California

Bruce's House

California was a blast! Joshua and I went with his family. It was really fun, because all of us got to go. The Allreds and Blauers drove down and the Barkers flew down (it was much easier with the kids). There is a place in California where you can rent people's summer homes, so that is where we stayed. They were really nice, right next to the beach. I have always wanted to go-to Universal Studios, so that was the part I was most excited about. I was not disappointed. It was so much fun. The tram ride through Universal was simply amazing. We saw the sets for The Grinch, Wisteria lane, the plane wreckage from the movie War of the Worlds, famous movie sets (this one is the front of Bruce's house from Bruce Almighty, Universal has a whole bunch of different city sets that they just modify for each movie.) The Tram had cool 4-D simulations we drove through, the Tram was just awesome.

Who-ville

 

War of the Worlds

The rides were so different than any other rides I have been on. The 4-D was awesome. Even the line getting to the rides had cool things going on in them. This little gem is from the Minions ride. That does seem like art Gru would have on his wall.

My absolute favorite was The Mummy ride. It was so intense! If you ever go to Universal make sure you go-on this ride. I did not know what to expect, but I wish we would of left enough time to go more then once. There were a few of these guys outside the ride, and you could take pictures of them "attacking" you. They were in stilts so they cut quite a figure.

USA is one of the channels that is run by Universal. USA has some of my favorite shows, Psych being my favorite. They had a little museum on the grounds. There was pretty cool stuff in there, but the psych costumes caught my eye. This one is the Chad outfit. There also was Gus's Michael Jackson outfit (you can see some of it in the picture).

We also were able to go to the beach. The feel of the waves pulling on you is such an awesome experience. The weather was a little cold, but we braved the weather. Ayla and I built a sand castle (more just a huge pile of sand) which I ended up turning into a pretty cool Sea turtle. She and I also found a rock that she was using as a foot slide. She has always been so shy, but man did she come out of her shell. She is one of the cutest, sweet little girls you will ever met. I loved getting to become her friend.

I love going on vacation with family. We grew closer, and had a wonderful time.