Swimming

My kids can't get enough of the water. I think that stems from the fact that we are the only family in Arizona without a pool. Okay, so maybe there are one or two other families out there. Anyway, I spent several hours on the internet trying to come up with free/super cheap activities to do in L.A. Besides the beach, the best I could come up with was driving out to see the big Hollywood sign. At least two of my kids would think that was the coolest thing EVER.

I forgot to take into account the hotel's pool. I would have thought it was too cold to swim. Apparently I was wrong.
We spent hours out there. The big Hollywood sign will have to wait for another year. (I hear they are going to replace it with some sort of "save the planet" signage?)

Our third and last day there we hit the beach (not before one last dip in the pool though). The older three couldn't get to the water fast enough, but I think Christopher thought we were all nuts. I made him take off his shoes and walk in the sand, (he has a very strict shoes-off-in-the-house, but shoes-on-when-you're-outside policy) and then I held him down so the waves could rush up and get his feet wet. He HATED it. While the kids built sand castles and raced the waves, we spent the next hour sitting on the towels. After awhile we started collecting things that could be reached from the safety of our towels. I had a nice little collection of shells, he collected sticks.
He finally ventured off his towel right before it was time to go, and even played in the sand for a little bit. I even think he actually enjoyed it. ( But he didn't go near the water)