies or anything. They never cease to amaze me. Anyway, for weeks I'll have a great excuse not to give them anything sweet.

So we went to the nice ladies house for halloween and the trick or treating was just amazing. People go to such a bit effort. One house had a garage set up as a scary maze, with all this black plastic and strobe lights going, and people that stuck bloodied hands out through the plastic at you. The scariest house had dressed up people lying on the lawn and really scary friday the 13th type music going. There was someone in the wheelie bin bumping the lid up and down, a guy on the roof dressed up like a zombie and bloody finger prints all around the windows. When we walked down the drive the people on the lawn slowly got up like living dead and wandered towards us. THe kids absoluely freaked! The people realised and took of their face masks and apolgised, and brought more lollies which salved all wounds. This was just one of the houses we saw, there were many that were equally if not more impressive.

The kids wore these costumes.

The next day Mum minded the kids while Paul and I went out for the day. We went for a sailing trip and then went into Hollywood and Beverly Hills for dinner. We had a good squizz at the houses there (felt very corny), they were huge! Made our house look like a little cottage. Must cost an absolute fortune. WE saw a celebrity tour bus going around which we followed for a bit, so I'm sure we were seeing famous peoples houses, just not sure who.

Then we went for a cruise down Mullholland drive. THe views were just amazing. As you drove along you got views of LA in all directions. Talk about urban sprawl, the lights seriously went as far as the eye could see (mind you that could have more to do with the smog than the sprawl). Anyways heres the best photo I took. My camera really struggles with out the flash on, and with the flash I could only get the fore ground.

The next day Mum and I went to the Getty Centre with Ainsley. Its a massive art centre which was a collection belonging to John Paul Getty (or something) and he left it as a trust. Its completely free and amazingly well kept. The were works by monet, van gogh and the well known artists (whose names escape me at this moment). Great viewing, but you can only walk so far (the place really was huge) before it all starts to look a bit the same.

There were also these amazing gardens. Really artistic stuff.

Election day on Tuesday - Obama won! Yay, I'm sure the whole world is breathing a collective sigh of relief. I sure am. Had to pick Paul up from the airport late this night, he'd had a trip to boston. Got there too early and decided I'd go get some petrol. Drove down the wrong side of a very busy main road to get to the petrol station, had heaps of cars honking me. Everyone stared at me at the petrol station. Then my card didn't work in the pump (you have to pre pay here), so I went and pre paid my petrol, but did it for the wrong pump. Then I'm standing at my car with the nozzle wondering why nothing was coming out. Took a while before I realised and had to drive round to the correct pump. Der! Just can't make it past about 9:00 at night here with out suffering from severe brain fade.

Then yesterday we went to San Diego Zoo. We had a really good day. They had much the smae animals that Melbourne Zoo has, but the viewing was so much better. It wasn't because of small enclosures (unlike Sydney Zoo), must have just been really well designed. Also the gardens were absolutely immaculate. Most beautiful tropical jungle type stuff. I took this photo from the chair lift -
When we were looking at the reptiles, Tallis was looking at a snake, and I was holding my head above hers looking at the same snake, then she tossed her head up and gave me a massive fat lip, blood and all. Ouch is the polite way to explain how it felt.

Afterwards we went into Sand Diego city and had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. They had these plastic cups for the kids, that were quite good quality. Ainsley wanted to take hers with her because she hadn't finshed her drink when we were ready to go. I wasn't quite sure whether the cups were given out with that in mind, so I asked the waitress if they reused the cups or not. She said no. Which was kind of shocking because they were definately way better quality than any disposable cup I've seen, and because the whole kids pack thing with coloring and mazes and that they give out to the kids had a theme of save the planet. It wasn't until I got home and had a proper look at this cup that I realised it had re-use and recycle slogans plastered all over it. Grrrr, it really riles me. Overall the meal was really nice though.

Then we went through the mall back to where the car was parked, and we stopped to look at a childrens wear shop, and Ainsley pooed all over the floor. She had no undies or nappy, because all ready on the way back to the car she'd ripped of her nappy, and we binned it thinking we would soon be back at the car. It was extremely embarassing. I cleaned it all up with paper towel that the lady gave me in the shop. I really just can't wait until Ainsley is fully toilet trained. After changing nappies for 8 years straight, I've really had enough of this poo thing.

I just realised how whingy this whole blog has gotten, and its past 9:00. I'm way too tired to keep doing this, I really must go to bed...

Hope everything is going well back in Australia, cheers from Nic