California Vacation 2014, part 2

We slept in a bit on the 27th and Tony even brought our hotel breakfast back to our room for us :) Got in our suits and drove to Huntington Beach.

It wasn't busy at all, but we did get to see some surfers.

We loved the sun!

The water was very cold. Kids played nonstop in the surf and Tony & I mostly hung out in the sand. It was in the 60's-70's, but I froze! I finally had Tony get my jacket for me out of the car.

 I thought the kids would be done after an hour or so but instead we had to drag them away after 3 1/2 hours!

We sprayed off,

Then walked through the main part of town. The kids got waffle cones from Baskin Robins and Buddy was, again, impressed with the food in California ;)

Back to the room we rested up for a bit. Got ready and then went to Medieval Times for dinner and a show. Many friends had recommended it, and when we saw a buy one-get one free deal, we decided to try it instead of going to a character luncheon at Disney.

We LOVED the show which had fancy trained horses, a falcon, jousting and sword fighting (complete with sparks flying when metal struck metal!). The food was also good which consisted of tomato bisque soup, garlic bread, half a roast chicken, a barbecue rib and half a seasoned baked potato. They had choice of Pepsi or water to drink.

The only bad part was when Christian threw a fit because couldn't have a light up sword as we were leaving :(

We then stopped by Walmart for some after sun lotion because we got so burnt at the beach. Even though we used sunscreen! Tony got it the worst on his legs, arms, face and head, I only got a bit on my lower legs and feet, Faith got it pretty much down on her arms and little on her legs, and Christian only ended up with a little bit on the backs of his legs. We also bought the kids Mickey baseball caps.

Tony dropped us off at the motel room and went to put gas in the car and find himself a baseball cap. I walked the kids to the entrance of Disneyland and we watched the fireworks. 

Tony brought the kids home some Slurpies and we watched the suvivalist show "Naked and Afraid."

On the 28th we started out early, but got stuck in traffic and didn't make it to Universal Studios until 10 a.m. Right off the bat we got our picture with Gru and rode the Despicable Me ride where we were turned into Minions.

We rode four escalators down the side of the mountain and got to meet Bumblebee. To this day Tony argues that it was a real robot and not a guy in a cool costume!

Went on Transformers the Ride-3D and it was our favorite ride in the park! You're in moving cars, but they just take you from room to room. Then they tilt to feel like even more movement, plus 3D all around you, water spray & a blast of heat during the explosions.

We were pretty bummed that Jurrasic Park was closed for renovations, so next we went to a museum where they had the car from Back to the Future.

We then went on the Mummy ride which is an inside roller coaster in the dark. It goes forwards through the course and then backwards!

We had to wait in a bit of a line for the Studio Tour ride, but it was well worth it. We loved seeing all the different movie sets, experiencing some special effects first-hand, and having our tram attacked by Godzilla in the biggest 3D theater there is.

Speaking of special effects, we then went to a show where they showed us lots of the tricks and techniques.

We were short on time, so we ran to the car in the parking structure and wolfed down roast beef sandwiches, chips, & grapes. On the way back in, we had just enough time for a picture with Shrek and Donkey.

We saw the Animal Actor show and were thrilled to see some cute, trained dogs and cats. Next was the Shrek 4D movie, and then the Waterworld show with lots of stunt action and fire.

Before we left, we went on the haunted house walk through and Christian was scared, but he made it.

We then drove to Hollywood. Parked on Hollywood Boulevard, but were in a scary area so we got back in the car and drove down near the Chinese Theater.

Faith got a Hollywood shirt and Christian got some sunglasses at the five dollar store there. We had a blast seeing the stars and the sights.

Here are Doris Day's hand and footprints for Grandma Braegger,

the Harry Potter cast for Christian

and the Twilight cast for Faith.

We even ran into Jack Sparrow!

We just barely had enough daylight to drive up Mulholland Drive to a Hollywood sign overlook. (Note the sign is pretty tiny in the background, and the kids are wearing their new Hollywood gear.)

Picked up a large pepperoni pizza and some cheese sticks from Papa John's (using a ten dollar gift card Tony had gotten as a bonus from work-score!), then went back to the room to eat. Watched Dancing with the Stars and went to bed, pretty well wore out.