Sunday: Squeezing in every last bit of fun (and food)

Sunday was our last day in Cali. We had plane tickets on the red eye home for 11pm that night so we had plenty of time to catch some more sights.

First, we went to the Farmer's Market and The Grove, where there are cool little shops and some food stands. (Chad and I ate Chinese.) I bought a pair of "Hollywood" sunglasses (hey, when in Rome) and Chad bought some cologne that he had been eyeing for a few weeks.

We went down Hollywood Blvd where we saw the Dolby Theater (formally known as Kodak Theater aka where American Idol finale is held), saw where my brother's latest movie, Dead Dad, screened, and walked by the Wax Museum where I ran into Sue Sylvester.
And saw a few stars...

And then we answered our question from the day before.

Do Sprinkles cupcakes taste as good in the ATM machine as they do straight from the bakery?

Um, yes.

And by the way, the dark chocolate and the peanut butter chocolate chip are both DELISH.

You know, if you are ever in the neighborhood.

We also traveled up into the hills to see the city from quite a distance up.


We then went back home, packed up, and headed to our last meal on the West Coast- Umami Burger.

Honestly, at this point I had to throw in the towel.

I had a salad.

I did try a bite of both Chad's and Caroline's burgers and they were pretty much the best tasting burgers ever. We ended the meal splitting homemade ice cream sandwiches.

And with that ice cream sandwich, we ended our weekend in California. Caroline and Eric drove us to the airport, and we hopped on the 11:05pm flight to Detroit and then to Raleigh.

Eric and Caroline were pretty much the most awesome hosts ever. They were so accommodating from super cleaning their kitty house for my allergies, taking time off of work, to loaning us their air conditioning unit at night (um, we totally brought a NC heat wave to LA that weekend bringing their normal 75 degree temps to 90 degrees), to driving us miles and miles and miles so we could see everything, to eating out way more than I am sure they are used to. The time spent with my brother and his wife was priceless. Having two kids who adore their aunt and uncle is great, but when they are home, it's pretty much constant "UncleEricAuntCarolineUncleEricAuntCarolineUncleEric..." Having adult time with them for 4 days was such a blessing, and we shared so many laughs and made so many memories. I am soooo thankful for this trip- not only because of time with E and C, but of course, time with my sweet husband. It really is true that I am about 90% mom and 10% wife when we are home. To be 99% wife and 1% mom (when I was texting and emailing home), was what we needed. It was wonderful for us as a couple....a not so young couple anymore. :-)

I survived the time away from my babies. I had not gone more than 2 nights away from them before and that trip was just about 2.5 hours away. Flying to the other side of the country to the other ocean was pretty much like ripping off the bandaid. But we all did great.

And I may not even wait 10 more years to do it again. :-)