May 2008 - The Greystone Mansion

Ever since Kathy and I went on our tour of LA, I have meant to go back to the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills http://www.greystonemansion.org/. Tyler and I were in Beverly Hills today, so seeing that we were up there anyway we went to take a look.

Seeing that I had Tyler with me, I had to perk his interest in the place. We went to this pond that has koi and turtles in it. The koi were really funny, they must have assumed that we were going to feed them because the came right to where we were, and followed us around the pond.

And then I fell in love! The mansion, completed in 1928, is so beautiful, and so full of attention to detail. The mansion was built by Edward Doheny for his son Ned. http://www.greystonemansion.org/history.html. Here are some pictures that I took...

What I loved most about the mansion was the attention to detail. Here are the chimneys all with different brick patternwork...

Here are the outdoor light fixtures...

It was a bit hazy today, but on a clear day the view must be truly spectacular!!

This is the list of movies that have been filmed up at Greystone

http://www.greystonemansion.org/movies.html

April 2008 - Tyler can draw!!

Mike can draw, Kim cannot draw :( Nicole can draw, and now it seems that Tyler CAN draw. I was not too thrilled that he decided to draw a picture of his dad on the arm of the couch (yay for washable markers), but I don't think that I am crazy when I say that you can see that this is a face :) Not too bad for a 3 year old!

April 2008 - Kim & Kathy hit LA

It was Kathy's birthday which means that we have an excuse to leave the kids with the dads, and go and have some fun together! Kathy is a great friend, and one thing that we really have in common in our celeb trash habit!! So, to celebrate we decided to do the ultimate LA tourist thing, and we went on a tour of the Star's Homes. Here is our tour bus in Hollywood...

We started at the Hollywood and Highland complex, and went up to the Yamashiro Restaurant where you can see for miles. It makes you realize just how HUGE LA is!! This home has an amazing history, (http://www.yamashirorestaurant.com/history/index.html) and includes the oldest structure in California, a Pagoda that the Bernheimer Borthers brought back from Japan with them.

The Birthday girl in front of the Tour Van at the Yamashiro

After Hollywood, we headed over to

We got to see the homes of The Osbourne's, David & Victoria Beckham, Tom Cruise's old and new homes, Madonna, and many others. We also had a bit of a history lesson, and a place that really intrigued me was the Greystone Mansion. I want to go and take a closer look one of these days seeing that it is now a public park.

We then headed into Bel Air where we saw Nicholas Cage's home, and the homes of many old Hollywood movie stars. It was fun to see the House from "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air"

Life is short, and if you are ever in LA, this really is a fun thing to do!

April 2008 - Tyler's Hair Cut

Mike has cut Tyler's hair ever since his first hair cut. The only problem is that Tyler is NOT a willing participant at all! So, Mike put it off (understandably) for a little too long, and I was in Santa Monica where there is a kids hair salon called "The Yellow Balloon". The salon is quite "kitsch" for lack of a better term, but the stylist knew just what to do to keep Tyler sitting still - she handed him a spinning light up toy featuring "The Incredibles". Mike and I agreed that we need to pick one of those up :)

April 2008 - Tyler's Trike-a-Thon

Tyler's Pre School has a fundraiser Trike-a-Thon. He was really excited to take his bike to school, and WIN! He did really well, 10 laps compared to most of the other kids 6 laps. I was very proud of him!

March 2008 - Bag Tagged

My Sister-in-Law Mindy Bag Tagged me. What I had to do was take a picture of the contents in my purse, and put them on my blog. I had no problem doing it, but then I got a better idea when Nicole decided that she needed a purse too. It is pretty much exactly what is in my purse too :)

I too carry everything in a backpack. In it I have a :

• Cell Phone
• Digital Camera
• iPod
• Pen
• Notebook (well, a Palm Handheld, but it serves the same purpose)
• Nail File

Aren't daughters the best :)

I Bag Tag Karen W. and Nicole G.

March 2008 - The Huntington

My friend Brenda used to live in Pasadena, and recommended that we go and take a look at The Huntington Botanical Gardens. Kathy and I took Colin and Tyler.

Here are Tyler and Colin at the newest Chinese Garden, called The Garden of Flowing Fragrance.

By the Koi Pond

February 2008 - Noah's Ark Exhibit at the Skirball

The Skirball Museum in LA that has a really great permanent exhibit called the "Noah's Ark" exhibit (http://www.skirball.org/). The exhibit is shaped like an Ark, and tells that story of Noah and the journey with the animals. There are all kinds of great hands-on things to do, and many of the animals are built from all kinds of different and exciting materials. Kathy and I took Tyler and Colin to check it out. They had a great time!

Zebra's made with Air Vent Covers

The entrance to the Ark

The wind machine that blows leaves

February 2008 - Tyler Turns 3

Our Ty-Ty is finally 3. He wishes that he was 5 like his sister, but all in good time!!

Happy Birthday Big Boy, we love you!!

January 2008 - A New Year at Disneyland

Disneyland is great, but the large Characters really seem to freak most kids out. On this particular trip on a quiet day at the parks, Tyler decided that maybe he was okay with the characters. Yippee, progress! He may as well get used to them, seeing that we go as much as we do :)

Nikki and Pluto

Tyler and Mickey

Nikki and Cinderella

Tyler and Woody (who was trying to steal Ty's cotton Candy) - no wonder the characters freak the kids out ;)

January 2008 - I Wanna be a Cowboy

Tyler up to his usual antics around the house...

January 2008 - The Boone Gallery

LA has yet another Childrens Museum exhibit. This is the Boone Gallery at the LA County Museum of Art. They have all kids on things for the kids to create with. You can paint...

Build with blocks, and so much more!

January 2008 - Disneyland Lights

One of the best days to go to Disneyland if you want the whole park practically to yourself is the first Monday after New Year when everyone goes back to work and school. We had a great time! This is what "It's a Small World" looks like at night during the Holiday Season.

December 2007 - Sightseeing in Arizona

We went on a few family excursions while we were in Arizona. We got to see Montezuma Castle which is a "castle" that the Sinagua Tribe built into the side of a mountain

We also took a drive West of Sedona and ended up In Jerome. The thing that caused the most excitement was SNOW :)

We also discovered this "Museum" that was more of a junkyard, but there was some pretty cool old stuff to see there!

December 2007 - A GeoTrax Christmas

So, last year was the Lego Christmas, and this was the year of the GeoTrax. Everybody got their own train, and Mike built some pretty amazing tracks. Here are a few that he built...

And after playing with the tracks for a little while, Tyler would delight in doing this...

December 2007 - Family Christmas in Sedona, AZ

My parents generously let us all use their timeshare so that we could be together as a family for Christmas. Seeing that Ryan, and our family are in CA, and Craig is in Utah, Arizona worked out just great!

A Muir family Christmas time tradidion is to decorate a gingerbread house, so, here are Nicole and Tyler with the end result...

Seeing that we don't get a huge taste of the seasons changing in Southern CA, the kids had a great time playing with the dead leaves at the resort

I think that Nicole was a little worried that Santa wouldn't be able to find us, so here was a note that she left with a plate of cookies, and glass of milk

Relief, Santa found us :)

Santa also found Uncle Craig and Cousin Matthew