Getty Villa with a Toddler & Vacation Fun

I've had this folder of fun pictures just sitting on my desktop feeling unloved, so it's time I shared with you the fun we had earlier this summer. Every summer my best friend Rebekah's cousin goes on vacation and she very generously offers up her house as a free AirB&B for us all to stay in. We love this wonderfully affordable friendcation! We always make time to visit the beach while we're there, in fact this is where we took Carolyn for her very first beach trip & the Getty Center back when she was only a month old, you can see her adorable pictures here! This year we decided to take her to the Getty Villa, it was so awesome!

A lot of the Getty Villa is outdoors so we came prepared with suncreen and hats. Carolyn delighted in exploring their garden areas.

We visited several of the regular exhibits but Carolyn really loved the kid exhibit. I was so impressed with the three ancient Rome stations they had set-up for kids of all ages (even the adults enjoyed it)! A think it was mostly designed with elementary aged kids in mind, but that didn't stop my toddler from having a great time! First there was the pottery decorating station, it was very cleverly done with child friendly pottery that they could draw on using white board markers.

There were several different pieces to decorate, Carolyn did them all.

Then there was the theatrical stations with foam props. The actors performed in front of this giant white screen and their shadows displayed the show on the other side. This was very tricky to photograph with no flash.

Carolyn even made a friend that she acted with.

The third station was the relief artwork station. Where you place a pattern beneath the paper and rub with a crayon, it's so easy even an almost two year old could do it!

 This trip was back at the beginning of June and I can't get over how young she looks, it was only a few months ago!

The Getty is AMAZING, not only is it free to visit, but they also loan out FREE STROLLERS! We left our stroller at home for the weekend because it wasn't going to fit with all the stuff we brought. Imagine our delight in finding out we could use a stroller there! Just in time for nap time!

Protip: Once your child falls asleep it's a great time to spend more in-depth time in the exhibits or take a tour! We decided to take the architecture tour at this time. It was so nice to be able to focus on what the docent was saying! 

Later that day we took Carolyn out for her 1st taste of ice cream. We stopped by this adorable ice cream shop called Sweet Rose Creamery in Pacific Palisades. Their ice cream was excellent, I highly recommend it.

They even had giant games for kids/kids-at-heart to play with.

We always have such a great time at our FriendsB&B! Carolyn practiced playing catch with Daddy in the backyard.

And she was having such a great time exploring the backyard that she didn't want to stop for pictures.

Come-on mom, I just want to smell the flowers!

Ben's favorite Belgium cookies were having a photo contest, so we took pictures of him enjoying his cookie and coffee with his lil cutie.

And one of my favorite parts of the trip each year is making a yummy breakfast for everyone! Carolyn couldn't wait to dive into the pancakes I cooked!

She of course had to dedicate part of the morning to her daily piano practice...
Hopefully she'll be this dedicated to practicing when she's older.

One of the expectations of our yearly trip is to go to the beach. Every year Carolyn gets more and more excited about this. Lately her favorite game to play is to pretend that she's taking her toys to the beach in her little wagon.

 

Oh how she LOVES her honorary Aunties!

Daddy came equipped with a good digging shovel.

A toddler sized pool!

 

We're so lucky to have created such great summer memories, I hope you did too!