Easter in LA

We decided about a week in advance that we would go to LA for Easter to visit Ellie and Noah. We found out that Ben's parents and my parents would be out of town, so we figured hey, we should be out of town somewhere too! We went Wednesday night through Sunday and it was so much fun!!

Wednesday night we were greeted LA style with some In-N-Out Burger after being picked up from the airport. YUM! Everything is fresh and the line is long!

Thursday we walked around town, saw Dustin Hoffman walking down the street (and no picture to show for it!!! *sigh*), and watched the presidential motorcade go by on the street where Ellie and Noah live!

Obama was in town for a fundraiser and the helicopter drops him off at a post office down the street. We just went right out from where they live and watched him drive by. They had the roads all blocked off and weren't allowing people on the sidewalk either, so we were lucky to be right there already. Ellie and Noah had rehearsal for the Good Friday service (they are on the worship team and are some of the greatest musicians I've ever heard!), so Ben and I walked around town and got some frozen yogurt at Yogurtland. Ellie made us a great fish dinner and we ended the night with good conversation and some wine (the way most evenings visiting family end).

Friday, Obama went back up the street to be helicoptered away, so this time we just watched from the living room window.

We had a leisurely morning, then went to lunch at this amazing little Italian place called Fritto Misto. All of our food was seriously delicious and we understood why that is one of their favorite places to eat!! Noah's studio is nearby, so he showed us that and let us hear some music he'd written for Falling Skies, a new TV series produced by Spielberg which premieres next month. It was awesome! Can't wait to see it!

We went to the Good Friday service that night, which had beautiful music and was very reverent and quiet, a great way to remember Jesus' death on the cross and reflect on what he went through for our salvation. We ended the night with some Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but I fell asleep...only to wake up and finish some homework I'd been neglecting into the wee hours of the night. But I got to sleep in the next morning since Ellie and Noah had another rehearsal, this time for Easter service.

We drove out to Malibu for the afternoon and had fried fish sandwiches and white wine by the beach. Wow...maybe it was the beach being so close that did it, but those sandwiches were to die for! And look what happened to be carved into the table!

You can't really see it with the lighting in my picture, but the beach is out there somewhere behind Ellie and Ben.

The dessert was equally scrumptious- I had a candied ginger ice cream sandwich, Ben had a key lime pie ice cream sandwich, and Noah had a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich. Ellie just nibbled on everyone else's sandwiches. All I can say is YUM-O.

Time in the car to and from Malibu gave us plenty of time to listen to these tapes Ellie and Noah had on personality types. After taking the quizzes and determining that Ben is choleric and melancholy, and I am sanguine and phlegmatic, and analyzing and talking about personality types, and bringing it up again and again in so many conversations...Noah finally reached his "personality-type-discussion" limit so we refrained for the rest of the trip. :)

After some down time back at home and Ellie creaming all of us in a game of Scattergories, we went shopping at a big outdoor shopping area called the Promenade. Dinner was at another great Italian place near their apartment which had delicious bread, but really didn't compare to Fritto Misto!

Sunday was straight to the airport, bright and early. Didn't even get to go to church on Easter Sunday of all things, but so glad we got to celebrate it the whole trip with family!