It was Mom's birthday on Sunday and the entire Waldman Family was in town for a Long Beach family reunion to help us celebrate. They all made the long drive Friday night and arrived very late. Now that we have an extra bedroom and bathroom, Sophie slept on an air mattress in Christoper's room and Eli slept on an air mattress in my bedroom. In past years, we typically went to the mountains but there hasn't been any snow this year so we decided to explore the city scene.
On Saturday morning, we had a classic New York bagel and coffee breakfast and caught the Blue Line train to Los Angeles for an urban adventure. Actually, we drove to the Willow Station and boarded the train from Long Beach. The train was an adventure in itself because we all had to buy TAP cards and carry them throughout the day. Our goal was to see the cultural diversity of downtown Los Angeles and boy did we ever! We visited the Grand Park, Disney Hall, US Bank Building (70th Floor slide), Grand Central Market (for lunch), China Town (new year parade), Olvera Street, Little Tokyo, and back to Long Beach for dinner from Little India. We must have walked 10 miles but no one cried or complained. We ate lots of treats along the way (which helped), but the parents were all very impressed with the kids performance.
On Sunday, we celebrated Mom's first birthday as an Irish person and walked to the store to pick out all the Irish princess decorations we could find: green necklaces, tiara, plates and napkins, balloons and flowers. She awoke to Irish Riverdance music, coffee, and a breakfast celebration. For our Sunday adventure, we kept it local and took a hike in El Dorado Park Nature Center, played My Little Pony Monopoly, and Frisbee in the park. Christopher and Sophie were very much into throwing the Frisbee at the Opossum Patch but the big adventure was a birthday tournament at Medieval Times! We had an awesome time as the cheering section for the Black & White knight. He made it to the final battle but was defeated by the Green knight in an upset. We were all so pumped-up after that we stayed-up really late and the parents got every moment out of Mom's birthday listening to Billy Joel, drinking cocktails, playing cards, and talking until past midnight!
Although the Family Reunion came to an end with breakfast on the water in Downtown Long Beach the following day, we had a great time and are thinking about our next adventure soon!
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