in seventh heaven

a few more pics to close out our amazing trip to universal studios.  so so so thankful that ella has a sweet bestie with a sweet family.  just loved our trip!!

the first day - walking into the three broomsticks restaurant.  they had traditional british fare that was super yummy.  i really really think my mom could've handled all 3 kiddos alone...  ha!

the girls literally spent 15 minutes ringing all the doorbells on the "block" and hearing gru's voice.

minion land had two little playgrounds that kept them busy for quite a bit!

the first time on the studio tour.

day two - on the studio tour.  again.

i think ella was raising her hand to say she had been on this ride before.  

on the jurassic park ride with hailey's mimi

super excited about minion mayhem.  also again.

super awesome dance party with margo, edith and agnes!!!!

this trip worked out just perfectly!!!  hey mom - the one in orlando has hogsmeade AND diagon alley.  just sayin'...

we relaxed the rest of our spring break - including a very chilly playdate at mcdonald park with jack f., jack c. and josie.  

on sunday, ella officially turned 7!!!!!  

she wanted a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, mango and grapefruit.

we spent the morning skyping with family before getting ready to go see beauty and the beast at roadhouse!!

the movie was amazing!!!  

afterward, we went to the cotters', who hosted her birthday dinner.  thanks, jenny and colin!!

her girly-stormtrooper cake with a chocolate-mint chocolate chip ice cream inside.

such a fun, fun birthday.  happy birthday, sweet ella.  you always know how to put a smile on the faces of those around you.  you are empathetic and compassionate, thoughtful, and beyond loving.  love love how creative and imaginative you are - you are truly our little artist.  we can't believe how fast seven years has flown by - we are so grateful to have our little girl, always our beautifulness.  

do you believe in magic? or minions? or dinosaurs? part two

ready for day two!!!  

inspired by meegan's house scarf, we each took a "sorting hat" quiz online before leaving the hotel, to figure out which school houses we would be put into.

like, meegan, my mom and ella added two hufflepuffs to the family:

"You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,
And unafraid of toil"

me (and roger) are in ravenclaw:

"Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind."

and max was in gryffindor:

"You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart"

we picked up some house scarves which proved quite useful since it was cold and rainy all day.

we rode the flight of the hippogriff some more

waving at buckbeak

seriously.  the kid LOVED this ride.  four times in a row...  

after playing around a little more in hogsmeade, and minion mayhem (ugh), we headed to the studio tour to meet up with hailey and her family.

with the hogwarts castle in the background

studio tour, take two.  determined to stay awake this time.

he loved it!!  although he was slightly bummed that king kong won the battle - he was hoping t-rex would reign supreme.

next, we headed down to the jurassic park area for lunch and the raptor encounter.

and max was barely tall enough to get on the jurassic park ride - both kids loved it (it was kind of like splash mountain with dinosaurs).

they also had a stegosaurus fossil play area, but unfortunately the kids only had a few minutes here because it started to rain again.

we headed back up to the wizarding world of harry potter where we spent the rest of our day (aside from a quick trip back to minion mayhem...again...i tapped out...too many minions for me - thanks for braving it again with them, mom!).

one last butterbeer for the road

a few more times of harry potter and the forbidden journey ride and the flight of the hippogriff before dinner at the three broomsticks.  

we said good-bye to hailey and did our shopping at honeydukes for their highly anticipated candy before heading home.

playing for our last minutes in the shops

thanks, els and max for a fantabulous trip!!!  i had the best time with you two and you really are starting to grow up and be so independent.  happy happy happy birthday, dear sweet ella!!!!!

and thank you thank you thank you, MOM!!!!  thanks for agreeing to this trip with little notice.  i love the relationship the kiddos have with you and am so grateful we are all close.  i loved this little adventure with you and can't wait for our future ones.  thank you again for everything - we had a blast - we love you!!

we hit the road super early on wednesday, headed back to (hopefully) warm and sunny arizona.  our favorite potty stop:  auntie elaine and uncle norm's house!!!  i joked as we were passing the 303, that we should stop in and ella got super excited and said she wanted to see them - thank you for letting us drop in pretty much unannounced!!

