Dan had two weeks off for spring break, but since my department was busy, I worked extra days while he stayed home with Emma. We've normally taken a vacation during spring break time, so it was disappointing that I wasn't able to get time off this year. Things did eventually slow down at work, so we were able to get away for a long weekend in Los Angeles right before Dan went back to work. There's a lot to do in L.A. and the drive is only about 3 hours, which is especially nice when you're on your way home afterwards!
Emma had a doctor's appointment scheduled that Friday morning for a scan of her bladder and kidneys. They inserted a catheter (which isn't the worst thing she's been through), but she had to lay still on her back for about 15 minutes during the scan (which IS the worst thing!). That meant that Dan and a nurse had to hold her down the whole time. It made her so mad, it sounded like they were torturing her the entire time. I felt so sorry for poor Dan - ha!
So we stopped at a Long Island pizza place for lunch and got him some New York-style comfort food afterwards.
Great pizza and a huge map of Long Island. Double win!
One of us was excited about stopping for ice cream afterwards. Heh!
Once we got to L.A. our plan was to hike to the Hollywood sign, but apparently the (very wealthy) neighboring residents have been complaining about the hikers and are trying to close down all the trails to the sign. They had a police officer turning cars around, so instead we drove to the Griffith Park Observatory.
From the Observatory, there were great views of downtown L.A.
And the inaccessible Hollywood Sign (on the hill in the background)
Inside were lots of great exhibits
Most of them moved and lit up, which fascinated Emma.
Our hotel provided a crib for her. Since the bars were shorter and closer together than our crib's at home, she was easily able to pull up and cruise around the crib.
She was so proud of herself and spent 30 minutes at a time playing in her bed!
We spent the next day at Universal Studios Hollywood. When we paid for the day we got free admission for the rest of 2014, so I'm sure we'll be back later this year!
Emma enjoying the Studio Tour tram ride. There was one particularly scary part where they drove us into a pitch black studio building and played an intense King Kong-themed IMAX movie. She just sat there with eyes and mouth wide open, and then acted like it was no big deal when it was over.
When Dan and I wanted to ride something, we took turns watching Emma and riding the ride. It took more time, but we got to ride everything we wanted to. They have an awesome new Transformers ride that we each rode twice. In the meantime, Emma discovered that when she was unbuckled, she could turn around in the seat to play with the straps and pull up to play peek-a-boo out the back. She spent about 45 happy minutes playing this way.
Our last day of vacation, we spent a couple of hours in Santa Monica before heading home.
Emma loved how the sunlight sparkled on the ocean waves!
At the famous Santa Monica Pier.
We had a great time during our spontaneous getaway weekend!
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