Browndepot on the road, Day 5: Going Home

It was a long day of traveling, but we've finally arrived home. After waking up early and eating one last delicious breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Whittier to spend a little time with my Grandpa Bill. This is actually the second time Charlotte has met her last living Great-Grandpa, but every time is precious. Too quickly, we had to hop back in the car for the drive to LAX. We got through security painlessly enough, and after a quick lunch we were on the plane headed back to Seattle. Charlotte napped on the plane for about an hour, but for the last part of the flight we could tell she was done with vacations for a while. Home now, and doing all the things you have to do on return from being gone. It was a great trip!

Browndepot on the road, Day 4: Game Day!

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After a few days of fun and shopping in LA, it was time to get down to business and see our beloved Cougar football team take on the hated Trojans of USC. The morning arrived cool and damp with some pretty heavy rain showers, but we hoped things would get nicer as we got closer to game time. We hung out around the hotel in the morning, then got to the LA Memorial Coliseum about 2. We met briefly with my younger brother Jon, who is a student at nearby Biola University. After that, we hit the WSU Alumni party where we connected with a couple of guys that I work with in Seattle, Curt and Paul.
Walking from the party to the stadium, I noticed something about USC fans: they're like the Borg. They realize you're team is no threat so they just completely ignore you. I guess it's better then being spit on...

We finally got inside the stadium about 4:45, and the game started quicky after. The Cougs gave it a good fight in the first quarter, but clearly the Trojans are from another football planet, and they killed us pretty quickly. It rained a little during the first half, but not too bad. Charlotte was pretty tired as the game ended, so we hurried back to the hotel to get her back to bed and pack.
Tomorrow we fly back to Seattle, but first we're going to go visit Grandpa Bill, Charlotte's Great-Grandpa!

Browndepot on the road, Day 3: Hooray for Hollywood

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After a great breakfast at the hotel and a morning nap for the girl, we started day three with a visit to Hollywood Blvd and the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Heidi enjoyed seeing Julie Andrews' handprints, and Charlotte checked out Donald Duck's footprints. We walked up and down the Walk of Fame for a few blocks and saw the stars of lots of celebrities.

Next we went over to Universal City Walk, and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. I'm 99% sure that we got the same table next to the Nancy Wilson lyrics for "Barracuda" that we sat in 10 years ago, which was the last time we came to L.A. for a Coug game. I guess if we get within two seconds of winning tomorrow, I'll probably be pretty happy.
After lunch we cruised over to the Beverly Center for more shopping. Heidi had heard about a store called H&M that is coming to Seattle soon. She was able to get a preview here in LA, and I think you could safely say she's pretty excited to be getting one in our area code soon.

After a drive back to Santa Monica and dinner, it was bath time and down to bed. Time to dream of a Cougar victory tomorrow!

Browndepot on the road, Day 2

Hello from a surprisingly beautiful Santa Monica. Everyone on TV has been saying the weather is going to be awful, but today was just about perfect. A clear blue sky as far as the eye can see!
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We started the morning with a walk down the Santa Monica Pier. Charlotte enjoyed chasing birds around, while we enjoyed the amazing views of massive sand beaches that were virtually empty of people.


After enjoying the Pier, we walked over the the Third Street Promenade to do some shopping. Heidi got to spend some time at her favorite store in the world, Zara. Charlotte and I know not to even try to keep up with mom when she's at a place like that, so we sat outside and enjoyed the street scene.


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Later in the day, we drove up Pico Blvd. to the Fox Studio lot (Google map above), the national home to FSN and Fox Sports. We didn't go on the lot, but I was happy to say I've at least seen it with my own two eyes.

We ended the day by driving up the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu to eat dinner at a great place called Duke's. This picture was the view we had from our table. A great meal, and a great view! Thanks to Dave Rees for recommending the place!

Flying Away

We left today for our first big vacation since Charlotte joined our family, so we're going to try something new for this blog: daily updates of our adventures. Flying from Seattle to LA went great today, Charlotte had a great time on the plane and didn't seem to be bothered by pressure changes in the cabin. Her favorite toy of the day was two used plastic drink cups, which kept her occupied for at least one hour of the two hour flight.
After arriving on time to LAX, we made our way to Santa Monica, which will be temporary home to the Brown Family for the next few days. Once we got to the hotel, we went down and enjoyed a dip in the pool, then walked downtown for a delicious Mexican dinner.
The weather's not looking too great this week, but but we're hoping it holds out long enough to get to the beach and the Santa Monica Pier tomorrow.

Birthday Party

Since we were out of the house all day yesterday, we had a few frends over today to help celebrate Charlotte's birthday. Predictably, she was more interested in the tissue surrounding most of her gifts then the actual gifts themselves. Her present from us was a rocking horse.
Can't wait to see what another year will bring!

The Video

After poring through hours of video and hundreds of photos, I created this video to celebrate Charlotte's first year of life. Enjoy!

You really should see it in HDTV!

One Year Old!

We took our birthday girl to the WSU game in Seattle today, where we got this picture, the second in a series we're calling "Giant Baby Hanging Out at Seattle Sports Venues" (See previous picture at Safeco Field). I actually didn't get to the game until the second quarter, because I was directing the UW game across town (between the two games, over 115,000 people paid to see college football in Seattle today. Crazy!). Anyway, our friends Ryan and Tori helped Heidi and Charlotte get to the game, so I figured we should show this great picture of them! (Actually, they were there when the Safeco picture was taken.)
More birthday stuff coming tomorrow.