los angeles

los angeles was a three-day stop, mostly to visit our friends greg & julie christman. greg was able to get a show for josh at USC for thursday night. heron was having a hard time that day (teething? traveling?), so we hung back to rest.

: greg :

greg arranged for our family to stay at his church in a dorm room, and the autonomy was nice. in the mornings josh & i would take turns waking up early with heron, fixing her breakfast in the industrial kitchen at the church, then taking stroller walks down sunset boulevard.


no visit to l.a. (or with greg) would be complete without a day of sea + surf, so our last day there greg took our family to the beach. it was a fun day of rest. josh got to surf, i got to sunbathe, and heron enjoyed meeting strangers & digging in the sand. she still doesn't like the ocean, but as long as there are people to meet, sand toys to play with, & sand to eat, she's ecstatic.

: the surfers :

: digging in the sand with heron :

: the family :

after a long day in the sun, we headed back to greg and julie's for a carne asada + salmon bbq with the christman trademark mojitos.

: julie :

: greg's seven star vespa :

greg & julie live in the mostly latino neighborhood of west adams, and i feel so at home there. i've never seen the glitz & glamour of hollywood on our visits to l.a., really only the christman's neighborhood, the area where the church is, and a few other spots. but the parts i've seen feel so familiar to me, so very much like lima, peru, & i always feel nostalgic walking through the streets. josh & i really like southern california (okay, we like northern california, too...). it's been a great tour so far! we've been to redlands & santa barbara since l.a., & tomorrow we head to san luis obispo. up the coast we go! 'til we reach our new home.