Los Angeles - the city of angels ...

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One Valium was not enough for me as we made our way through the Brisbane international airport with Kynan… Not that he was naughty or a pain, it was the realisation of the fact we were taking an 18mth old on his first long distance flight to a country we had not been. Seriously, what the hell were we thinking?

We had a star spotting moment before we even left Australia. How’s this for a bit of embarrasment - Behind us in the line was Troy Cassar Daley - I said to Mark, hey that man behind us is familiar do you know him? Cause I smilled at him and his wife and they smilled back. Mark’s reply was one of laughter and of mocking me. Opps, looks like the bush has finally been taken out of the girl.

Kynan as it turns out is an awesome little jet setter. He ate and slept on the plane with no dramas and loved the takeoffs and the landings. He als managed to charm a few of the hosties - who made him special meals to eat (pankakes with mixed berry puree for breakfast anyone?) Little sausage!

We arrived into LAX about 40 minutes early. I think the V Australia crew were racing the Qantas crew to LAX - we had overheard the hosties discussing it. Guess it helps when everyone boards and we leave on time! The bonus to arriving early is that we scored a very quick exit through immigration and customs. We thought it was funny as while Mark and I were being finger printed and retinal scaned Kynan wanted his finger prints done too. He must have thought it looked like fun. We picked up our bags and were yet again in line this time behind the Cassar Daley family. We probably looked like stalkers. Pfft, funny thing is I was still to chicken to get an autograph, and well Mark really did not give a damn!

We walked outside to LA’s cold and rainy weather. We waited for our shuttle and were admiring the differences in cars - we were thinking of you Glenn! Kynan thought being able to sit in mummy’s lap in the bus was awesome - no seatbelt! We made our way to the Marriott and dumped our bags and headed out to get a pram and some groceries.

We went to the Sun Coast plaza - we were told by the concierge this was the place to go for shopping… $14 bus return - awesome.. That is until we realised it is the place to go if you ar rolling in the money… Lonny the bus driver dropped us off and we saw that this was the entrance for the valet services for the shopping centre. Hmm… I bought some cheap $30 boots at Macys from a man who was very rude and we returned still pramless on the bus to the Marriott.

Our adventure then continued with a taxi driver who has no idea where he is going We needed to go to the mall of Orange - lucky Mark had GPS on his phone so he told him where to go. He then proceeded to indicate through the lanes like a madman. I clung on to Kynan tightly as we were on the freeway and it was peak hour. DODGY!!! They driver then gave us his card and said - how long will you be? I will wait - 30mins? Hour? Mark said to him he was not required to wait so he gave him a card with his number in it to call. Yeah right. Like we will go through that again! At least we can have a giggle about it now.

Now you think buying a stroller in a big city like LA would be a piece of cake… yeh… well no it’s not… we went to Target, two Sears stores, Walmart, JCPenny and Macy’s. Three of the stores do not sell strollers. What a pain… We eventually tracked one down that was half decent - Kynan loves it, but it was a nightmare to assemble! Here is what happened to us on our quest for buying this stupid stroller at the Mall of "Orange”

•Checked out Wallmart - only strollers that don’t lie down - no good to us as we wanted something Kynan could sleep in. Took the shopping trolley throught the exit (which had other groceries in it) into the main mall.
•Mall cop told us - sorry no trolleys in here. WHAT!!! She pinched the trolley back from us and took it back to Walmart. So with a nappy bag, Kynan and 4 bags of groceries we continued on our pram mission.
•Bought the pram at Sears. As we were not allowed the trolley we quickly assembled the pram in the corner of the mall - it was very quiet - probably the dodgy end, we now realize …
•Mall cop one and her offsider came to watch us assemble the pram… and make sure we don’t pinch another trolley perhaps? Just to be on the safe side I took the empty box back to Sears for them to dispose of - we did not want mall cops getting in our faces after 36 hrs without sleep.
•Mall cops disappear - must have smelt the donuts baking and coffee brewing.
•Mark and I are very smug at this stage thinking we are very clever at outsmarting the mall cops (I felt like one of the naughty teenagers at the Kin Kora Mall) Until I realised that we may have chucked an important part out with the box - Kynan’s toy steering wheel…. Back to Sears sheepishly we went - found the offending article and made our way out to call a taxi. Which took 30 mins with poor Mark standing in the drizzling rain and more mall cops continuing to keep a close eye on us as they were doing their drive by. They were in their warm car so they were not going to bother us any further. At least it was a safe trip home!

We ate a pizza hut cheese pizza - (it was not that great to eat but it was something) and as a bonus it was downstairs in the Marriott. We then collapsed into bed after a long and exhausting 36 hours, getting our beauty sleep for a big day at Disneyland tomorrow.

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