The City of Angels

I have a love/hate relationship with L.A. for many reasons. But no one can deny that the weather is wonderful, the scenery makes you want to drive around in a convertible all day (only after taking a yoga class or a run on the beach), and there are endless unique stores and restaurants to keep you intrigued. But, coming from several years in Boston, the valet parking obsession in L.A. makes Keith and I chuckle and grimace at the same time.

In Boston, you have to valet because there is no available parking and your car is being parked 4+ blocks away down some mystery ramp that may or may not lead to a dungeon. You give your ticket to the sweaty valet guy (despite it being 30 degrees!) and watch him run as fast as he can to fetch your car from some unfathomable distance.

In L.A., you are forced to valet even though you see 30 open spots within 20 feet of where you give up your car. Later, you give your ticket to the extremely bored valet guy and watch him take his time to find your keys and meander over to your car, taking five times as long as it would have taken you to have walked to your car yourself. I understand valets for crowded (or even upscale) businesses, but beyond that I am stumped.

Keith was staffed in Los Angeles the week after our attempted vacation weekend at the St. Regis, but not before a Monday afternoon meeting in New York. Sunday night Keith left Dana Point for a red-eye flight to NYC and returned 24 hours later to meet up with me in L.A. During that time the babies and I slept, checked out of the St. Regis, drove to L.A., checked into our new hotel (eventually having to change rooms after being partially unpacked), met up with friends, got the babysitter situated so I could go out to dinner with some friends (thanks Maggie and Amelia!), then dinner, and off to bed again. Keith snuck back in while I was sleeping. It was a crazy day for all of us, but we survived. I did feel like a little bit of a super-mom this particular day after having to do all of this solo (with a double and a single stroller no less; I sure miss my triplet strollers when we travel!).

My friend Lane immediately hit it off with the kids, which wasn't surprising since he has been tagged as "The Baby Whisperer" due to his ability to calm kids and make them laugh. Letting Hayden play with his Blackberry definitely helped!

Lane entertained and distracted the babies with bubbles while I tried to get ready for dinner.

The next morning the babies and I headed to Elana's house for a playdate with her 13-month-old twin girls. These girls are SO adorable, and I always love being around them with their sweet spirits and big smiles! The babies were thrilled to be around toys again after having such a small selection the four prior days.

That afternoon we hung out with friends again and that evening, after Keith was done working, we had a sitter arranged again so we could go eat sushi with Lane. I never do feel full after sushi, so we finished the evening with some yummy ice cream!

By Wednesday morning, the babies and I were in survival mode (as seemed to happen quite often on this trip). I had heard that there was a My Gym in the Beverly Hills area, so I did some research and was thrilled to see that there was a class starting half an hour later. I called the hotel valet (of course), loaded the kids in the car and off we went. It was only a few miles away, but it took over 20 minutes to get there. Twenty red lights later, we had made it and the kids were running around and jumping gleefully.

That afternoon some of my friends met the kids for the first time, and it only took a few minutes for the kids to warm up. Here's Heath holding Madison.

Andrew has seen the babies several times now and he always jumps right in and starts playing with them immediately, which gives their Momma a little bit of a break - even if I do have the other two still begging for my attention. Hayden has been in serious Mommy-mode, so it was especially nice that she was playing happily out of my arms.

I have been best friends with Lane since 1st grade and with Andrew and Heath since Jr. High. What a treat it was to all hang out together and watch them play with the triplets. Such great guys!

That afternoon, we checked out of our Beverly Hills hotel and drove to a hotel by the airport (yes, this was our FOURTH hotel of the trip!), so we could use the airport shuttle rather than returning our rented minivan. We set our schedule up perfectly to allow the kids to get a late morning nap before our lunchtime flights. The night before we left, we had dinner with our good friends Carrie and Clint in Manhattan Beach (with a sitter back at the hotel, of course) and flew out the next day. This was about two months worth of sitters for us, but we couldn't have done it without them!

Keith flew home solo with Payson and Madison, while I flew with Hayden to Minnesota. Originally, I thought I got the better deal, but Hayden decided to test my patience like never before. And the travel challenges continued...