Ryan & Erinn's Family: July 4th, and Hollywood

Sunday, August 25, 2013

July 4th, and Hollywood

We participated in a children's parade on the Fourth of July. The kids from our ward and the surrounding neighborhood were all invited to decorate themselves and their bikes, and rode/marched down the main street of a nearby subdivision. It was pretty awesome. Ryan decided to decorate Wiley by mixing food coloring into some lotion - he assumed the food coloring would wash out later (it didn't). The ward newsletter guy got a great picture of everybody, which makes all my phone pictures look lousy by comparison!

There was a potluck at the end.

On the fifth, we did our first trip to the Hollywood Bowl, courtesy of Ryan's work. It was their "Bugs Bunny at the Symphony" show, and the kids were really well behaved. Even Corinne was mostly quiet the whole time. Evan was singing "Kill the Wabbit" for days afterward.

Box Seats - It's a tradition to eat dinner there, I guess.

We finished up our swim lessons - Elise was doing a great crawl and backstroke, and Evan was totally over his fears. We ended up having Miss Lisa back a few more times, just to help Evan retain what he'd learned.

Evan was invited to his first (I think) birthday party. It was one of those amazing kid parties that I could never pull off - super fun but not quite over-the-top. They led the kids on a Dora the Explorer themed quest at the park, including a crocodile infested river, a dark tunnel, and a sandbox filled with treasure. The dad even dressed up as "swiper" to steal his daughter's birthday candle (thus beginning the quest to retrieve it.) That week was also special because I had all three kids in day camp: Connor at Sports Blitz Camp, Elise at Camp Runamuk, and Evan at Little Gym Camp.

Moments Before Swiper Strikes

"Rainbow Treasure"

Binny's First Cupcake

We had a goal this summer to go to the beach at least three times. Once was on a Saturday, so Ryan could go with us. Corinne loved it, and ate less sand than I expected.

We dared Evan to chase those birds, but he wimped out.

Stealing Glasses

One of our friends works for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. He asked us at the beginning of the year if there were any Walk of Fame ceremonies we were interested in attending, and ran down a list of stars, most of whom I didn't recognize (I'm kinda out of the loop anymore.) But, luckily, Ryan did recognize one - Bryan Cranston, the guy from Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad. So, in mid-July Ryan took the day off, we got a sitter, and went to see Bryan Cranston get his star. It definitely exceeded our expectations! We had been put on the list to get inside the barriers and hang out (in the blazing hot sun) right next to all the famous people. Ryan got a lot of good pictures on his phone, but I always feel too silly to bother people for autographs or anything!