Birthday Boy

 Brady has been begging for a friend party the last few years. Since we don't really know any kids his age I have been convincing him to do other activities instead. This year though since he was turning 5 and he really wanted a friend party with a Pinata I threw one together last minute. He wanted a Rescue Bot party just like Nathan had several years ago. We invited some cousins and friends from church and had a blast training to become transformers/ Rescue bots.

                                             Creating their own Marshmallow Robots

                                                  Rescue Bot training obstacle course.
                                                      

                                           

            

                                                           Heatwave's water relay!

                                                          Optimus Prime Pinata

                                                    Transformers Cake and Presents.

 On Monday for his actually birthday we enjoyed some chocolate chip cookies and Brady got to open his presents from both his grandparents and Us.

First day of School

Nathan and Brady started school on Wednesday the 9th. Nathan started 3rd grade and has Mrs Seim this year. Which both he and I were excited about. She is so nice and was one of the kindergarten teachers when he first started school 3 years ago. She wrote me how she was excited to see Nathan's name on her class roster because he is such a caring and polite boy. Brady started kindergarten and because we did home school for preschool this is his first time being gone everyday for school. They ease them in so for the first to weeks they get out at noon. I was disappointed that he didn't get the same Kinder teacher that Nathan had, but his teacher Mrs Rodriguez is nice so we will see how the year goes. So far they both have been enjoying the new year of school, although Nathan is annoyed that he already had homework and Brady does not.
I thought it was funny that on the first day when I picked up Brady the only comment he had was that he was starving. Hahaha, guess they don't let you snack all day.Instead you actually have to eat a lunch and snack at set times. poor kid 🤣 

Matching shirts for the first day of school

 

Universal Studios Hollywood

Ever since the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened at Universal Studios Hollywood my MIL, SIL, and I have been trying to plan a girls trip to check it out. We finally made it happen a couple weeks ago and had a great time. Universal Studios may not have all the great rides like Disneyland but they really did do a great job bringing Hogsmeade to life.

We left early tuesday morning(Aug 1st) and made it to southern California by noon. After a quick lunch at Chipotle we made our first stop into Hogsmeade.

                                                 Brianna and I outside of Honeydukes.

                                                          The Three Broomsticks.
        We ended eating dinner there that evening and the food was actually pretty good.

 

The rides were kind of lacking but we really enjoyed looking through all the shops. And of course we had to try out some butterbeer, yum! (basically butterscotch/cream soda with a butterscotch whipped topping)

It was so hot while we were there. 95 Degrees with 60% humidity. I never knew I could sweat so much just standing around.

We went on the back lot tour and walked through Springfield.

Brianna and I also made a visit to the new Walking dead attraction and that sure was fun! Nothing as exciting as walking through a building filled with zombies. Not sure why I enjoyed it so much but I laughed the whole way through.Then that evening we watched the Waterworld stunt show which was awesome. And then watch the light show on the Hogwarts castle before calling it a night.

The next morning we got to get into the park and hour early and enjoy Hogsmead with a few less crowds. Our first stop was Olivanders. They do a great little wand choosing ceremony and we thought it would be fun to watch for a second time. they take a small group into Olivanders shop and choose one person from the group to find their wand. Well to my surprise "Olivander" picked me from our group to find my wand. It was so much fun and I was smiling like a little girl the whole time. They have you "try" a couple wands that make things go haywire when you try to use them. for example I was suppose to make a book float but instead it knock a couple shelves down and moved the books. Finally he picks a special wand and when he handed over the person lights up and has air blowing just around them because that wand has picked them. Of course I had to buy the wand that picked me. It was fun because there were all these locations around Hogsmeade where you could use the wand to create magic.

Here's a video of one of the windows outside of Honeydukes. I am using the wand to turn on the lights.

after breakfast at the Three Broomsticks( it was delicious) we headed to the lower lot to check out the Jurassic Park ride and a couple other rides they have down there.

The ride attendant said we would get a little splashed but in reality we got drenched at the end when a wave a water covered our heads. hahaha! just like I remember happening from 20 yrs ago!

 After getting on all the rides and shows that we wanted, we enjoyed a frozen Butterbeer, and did a little more shopping. By lunch time we were hot and tired, so we called it a day and drove the 4 hrs to get home. What a fun trip!

I brought the boys home some candy from Honeydukes. It was too hot to bring them home chocolate frogs so instead they got to enjoy some chewy jelly slugs.

Summer days

We tried to make the most of the final couple weeks of summer. We had a great time joining Grandma Griffith and her grandsons that live nearby at Gilroy Gardens. It really is a great place for young kids. Unfortunately for Nathan he was too tall for some of the rides so he had to sit around and wait for the shorter kids to finish. He still had a good time once we moved on to rides he could enjoy too.

Brady and Mason on the fishes.

Colin wasn't very interested in any of the rides. I couldn't get him to stay on any without me and he even refused to sit on a horse on the Merry a go round. So we just rode around on one of the benches.

 Brady and Grandma driving the car.

 They even have a great little water/splash zone that the boys all loved.

 we spent a couple hours there cooling off.