Thursday, June 4, 2026

The Prom!

Last Monday, we got up early and headed to the airport.  There wasn't any traffic so it took about 1/2 hour.  We also had to gas up the rental car.  Wow that was expensive.  We got to the airport about an hour before boarding and were hungry, but the food choices were not great.  
We saaw some mountains.  
Nuclear power plant!  It was quicker getting home.  About 4:45.  It still felt long though.  We left the hotel around 7 am and we got home around 8 pm.  Long day!  
Last Monday, Eli got a new old friend.  A few year ago he had a Huggy Wuggy doll which somehow disappeared.  Huggy comes from a horror video game.  They stopped making the doll for a while and Eli had the new one on orde for about 4 months.  He asked about it daily.  Finally it was released.  
They have a special bond these two.  lol.
It was Amy's birthday!  The families came over for cake.  
We had lots of fun desserts.  

Can't believe our big boy is headed to college soon.  
Nothing Bundt Cake!
The kids had fun.  
Somehow the twins ended up on Vicky's trampoline.  
This is how we found Eli last Wednesday morning.  
This is kind of cute but all kinds of creepy.  
Baby deer!  Better watch out for Baby Shark!
It was also our 19th wedding anniversary.  Amy celebrated by meeting her college friends in New York so see & Juliet on Broadway.  
Amy was back late so I ran around with the kids.  
Fionna came to hang with Ariel.  
Last Thursday, the kids rode to school.  
A lot of kids ride their bikes.  
Last Friday was Aden's senior prom!  He posed with the neighbor boys Ben and Jason.  They have all known each other since they were babies!
So handsome wearing my suit.  

Nancy and Ben.  

John and Suzy with the boys.  Aden had fun at the prom then went to the mountains with his friends.  
We packed up the car and headed to the shore.  Finally.  We took a slight detour so Ariel could try 7 Brew.  

We made it!  Everything was still in the garage.  I didn't habve time to set up before the season.  
So much to unpack!  I am now officially caught up with the blog.  Back to my standard week delay.  Have a great weekend!

 

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Universal Studios Hollywood

Last Sunday, I took one for the team.  The twins really wanted to go to Universal Studios but Amy and Aden did not so I took them.  Amy and Aden had a nice quiet day.  
This was only like 10 minutes from the hotel.  
They rolled out the red carpet for us.  
We thought it might be quiet there.  Not!
Here we go!
Back to the Future!
It reminded us of Universal in Florida but much smaller.  

Harry Potter!
Lots of snow and we were in short sleeves!
I love me some frozen Butterbeer.  
Noah tried it for the first time.  

The line for the Hogwarts Castle ride.  We had fast passes, which was the best idea ever.  The lines were from an hour to two hours for most rides.  We didn't wait at all.  
So cool!
The Simpsons land was cool.  
Homer!

Noah's favorite spot.  Mario Bros!


Bowser!
Beautiful day!
Here we go!
We raced Bowswer.


We found Mario and Luigi.  
Props from the Jurassic Park movies.  
This little guy was moving.  


It's on 2 levels with huge escalators in between.  This is a panoramic shot from one of the escalators.  
We did the studio tour.  I remember doing this as a kid. 
Back to the Future clock tower!
New York set.  
Uh oh!  What's coming?
Jaws!
Help!
Flood!
Another flood in the subway station.  
This was the set for Desperate Housewives.  
Norman Bates was coming for us!
We finally got out of there and went to City Walk for lunch.  

Meanwhile, somewhere else in LA, Amy and Aden were chilling.  

Look at the price of gas!
We met Amy and Aden at cousin Larry's house.  
Such a cool setup.  Huge front and back yards.  
Aden and Noah caught up.  
Amy and Teddy bonded.  
We got some basketball going.  
All the cousins came over.  
They brought in tacos for dinner.  It was a beautiful night to eat outside.  


Eli took a lemon from their tree.  We had to get back and pack to go home