California here we come!!!

Our trip has begun! My brother Brad and his wife Janelle were kind enough to let us swap cars with them so we could go on our trip. Thanks guys!!!

We left good old Salt Lake on April 2nd and headed to our first stop. Las Vegas!

The trip went smoothly. Only40 are we there yets and around 5 I need to go to the bathrooms. Not bad huh? Just after Baker there was a produce truck on fire. We got there as the crews were finishing putting it out. We didn't get the camera out in time to get the truck but we got the big line of stopped traffic. 3 lanes completely stopped for 2 miles and still piling up.



In Vegas we got our room and took the kids down to swim.

They have a lazy river and a giant pool and then 2 smaller pools. A really nice resort. After swimming we got dinner at Chipotle and then we were off to show the kids Las Vegas. The loved all the lights and the M&M store. We caught the Bellagio show but the camera chose that moment to stop working!!!!! So I got NO pictures!!! I am still mad. But the kids got to see it and they loved it!

Thursday we were off to Cali. Joe went to Best Buy to get a new camera. Our credit card company actually called us to make sure that we were in Vegas making charges no more then 3 min after he bought it! That made me happy. The drive to Cali was not as smooth as the drive to Vegas. There were more "are we there yets" and so many "you are invading my personal spaces" I was ready to give them space on the roof! But we made it and no one died.

We went to the Sunset Market here in Oceanside and saw so many cool things. The kids got their faces painted and we got corn on the cob . We went to dinner and then came back to the condo.

Friday we went to Universal Studios. At first we were a bit taken aback by the lack of hospitality when we arrived but once we got there we all had a blast!!!

We started out on the Shrek 4D ride. That was so fun. The kids squealed and screamed in delight.

The studio tour was so cool! We didn't get to see any famous people but it was fun to see sets that had been used in movies I love! So that was awesome! We got to see how some of the special effects are done and saw neat cars from lots of movies and tv shows.

Water world. This was an AWESOME show! Katya wanted to sit in the "soak zone". An actor/stunt man I recognized by sight from tv but not by name was the MC. Paul Anthony Scott. He totally picked on me!! He had one if those canisters that you pump then use a nozzle to spray. He was getting everyone that walked by and people in the audience wet. All the while in his English accent telling everyone that this was a soak zone and if you didn't want to get wet then move. He walked right in front of me and got me SOAKING wet! 5 or so minutes later 2 other guys came out and we started having shouting contests with the other 2 stands. If we weren't up to par then the guy leading that side would get us all wet. As the competition progressed the leader was going to the other groups and getting them wet if his group thought they weren't very good. Make sense? no oh well... so the guy from the side next to us came over to get us wet. I missed something that had happened trying to hide my camera and phone. When I looked up Paul was motioning for me to come up to the fence where he was. For a few seconds I didn't believe him but then I went. He handed me one of those bazooka like water cannon things and told me to shoot the other guy! As I took the water gun I realized it was freakin EMPTY!!!!!!! When I said so the guy from the other side soaked me front and back. Paul started yelling at me saying "Why didn't you shoot him?!" So I yelled right back! I was yelling that it was empty and he better fill it so I could shoot HIM instead! He refilled it. Made to hand it to me and then shot me with it! I was DRENCHED!!! He then handed me the again empty gun. I called him a jerk and went to hit him with the gun all the while screaming it was my turn and to fill it back up for me. Yah he threw a bucket of water at me. I stood there so wet it was as if I had jumped in the pool! He took the gun from me and bowed to me and thanked me a million times. Everyone cheered. Later in the show we caught each others eye and he bowed again and thanked me. After the show we got to meet the actors. I walked up to him and yell that he sucked. He turned and just started laughing and then gave me a huge hug. As we talked he told me he has NEVER done that to an audience member before. I'm so mad at myself that I didn't ask why me. So I am trying to find a way to contact him. It was so awesome! I was wet the whole rest of the day but it was worth it. I am just glad I wasn't wearing white!

The kids got to meet Fival, Sponge Bob, Curious George and Frankenstein. Ryan got to meet his favorite people! Dora and Diego! He was SOOOOOO excited to see them! The kids saw Shrek and Scooby Doo as well.

It was a great first day in Cali. I wanted to take the kids to see Graumens Chinese Theater but we were running out of daylight and traffic didn't look promising. Next time....