The Golden State

 When we arrived in Venice Beach, we found our apartment to be absolutely perfect. (Check it out!!  And scroll down to read my review.)  I had worried that it would be too small, or disappointing in some disastrous way, but it was incredible.  I was super pleased with the neighborhood, too.  It was just what I would consider a typical SoCal vibe, and exactly what I wanted to portray to the visitors.  The houses were pretty and quaint, and the stroll to the beach went through a fun area.  Our host, Philippe, was originally from Lyon, the same city Chloe is from.  He told us that it's fun for him when the renters are fun people like us.  :)  In fact, his review of us was very sweet.  He said:  Circe and her little group were very nice, happy and respectful. They even cooked a nice french dish and shared with us (very good and tasty!!). They left the place almost untouched. Everything went great and i would love to welcome them again.

 Our front patio.

 The back yard.  Isn't it delightful?

 The kids had discovered the wifi password literally within seconds of arrival!

 I did manage to pry them away from the comforts of our loft for their first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean.  The beach we walked to was midway between the Venice Boardwalk and the Santa Monica Pier.  It gave us a beautiful view of the pier with the Malibu coast curving away in the background.

 Chloe and Olympe walked back to the loft, and the rest of us did a little photo shoot.

 Ptolemy really wanted to be in the pictures and he was crying because he was "left behind."  What a cute little guy.

 I compensated for it by letting Ptolemy take pictures back at the loft.  He captured this one of our host, Phillipe in the background.

 I took the teens to the Santa Monica Pier while Tolly and I procured some 99-cent Store groceries, including loads of amazing California produce as well as the all-important official beach cookies.  (Jennie, yes, we did get mint too!)  Just like in Vegas, I encouraged the "young people" to stay out late, and they did.  When they got home, we stayed up even later watching Pretty Woman, which Scott later informed me is rated R.  Oops.  I never said I was a GOOD chaperone!  The DVD was there, and I was reminded of how Victor's aunt, Gema, and I had watched it and cried.  Several times.  It's actually a pretty dumb movie.

 Despite our late night, I forced the kids out of bed muy temprano to see the sights.  We had to get to the tourist stuff before traffic hit, and I'm so glad we did.  I found street parking right in front of the Chines Theater, and we spent some time being tourists.  It was fun.  By the time we left, the area was clogged with tour busses and there wasn't a parking spot for miles.

 My mom's Uncle Ted worked for Burt Lancaster.  We have some things that belonged to him, paintings and tchotchkes.  Uncle Ted always brought home treasures from his glamorous life in Hollywood.

 What kind of nerd takes pictures of the William Primrose and Jascha Heifetz stars?

 This is for Scott because I always wanted to see them, and he teases me about it.

 This is for Jennie, because she's the boss. :)

 Next stop on our tourist excursion, the Griffiths Observatory.  I had talked to Roland's sister, Esther, who lives in L.A., to get the low-down on how to do the tourist things.  She told me the observatory is the best way to see the famous Hollywood sign.  It was a good view, although it was pretty far away.  It sure beats being charged with a felony for trespassing, trying to get to the sign, though!

 The sun was bright!

 We were so lucky all the time.  There was a picnic table available for our picnic lunch, overlooking the Hollywood sign, and in the shade too!  We were charmed.  The observatory didn't open until noon, and it was 11:30.  We made the decision to go back to the loft for a rest, then the beach, rather than tour the observatory.  Some things will have to wait for next time.  Again, we left our amazing parking spot right next to the picnic area and drove past miles of parked cars who had arrived after we did.  I was so glad we hadn't had to confront the crowds, and we still had time for a great day at the beach.

 I forget how warm and delicious the beach is in summer.  We're usually in California in the fall or spring, and it's sweater weather.  This time, it was hot enough that we kept dipping into the ocean.  Pure heaven!  After another sunny, sandy beach day, this group was ready for the night life.  While they did the Santa Monica pier, Ptolemy and I scoped out the Venice boardwalk.  And also, I dyed my hair blue.  The pink was fading and driving me nuts, so my plan was to go back to brown.  Ptolemy spotted blue dye, though, and the rest is history.  When the kids got back in the car at the end of the night, nobody noticed at first.  Then Olympe said, "Uh, Circe, is your hair blue?"  Ha ha!

I was wishing Scott could be there to roam around with me.  I feel so fortunate to have a husband who facilitates all of these adventures, both by being a good provider, and by allowing me the latitude to go while he takes care of things at home.  He even weaned Tizzy off her bottle while I was gone.  He is a better parent than I am!

Our days started early and our nights ended late.  It's a good thing the beach was conducive to relaxation!