#PARENTS ON TOUR - MUSEUM EDITION

Recently my parents came out to California for their second visit. We were planning to mix sightseeing with lots of relaxing as they (like us) had been rather busy in the lead up to their trip. Whilst Andrew was working we did two day trips to see some of our favourite museums; the Huntington Library and Gardens and the Getty Center. 

The Huntington Library and Gardens gave Dad an opportunity to really try out his new camera, particularly in the Chinese garden. It was a lovely warm day and we enjoyed meandering round. Sadly as it was winter there were fewer plants and flowers out, but you can imagine how beautiful it will be come the summer. Here's a few photos from the Chinese garden, which is my favourite part. 

The only photo I took from the exhibits indoors was this one and I'm afraid its because something about it made me laugh. This was in the European art area. They had allowed a modern artist to come and place art instillations around the existing exhibits. Most of them rather annoyed my mum and some of them I really didn't get, but this one made me chuckle. Its almost like an ancient superhero in my mind. I love it!

As for the Getty Center, we arrived on another really warm day and made the most of the views of Los Angeles, sprawling out below us. Dad took an architectural tour which he really enjoyed. I wish I could tell you some important facts about the buildings and the concepts but all I remember from Dad's recap was that the architect fell out with someone over the garden area and refused to come back onto site. So there we go, fun fact! 

My favourite painting from the Getty on this trip is the picture below. Something about the little girl just captures me. She's so sweet looking and I love the way it looks so tonal with the painted wall in the background. As I was snapping the picture on my phone the security guard said, "That's a good choice, its one of my favourites too." That made me chuckle. 

I love swanning around museums and those two are definitely my favourites in the Los Angeles area. Up next, our epic road trip pit stop; the Hoover Dam.

H

LAKE TAHOE - PART II

The second half of our Lake Tahoe trip obviously involved a lot more playing in snow. Macintosh absolutely loved spending every day just wandering around in the snow. Its definitely harder work than you'd expect clambering around in deep snow but it was so much fun. 

One thing Andrew and I had been so excited to do was to cook a traditional Christmas dinner for our friends. We had already cooked one on Christmas day, but making one for a larger number is much better. We didn't manage to snap any photos of the dinner, other than one right at the beginning because we were all too busy munching away! 

New years eve was going to be the highlight of the week for me as we were going to attempt to ski for the first time. Andrew, Nicole and I had signed up for a half day of ski lessons. Nicole had done it a long time ago, but Andrew and I were novices. I was super excited prancing around in all my snow gear and the first half of the lesson went really well. I didn't really fall over but Andrew did. I was beginning to feel confident. Then we went onto the slopes. It all changed. 

Our instructor was a bit of a wally and I didn't really get on with him. He kept pushing me to go further or faster than I felt comfortable and I just kept crashing out. Andrew was maddeningly good (as always). He was trying to help out a little bit but I just couldn't seem to stop crashing. Then on the final slope of the morning I got my revenge, albeit accidentally. I was skiing down the slope, as instructed, and ended up heading straight for him. He didn't hear me coming and I couldn't stop quickly enough so I took him out! Was not so amusing at the time as he landed awkwardly on my knee but Andrew and Nicole were rather pleased I did it. 

The afternoon however was better. I managed to stay upright and skied a fair bit. It was possibly made better by the fact that Andrew kept falling over on the last slope of the day. It may have made me feel a little more excited. But here are the few snaps we got. The last one is us at the end of the day feeling cold but happy with ourselves. 

We celebrated after skiing with a meal out and then some rather exhausted partying back at the cabin. The dogs, who had spent all day in the cabin just chilling out pretty much looked how we felt!

But we pressed on, played some games, watched Jools Holland (via the wonders of the internet and delayed tv) and rang in the new year pretty much as we crawled into our beds! 

Some of us partied harder than others! 

One New Year's Day our final lot of friends arrived having had an awful journey saga. They had tried to fly across the country to Lake Tahoe several times but due to a variety of insane issues they didn't make it until the penultimate day. As we waited to hear whether they had finally made it Andrew and I took a walk and spotted a guy being pulled along on his snow board by his dog. Obviously that got us thinking and we tried to get Macintosh to pull us on a sledge. The affect was no where near as cool. 

The final day at the cabin was a sad affair. We absolutely loved our winter wonderland, but we took one last stroll and play in the snow and then packed up to go home. Poor old Macintosh refused to get in the car, I think he wanted to stay forever. He is definitely a cabin sort of dog. But I think we've decided that a snow trip is needed at least once more this year!

H

LAKE TAHOE - PART I

Excuse the lateness of this post. Other things have taken precedent!

Over Christmas and New Year Andrew and I took the opportunity to head up to Lake Tahoe for a winter holiday with some friends. Lake Tahoe is half in California and half in Nevada so we managed to tick off another state during the trip, which is always a bonus.

We rented a cabin which from the photos looked idyllic and did not disappoint when we arrived there. It was set back slightly into the woods and surrounded by snow. There were giant icicles hanging off the side of it and it just look picturesque. The amazing thing about it was that the backyard was sloped which made it perfect for sledging!

