Blog Buddies Questionnaire....

My lovely blogging buddy - Maggie at 'Finding Myself' has very kindly tagged me in the 'Blog Buddy Questionnaire', and so I am passing on the tagging experience to: Sarah Mac and Motherventing, and if you don't like then you shouldn't make me smile so much when I read your blogs...lol

The rules of the Blog Buddy Questionnaire are quite simple:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
3. Answer the questions the person who tagged you has set for you, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

Here goes:

1. I am Taurus - and yes I am stubborn and pig-headed, although I do admit when I am wrong.
2. I am the eldest of 3 sisters, and I have 5 nieces but no nephews, my boys are the only ones in our family. I have no Aunties, and my only Uncle sadly died last October. My Uncle was never married and I have no cousins. We are small but select family and by 'normal' standards we are very close.
3. I used to be a Hooker - NO not THAT kind, I used to play women's rugby union, and my position was hooker and I was actually pretty good because I can throw straight and could swing for the ball with both feet (if you don't understand the game of rugby union you will have no clue what any of that means - sorry)
4. I love to feed the birds in the garden and used to hand feed a Wood Pigeon who I named Tom! I used to go out into the garden and shout 'Tom, come and get your food' and Tom would oblige by swooping down into the yard and take the seed out of my hand - only Sunflower hearts though, he wouldn't have anything else! eventually he found a mate and after copulating with her on the garden fence in front of me, that was the last I saw of him!!
5. I am a techno geek, and love nothing more than pulling apart and rummaging in my computer making it faster and better than anyone else's. Thankfully S is as techno geeky as me!
6. My favourite stories are The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, Aliens Love Underpants and Walking through the Jungle - I work with 2 - 4 year olds so it comes with the territory, although I'm not sure knowing them by heart is particularly healthy!
7. My children's friends seem to think that I am a pretty cool Mum..At my daughters 21st one of her friends said 'I want to go with A's Mum, cos she'll be playing the banging tunes!' - says it all I think!
8. My favourite food of all time is Lobster - don't do anything fancy with it, just throw it in a pan of boiling water and pass me a glass of Sancerre or Poully Fuisse to wash it down with and I will demolish it. Coming a close 2nd is Prawns or Shrimp as I have to try and remember to say now!
9. I would love to have my youngest sisters figure - as I affectionately say 'she got all the height, and I got all the width'. 
10. I have very few good friends, but the ones I do have I know I can count on no matter what.
11. For the first time in what seems like a lifetime, I am actually truly happy. I smile and laugh every day, and I appreciate just what I have got - family, friends and life.

1: What are you most scared of?

Easy one this one - the dark! The really dark dark where you can't see your hand in front of your face let alone any nasty person who might be sneaking up on you.

2: How do you feel about bugs?

Can't say I'm a fan of bugs - I keep the screen doors closed to stop them coming into the house and I can't get to sleep at night if I can see or hear one in the bedroom.

3: How adventurous are your eating habits?

I think I am pretty adventurous, and will try pretty much anything. I tried eel at Christmas and though it pains me to admit it - I actually thought it was pretty tasty.

4: Dream Job?

I had my cream job, working in a Day Nursery with 2 - 4 year olds. Working with small children is so rewarding and you , I can't think of anything better to do. Hopefully I can carry on doing it without retraining now we have moved to the US.

5: Ever used the bathroom that's designated for the opposite sex?

Actually, no I haven't.

6: Lady Gaga - gifted or just weird?

Amazingly weird and amazingly gifted - I love her!

7: What is the most inappropriate thing you've ever done or said to someone?

Hard to say I do and say inappropriate things all the time, although none of it is ever really bad - I don't think!

8: Congratulations! You just won the lottery! What'cha gonna do with that money?

Buy a wonderful but not too huge house with lots of land in a truly beautiful part of the world. Buy a nice car - Camaro would be fab in either black or gun metal grey with all the extras imaginable - or a classic like a Ferrari Barchetta which is just sex on wheels (was that an inappropriate thing to say?). Give money to my daughter and the rest of my family and put some in trust for the boys. Save the rest so that we can do whatever we want  and go where ever we want, when ever we want!

9: Favourite Dessert?

My Mum's homemade mince pies, straight out of the freezer. Creme Brulee.

10: Do you believe in Aliens?

Of course I do. How arrogant to believe that we are the only intelligent life in our or any other Universe.

