Harry Potter World at Universal Studios Hollywood Date

For Christmas this past year, my sister Jessica offered to fly out and watch the girls for us so we could do a quick getaway.  So we decided to take her up on it and do a fast trip down to Southern California to see Harry Potter World at Universal Studios.  We have wanted to go ever since it opened but heard it wasn't the kind of place where we could go with the girls very easily.  And that's definitely true.  I hadn't been to Universal Studios since I was a kid but it's not very family friendly and most of the rides have height requirements that even Clara doesn't meet yet.  And they were just too intense anyway.

We picked Jessica up on Thursday night from the airport and had fun chatting and hanging out at the house Thursday night and Friday morning.  Then in the afternoon, Paul and I headed out.  It was a fast drive and nice to have some one on one time in the car to talk to each other without the Moana soundtrack playing or being peppered with questions the entire time, lol. 

We did dinner at Bubba Gump's at the Universal city walk area and then went to our hotel.  The next morning we were up bright and early to be in line at the park entrance by 7:30.  If you buy your tickets online, you get a discount AND an extra hour before the park officially opens at 9:00.  We were probably 20th in line for the 8:00 opening, which was awesome.  Of course everyone went straight to the Harry Potter attractions.

As far as the rides go, I don't think Harry Potter World is all that fantastic.  The hippogriff ride is seriously less than 20 seconds long and the lines later in the day had a 2 hour wait.  We were super glad that we just walked right on.  The bigger attraction is the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  We actually LOVED walking through the ride staging/line areas.  The decor was amazing and really well done.  Except since there was no wait, we hustled right through and didn't get to really look at everything.  That's the only plus for the 2 hour waits later in the day.  

The ride itself made me super queasy.  It's sort of a cross between the Haunted Mansion dune buggy and the Star Tours rides at Disneyland in that you are in small cart-type contraptions that moving along a track slowly, passing between screens and being jostled and jolted to simulate flying on a broomstick through spider dens and past dragons and around Hogwarts castle.  It was definitely interesting, but honestly, not super Fun (with a capital "F") if that makes any sense.

But, disappointing rides aside, we still LOVED Harry Potter World and it was more for the immersive experience of it.  They have done just a stunning job of making you feel a part of the wizarding world, from the costuming of the employees to the food to the shops and unique merchandise.  We wandered for a long time, looking at things for sale, trying on a sorting hat (I'm Ravenclaw and Paul was told Hufflepuff although I would definitely say he is a Gryfindor), and going through Ollivander's Wand Shop.  

We only had to wait 10 minutes for the wand selection demonstration, which apparently also has lengthy wait times later in the day.  They take a group of maybe 40 people in a small, dim room with a master wandmaker who selects on person (a kid, always, I'm sure) to be fitted for a wand.  Then there is a whole routine of trying out different wands and having them try out spells that cause the lights in the room to flicker, shelves to break, etc. until the "right" wand is found.  When the kid is given the perfect wand a spotlight shines down on them, music starts playing, and a fan starts blowing on them creating this hilarious but cool "chosen" effect.  The little girl in our group was obviously starstruck by the whole thing.  

Afterwards, you go into the main wand shop where there are just hundreds and hundreds of wands stacked in boxes all the way from floor to ceiling.  Each wand is a "replica" of a character from the books, but they don't just have the main characters - they have loads of very minor characters, which is really fascinating.  If you loved the books, then you would love Ollivander's, I'm sure.

Other than the wand shop, we enjoyed the Owl Post and Wizarding Robes stores.  Oh, and Honeydukes was incredible and I wish I could have tried some of everything.  Instead we just opted for a couple of chocolate frogs to take home for Jessica and the girls.  

One of my favorite parts of the day was lunch at the Three Broomsticks.  It is absolutely fascinating inside with a sort of dark, moody, pub-ish feel.   There are rickety looking staircases overhead leading nowhere, which feels just right.  And the food served there is all very British.  I ordered the bangers and mash with peas, and Paul got roasted chicken with roasted potatoes and corn on the cob.  Both were delicious - like, really, honestly delicious - and the prices were very reasonable for theme-park fare.  We could easily have shared one dish.  The only thing that I found disappointing was their sticky toffee pudding, which was decidedly NOT authentic.  It had butterscotch chips and basically just tasted sweet without any richness or depth or date-flavor at all and the texture was more dry and spongy than rich and sticky.  If you want a seriously incredible sticky toffee pudding, definitely try this version that I posted on my food blog.  It's the real deal, or as close as you are probably going to get without going to the UK.

I actually don't have photos from the rest of the day but we really enjoyed the tram ride, which is more like 6 rides all in one and takes probably 45 minutes or so.  The Jurassic Park ride was also awesome, and probably our favorite ride overall.  The Mummy ride was another one that made me sick and we skipped Transformers because I could not get over the queasiness.

But since we got so much done early in the morning we had literally done everything we wanted to in the park by 1:00, so we headed home and got back to Dublin before the girls were in bed, which was great since Jessica and I were heading out early the next morning to drive to Utah for our ski trip.  It was a fantastic and fun date though, and we were so grateful to Jessica for coming out to watch the girls for us and they sure loved having the one-on-one time with her!

