road trip games

While driving to downtown LA Saturday afternoon Chloe and I were playing random games to pass the time.

She said, "let's play test questions."

"Okay?" I responded.

She went on, "You could go on a three hour trail ride OR go to a fancy French party...with handsome men to dance with and you get to wear a fancy dress in pink or gold?"

She knows me so well. I simply couldn't choose. They both sound perfect to me. I had to ask, "is the party in France?"

"Yes, and so is the trail ride. And they are both three hours."

Oh no. Oh dear. I want both.

Time passes.

"Mamma, you have to chose one."

I can't. They are both so good.

"Okay, the party is after the trail ride, so you can go to both."


This makes me smile to no end. So to Chloe, if you cannot make up your mind, and you hem and ha long enough, you can just have both things. I like her way of thinking. Also I never knew how badly I wanted to go to a fancy French party until she proposed the idea.

I had a harder time thinking up two equally perfect choices for her. Since we had just been to Universal Studios the day before, that choice won over all others, except maybe riding a horse through an empty Disneyland.

Fun questions to think up on a road trip.

Oh, and on our drive to Universal Studios Geoff read trivia questions to us from Trivia Cafe, which was also a good time and we all learned what a monotreme is.

spring break

Disneyland  |   Easter Sunday |  Trail ride in Palos Verdes  |  Universal Studios  |  Cinderella  | 

|  Dinner in DTLA at Fogo de Chao  |  

We went directly to Disneyland after school on Thursday to take part in their annual Easter Egg Hunt. We did the hunt at Disneyland first, then DCA, and back to Disneyland; it was super fun. The lines were long, but since we were hunting eggs we got around just fine. By 10 pm when we were done with the hunt at DCA, the lines were shorter and we got on plenty of rides. It was awesome to pull a late night and shut down the park together to celebrate the first night of Spring Break! We were the last ones on Alice in Wonderland at 12:15am!

Tuesday morning we went for a trail ride in Palos Verdes, it was awesome.

Wednesday we did some bike riding and I introduced Chloe to Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

Thursday we did quite a bit of cleaning, went through all of Chloe's clothing to see what fits and what doesn't, made piles to donate and cleaned out her drawers and closet. She says she doesn't love cleaning but she loves having a clean room. I agree, I don't love cleaning, but I don't mind it--I do LOVE a clean house though. We had dinner at CPK with my mom.

Friday Geoff took the day off and we went to Universal Studios together. It was Chloe's first time, and we hadn't been in probably 14 years. The one thing I'll say about Universal Studios is, don't get attached to anything there. It's crazy to me how often things change there. I was rather attached to the ET ride, it's long gone. So is all the behind the scenes kind of educational stuff. The attractions where you could actually see how things were done like green screen, flying like super man, etc that is all gone and replaced with "rides." Don't get me wrong, we had a great time. But it was disappointing, Geoff and I missed all the movie magic and audience participation stuff we remembered from our childhoods. Chloe didn't know any different.
Also, there was this super cute Irish pub we wanted to visit after dinner, we had plans to sit and grab a beer, then watch Chloe play in Super Silly Fun Land but when we returned at 6:45 it was closed. The park didn't close until 9 pm, but all the restaurants were closed by 7. That was really frustrating.

Let's face it, I'm a Disney girl through and through. If they say they are open till midnight, they are, and you can even get on Casey Jr., Dumbo, and Alice in Wonderland after the stroke of 12am. And get an ice cream and buy souvenirs an hour later. Also you don't have to worry about questionable content at Disneyland. One of the first scenes they showed on the Universal Studios Backlot Tour was of Mindy Kaling getting frisky with her costar in airplane lavatory. Where Disneyland is rated G, Universal Studios is PG-13 at best. Beware of Norman Bates coming at you with a knife on the studio tour as well. I'm glad we waited till she was 8, and I don't feel the need to go back for at least 5 years. Sounds about right, Harry Potter's Wizarding World will have opened and the crowds died down a bit by then.

The minions were super cute.