Santa Monica Venice Beach ~~love love love this place

Today we are taking the boys to Santa Monica and Audy is staying home with BB who is vomiting and has terrible stomach cramps.  She was crying when we got there, we brought her some Gatorade and ritz crackers to see if she could hold them down.  NOPE, she did not.  She could not hold down anything and the pain in her face and crying made me feel awful.  After talking with her Mom, we decided she needed to go see a Dr.  Audy took off to Urgent Care with BB and we took the boys for the rest of the day.

Marlon ended up deciding to head out to Santa Monica Beach and go bike riding.  Great idea as Audy had packed us a lunch, so we decided Marlon would carry our lunch in his insulated backpack and we would stop and picnic during our bike ride.  We stopped at a  grocery and Marlon picked up a plastic table cloth and  beverages for our lunch.

We paid and parked in a huge lot by Santa Monica beach.  The first place we wanted to go was to find a bike rental place. Marlon rented us all bikes for the day.  The grand kids are going to love riding bikes along the beach on the nice bike paths.  The views of the ocean as you ride are so comforting.  I have a smile on my face already and it will stay there.  Can't help but enjoy such an adventure like this.  We hopped on our bikes and rode for an hour from Santa Monica beach to Venice Beach.  We turned around and decided to stop and eat lunch as soon as we found a nice location to eat.  Mason did not want to stop riding but once we got everything set up for lunch he was ready to eat.

After eating our lunch, JL and I went down to Venice beach boardwalk and watched a family on stilts perform.  They were very good, the little one did take a spill and fell but got right back up and started her training again.

 After our bike ride, we ventured over to Santa Monica Pier.  Mason wanted to ride the Merry Go Round, which was located in a huge building. I bought him a ticket and he ran and got in line.   I could not believe how fast it went.  He held on tight and put his LA hat on top of his horses head.........oh Mason.......LOL

The view from the pier was awesome loved spending time there.  Lots of fun things to see and do.  We found a candy stand and Mason wanted  some blow Pops.  The boys even got one to take home to their sick sister.  :-)  I wanted to see the sunset from the pier, but the pier was packed with people.  Marlon said to follow him and away we went down the pier and up to the top of the hill.

When we reached the top of the hill the view was phenomenal.  I loved looking down at Santa Monica Pier at all the people, seeing all the lights from the rides and the sun going down reflecting its pretty sun glow upon Santa Monica.

  You could even see the fog setting in on the ocean, wow what a sight.

While waiting for the sun to go down got a few shots of the boys staking out their spot on the fence for a great view.

A few shots of the beautiful sunset at Santa Monica Beach. It's dark now and we are going to walk to Third St. Promenade to see what's going on there.  The street was filled with entertainment and bright colorful lights.  Together we watched some of the people performing in the streets and listened to some of them sing and play instruments.

Someone did a great job designing these topiary's made into dinosaurs.  Some of them even had water shooting from their mouths.

I really enjoyed listening to this guy play his violin and use his feet to add different instrument sounds to his already great playing.  Very talented guy. 

We are all tired and ready to go home but not before we walk over and see Bloomingdale's huge Christmas tree.  Long walk back to the car but the adventure has been worth it.  

The road back down Topanga Canyon is so twisty.   I do not look forward to being on that road at night. There was a lot of traffic on that road just like I thought.   Sometimes you would go around a curve and it looked like you were going to go right over the side of the mountain.   Near the end right we  stopped and got a night photo of LA.  

We went and dropped the boys off at Audys and visited for a few.  BB is still looking very sick but since she has taken the meds she has not vomited.  Maybe she is on the mend.