Crazy lil Thing Called Love...: Day 3: Universal Studios/Disney/Trick or Treat

*****PICTUREPALOOZA*****

Day 3 we journeyed to another part of the Californias for some Universal Studios time with Mana, Karri, Jd & Chris.

The Tolman's stayed behind for some family Disney time.

To Hollywoods we headed!

It was a bit chilly that morning. I thought I'd packed everyone's jackets, but Conli had moved hers from where it had been so it was nowhere to be found. Lucky for her, she has an Aunt Karri that gave her her hoodie to wear.

So Halloweenie!

We got lucky and got to skip the horrendous line behind the girls cuz we had passes already.

Sawyer had a melt down because the boys wouldn't wait for her, so her Mana ran her ahead.

"it's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!!!!!"

Saw some Woodpeckers.

Sad that my kids had no idea who they were!

Flintstones anyone!?

First rides were these insanely gargantuan escalators. They were ginormous, and there were tons of them!!!!

desination Transformer Ride

Saw this Optimus. Huge. Cool. Remote Controlled Prime.

This is a transformers thing you know.

so excited!

3-D'd up.

Sawyer before the ride began.

She hated it. Scared her to death.

We got a locker to store some of our crap,

and then brave people went on the Mummy rollercoaster.

I was not being brave yet.

How cute are these besties!?

Sawyer begged, and pleaded, and cried for one of those blasted lollipops the size of her head. After saying not today, I realized, ya know, I always wanted one of those when I was little- I cannot crush her dreams! :) So, I bought her one.

ONE.STEP. out of the shop, she dropped it and it shattered all over itself. It could be saved because it stayed in the wrapper, and as long as she kept one side of the wrapper on, it would be fine. Here I am trying to explain that to her as patiently as possible.

i really was being patient.

and she warmed up to it while we waited for the peeps to get off the Jurassic Park ride.

Some little Fairy land....

and they're done!

just a titch wet

See! All was well with the sucker and the Soy.

Hey Dora!

We decided we needed another transformers ride but Sawyer didn't want to go. So, Karri waited with her.

This ride was amazing! It was sooo fun, and so real, it was my favorite thing that day!

Whilst waiting, Sawyer had a lil photoshoot with Karri's camera. She snapped 100+ photos.. no biggie.

On our way into the ride, Buzz and Optimus were just having a friendly lil chat. Just a little robotic handshake if you will.

And after the ride, we luckily got to see him. He thought Brent was related somehow.

On the way back up, I opted to exercise and climb all the stairs....holy moses.

But totally worth it for my picture with Ren McCormick.

We did a lil sight seeing....

and then we waited in the longest line ever, for the tour of Universal Studios.

Sawyer had no idea what she was in for.

We finally made it onto a bus and saw a lifesize potato head. Top a the mornin to ya!

She was a tad bit nervous when it began....sitting aside her BFF Chris again.

You know, there was a reason I took all these pics of the buildings, but do I remember what they all were of? Nope. Not a clue. Nuthin. Zilch.

But know this, they have all been in numerous movies and TV shows.

Just chillin

Something terrified her....I don't know what it was....

Famous cars!

like the knight rider

back to the future car

fast and the furious

So in this tunnel, is where the 3D glasses come in handy.

The bus stops, and gets on some track that makes it move and jive....

to the beat of King Kong and Godzilla at war!

They spit in your faces, they try to kill you, they jump on top of the bus....awesome.

Except, Sawyer for sure thought it was her time to go.

No bueno.

And after that death defying she'd already done, everything was just too much to handle.

Take the dancing cars from Fast and the Furious for example:

or the city having a flash flood and thunderstorm....

She just cried and cried and cried.

Don't remember what these were from- Jurassic Park perhaps?

Western movies

King Kong set

And right when she was calming down, we enter the subway, where there is an earthquake, flash flood and semi crash with a subway train all at the same time.

She was grateful to be out in the open air once again when what should appear?

oh, just Jaws.

the child eating shark.

famous houses from something !

This one I know= Whoville!

And War of the Worlds.

And the cabin from the Great Outdoors

Evil murdering man

Over there, I spotted Warner Bros Studios.

Dang, I needed me some Ellen.

I wish I'd had planned it!!!!

Back in the safety of Daddy's arms, we were able to console Sawyer and get her to relax and realize it was all pretend. Poor little Gingersnap.

Then she happily got in Jaws mouth!

Love these girls

And these boys

And JD & Chris

Post the Studios, we hopped over to the adjoining mall.

