A bit of a monster mash....

Okay. Lots to write about! And the list is growing!

We are back from our trip. We got in Saturday night
around 12am... after a 12 hours drive. Oy.

So... the last half of our trip - Weds we checked out
of our hotel... and into another hotel, near Disneyland.
We drove from San Diego, to Hollywood, and hung out
at Universal Studios for a few hours.
I have never been, so it was cool to finally get to see
it! I loved the Jurassic Park ride, and The Mummy
ride... along with the Curious George Jungle room :}

If you did not know, you can get a parent swap pass
at Universal and Disneyland - so that's what we did.
Two of us would go, while the other two watched the
kids. You grab a pass when you get in line, and then
once you wait in line and ride, you give the pass to
the other group - then they don't have to wait in line,
they just go right through. It was pretty awesome.
And also, the park wasn't too busy - so we got a lot
in during our few hours.

There were some characters out and about. It was
Dmitri's first encounter with them {he's a pro now}
and the first one we ran into, was Shrek. Dmitri has
never seen a Shrek movie. So he was a little freaked
by this giant green guy. So... no Dmitri pics with him.

We made our way to the rides, first off, the Simpson's
ride. It was pretty neat... it felt like you were totally
in simulated roller coaster.
Mike and Jennie took the first round with the kids,
and while Daniel and I were on the ride, the Simpson's
characters were out taking pics. I guess Dmitri liked
them better than Shrek - because he and Sophie
went to 'chat' with them.
Once we swapped with Mike and Jennie, Daniel and
I took the kids to the jungle gym... in the Curious
George area. So they got some energy out.

Our next ride, was the Jurassic Park ride. Mike and
Jennie went first, while Daniel and I took the kids
and sat in a play area they had. There were two dinos
to climb on, and they had The Land Before Time
playing on the tvs. Very appropriate :)

So when we first started on the ride, I was bummed
Dmitri wasn't tall enough.... because he would have
LOVED the dinosaurs in the beginning of the ride,
and the scenery!
But once the ride really started going, I was glad
he wasn't tall enough.... :} Something about seeing
a giant T-Rex coming at you, might scar a 2 year
old!
So the ride was followed by lunch for the kids, and
then Daniel and Mike went on The Mummy.
Switch... then me and Jennie.
While Jennie and I were walking through the gates
to get to the ride, the Pharaoh {dog guy} from the
movie came walking out on stilts... and barked at
me. I was just glad I wasn't the girl he had taken
by the hand... and was leading out of the ride. Eeek!

So we rounded our trip - with the boys checking
out the haunted house... while Jennie and I planned
on taking the kids to the back lot tour... with the
intention of them falling asleep.
Unfortunately... we missed the last studio tour, and
were turned away :[
So we took the kids to the Curious George area again.
This time {since it wasn't as crowded} we took them
into the ball area. There, you got to shoot foam balls
out of cannons, suck them up in vacuums, and have
them shoot out all over!
Gotta say... I think Jennie and I loved it more than
the kids... at least the giant one, that made it rain balls!

Once the boys were done, we met them at the Water
World show. It was awesome. There was a lot going
on, and Dmitri was enthralled!
His favorite part... the plane that came crashing in!
His least favorite... the fire, only because you could
feel the heat from it!

So after that, we headed to our next hotel... which
was great! I really liked it... and was glad that Daniel
got to make use of his 4 month hotel stay in TX ;)

The following day was Disneyland - but I will post
on the later! I have a lot to write, and A LOT of
pictures! With the addition of Saturday, I have almost
900 pics {just of Disneyland} to weed through :X

Here are the pics from Universal
{out of order}I made Daniel feed Dmitri to the shark...
Dmitri wasn't happy about it
This is as close as the kids would get to Shrek :}
I do want to add a bit from Halloween! Dmitri didn't get
a chance to wear his costume. Lucky for him... because
he hates it.
But we went to Grandma Mary's house Sunday... and
he wore it over there. At least long enough for me
to take pictures!
Frankensteins are SO strong!
Daniel entertained us with his juggling skills.
Dmitri did too... like father like son...And how come he'll sit in this stroller for Cedric,
but not his actual stroller for me?!
Playing choo choos
Aww... Cedric :)
And some 'punching game' pics...
He also spent the morning playing with his Disney
souvenirs. Papa even got to play!
Goofy's GIANT hat... :\
I love my MIL's backyard!
Happy Halloween!!