Travel – Page 8

Rose Bowl

January 24, 2024

On the first day of 2024 we got up, put on our crimson and headed to the Rose Bowl! Roll Tide!

roll tide

We ended up taking the light rail out to Pasadena and then hopping on a shuttle bus to actually get to the stadium. It worked great!

roll tide

Everyone was excited to see the stadium and we took lots and lots of pictures!

roll tide

rol ltide

qtr

We had great seats and the sun really warmed everyone up – and made it a little hard to see but we managed!

rose bowl

It was a great game – lots of highs and plenty of lows.

rose bowl

While the game didn’t end the way we wanted, I’m so glad we went. Robert checked off that bucket list item and we all got to see what ended up being Saban’s last game. We were there for the end of an era and that’s pretty cool.

rose bowl

Sometimes you just have to say “yes” to crazy ideas and this is one I’m so glad we said “yes” to! We flew home the next day landing in Birmingham at about 10:30pm. It was a rude awakening for school the next morning but definitely worth it. Roll Tide!

California part 2

January 23, 2024

After walking up and down Rodeo, the boys really wanted to venture over to some sneaker stores so we headed to Melrose Avenue to check out Cool Kicks. It was…cool.

cool kicks

And look what they had! The reverse grinches! In Spencer’s size too!

grinch

We then walked up and down the area – lots of vintage stores.

Samantha’s face here tells you what you need to know about the musty smell!

vintage

I can’t say I loved seeing this display of “vintage” New Kids shirts considering this was my first concert and I definitely had that Jordan shirt. Guess I’m vintage now!

nkotb

This was cool though!

vintage

We then made it back to the hotel for a little coke break…

coke

before getting dressed up for an early bird NYE dinner!

nye

We had dinner at Mastro’s Steakhouse and it was excellent! Like I said, Maxwell thoroughly enjoyed his meal – which consisted of a Japanese A5 Wagyu steak! He ate every single bite!

steak

Samantha had – what else? – mac & cheese!

mac

Spencer had steak and then somehow ended up with an entire bowl of whipped cream in front of him for dessert. He wasn’t complaining – and no one was complaining about the butter cake!

nye

After dinner, Robert and Spencer figured out they won their fantasy league! Woohoo!

football

Icing on the cake to end a fantastic meal! We then wandered back to the hotel taking in the sights along the way.

A fantastic end to a fantastic 2023! We made the most of the year and cannot wait to see what 2024 brings!!

California

January 22, 2024

On December 30th, we hopped a Southwest flight through Houston and landed in Burbank later that day. We made out way to LA and were happy to check into the Beverly Hilton!

hilton

We got settled and made our way to Santa Monica for dinner at Lobster.

lobster

Let’s just say Maxwell thoroughly enjoyed all of the fancy meals he had over break between Paris and California! He looooves some lobster!

lobster

We then walked down the Santa Monica pier…

santa monica

pier

It was then back to the hotel for needed sleep before a full day in LA on New Year’s Eve! We were ready to explore the next morning!

We got brunch and then headed to Rodeo Drive to check things out.

rodeo

Samantha’s favorite store was Kitson and she found lots of things to add to her birthday list!

kits on

More LA Monday!

Paris day 4 part 2

January 11, 2024

After touring the Louvre all morning, we ventured out into the drizzly, kinda gross, rainy day and headed up to Montmartre.

paris

It was a great view from on top of the hill – or would have been if it hadn’t been so cloudy – and we got to see the The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris which was beautiful.

paris

These kiddos were good troopers on a yucky day!

montmartre

We then ended up walking all the way back down to Paris. Some were more grumbly about that than others! We did pass by the real Moulin Rouge!

moulin rouge

On the way home, we stopped into the big department store Galeries Lafayette. Again, some were more agreeable to this stop than others but I’m so glad we did it. It was pretty spectacular on the inside…

paris

and on the roof!

paris

That night we had another fantastic dinner at Lou Lou right by the Louvre.

paris

lou lou

paris

There are good views in Paris no matter where you are!

paris

Another fantastic day and night in the city of lights!

Paris

January 4, 2024

When we realized the kids had a full week between getting out of school and Christmas day, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to go on a big adventure so hopped on a plane to Paris! We left on Sunday 12/17 and had a “restful” night on the flight to Paris…

plane

Can’t you see how rested we were when we finally got to Paris after a 3 hour delay and an hour to get through passport control?! ha!

paris

We sure were happy to be there though! We checked into our hotel which turned out to be perfect and perfectly located right by the Louvre – no surprise as it was called Hotel de Louvre!

hotel

We had dinner at Cafe Blanc and walked around a little before calling it a night.

paris

Bonsoir!

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