Museums and Fossils and Canters … oh, my!


This weekend, our 3 nieces and nephew get to spend some quality time with us. Last night, our oldest nieces Kendall & Jordan got to spend the night at our house, and then we had an action-packed day planned for them. We have been waiting for such a long time to take the big girls to an art museum … and then we decided to hit up the La Brea Tar Pits, too!

However, no time spent at Uncle Ed and Auntie Carrie’s house can go without a little Guitar Hero. Check out these rocker-girls in action!

After a fair amount of rocking ensued, we headed off to LACMA for an introduction to some modern art!

We were particularly excited for the girls to see the “Happy Happy” installation in the Your Bright Future exhibit. Basically, Happy Happy is bunch of brightly colored kitchen items from the 99 Cent Store, all hung from up high. It’s huge! You can walk through it, play in it – its fascinating for both adults and kids alike. I think the girls were really surprised to see how art isn’t just a painting on a wall or a drawing in a sketchbook.

We bought the girls sketchbooks and colored pencils so they could draw at the museum if they were inspired, or they could simply write how they felt about a piece that they saw. I was excited that they really got into it:

Kendall and Jordan also got introduced to some of our favorite artists – Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Wassily Kandinsky!
Learning about Warhol …

Intrigued by Jeff Koons’ “Balloon Dog” …
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Inspired by Kandinsky!

After exploring the museum, we walked around to the back, and noticed that the Happy Happy artist also had another similar exhibition that allowed the public to participate in!

The girls were really impressed by this, and we checked out all the random objects people incorporated into the piece:

All that art worked up our appetites, so we decided to hit up Canter’s to show Kendall & Jordan how all the cool kids do lunch in L.A.!

Matzo Ball Soup, Pickles and Bagel Chips … yep, we’re at one of the best Jewish Delis ever!

We were feeling good after lunch, so it was finally time to check out some fossils and Ice Age skeletons at the La Brea Tar Pits

Once inside, there was lots of cool stuff to see – including lots of bones! Just a few of the monsters we saw …

They even have real volunteers in the Paleontology Lab cleaning up the bones and fossils right in front of you! The museum said that after all this time, they finally found a Woolly Mammoth with tusks intact. This is the very first time they have been able to salvage a full Mammoth! Inside the lab, they are calling him “Zed”. Here is part of Zed’s tusks:

Pretty cool stuff:

Everyone enjoyed the visit, but the girls were surprised at how strong the smell was. Here is Kendall’s summary:

And finally, the perfect end to a perfect day – we made a stop at Sprinkles for Kendall & Jordan’s first “original” gourmet cupcake. Only the best for our girls!

Check out the album for more awesome pics!

Kendall and Jordan visit
August 2009

Tomorrow’s agenda: Another big day out with Mikayla & Ethan!

Danna & Jarod’s Wedding!

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Last Saturday, two of our dearest friends got married in Lake Arrowhead.  Danna has been Ed’s best friend since they were 18 – meaning now, they can officially say they have been friends for 1/2 their lives!  Danna was Ed’s Best (Wo)Man  at our wedding, so he got to return the favor by being Danna’s Lad of Honor at her wedding.  I was a bridesmaid too, which made things fun –  we got the unique opportunity to be on the same side of the wedding party!  Since Jarod was also a groomsman at our wedding, favors were being returned all over the place.  Both Ed & I felt very honored to be a part of such a beautiful wedding.

The wedding was really cool, because it was like a mini-destination wedding – we all got to stay at Arrowhead Ranch for the weekend. Because we were in the wedding party, Danna & Jarod hooked us up with a cozy little cabin!  Here is the infamous Cabin 6:
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The location couldn’t have been more awesome.  The ceremony took place in the ampitheater, outdoors among the trees.  It seemed so magical – as one of Danna’s cousin’s put it, it was like being right in the middle of a Midsummer’s Night Dream!

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Also really cool, our other dear friend Rebecca made Danna & Jarod’s wedding cake topper!  It turned out perfect. Rebecca also made the cake topper for our wedding … it’s fun to look at them both!
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Danna looked absolutely gorgeous of course:

And the rest of us girls didn’t look so bad either!

Ed was dashing as the Lad of Honor:

The stunning ceremony location:
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And the bride & groom even cut their cake with Lord of the Rings swords!

We are just so happy for Jarod and Danna! They are a perfect couple – and we love them both dearly. Congrats, Jarod & Danna – the “Wild Mountain Kobers“!

Kober Wedding

Look out world … thosecoolkims.com is smart phone friendly!

kims_iPhone

Ever since Ed & I got our iPhones, we have been completely giddy with all of our new options – especially blogging on the go! And … our blog is now smartphone friendly, so you can get your fix anytime you want. (We know, you must be thrilled!)

So now that we’re back online, you better believe we will be posting more than ever … Consider yourselves warned! :)

We’re back online!

Howdy folks! After a long hiatus, and a terrible, terrible, terrible webhost who lost all of our files … we are back and ready to show & tell again! We’re a little bummed, we lost a bit of entries – but the good news is, the majority are all still here, and we are ready to make some more!

We learned a valuable lesson from all of this: be diligent about backing up your files! In such a digital world, its devastating to lose photos/music/etc., so be sure to back up! Fortunately for us, we didn’t lose it all!

xo,
thosecoolkims