11: Best Date ever?

I would have to say my first date with my wonderful S. He took me to meet his surrogate Mum on a Sunday afternoon. We went to the pub, I had a little too much wine, we went back to their house for dinner which was delicious and I drank a little more wine, and then on the way home I fell asleep...Guess I'm lucky he ever wanted to see me again, but that was 2 years ago, and the rest, as they say, is history!

1: What was the most exciting part of your day?

2: If you could have just one wish - what would you wish for?

3: If I could afford it I would have an eye lift - Would you ever consider plastic surgery and if so where?

4: What was your best subject at school?

5: Who was your first kiss?

6: Curry or Chilli?

7: If someone was to buy you a huge bouquet of flowers what flowers would you want?

8: My favourite perfume at the moment is 'Touch' by Burberry what is your favourite smell?

9: Everyone has something that they are really passionate about - what are you passionate about?

10: If you could go anywhere in the world for a dream holiday, where would you go?

11: What is you favourite film of all time?

Have fun guys

Computers....

Yesterday I finally got my own PC (from the UK) up and running again after being without it for exactly 3 months....I haven't been desktop PC less for all that time obviously - crikey in this house there is more PC technology than you can poke a very large stick at....

What I meant is that I had been using my wonderful S's desktop - and don't get me wrong it's a wonderful piece of kit, it just isn't my wonderful piece of kit..some of you may think me strange, but anyone who has an affinity to things computer related will understand what I mean. You get used to these things, they become like an extension of who you are - and my PC is a beast of power and speed and lighting, and all things wonderful in the land of computing, and finally I have it back, undamaged by the move, un-phased by the power difference and running like a silent demon just waiting to fulfill my every need - OK OK, not every need - you get the picture though!

Talking of PC technology when I think about it we are pretty well stocked on it in the house, we have 3 desktops each with 2x24" monitors, 3 laptops, 2 iPad 2's and then of course the compulsory selection of mobile phones with internet access as well - no iphone though which is perhaps a little strange. S has moved and installed his desktop in the garage, in case he wants to look stuff up whilst outside working. He has even rigged the monitors up so they are suspended from the wall at just the right angle for him to be able to look at and work on stuff a the same time....I think its because after this weekend, he has plans to be working on his new baby! This weekend he is off to somewhere near San Fran to go and pick up one of these

A 1957 Chevy Pickup!

Lets just call it his mid-life crisis - it could be worse, he could be out chasing women far to young to be interested in him. I should be grateful I guess....lol

Have a wonderful weekend

Arrived at last....

Today was a wonderful day in so many ways, it was also a bad day because I was hit by yet another migraine but lets forget about that and move onto the good stuff....

Today was a wonderful day because this happened....

The guys from Allied turned up a little after 10am....

The lovely Andre....

And the lovely Mike....

Unloaded all these boxes into our garage....

That's rights guys - my stuff from the UK finally arrived in sunny California, and here's the weird thing, it took exactly 3 months! everything left our house in the UK on the 25th October and it was delivered to our new home this morning, the 25th January - exactly 3 months to the day!

I had kept it a secret from the boys, so when they came home from school I made H wait outside with me until G was home too and then I took them into their bedroom, where we had put the boxes containing their stuff, so they could unpack it all and find homes for everything!

I think it will probably take a few days to sort through everything properly, and find homes for everything, but it feels so good to finally have it all with us. It does kind of funny though - not nasty, it's a lovely clean fresh smell, but it just doesn't smell like I remember if that makes any sense..I guess my clothes and stuff always smelt that way, but it was a day to day smell, so I didn't recognise it - now my day to day smell is different so the old one smells really unusual...funny, but once I put everything through a cycle in the machine I am sure that it will just smell like here - not a bad thing now that here is home!

Wordless Wednesday....It arrived at last....

My Fitness Pal....

Yesterday, i was trawling through apps for my iPad when I came across the my 'My Fitness Pal' app.....
I have to say I am always sceptical about such apps as they never seem able to live up to what it says on the tin. I am beginning to think that this one might actually be different....
Not only is it an app on the iPad, you can also get the app on your phone (android or iphone). There is also a website....Best news of all....it is totally free...yep you heard me - it's free!

So how does it work, what does it do that has got me so much in awe?

