L.A. Continued... With Pants!

So... where do I go after a story about a pantsless mob? Any other tale will only pale in comparison to those kinds of shenanigans. Indeed, the rest of our weekend was pretty tame, but at least it was fun and photographically notable.

  

We went to Hancock Park, home of the La Brea Tar Pits or “black pond-y things” as Jacob referred to them. It made for a nice afternoon of exploration for the whole family, dog included, as we checked out several of the excavation sites where fossils from 11,000 years ago have been discovered. Sadly, no dinosaurs have been found at La Brea (they were extinct long before the tar pits formed), but the boys were moderately impressed with the saber-tooth cats and these mammoths.

This is a reenactment/model.  No actual mammoths were hurt in this tar pit.  Oh wait...Never mind.

This ground sloth was a good sport too.

Of course, tar pits can hardly compete-- by little boy standards-- with quite possibly the “best beach ever,” Santa Monica. We loved this beach!

This is exactly how the movies told me California beaches should look.

Lucky gave it 1 and 1/2 ears up, too. 

He's the kid on the right side of the picture,

behind the swing.

The people watching was fantastic.  Check out this dude tightrope walking right on the beach on a line he strung up himself between a pole and a palm tree.

Dudes on the ground without shirts aren't so bad either.

Several other people were swinging from the rings, kind of like this guy, except that in this photo, he’s not swinging anymore.

Photography fail.

The boys enjoyed the equipment too, and with the help of some photographic magic, they turned into amazing athletes.

Jacob climbed to the top of this rope!

No one needs to know it was only 4' high.

Andrew walked a balance beam!

Look out 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

And Benjy... Well, Benjy posed with a big rock.

Twice.  And looked at the camera both times.  Go Benjy!

And so did Andrew. Well, okay, he only looked once, but that's a record.

But the beach wasn't even the best part, for right beside that fabulous beach was the Santa Monica Pier.  

See, sometimes brothers really do love each other,

especially when there’s a Ferris wheel ride at stake.

And finally, a shot of the pier from the top of the Ferris wheel, courtesy of Chris.

A beautiful photo to end a wonderful weekend.