Welcome Back To Ridiculously Beautiful Norway

What's That Hiding Behind The Travel Mug In The Kitchen Sink?

Oh, just the second scorpion in my house this summer. I smashed the first one, but this guy was sent down the drain with lots of hot water- hopefully enough to keep him from crawling back out to settle the score. I was hoping that the first was just an isolated case- a misfit with a horrible sense of direction. So sad, I really hate wearing shoes.

After the Getty we took off in search of oh-so-L.A. shopping. I was hazy on getting to Melrose in the first place, got some from-the-road directions from my brother (which were fine, but my internal compass, if given the choice, automatically leads west), then ended up at the edge of the Pacific. By the time we had backtracked to where we had intended on going, most stores were closed. We finally found the Urban Outfitters, shopped a while, and took goofy pictures until the cashier yelled at us. Then we hit Starbucks, got dinner at Ralph's (yes, Ralph's Supermarket) , and called it a day.

I'll Be Teaching Nature At Kids Kamp This Year. Anyone Have A Good Chief Name For Me?

One Of Our Favorite Exhibits At The Getty...

...(well, our most photographed at least) was a video installation by Nicole Cohen. We found ourselves in a white room with six white chairs. Each chair faced a video camera and a television screen on which the sitter appeared to be in one of the museum's fancy chairs that people aren't really allowed to sit in.









Each chair moved (virtually) from room to room of the museum. We all took advantage of this seat, as it was in the forefront of the room, and we were less orange and static-y.

Angelica

Rachel

Shannon

Kaitlin

We became so enamored with ourselves as part of the museum's display, that we took a group shot in this fancy room.

Outside The Getty

Call Box

Hearing from Kaitlin that she had only been to L.A. twice (once for Jeopardy! tryouts, and once to go to LAX) sparked a museum trip during our break. Plans were made, times set, and we set off for our culture hunt. We almost made it all the way out of Hemet, too, before needing to call a tow truck.

On our way to the 10, the very large truck in front of me swerved into the center divider to avoid a bag of plastic bottles in the road. Remembering both my driver's ed class and the urgings of my parents, I did not swerve, but instead hit the bag with my very short car, using the engine to drag this refuse out of everyone's way. We pulled over and lied down in the shoulder to pull all of the bottles out, then continued on. The car sounded normal for a few miles, but soon started to handle differently than usual. We pulled over again to look for missed bottles, found none, then tried to take off again. It started making horrendous noises and we finally stopped for good. My cell phone had no signal, so it was off to the call box. The woman who answered kept trying to calm me down, even though I was doing just fine.

The Barrs were great sports about sitting there in the hot car with the time clock of our L.A. day ticking away. When the truck finally arrived, I explained our troubles to Jon from San Jacinto, he examined the car, and found a two and a half gallon water bottle wedged between the driver's side front tire and hub (I did not lie down on the highway side of the car to check there). He wrenched it out and told me to drive up to the next exit and see how it felt. Sure enough, everything was fine, and he radioed the towing mother ship to get permission to waive any fees (slipped him some cash anyway) and we were on our way. Stupid bottles.

Stones Concert?

Nope. Preschool graduation.

It was very, very cute. The graduates did very well while reciting their Bible verses, and almost all of them were able to sit still when it wasn't their turn. Congratulations Ethan!!

A Thousand Words

KBarr meets The Bweinhfather

These Baby Birds Love Mini Marshmallows (Ice Cream Social Night)

I realize all of these are really similar, but I couldn't leave any out.