Firstly, and obviously, you need to set up an account. It asks you personal questions like how tall you are, how much you weigh, how active you are, how much you would like to lose, how quickly you would like to lose it etc. It then take all of this information and tells you how many calories you need to consume on a daily basis in order to reach your goals...

There is no diet plan - not that I have found anyway.
You log down what you eat - it has a comprehensive worldwide database for you to find your foods on and it also has a barcode scanner so as long as your phone, laptop or PC has a camera you can scan barcodes from food packaging too. It will ask you to adjust portion size and it will give you fractions if you need them so you can be pretty accurate with how much you are using. It will then not only give you a calorific value for the food or liquid, but it will also give you a nutritional one, as you can see from the screen shot below (and NO I have not been eating Cadbury's Caramel, it's an example...)

You can even use the food section to create your own recipes combining foods and then save it, so if, for example, we have hot chicken salad, one night, I have created and saved my "Hot Chicken Salad' recipe as it were and can just click on it to add it - simple. I have even created a recipe for a 'Cup of Tea' so I don't need to keep finding the tea itself and then the milk etc..

On the summary page it will tell you have many cals you have consumed so far in the day, how many you have left, and give you a summary of the days nutritional values.. It also very cleverly tells you what % of your daily requirement for Nutrients, Vits and Minerals you have had, so again for example, I ate a lot of Satsuma's yesterday and the program told me that I had consumed 230% more Vit C than I actually needed on a daily basis.

The programme will also ask you to enter in amounts of exercise that you have done throughout a day, and it breaks this down into Cardiovascular exercise and Strength exercise. Yesterday S and I went for a walk around the town, so I entered in that we did 'moderate' walking for 30 mins. The programme says that moderate walking is like walking the dog at a speed of about 3mph, and apparently doing that for 30mins I burned off an additional 136 cals..Now on S's report he had burned off a different number of calories than I had, this is because the programming takes into account your height and weight all the time, and adjusts itself accordingly. S has different goals with regards to Nutritional requirements than I do because of how the system programming has adjusted for our differing sex, height, weight and exercise levels - I think it is so so cool.

So anyway not to get too bogged down with all of this, because I could go on for much longer, as well as all of this really cool food  and exercise tracking/monitoring/reporting stuff. The site also has a blog section, a groups section and a message boards section, so you can make friends with people in your area, or anywhere in the world and keep in touch via the message boards etc..I have befriended several people in my area already, and although I am not making plans to meet up with them for coffee or anything, it is quite comforting to know that the person giving you online support and encouragement and who you are offering the same thing back too, actually lives where you live, or maybe has the same family make up as you, or a similar job etc etc

As you can tell I really am quite taken with this site. It is simple to use and it would seem I can quite literally have it with me all the time....and before anyone says "She's only saying this because it is a Social Spark thing"...it isn't...this is just something that I found yesterday and have decided to give a go...and the best thing of all

It's FREE, totally FREE

You can see how much weight I am losing via the nifty little button over there on the left - it updates itself from my account on the website automatically, so there is no hiding this time....I need to lose some weight and I am going to lose some weight....You can click on the button and it will take you through to the My Fitness Pal website, if I am logged into the website at the time it will actually take you through to my account on the website, so you can see how I am doing - which is a little strange - but hey ho, it's not like I'm hiding anything putting the button there for all to see in the first place.

Wish we luck

This time I will be skinny - well skinnier anyway.

Have a wonderful day

Silent Sunday.....Do I look bovered?....

Social Spark & I....

This week I have ventured into the unknown and made moves to take my blogging onto a new level.

I was intrigued by how many of my fellow bloggers get to test stuff - sometimes really cool stuff - usually they get to keep what they test, which can be pretty cool too. Anyway, I thought somewhat jealously "How can I do that?"

Well it would seem that I probably can't do that, because at the moment I quite simply don't have enough traffic on my blog to justify me being a 'tester' as it were. However I did come across a site/company called Social Spark, and they presented me with a way in which I can make some money through my blog. I have registered with them and through them I am given different offers that I can take for items which I believe I get at a reduced cost and then I promote the said items on my blog, and can subsequently earn a commission on any referrals made through my blog - so far none of these has appealed to me, and I'm not about to buy something no matter how cheap it is if it isn't something I am interested in. Another way to make money is to write posts regarding a specific subject, from which you get paid by the advertiser - again to me this is not something that I can just do about anything, but if thee is an offer there and it is something I feel I can contribute to or have some knowledge or strong opinion about - why not make myself a little something from it.

