Show biz...maybe not.

We got a phone call on Wednesday evening from a child talent agency that both Lola and Elise are signed up with. We've never been called for anything from them before so I had pretty much forgotten about the whole thing. Anyway, they called wanting to know if I could bring Elise to an audition the next day in L.A. I said sure. Turns out Dan was going to be in nearby Orange county for business so we made a plan to each do our thing during the day and then hook up for dinner with our friends later on.

I packed up the girls, a bag of clothes, snacks and off we went to north Hollywood. The drive wasn't too bad, except for very strong winds and our vehicle seriously in need of an alignment. Elise had been in good humor all morning and slept the whole way there, so I was really hoping she would be in good spirits once we got there. However, she woke up grumpy and didn't have the patience to be in studio long enough for her turn to come up. Moments before her name was called, she kept persistently taking my hand and walking to the exit doors and saying "ampa", meaning she wanted to go home to Grandpa. When her moment came, she cried, frustrated that we were still there. I knew there wasn't much of a chance that she was going to cooperate with the photographers so we just left. The only caveat is that now it was 4 pm...in L.A. There was no way to get out easily. We were stuck in massive traffic and Elise was still very upset that we were not home. She cried hysterically all the way to Tustin, where I was meeting up with Dan at our friends house. The minute we got off the freeway exdit, she calmed down.

It was a great finish to a stressful day. I really don't enjoy driving in L.A., especially not during rush hour. Elise screaming in the back seat did not help the situation much. We had a nice dinner, then gave the girls a bath and put them to bed. Afterwards, we got to unwind with some wine a soak in our friends hot tub.

This being our first experience with auditions, I learned a lot and I really don't think this is something I would want to do again. Unpredictable moods are just part of the nature of the beast in toddlers. But because of that gamble, it makes all the driving, stress and time involved seem to really not be worth it.

Oh! And I forgot the funniest part of all! The ad was for a brand of baby formula!