St. Patty's Day/Southern California Getaway

About a week after we returned from Utah (see previous post) my parents drove out to our house. They were bringing the rest of my stuff that they've been storing at their place and they came to watch the girls while Dave and I went on a trip with some friends. But before the trip, here's what we did while my parents were here.

Since the girls and I were traveling during St. Patrick's Day, I decided we would celebrate when my parents came to visit. So we started the day off right with green food. I made green shamrock blueberry muffins and green eggs.  I also had a little pile of goodies for the girls to wake up to in the morning.  You know things like a light up shamrock ring, silly headbands, etc.

The girls wore their cute outfits.

And I made Corned Beef and Cabbage for the first time and it turned out great!

I also made a yummy pudding dessert though it was WAY TOO MUCH!! It was still tasty.

The next day Dave and I left, and my parents watched the girls for the next three days. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

So now for the Southern California Getaway.

We drove down to Burbank with our friends Matt and Meagan. Once down there, we picked up our other friends from the airport, Steve and Marissa. And then the party began!

We headed to the house we were renting and were not disappointed. It was in a quiet neighborhood but pretty close to most everything we wanted to do. That night we headed out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We just ordered a bunch of different items and shared. It was really good and made me wish that Dave and I would branch out and experiment more with new foods.

After dinner we headed back to the van but stopped to buy some delicious crepes. Ours had bananas, strawberries, dulce de leche, and whipped cream! It was amazing!

And the outdoor mall we were at was one of the nicest we had ever seen.

Then we headed to the Observatory. We didn't have a ton of time to spend there as it was closing in less than an hour but they had some cool displays and the view was amazing, even though it was night time. We could even just make out the HOLLYWOOD sign. One of my favorite parts was the Tesla Coil. If you've never seen the movie, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, watch it. It's funny and it will make you love Tesla Coils. Here's a link to the part of the movie I am referring to. Just click HERE.

The next day was Dave and I's favorite. We went to Universal Studios! We got there just after opening and were done by about 3pm. It was a Friday so there were hardly any lines, so we zoomed through everything we wanted to do. It was awesome.

If you know me well, you know that my favorite movie is JURASSIC PARK. So I was really excited about the ride.  And thanks Matt and Steve for being great background dancers.

We also loved the Park Tour. The reason for the 3-D glasses is because they have a part where you go through a King Kong movie scene.

We also went on the Mummy ride, Tranformers ride, Simpsons ride, watched the Shrek 4-D show, an animal show, and the Special Effects show. And we walked through the House of Horrors. I love scary things. So this was really fun but definitely freaky. The worst part was going into a small room with Chucky who then proceeded to chase me. Oh man did I scream. 

The rest of the day we took it easy at the house. We sat in the hot tub and then played games.

The next day we had a slow morning and then headed to the beach. It was freezing so us girls stayed on the dry sand huddled under towels and our jackets.

The boys braved the water and did some skim boarding. And they acted like little kids.

That night we tried out a pizza place that had received a lot of good reviews. It was good but nothing to brag about. It was really cool to watch the whole pizza making and baking process though. After dinner, we saw a movie, Divergent. I liked it a lot and thought it followed the book really well.

Oh and I forgot to mention that almost every day, we headed to a bakery that again had received lots of amazing reviews and you could tell that it lived up to those reviews because it was always full of people. It was good but Dave and I realized we aren't foodies. To us, the goods tasted like any other pastry. But you have to admit that it looks like heaven.  

The next day we headed home and back to reality. Thanks friends for a great little getaway!

It was fun to have Jocey so excited to see us. This is the longest I've ever been away from the girls. But I know they were in good hands. My parents headed home the next day and we said our goodbyes. It will probably be a year and a half before we see then again. That is almost like forever. So thanks mom and dad! We love you and miss you lots!