so awesome to see them both, even for only a few minutes - thanks for the yummy snacks to get us the rest of the way through our trip!

and finally, welcome william roger hansen!!!!!  this sweet little guy is super adorable - congrats to jeanne and marc!!!  just love him already.  <3

do you believe in magic? or minions? or dinosaurs? part one

so we are well into the fourth harry potter book and ella is hooked.  they love the movies (which they can only watch after each completed book).  but i am so loving that she is following the plot, reading along silently with me and just so into it!!  we decided, that in lieu of a 7th birthday party, that we would take ella on a mini side trip over spring break to universal studios hollywood so that she could go to the wizarding world of harry potter and experience a little bit of hogsmeade and hogwarts themselves!!  ahh!!  unlike my typical planning, we pulled this together in under 2 weeks.  

gigi joined us on our trip out to LA and on sunday afternoon, we met up with uncle kenny and uncle hank for dinner in city walk.

always so so great to see them!!!

we finished off the day with ice cream and playing around in the shops.

we are ready for our 2 days in universal!!

we arrived for our first day at the parks!!

at the entrance into hogsmeade - there are shops that are mentioned in the books all along the "street," including the zonko's joke shop, honeyduke's candy shop, the three broomsticks restaurant, the hog's head pub, the owlery owl post (where the kids sent a few postcards), among a few others.

in front of the hogwarts express!

our first stop was ollivander's wand shop.  we watched a wand maker do a wand fitting, then the kids were fitted for their own wands.

ella's was made of "holly" and had a unicorn hair core and max's was made of "willow" with a dragon heart string core.

next up, we saw that there was a short wait for the forbidden journey ride - which the kids were too short for, but that's the only way to see hogwarts castle, so in we went.  they got to see the greenhouses, talking portraits and several classrooms.

the entrance to albus dumbledore's office

ella showing me how excited she was

my mom and i took separate turns on the ride, while the kids hung out and watched a little bit of the first movie with a snack.  such an awesome, ah-mazing ride!!!  

then, back onto the streets of hogsmeade to put their wands to use!

there were several special windows throughout hogsmeade, where the kids could use their wands to cast magic spells and make something happen - opening drawers, making a quaffle ball levitate, opening a giant chocolate frog box...  the kids, especially max, just loved the interactive wands!

in line for the kids' favorite ride - flight of the hippogriff.  super thankful that, for spring break, the parks were not too crowded and we were spoiled with extremely short lines!!  seriously, less than 10 minutes for most of them!

more magic spells

literal eye candy at honeyduke's

next the kids both wanted butterbeer - kind of a butterscotch-cream soda combo.

and look who we met up with in line...

another upside to the timing of the trip: her best friend, hailey, who is also super into harry potter, was there at the same time!!!  how fun for her to experience this with her BFF - just loved it!

and now, we drink butterbeer!

lunch at the three broomsticks

the kids got their butterbeer - i wanted fire whiskey!!!

so a shot of specially-made-for-harry-potter-cinnamon-flavored-whiskey seemed questionable at 11:30 a.m. with two kids in tow...but putting that shot in hard apple cider (more alcohol) somehow made it more socially acceptable??  oh it was so delicious...

...and it made the next part of our day, much more tolerable.  we left the world of harry potter and ventured to the land of minions.

max was bursting with excitement

he played a carnival game...

...and won bob!

getting ready to ride minion mayhem.  so so so not my favorite ride.  but the kids LOVED it.  

time for a healthy snack

clearly excited to take the studio tour!!

we were delayed for about 5 minutes, so the tour guide gave a little history of some famous directors...and max was OUT.

and this is not the old studio tour - there was a 360 degree 3-D epic battle between king kong and a t-rex that shook the tram fairly violently.  and he continued to sleep.  :(

ready to go home for the day

with the kids ready for bed, i got to eat dinner with this lovely lady:

so so so amazing to see meegan and had a fabulous night out with her!!!  ready for day two!