TSA & USC

My Prettiest Sister and I traveled to LA in order to celebrate Ryan's graduation from USC. We originally planned to drive, but decided a $50 plane ticket sounded much more enjoyable.

Richelle arrived at the airport much earlier than our plane was scheduled to leave, but her only available ride to the airport was Anthony on his way to work. She sat and ate breakfast until I arrived (at the appropriate 2 hour prior time).

We quickly made our way through security (being a preferred member does have its privileges) and were stopped when the highly alert and well educated TSA (TSA = Too Stupid to live Administration) member noticed my 3.6 oz bottle of hairspray in my carry on. My .6 oz OVER the "limit" of safe liquids really would have made a difference.

Even if I knew how to make a "bomb" out of a 3.6 oz bottle of hairspray...I obviously wouldn't...and has anyone thought about the trash can FULL of cans .6 oz OVER the "limit"..?? IF there is something that's going to "blow up" in there...now there is an entire trash can of flammable items AND it's still INSIDE the airport!! Hello..??

Once we took off...about an hour late (note to self: do not book flight through US Airways that is operated my Mesa Air) Richelle & I thought our plane wouldn't make it past the city limits. It was a very, very rough take off...to say the least. Plus our plane was so small, we only had one flight attendant. By the end of our flight...she was DONE. I felt bad for her...putting up with 100 rude, pushy passengers that were all blaming her for the tardiness of the flight.

Anywho...we landed in LA and were met at the curb by our parents in their car and my brother and his family in their car. We caravaned to USC and had a nice, long walk in beautiful weather from where we parked (near the old Olympic stadium) to the campus. We took a few fun pictures with our only brother and his sweet family and then said our temporary goodbyes.

Ryan, Michelle & my parents stayed for the actual graduation for my brother's MHA and we took the 3 prettiest California Girls to the California Science Center across the street. We again walked in the gorgeous California weather across the street, through a park and into the science center. The girls found a lot to play with, and Alexis found the perfect place for a 2 hour nap- in my arms. (I just love her.) We played in the kid play areas for most of our time, played in a hurricane wind tunnel, then mosied through the store at the science center...Emily & Bella each picked out something special. We then headed to the McDonald's inside the museum (for ice cream) before walking back to the cars.

After the graduation, we picked up everyone across the street from USC (a much shorter walk for Dad) and then headed to our hotel near Disneyland. I got to drive my mom's new Honda Pilot and I will admit it is a very, very nice vehicle; it has a lot of fun/smart extras.

While on the freeway (I have NO idea which one) 4 or 5 CHP motors went flying past us. When I looked in the rear view mirror, I saw several additional police vehicle, both marked and unmarked, a few limo type vehicles, a few more dark vehicles I couldn't make out from the mirror and an ambulance (driving code 3) bringing up the rear.

My first thought was some sort of police funeral, but after the long procession of vehicle passed, we noticed that the main limo had some sort of official seal on the door. It looked A LOT like Obama's new Cadillac, but we did NOT see Air Force One when we landed at LAX and that's where they were headed. It was all very exciting actually. It was fun to see and fun to watch all the happenings. When the procession passed traffic, one of the dark SUV's pulled in between the Cadillac and the traffic.
After the excitment passed (literally), we made our way to the hotel and then to a fun filled dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. We laughed, ate too much and then walked back to our hotel...again enjoying the fabulous weather. We ended our night with a swim in the hot tub...