So, a couple of days ago, you will notice I wrote a post about Walgreen's pharmacy and Express Scripts. Now I personally don't use Walgreen's because the nearest one to me is about 4 miles away and I have Rite Aid and CVS right on my doorstep, but my brother-in-law does use them, and he uses them a lot, and when he comes to visit us he arranges for his medication to be delivered by mail to our house so that he doesn't have to carry it all with him (there's a lot). Because of this, the fact that Express Scripts have withdrawn their contract with Walgreen's, will have an effect on how my brother-in-law will get his meds delivered to us, and so was something I felt that I could write about from a personal point of view.

I have no plans to prostitute my blog and suddenly start to fill it will posts about every topic under the sun - but I wanted to let you - my readers - know that from time to time there may appear a post from which I will earn some form of reward via Social Spark. It won't be a huge reward, but if it something I believe in or know about, why shouldn't I take advantage of it?

Maybe some of you will be interested in doing a similar thing and if you want to learn more about Social Spark you can do so by clicking on the button up there on the top right-hand side of my blog or by clicking the link below.

Find out more about Social Spark

Have a wonderful day...

Walgreens & Express Scripts....

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Many of you will know that I blogged a little while ago about the costs of medication here in the US and how wonderful the good old NHS prescription charges of the UK are in comparison. Now i am going to jump on the whole prescription bandwagon again.....

Again as you know, I suffer from Chronic Migraine and have now also been diagnosed with Hashimoto's and Vitamin D Deficiency. Having these 3 things means that I will have to take drugs of some form for the rest of my life - unless of course I want to balloon to the size of small house with bulging eyes, suffer chronic agonising pain every day of my life and quite probably break every bone in my body......It's a bit of a no brainer really - I'll take the drugs!

My wonderful S has high blood pressure and takes daily meds for that, my gorgeous G has Asthma and he takes meds for that...In fact the only one here who doesn't need to take something is my Handsome H, who for the most part doesn't get anything! Even the beautiful A, still in the UK is prone to Anaemia and takes Iron supplements!

We sound like a pretty sick family - but honestly weren't not, but it is my job to ensure that we stay well and healthy and happy, and if that means me tripping off to the pharmacy to get refill after refill of medication so be it!

Here in the US they have this thing called Express Scripts - everyone getting meds is encouraged by their insurance to use the Express Scripts service. I had no initial knowledge of what express scripts was until I went down to the pharmacy to pick up a refill and was told that I couldn't have it because my insurance wanted us to switch to express scripts and get our meds delivered by mail. Basically you register with Express Scripts and they handle you prescriptions for you, sending out refills in the mail when required, and they will even liaise with your doctor for you to get new prescriptions. You can order up to 3 months (90) days worth of meds in one go and this can save you a small fortune in co-pay charges. All in all it seems a pretty good system.

My brother in law uses Express Scripts to get his meds sent here when he comes to visit. He has a brain tumour and so takes a lot of chemotherapy meds. He also uses Walgreen's, and that's why I was shocked when I heard that as of Jan 1st 2012 Express Scripts was not continuing its association with Walgreen's.(Press release can be seen here) I am not a politically motivated person, so I don't really care about the whys and wherefores of this decision...I am looking at it from a personal view....my bro, who quite frankly has more than enough on his plate already thank you very much, has just has another bit of angst to add to the list.....Great I am so pleased that Express Scripts as giving Walgreen's customers a list of other pharmacies they can transfer their prescriptions to, so they can continue to receive the same great Express Scripts service.....Walgreen's, it would seem have gone out of their way to accommodate Express Scripts and keep the coalition between them a healthy and prosperous one for them both. Are Express Scripts so driven by the profit margin that they do not care about the convenience of its customers? How many customers are in such poor health that having to change their pharmacy is something that is that 'one thing' that is just too much? How many of Walgreen's Express Scripts customers are elderly and will not be able to understand completely what is going on, and will not be willing to make the change.

Walgreen's certainly seem to be aware of their customers needs and have opened up their own Prescriptions savings club to help their loyal customers keep the current cost saving. It costs $10 a year for a family membership, and a family membership covers everyone in your immediate family, including a spouse, dependents 22 and younger and pets. Individuals may join for $5. 

