Ahhhhhh........Venice

Classy trips are our middle name.  We packed our bags and headed to Cali for Labor Day weekend.  We hadn't seen the Thompson's and Hoeke's for a long time...we were due.  We knew we wanted to take in the beach while there but had no definite plans.  As we all twiddled our thumbs...we thought we'd take in Venice Beach and Malibu.  Later in the weekend we went to Huntington.  Unfortunately, I came prepared with my camera but had forgotten to replace the memory card so most of our pictures come from Christian's camera or our cellphones.

  

One little fact about me...I LOVE to people watch. People fascinate me. Weirdness and oddness fascinate me.  I genuinely would love to sit down for a day with most people and get their backround stories to try to piece together why they are the way they are.  So, although some may be completely disgusted with Venice Beach, it was like going to a movie for me.  Intense, dramatic, hilarious, mysterious, and heartbreaking all in the same afternoon.  It was a people watcher's heaven.

Compiled are some ideas of what to do while at Venice Beach.

1.  Take Family Photos:

2.   Freak out your kids:

3.  Friendship and Bonding:

4.  Enjoy Senior Citizens doing a horrible job of recapturing their youth:

5.  Get a tan:

6. Have a creeper clown make you a balloon animal:

7.  Get totally ripped off trying to get this guy to do a horrible impression of Michael Jackson:

8.  Pull up your pants while shopping for a hat:  (this pic did not capture the detail)

9.   BE READY!:

10.  Work out at Muscle Beach for all to see:

11.  Get your hair done:

12.  Show off your Wonder Woman gold bands:

13.  Buy from a wide variety of T-Shirts:

12.  Exercise by riding/walking beside your bicycle as you drag the American flag (I was cringing and wanted to fix it so bad):

14.  Stow all your childhood treasures on your bicycle:

14.  Buy a Hello Kitty bong for the kids:

15.  Witness the consequences of bong use:

16.  Buy extra-long shoe strings for extra support and added tan lines:

17.  Enjoy togetherness:

18.  See a doctor:

19.  More specifically, a specialist:

20.  Try on shades instead:

21.  Live like a gangsta:

22.  Be lazy by not setting up/tearing down your tent:

As we left Venice Beach we thought we'd be in for culture shock.  It's good to know cheesy things like this also happen in Malibu:

After we washed our hands we went and ate at Dukes in Malibu.  

Brynna and Catie

Christian and Catie

Jen, Brynna, and Jaime

Nancy and Jason

Nathan, Jen, Brynna

Nathan's laser like focus picture skills.

Cruisin' down Pacific Coast Highway singin' 'On the Wings of Love' in our best Bachelor rendition. 

To wrap up Catie's tour, we were lucky enough to buzz past the Santa Monica hill fire.  As we were frustrated sitting in traffic wondering why there are so many Looky Lou's...we figured out by the time we actually got to the fire...we were the exact reason why traffic slows down.  PICTURES!

We also loved seeing David and Allie...we weren't able to get pictures since they missed out on most of the fun due to a soccer injury.  This is my only picture of them of the trip.  ahah   So proud of the superstar captain, Allie.

Until our next trip...