My 2 cents: a family blog: Trip #3 to Santa Monica Airport

Yes yes...#3. It wasn't planned at all, I swear...well at least not consciously.

The day was suppose to be spent by me in a bus headed to Vegas with some Kaiser friends but that didn't pan out. I was feeling a bit bummed since I wanted to do some shopping for me.

Instead decided to take the kids to visit Mom who just happened to have a Dentist appointment near my place. In an attempt to spend more time with her I asked if she wanted to go to Hello Kitty Carnival and she said "sure" while the two kids in the back of me said "YEAY!"

Since I felt a bit unsure how the traffic would be on a Saturday afternoon in the 405, I chose to drive from Torrance to Santa Monica via side streets. This was the perfect time for the kids to snooze a naptime and mom too apparently.

As I turned into the now familiar street I noticed that the parking for the event is a lot closer to the park vs the actual place...tons of people were walking. I asked the parking attendant if I could try to find a place closer because of the 2 kids and a senior with me (sorry just a little white lie). He let us pass through and lucky for us we found the best spot...just across the entrance.

Yes I was excited...mainly because I didn't think I would find myself there again..and on a weekend. Not even the sureness of a huge crowd deterred me from going at least just one more time. This time dragging the two kids and my mom....hehehehe.

First thing we did as we were walking towards the entrance was to take a picture with

the Hello Kitty-rized Smart car (yes I would totally drive that around proudly)

Just look at Rj's excited face...

Then just as we were finishing up taking a second shot I heard a familiar voice say "Look there's Ate Mahal." followed by a "Hey what are you doing here?" As I turned around to see who it was I saw my cousins April, Ron and Carlo. And I let out my excited scream (the one I've been holding in, yea that one). I remember April messaging me via FB re: admission price for the event and of course I share the info. That's probably how the event got into my"unconscious brain" that morning...yea thats it...

(hey look April and Mae)

As we got closer I could feel my excitement and anticipation rising as I heard the beat of music coming from inside...and it was like going there for the first time again!!!

the "kids" couldn't wait to get in there...

The people...they were everywhere, and the music...WOW!! Felt like I was entering a club and was fighting the urge to dance since I was holding two little hands. Mommy mode kicked in and our first trip was the potty room.

Not sure if I've mentioned before in the the previous posts but the porta potties were the the "swanky" kind. Yes I took a picture of it...(from trip#1)

And no, the pot was not made of gold, but what a cool idea!

On our way to the potty, we came across Yogurtland where they were giving away bags and got a couple of those...perfect for each kid to place their winnings later.

Those things were gone in like 60 seconds because they were free :)

Second stop was here....

To get 40 tickets (20 for each kid) now the real smile of Rj shows

did I mention the crowd? Woow!

The two longest lines were the entrance to go in the Small Gift Pop Up Shop and Face Painting. Good thing none of us were interested in either. I wanted to go into the shop but not a good idea with the two small kids in tow. They would not have lasted the 1 hour wait in line for either one.

So instead I took them to the Mascot Scoop game.

then the Mini Golf

where they both had so much fun

to the Carnival type games

(where everyone gets some sort of prize)

Dough toss

Spin and Win (Celeste got 1st prize)

Rj got 3rd

like the game from Price is Right

Thought about this, but couldn't justify to myself the price

if you got one in red you got to get the pink one too

Celeste's face is classic

Then I spied this

which led to this...

Rj as Badtz Maru


and of course Celeste choose Hello Kitty

And what character do you think I was?

You will have to wait a bit longer to see it...a little suspense isn't bad.

And now the Eats (if you know me then you know I follow food)

Part of the fun (for me at least) in going here is finding out what food truck would be there. I found out that Buttermilk will be here from 1130-130p (probably another reason why I'm here)

But when we arrived at 230pm this is all that I saw...