Best mall I've ever beheld! Everything larger than life.

I love that stuff!!!!

We lunched and then we walked around for a while.

Coolest candy store ever!

Max found his dream....

And Conli found hers- can ou guess what it is?

Wanted to buy my mama this pilla- but I didn't.

And Brent touched Marilyn Monroe's jelly belly bodied brob!

Brent couldn't contain the excitement he experienced when he saw this grandiose treat.

I think each cup was a pound.

Yes, he bought one.

Cool sign at Johnny Rockets

And best Jamba juice sign- picture for props to my first real job out of high school. Long live Blenders! I mean Zuka! I mean Jamba Juice!

So long Universal Studios! It's been real.

And then, we hit this:

Dude!!!! We had trick or treating to do!!!!

Every year, Mana Ramey has a family Halloween Party. We'd decided to dress all disney themed for this years since we'd be at Disneyland, but the kids didn't know that part of the Halloween Party. So, when I'd brought up being Alice and Wonderland, they weren't too thrilled. So, we'd told them we'd just to Alice and Wonderland at Mana's party.

That night, I pulled out their costumes and they were soooo excited! I was glad. I had every intention of making Brent a real life Cheshire Cat costume too. But, being that I thought this trip was a week later than it actually was, I ran out of time....lucky for us, Mana bought him some Cheshire Cat mickey ears!

So, we have Cheshire Cat Dad, Alice Mom, Max Hatter, Queen of Hearts Sawyer and White Queen Conli

Ready for our Halloween party at last, we headed to Disneyland!

It's so cool because they close the park down to everyone except those with bracelets to stay for trick or treating. Yes, there's still a ton of people, but not as many as usual!

We caught a lil of the parade.

And Mana wanted a picture of all of us with the giant mickey pumpkin.

and she got one!

This is one of my favorite pics of Max. I love it.

My lil Max Hatter

walking down Main Street, hand in hand....

Cute kiddos

And a hubby that won't take a serious picture.....

Don't JD & Chris's costumes make you giggle!? They're my favorite!

Jaq and Gus Gus

We just danced all the time...cuz that's what you do at Disneyland, you dance.

And they had these huge glowing ghosts, and when you saw one, you got to trick or treat. It wasn't like one piece of candy either, it was handfuls at every stop! They had a healthy option also- carrots, apple chips or raisins.

Loved the Haunted Mansion dressed up like Nightmare Before Christmas

JD dibbs everybody's raisins

Waiting in line for Haunted Mansion, the kids kept freaking their own freaks.

hey family!

My beautiful White Queen.

Cinderella needed herself bustled, so I did the honors.

more waiting in line fun.

Breanne's family was Peter Pan. Pirate Dad, Wendy Mom, Peter, Jane and Tinkerbell.

Sawyer getting an early start on her chocolate.

Cinderella and her mice!

Oh, it's just J & Chris! Silly mices!

Cute Kitty!

Post Haunted Mansion, we needed to eat.

Nothin beats overpriced theme park food---sheesh!

Made our way to the Hungry Bear for dinner.

the parents ordered while the kids twirled.

Sawyer became Sorcerer of Hearts

Max loves his agua!

And don't worry! We even documented potty breaks!!!!!

Karri pulled out more fun, with some glow sticks. And the Mad Hatter got arrested by Peter Pan.

Just love her.

BFC=best friend cousins

Someone is just like their father....silly faces always.

We took the little on some more rides while the boys held down the fort at our "spot" for the fireworks. I joined them not too long after, and it was funny- we were standing in a big circle and people kept asking if they could stand in the middle of us. People, are we really that dumb!!!!

Kids saw Phineas and Ferb while we waited.

At the last moment, everyone finally joined us and people realized we really were waiting for 10 more people!

All ready for the show!

For Trick or Treat nights, they have special Halloween fireworks. Instead of Tink starting out the night, Zero- the dog from Nightmare Before Christmas- flies thru the air.

LOOOOOVE!!!!!

Conli will forever hate loud noises.

Loved Max holding Sawyer while they were both mesmerized by the lights.

Cheshire Sawyer

Afterwards, we made our way to the tea cups.

We cute thru fairy land on the way.

and i love all these lanterns. Want them in my backyard.

They were too excited for this ride.

and they loved every.second.

I adore their faces in these.

After teacups, we waited for the Halloween parade to arrive. The boys hit up Matterhorn and Kobe Bryant was in the car ride ahead of them...they didn't see him though, the worker just told them.....