Summer Movies

N LOVES tv. I took him alone to his first movie, the Winnie the Pooh movie, when we was just over 2. E has never been partial to sitting around for too long. Except for Gabba:) I ventured out to the El Capitan a couple months ago to see Disneys Chimpanzee. They were hosting a munchkin morning, where the lights were up more than usual and they said the volume was down. . . I didnt notice that though. N could have sat through the whole thing, but E was not enjoying himself. I took to downloading new apps on my phone during the movie to try and appease him. It worked a bit, but my snack pickings werent helping either and we had to bail:( I wasnt too disapoionted. It wasnt that enthralling of a movie anyway. This past week, however, we enjoyed a movie all the way through. . . for FREE!! Granted, it was in Thousand Oaks, but still! Free movie! Yes there is gas money involved for my 30+ mile drive in both directions, but still cheaper than 3 movie tickets. . . expecially if we cant make it through the whole thing! We left for the valley just after 9am and made it to the Muvico at the Oaks mall to see the Spongebob movie. My boys loooooove that yellow guy and sat through happily! My mom and sister met us for the movie too - extra hands just in case, always a nice safety net for a mom of mulitples. The kids were champs though and loved watching their movie on the big screen. A big step from the monkeys in Hollywood a bit earlier in the year! We enjoyed lunch together in a mall restaurant and hit up the food court play area to run off any remaining wiggles before the long drive home. It was a really successful day and I look forward to more summer movies in the valley. . . for free:) The Chinese theater in Hollywood is also doing a promotion this summer and hosting 25 cent family movies every Saturday at 10am. Yes. . . $00.25. So, this morning my husband and mother in law took the boys back to Hollywood, parked for $2 and spent $1 for the 4 of them to see Madagascar 1!! I hear the kids really enjoyed it, and N was excited to tell me he saw a movie with animals, after waking from his nap. I know movies are a tricky thing for those of us with little guys, but for a quarter or FREE, its a great opportunity for practice runs:) The air conditioning isnt bad either;) Playa vista is also offering movies at 8pm on some Friday nights at the bandshell in central park. Some are family friendly, some are not. Be sure to check the schedule before showing up for that. The night before the boys birthday party, my husband took them to see the muppets with my mother in law! They enjoyed snacks and sitting in their special park chairs. The glow sticks didnt hurt either:)

Marina fun

Playa Vista has a FREE beach shuttle!! It runs only Friday-Sunday, starting 10am. It has special holiday hours as well, but Im mostly into it because its a new form of transport for the boys. They LOVE anything that moves, and I LOVE FREE:) There are several drop points along the shuttle route. Its also linked with a waterbus system that takes passengers around the marina. The water bus is $1 per rider, only operates Friday 5pm - Sunday. . . cheapest marina cruise ever!!! When we went, we did not have a stroller, but I did see a family roll their stroller on board without a problem. Id imagine its wheelchair accessible too. A few weekends ago, we rode the shuttle out of Playa Vista and got off in Fishermans Village. We had dinner at El Torito and enjoyed the view of the water and boats, without the hassle and cost of parking there. Definitely a nice touch. The kids loved waiting at the bus stop and were super excited to ride again! We returned in the morning, and again dropped the car in Playa Vista and got off in Fishermans Village. This time, we boarded the water bus and cruised over to Mothers beach. We walked around the sand and had lunch at the cheesecake factory. The kids were getting cranky, so we opted for the shuttle ride back instead of the waterbus. It was kind of hard to get the shuttle there because there was somer construction going on so the mapped shuttle stop wasnt exactly where we expected to find it. My husband found another nearby stop though and we made it home in one piece. It was really fun to have two forms of transportation to explore in one morning!

mommy adventures, on the cheap!! Train birthday party

A few weeks ago, after sharing stories of a fun day with a friend, he told me i should be blogging this stuff!!! He was right, and being that I had blogged for years, his comment reminded me that i miss it. Why did I stop? Twins. . . thats why! That and a dying laptop, and a new ipad with no keyboard that I actually wanted to use. Fast forward to a new mac mini in the house, and I still didnt get back into it. My husband was wonderful enough to bring home a super cool keyboard for the ipad and Im set:) I didnt start though because I was trying to decide how to categorize our little adventures. . . price? transportation? season? Tonight, I finally decided it doesnt matter! I just want to share our stories and cheap/fun finds so my friends and their friends can perhaps benefit from our brilliance:) My boys turned 3 last month. I didnt want to host a conventional party, nor could we afford one of those cute indoor play facilites. . 300-400 bucks, and thats not even food, cake or party favors?!?!? SO! We took our inspriation from a super fun playdate with a mommy friend. We rode the new train line from La Cienega/Jefferson to the California Science Center! Train tickets are $1.50 per adult, per boarding, and kids are free until they are 5! Each adult ticket allows 2 kids (i think) so its not like one adult can drag 30 kids along. . . not that theyd want to. Anyway, we spent the morning together running around the museum, we ate lunch on the benches outside and rode the train home. This was one of several train trips we had taken since the recent opening of the metro/expo line, but every time, the kids get SO excited to ride the TRAIN:) For the kids party, we invited families to meet us early at the train station. We all met in the parking lot, which was a ghost town. . . who is riding the train at 10am on a Saturday? Families with young kids! :) We loaded birthday gifts into our car, and loaded up our wonderful beach cart with our party essentials (which were minimal since the location was the attraction!) A few families opted to drive their cars to the science center, but most everyone rode the train with us:) Once at the center, everyone weas free to explore on their own and we decided to meet back in the entrance to the rose garden at noon. We ordered pizza from a local pizza hut and went about our morning. I met the pizza guy a few minutes early and texted all the parents that lunch had arrived. The weather was hotter than I expected, but it worked out well. We found an empty gazebo in the rose garden and enjoyed lunch in the shade. Everyone was impressed with my fancy rainbow cupcakes (thanks pintrest!) and we finished out the day with bubble wands from the party favor bags. BIG hit and it made for great pix too!! The train ride back was prety quiet as our previously excited kiddos were zonked:) I was so thrilled with how their special day came out. Everyone had fun, and $$ was minimal:) We paid for adult tickets, pizza and drinks, party fee to the science center, party favors and cupckae mix (this was a big savings because I spent hours baking and decorating)