Day 6: Natural History Museum, Beverly Hills, and Malibu

Our itinerary said Disneyland, but neither of us were thrilled about spending another day at Disney, so we opted for the Natural History Museum instead.  We began outdoors with the butterfly pavillion, which delighted the kids, Jadzia in particular.  Butterflies flying around everywhere.

The rest of the museum had dinosaur skeletons, and various taxidermied animals displayed in a scenes depicting their natural habitats.  We were lucky enough to catch a presentation which involved a someone in a very realistic T-Rex costume.

After lunch we checked out the museum's Discovery Centre which had lots of live bugs, turtles, fish, etc.  The kids and I got to touch an African walking stick.

We stepped into the Science Centre (a few minutes walk across the park), but by then we were all museumed out, so we headed to Beverly Hills.

We  weren't sure exactly where to go in Beverly Hills, so we drove aimlessly around the city.  We drove down Rodeo drive, and Sunset Boulevard, and I snapped pictures of street signs along the way.

Our plan was end up at a beach, so we made our way to Malibu.  By this time we were hungry.  We walked down Malibu Peer, which has a 50s diner at the end of it where all the chairs were shiny and red.  Adam and I both ordered seafood platters which consisted of deep fried fish and shrimp.  We had peanut butter cup milkshakes that were as thick as frosties.

When I got out the swimsuits, I realized I had somehow forgotten to pack Adam's.  Also the kids life-jackets (which I swear I packed) had miraculously transported themselves back to the hotel room.  The beach we were at had lots of people surfing, but not one swimmer to be found.  The kids and I got into our swimsuits anyway and we all dipped our feet into the water, which was wavy, kelpy, and cold.  We spent most of our time playing in the sand.  We buried William a couple times.  Jadzia ate the sand.  The weather was breezy and a little cool.  Quite pleasant actually, but certainly not "I'm desperate to jump in the water" type of weather.  We hung out for a while then drove past Santa Monica Peer (with a Ferris Wheel) on the way home.  Too late for rides today though.