Oh my. She is just toooooooo cute. Day 7 and 8.
This was my first whole weekend up in LA. I was pretty excited because my cousin, Amanda, her husband Leslie and her daughter, Emily all came to pick me up for the weekend. We started off roaming around Santa Monica and looking at all the ivy clad brass dinosaurs.
For lunch, we stopped at a cutesy little Italian restaurant where you could eat outside and watch the people walking by. I ordered a mushroom pizza and watched Emily make a mess as she tried to feed herself pasta. Even though her mom has to slice the pasta into little pieces and Emily manages to drop food everywhere... the path from her bowl to her mouth is really the road less travelled (most of it ends up on the table or on the floor), she is adamant about feeding herself. She always blows on cooked food before she puts it into her mouth and always stirs her orange juice with a straw before she takes a sip. She even went and played basketball with an adorable little boy in the street.
We took a walk down to the beach and saw the "Bubba and Gump Shrimp House" and several street vendors selling art, food, and other goodies. There was also a small amusement park, but since we were scared that Emily would be scared of the rides, so we decided to pass.
Later, we went to Diamond Bar, which is where my cousin lives, and had Chinese food for dinner. Then we went shopping for food, so I wouldn't starve. I bought some ramen and other goodies to make sure that I would make it through the next week or two.
The next day we decided to go to Newport Beach. It was a small beach with really clean water, no cars, no boats, and no people (except for us). It was a little chilly so I waded in the water and collected a bunch of shells and pieces of broken coral. I almost stepped on a sea anemone but then I stopped myself. Emily, however, didn't quite understand the concept of cold water, so in an attempt to follow me out there ended up getting soaked from head to toe when a huge wave came in. She just giggled and laughed...while everyone else was oh so panicked.
We later went on a trip to Balboa Island and went shopping for Emily since she did get all of her clothes wet. We walked into a small baby boutique and bought her some new clothes so she could wear them and not catch a cold. We strolled around the island a little, had a great strawberry shake, and then made our way back to Diamond Bar.
For dinner we met up with my other's cousin's husband who was in town for a CS convention in Vegas. He stopped by and we talked a little and he set off for Anaheim. After dinner, we made a quick trip to Rite Aid, and Emily was intent on dragging around a basket twice the size as her around the store, which prompted the store manager to say, "Ohhhhh, she's just tooooooo cute."
After picking up some water and snacks from Rite Aid, I made it back to the Larry's and got ready for another week at Rotten!