Beach, Swimming, and other Fun Things- Saturday, July 4, 2015

Happy July 4th to all!!  We arrived at  Santa Monica Beach at 7:45 AM.  The girls played at the beach and swam for about an hour.  After the beach, we walked on the pier and looked at the shops.  Then we drove to Griffith's Park Observatory.  It was crowded so we were only able to get out for 10 minutes and take pictures.  Emma then declared she was hungry, so we found a Carl's Jr. and had chicken and tacos.  Then we headed back to the pool at the hotel for some swimming.  The girls wanted some down time before we went shopping at Knotts Berry Farms.  After going shopping we had dinner in Buena Park at the Pirate's Dinner Adventure show.  Anna was the cheerleader for the pirate on the orange team and even threw bean bags to him in the challenge.  We had a terrific time and felt it was better than Medieval Times.  We then headed to the hotel. which was 9:00 PM and all fell a sleep watching TV.

Scott's note: Even though I've been home alone all week, it's been very, very busy at Fort Niagara.  From Monday through Thursday, I've been wearing my 1812 uniform, doing "musket demonstrations" and re-learning a lot.  On Friday, they had me wearing regular clothes (and a bright green-yellow vest) to help with crowd control.  It's the start of the French and Indian War weekend and the busiest weekend of the year for the fort.   I was able to give a Rush the Growler CD to Joey Hall of Father, Son and Friends.  I told him he was a big influence on us and he apologized.  He seemed pleased though.  Last night I came home and changed, but then went back to the fort to set up a camp and hopefully hear some music.  (There wasn't much except in the "Tavern" by the Officer's Club, but it was too crowded and noisy to enjoy.)  This morning, Matt and I played at the Colden Farmer's Market.  We survived it, but the mandolin did not.  It fell off of the stand and it cracked in two.  It's a pretty clean break, though, so I think it can be fixed.  I was exhausted by this afternoon and had to take a nap.  I went back to this fort this night, though and had a better seat for the Tavern music by Step in Time and found Joey Hall singing and telling stories in the camp afterwards.   The dogs miss the girls so very much.   Noodles has been OK, but Schnitzel is depressed and has spent most of the time on Anna's bed.

Universal Studios- Friday, July 3, 2015

Today, we got up really early and drove to Universal Studios, which is north of Los Angeles.  We had parked and entered by 7:50 am.  We bought our tickets and went directly to the Minion ride, which Emma loved.  Next we rode on the Jurassic Park water ride.  We did not get very wet though.  The third ride was The Mummy ride.  It is a roller coaster ride.  Emma hated this ride and Anna loved it.  It was dark and full of skeletons. Emma said she liked it when Daddy goes with us, so she can stay with him.  Once again, another reference to Daddy, who is very missed.
After this ride we decided to go on the Studio Tour ride.  The wait was about 45 minutes, but the new effects that were added are awesome.  There is a Fast and Furious experience and a Godzilla experience that have been added since we first came here.  After the tour, we ate in the Simpsons' Springfield at Cletus's family restaurant. Emma liked her chichken but Julie and Anna felt a little sick.  We next proceeded to the Shrek 3D movie which was a 60 minute wait in the heat , but it was cute.  Lastly, we show the Waterworld Stunt shoe that had stunt people from NCIS and even Divergent.  We loved the show, but the heat started to get to us, so we decided to go thorugh some shops in Citywalk.  The girls each bought something at Hot Topic.

We then got the brilliant idea to watch Jurassic World at their movie theatre, since it was filmed at lot #12 in this studio.  It was a way to cool down and relax.  The movie was great and all of us enjoyed it.  However, when we came out we decided to leave and head back toward the hotel since it was after 6 pm.  When we arrived in Anaheim, we decided to eat at Denny's on Katella Blvd.  After dinner, at about 9 pm. we headed back to the hotel and all fell alseep.  It was another great day but we were exhausted.