Los Angeles

 A couple weeks before Christmas, Marty was scheduled to do some video work at a hotel in the Los Angeles area.  Although this wouldn't be a normal vacation destination for us we decided to take advantage of the free hotel room and make a mini vacation out of it.
The kids and I flew down to meet him.  I was a bit nervous traveling alone with the two kids but I shouldn't have worried.  They are seasoned travelers and Josie is ever the good, big sister.

The hotel was right on the water and the minute we got there we opened the windows to let the fresh, salt water air blow through our hair. Not only was it a very nice hotel but once they found out that we were joining Marty they gave us an additional adjoining room.  This was such a luxury! 

 

 This was a post it note on the mirror one day.  I'm not sure I agree 100% but I like the sentiment.

There was a boardwalk and a sleepy, little, old-school arcade within walking distance of our hotel.  We spent a lot of time there especially since it was a bit cloudy and they were running a "rainy day special" nearly every day we were there.  All rides and games were 25 cents.  We discussed the idea of renting a car while we were there and driving to Disneyland.  But, honestly, they were just as happy with the arcade and our daily trips to the beach and the playground. Once Marty and I made up our minds for sure that we didn't really want to go to Disneyland we asked the kids if they would rather go or have a half roll of quarters ($5) to spend at the arcade.  They both said they wanted the quarters and we didn't hear another word about Disneyland.

 Our daily walks to the beach and the playground were also a big hit.  We also reconnected with a friend from our PEPS group who now lives just 15 minutes away from where we were staying so we spent one morning at her house with her family and some neighborhood friends of theirs. We were just there for 5 days but since we didn't have anything planned it seemed much longer and was actually quite relaxing.  Below is a pretty good representation of our days.  Beach, playground, beach, playground, beach, playground... you get the idea.