The first thing we did when we arrive was obviously to start building some runs. Andrew and Christian naturally took the engineering role and started building. Poor old Penny was still a little unsure of the snow at this point, which was natural as it was the size of her. However Macintosh was fully embracing it and spent the entire time exploring. 

Macintosh quickly discovered that running down the sled run ahead of the person on the sledge was rather exhilarating and began to do it quite often. Thankfully he is a rather speedy dog so there were no collisions! We spent ages the first couple of days just enjoying the snow out the back. I don't remember when I last saw snow that deep.  

The lake itself is stunning. Its nestled in the Sierra Nevada and its actually the biggest alpine lake in the whole of North America. I was struggling to capture the sheer size of the lake and its beauty, but we did manage to have a wander around by it one day. We captured some sweet couple shots of us and Nicole and Christian. The dogs mostly behaved for the photos. 

Obviously with such a large lake just sitting there you had to make snowballs and see who could through them the furthest. That's just a must! 

The first half of the holiday finished up with the arrival of our next set of friends and more time just messing around in the snow and playing games. One game we played, that I was rubbish at, but enjoyed playing was called Suspend. It's basically a balancing game that you take in turns playing. I was so rubbish at it because I struggle to grasp the basics of physics but it was fun to play.

So there we go, there's the first half of Lake Tahoe. Hopefully it won't take me too long to put up part two!
H

SAYONARA 2015

I am rather behind on our blog posts as its already January 6th and I've not even updated you on things we did over Christmas, or said goodbye to 2015. I apologise. For a start we took a trip over New Year which put us all out of sync but then we launched back into the regular rhythms of life and haven't had a chance to catch our breath. But I'm on it, I promise!

Starting with our round up post from 2015. It certainly was a busy year. I feel like we visited a lot of places, had some visitors and generally achieved a lot. It was also a pretty big year for a certain husband of mine too. 

So here's our top ten events of 2015:

1. Having Andrew's family come over to visit us. 
2. Travelling up to Seattle by train and seeing the beauty of the West coast.
3. Watching a couple of American Football games, particularly the Seattle Seahawks. 
4. Our friend Tim's visit and seeing Yosemite and other great places with him. 
5. A certain someone turning 30!
6. The amazing Alaskan cruise. 
7. Meeting Mr James Corden himself. 
8. Going home to see all the family, especially Mr Elisha after turning 1!
9. Seeing the band Muse perform, and watching Andrew's face as the drones flew round. 
10. The stay at the beautiful cabin in Lake Tahoe (more to come on that later). 


As you can see its been a pretty busy 2015 and unsurprisingly 2016 is shaping up to be just as crazy. We have a visit or two lined up with family members and then in the middle of the year we are going to be celebrating my brother getting married which means a trip back to England! Yay! There's also the scary event of me turning 30, but we won't mention that again. Ever. 

We are so grateful to God for all the things that happened in 2015, even some of the tougher things which have allowed us to grow, especially as a couple. We look forward to facing 2016. As ever, updates will be on the blog so you can feel somewhat involved. 

Happy new year everyone!
A&H xx

#PETER ON TOUR - THE SPORTS EDITION

We used Peter's trip as an excuse to sneak in a couple of sports games so that we could give him an "American experience" but also so we could tick some more off our list. First up was an ice hockey match. 

I chose the matches to go to and decided that since I was in LA I should really go see the Anaheim Ducks who are in fact The Mighty Ducks. Yup, I was fully expecting to see Emilio Estevez coaching them and some impressive flying V formations. Unfortunately things have moved on since the nineties and in fact this game is played by fully grown men, not kids. Shame. But they were still pretty impressive. 

The NHL games are definitely entertaining and very full on. It was rather loud and noisy with lots of entertainment slots in the breaks. Every time the home team won there was lots of noise and flashing lights with everyone cheering their heads off. The cheerleaders came out on skates at different points and did their thing too. There were even a few minor fights which we enjoyed!  

Andrew got quite into it in fact, he was screaming his head off. Apparently he really likes hockey and has chosen it as his American sport. I however disagree. I have well and truly become an American football fan, especially after our next sports game.

So the final sports game was an American football game. We've been to a pre-season NFL game so we decided to try a college game as we had been told they were pretty impressive. They weren't wrong. We went to see the University of Southern California, known as the Trojans. It was homecoming week too so it was insanely busy and so much fun.

The build up and entertainment factor at a football game is definitely bigger than the hockey. When we arrived and finally found our seats there was a humongous marching band on the field playing and entertaining with a guy dressed up as a soldier in full costume leading them around. After the fireworks the team took to the field and the game began. 

Half time saw the band take to the field again, but this time it was 1000 strong! It played some impressive tunes and just took our breath away at the sheer size of it. No university game in England really has this much pomp and circumstance! Its insane!

But I have to say that the highlight of the game wasn't winning the match, it was what happened every time they scored a touchdown. Just watch and you'll see!

Yup every time they scored their mascot, Traveler the horse, would charge up and down the field whilst the band played and the crowd chanted! It was truly insane. 

But thats just one of the reasons I love football (said in a slow Southern drawl!). 

H