Pearl Turns 8

My darling Pearl is turning eight years old on April 8th. For her birthday, she asked for a visit to the American Girl Doll store and dinner in their cafe. So we are all headed to LA/Hollywood to spend a fun day of shopping, dining and time with the family.

On the night of her birthday, her best friend came over for a sleepover and we had a cozy time celebrating with a nice dinner at home and a cute Hello Kitty cake. I think between my two young girls, we have exhausted all the possible disney girls' characters for cakes from the princesses to Tinkerbelle to Tangled. I think she was happy with Hello Kitty.

She asked for a new pair of inline skates and some pearl earrings, so that's what we got for her. I'd really like to get the girls bicycles, but for now, they would rather ride up and down the sidewalks on their skooters and skates.
Below is the underside of a mastedon skull and just beside it is a wolf skull.


Below is a sculpture by Picasso entitled "Centaur". There were several Picassos here, mostly sculptures.

The weekend following her birthday, we had a fun dinner at the American Girl Doll Cafe. They not only serve the real people, but they also serve the dolls too (although their meals are imaginary). The food was delicious and afterward, we let the girls pick out some clothes and accessories for their dolls. Pearl's doll now plays the flute, complete with her case and music and music stand.

The next day we went to the La Brea Tarpits and the LA County Museum. It turned out to be a lot of fun. At the Tarpits, there are several "pits" still exposed where you can see the tar bubbling up out of the ground. Fences have been erected to protect the perimeter of the pits and lakes of tar. It is sad because you can witness firsthand as animals and birds become trapped in the tar and struggle to escape. It is just this process that makes these pits so important to the study of the Ice Age as they continually unearth fossils and creatures that were trapped in the tar over 10,000 years ago. The remains of mastedons and wolves and saber-toothed cats are on display and there are many other creatures bundled in crates still awaiting to be exposed.

The museum was next door and it was wonderful. Since we wanted to get home fairly soon, we only explored a very small part of the musuem. There was a good selection of Picassos and Matisse' and the girls really enjoyed learning about modern art. They had special art rooms at the museum, so that the girls could play with paints and find their inner artist. It was nice and the best part was that I didn't have to clean up afterward.