You can find out more information by clicking the link below which will take you to the Walgreen's savings club site                                                      

Walgreens Prescription Savings Club                     

By joining the scheme you receive discount prices on your prescriptions as well as savings on more than 8,000 brand-name and all generic medications, discounts on flu shots, pet prescriptions, nebulizers and diabetic supplies. You also get bonuses when you purchase Walgreens brand products and photofinishing services.

I think that what Walgreens is doing for its customers is pretty great - obviously they can't afford to lose any of them, but it seems that they are trying to ensure that they can still receve the same great Walgreens service without Express Scripts and their contract.

If you are interested in finding out more about Walgreens, you can follow them on Twitter and Facebook using the links below:

Walgreens on Twitter          Walgreens on Facebook

Soapbox moment over....

The Photo Gallery....Eyes

Love this photograph of my son - he has the most amazing eyes.

Then there is my daughter looking ever so slightly crazy

And then there is the cat, Ember, who also has beautiful eyes

I have to be honest and say that 'Eyes' are my thing when it comes to photography. My CS5 and I are the best of friends when it comes to editing. Sadly my CS5 is still stuck in transit from the UK to the US but once it gets here I will once more become a photo editing demon.....

Hope you enjoyed these few 'eyes' pics

Lou :-)

Please dont forget to check out the 'eyes' on other blogs too

Me time....

It's just before 8am on Tuesday morning....
The boys have gone to school....
Hubby is working away for a few days....
Skype tells me that neither my daughter, sisters or parents are online....
The house is eerily quiet, save the noise of the odd car driving down the road, no doubt intent on braving the 210 freeway for the commute to work....

I am completely alone....
I am going to take some time for me before starting on the housework, and I am going to go and take the longest shower ever....
I have a full tank of piping hot water, and it is my intention to use it all....

I may return....
I may not....

Have a wonderfully relaxing day everyone!


Lou :-)
x

Natural History Museum of LA.....

This morning we headed out for our trip to the Natural History Museum of LA, situated on Exposition Blvd, LA 90007.

The museum is open from 9.30 til 5pm 7 days a week and for us was only about a 20 to 25 minutes drive from home and is literally just of the 110, and it just around the corner from the Coliseum Memorial Stadium which was built for the LA Olympics in 1932.

The Museum has its own car park which you pay for as you enter. It's cash only, so make sure you have $8 ready for the guy in the ticket booth. We have previously bought our museum tickets last week in a package deal for the La Brea Tar Pits, but ticket prices for the NHM alone are as follows:
children 5 -12 $5, youths 13 - 17 $8, adults $12 and college students/seniors $9 - so not too pricey at all.

When you walk into the museum you walk into a giant atrium which houses the fossilised skeletons of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Triceratops.

From the central atrium there are corridors leading off to left and right and stairs which take you to the upstairs viewing gallery and section dedicated to birds and creepy crawlies.

By far the largest section of the museum is dedicated to the dinosaurs, and it is pretty impressive. To be quite honest I think the museum would perhaps be better off called the Dinosaur Museum. We were in the museum for approximately 2 hours and a good hour of that time was spent looking around the dinosaur section. There are also rooms housing stuffed animals from Africa and North America and areas about Birds, Spiders and other Creepy Crawlies and a section about Minerals. Renovation work has recently started on the museum and as a result there were a couple of sections that were not open to the public and I have no clue what these sections were about.

One thing that is very cool about the museum is that there are plenty of opportunities for children and adults alike to get a closer look at things with interactive displays and ever areas that are very touchy feely - For example, I have never touched a real dinosaur bone before, but today I got to touch a Tyrannosaurus bone! How cool is that?

Something else that was pretty cool was the display showing the growth cycle of the T-Rex. They actually have full size real skeletons of a young T-Rex, an adolescent T-Rex and a near adult T-Rex, so you can see just how much these prehistoric animals grew - its amazing!

All in all we had another fantastic family day out, enjoyed by myself and S as well as both of the boys and I can highly recommend a trip to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles to anyone living this way or just here for a holiday. Its inexpensive and fun for all the family - I hope you enjoy the following photos.

The Natural History Museum of LA can be found here

Lou :-)
x

Entrance undergoing some renovation as you can clearly see

T-Rex v Triceratops

Triceratops

Organ Donation - Please read this story, you could save someones life!

This is Poppy's story - it's impossible not to be moved; it's entirely possible to make a difference.

http://www.mommatwo.com/2012/01/organ-donation-greatest-gift-you-can.html

I have been an organ donor for many years now - could you do something to help save another persons life too?

