our last day in so cal...

on our last day in southern california...

we visited USC...

(university of southern california)

for kuya.

a shot in front of the school stadium...

hanging out on the steps of the bookstore...

and...

we even got to stop at another food truck lunch spot

which happened to be in the same area as USC.

oh joy!

and coincidentally the nom nom truck was there : )!

and i was tickled pink that i got a photo op of misa...

(one of the owners of nom-nom).

and this is normally what it looks like at food truck stops...

a few tables set up in a parking lot so that one can sit and enjoy their food.

kuya had a mocha boba drink...

mui had cheese fries...

the mahal had some type of fried potato...

topped with an amazing sauce!

ate had fried shrimp tempura...

and of course,

for one last time...

i got to enjoy a grilled pork banh mi (no photo)

 and it sure was deelish!

beverly hills & santa monica...

here we were visiting beverly hills...

driving around and then stopping for a few...

rodeo drive...

of course, the shops were a little too upscale for us

but we had a good time walking around...

we then headed over to santa monica...

and strolled through the santa monica pier...

as you can tell it was a little overcast...

and a little on the cool side that day...

we also strolled through third street promenade...

a colorful, three block stretch open to pedestrians only...

lots of entertainment, shopping, dining and 20 movie theatres!

hollywood...

here we are on our way to hollywood...

stuck in Los Angeles traffic which seems to be getting worse

each time we visit southern california.

traffic is definitely going to be a nightmare when they close the 405 freeway.

so glad we got to visit before the closure.

 hollywood blvd...

 mui-mui with leonardi di caprio

at madame tussauds hollywood  wax theatre.

a few hollywood stars...

and yes...

even ryan seacrest has a hollywood star : ).

 now this guy looked pretty good for a michael jackson impersonator...

mui-mui with the hollywood sign on the hills in the background

which you can't see in this picture...

 but you can slightly see here...

here's ate with the highlands shopping center mall in the background...

walking down the stairs of highlands shopping center mall...

 ate and mui...

 and yes...

kuya, ate and mui-mui

leaving hollywood with a few tokens

from the visit...

goodbye hollywood!

p.s... on a side note, if you noticed, i've changed the names of how i am referring to the kids and hubby in this blog.  i have the translations noted on the top right hand side of my side bar just in case you were wondering ; ).

disneyland...

it's one of our family's favorite places...

and we have certain traditions we like to do every time we go...

like get there right at 8:00 a.m.

when the park opens...

and stay until midnight when the park closes...

 take a family picture...

stand in line and ride our favorite rides...

 locate a good spot and wait for the parade to start...

enjoy a mickey shaped ice cream sandwich...

watch the parade...

browse, shop and take more pictures...

ending the evening watching the fireworks!

physically exhausted 

we head back to our hotel and get a good night's rest!