Lou :-)
xxx

Day out at....La Brea Tar Pits

Yesterday we decided to take the boys for a day out at 'La Brea Tar Pits'....

OK, so it doesn't sound like an exciting place to go, even less exciting when you realise that La Brea is only a short distance from downtown LA, but it is a wonderful place to take the kids for a day out - a cheap day out too!

So what are the LA Brea Tar Pits?
The Tar Pits are an archaeologists dream. Natural tar deposits bubble up from way down in the earth, and over the centuries have beautifully preserved millions of plants and animals, that give a wonderful insight into our world in prehistoric times.

The Page Museum sits in Hancock park where the Pits are located, and hosts a wonderful collection of fossilised animals for the public to go and visit.

We took both the boys (aged 12 and 13) and for the Page Museum and Tar Pits alone the cost is $35. We bought a combined ticket that allows us to also visit the Natural History Museum in LA as well as the Page Museum and Tar Pits over a 2 week period. this ticket cost us $62, so we saved $10 because the ticket costs just for the Natural History Museum for our family is $37. We parked our car in a small car park opposite the museum and park which cost us $13.50, but we later found a car park specifically for the museum that I believe charges $7 per visit.

Outside of the museum is a small lake that smells strongly of Tar and bubbles continually as methane gas and tar escapes from deep within the earth. There is information about how the tar makes its way to the surface, and when you enter the museum they strongly advise that you take 10 mins to watch the introductory video presentation that explains further how prehistoric animals became trapped in the tar and preserved. From there you are free to wander the museum as you choose. It does have a natural circular flow, but there is no-one to hurry you along, and the boys enjoyed being able to run back and forward between the exhibits, they also enjoyed the fact that you are able to touch many of the exhibits as well, which makes it all the more interesting for younger minds.

Towards the end of our walk through the museum, we came to the fishbowl laboratory which is an area where you can actually watch archaeologists working on fossils that have been discovered in the pits. Because we went  early on Sunday morning, sadly there was no-one at work in the fishbowl lab, we were able to look at lots of stuff that they had been working on.

After 'doing' the museum, we walked back outside and decided that rather than take the guided tour round the pits we would just take our time and amble along using the map we had been given upon entry to the museum. We walked down by Pit 91 and found a lovely lady archaeologist hard at work on the solidified contents of a small wooden box> The box was actually quite big in real terms, but in terms of size in relation to other boxes at this particular pit, it was small. She said that she had been working on the box for approx 3 months. She said that work wasn't done solidly on one box at a time, "they tended to dip in and out of them" were her words. She pointed to an enormous box at the other end of the pit - she said "we've been working on that one for 3 years now!" She explained about the different layers of sediment in the box, and said that they usually found the interesting stuff further down in the finer sediment, and that they found animal and plant fossils. We also discovered that the pits are numbered not in a sequential order but rather by the number of boxes that have been removed from them for investigation.

The one really amazing fact that we discovered at the La Brea Tar Pits was that this relatively small area near downtown LA is actually where the worlds largest number of fossils can be found. Fossils preserved in Tar have a unique brownish hue, so if you see a brown looking fossil in a museum anywhere in the world it probably came from a tar pit, and it probably came from the La Brea Tar Pits, and I think that is something really cool - to be living roughly 20 minutes from the one place in the world that supplies most of the worlds museums with their fossilised exhibits!

Next weekend we will use our tickets for the Natural History Museum - I hope we have as much fun there!
I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Outside the front of the museum

The Bubbling lake outside the Museum

Giant Sloth

Mastodon & Sloth

Head of a Camel behind the Mastodon and Sloth

Bison

Not everything we saw was huge

This is a molar from a Mammoth

The Mammoth was too big for one shot!

Mammoth footprint against my hand

Mammoth Molars in situ

Mammoth tusks were.....mammoth!

Dire Wolves

Close up of the Dire Wolf Head

Sabre tooth v Short Nosed Bear

Archaeologist hard at work on a Small Box in Pit 91

Sign we found at Pit 23

Large box that they have been working on for 3 years so far

Callendars Family Restaurant - where we have a lovely lunch to round off our trip!

The La Brea Tar Pits can be found at:
5801 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036


Their website is:
http://www.tarpits.org/


Enjoy

Lou :-)
x