Braces, Grandma & Adelaide Visit, and other Randomness

 

Braces

 

On April Fool's Day, I went into an orthodontist's office for a consultation about what to do about my teeth.  You know how every so often the question is posed about the one physical thing you might change about yourself?  Well, mine would be my teeth.  I had braces for 5 years as a kid and it was brutal.  My orthodontist then was 90 (or so it seemed) and from what I remember he was trying to retire, I was his last patient, and he couldn't figure out how to completely fix my teeth.  So he finally just removed the braces, told me I didn't need a retainer, and sent me on my way. 

 

Well, as it turns out, the real issue is that I have a "severe skeletal Cass II malocclusion with a transverse deficiency problem", which basically means a terrible crossbite and overbite that has been wearing down the joint of my left jawbone and back teeth because of the "open bite trauma" (this is all coming from a letter from my new orthodontist referring me for a surgical procedure).  It is like when you go to a restaurant and get the chair with one wobbly leg that is shorter than all the others - my bite is never stable and it is causing major problems, in addition to the fact that my teeth are just plain old crooked too. 

 

When the first orthodontist explained all this to me in his office and showed me videos of how this will all have to be corrected through a surgical procedure where my jaw is broken in multiple places to then expand my palate, I started bawling.  I mean, I knew my mouth had problems but I was not expecting to be told I was going to need surgery to fix it.  I'm sure this was naïve but I was kind of hoping against hope that Invisalign would be an option for me, but it won't work to correct the probems.  I went to two other orthodontists for opinions and they all said the same thing, so as much as I hate to go through with this, I decided to move forward and get it taken care of before I get any older and this gets any worse. 

 

The upside of it all is that my medical insurance will cover the surgery, which will involve an overnight hospital stay, breaking my jaw in 5 places, plating my lower jaw in place, and possibly a chin implant - Paul said I should ask for the Jay Leno special - and having my jaw wired shut for 10 days all for the cost of my co-pay ($25) which is totally insane.  And apparently the Kaiser surgeons in Oakland who perform this surgery are the best around according to all three orthodontists I talked to.  So, hooray, I guess. 

 

So yeah, I get to be a brace face for the next to years I guess.  Hopefully not any longer, but we will see.  I got the upper bands put on while my mom was in town visiting and could watch the girls for me.  The lower braces will go on later.  My teeth are killing me already (its been 2 days), as are my lips which feel raw in places where they are rubbing too much against the metal brackets, and I feel like I look like a 12 year old again.  When they finished placing the brackets on my teeth they held up 20 different colors of rubber bands to put around each bracket and I had a flashback to when I used to choose red and green or orange and black or whatever color combo best represented the holiday of the month.  I kept it classy and stuck with clear this time though, which is my intention for the entirety of this process.

 

I jokingly posted on Instagram the day I got the braces put on that I had gone to the mall and all the preteen boys were hitting on me and asking if I was babysitting Clara and Rose since we were there with my mom.  When Paul got home that night I mentioned that I had bought a new shirt while we were at the mall and he piped up: "Where? Forever 12?".  I'm glad he's getting such entertainment out of my suffering.  Just kidding, though.  He's actually been super sympathetic and supportive through all of this and the humor helps me cope. 

Grandma Cece & Adelaide come to visit

In other news, my sister, Jennie, had her baby girls two weeks ago.  Everything went well and they are identical (as far as anyone can tell).  Clara is super excited about her new cousins, Kaitlyn and Brigitte and spent a couple of days drawing pictures of the two of them and telling me all about them. 

 

My mom took Jennie's three oldest girls to her house for a few days so Jennie and Ryan could adjust to the twins before having all five girls (with Emma being the oldest at 5) at home.  Then this past week she flew out here to visit us and brought Adelaide, who turns 2 next week, so that Jennie only had the oldest two to take care of along with the twins.  And oh my goodness did we have fun with this girl.  Rose adores Adelaide and they got along great (most of the time).  Sure there were some jealousy issues when I would hold Adelaide or when they both wanted the same toy, but for the most part Rose was in stitches all week while watching Adelaide be her hilarious self.  Rose would crow with delight when we did dance parties and Adelaide would spin around and seat drop right onto her bum.  And when we took the girls to a splash park they were both having fits of glee over the spraying water and played and played until they were shivering like crazy and we made them change out of their wet clothes into the dry ones we had brought.  Adelaide was extremely angry over this and threw a massive tantrum, but aside from a few of those she was just such a sweet girl and gave me so many snuggles this week. 

 

 

Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess) I got sick with some kind of stomach bug the first night my mom was here.  While it really put a wrench in plans to go out and do things, it was nice that my mom could help me with the girls while I tried to recuperate and hold food down.  She also made it so I could go to the orthodontist for two hours and put all three girls to bed on Wednesday night so Paul and I could make it to the temple for a date night. 

 

Go-Karts and Fondue

 

Speaking of date night, we had such a fun one a couple of weeks ago when we went to Boomer's in Livermore and rode go-karts (which I had never done before), played mini golf (we each got a hole-in-one so we are both winners but for the record I won by 2 strokes), and got chocolate fondue for dessert at a place in downtown Livermore.  We want to go back to the fondue place again and try dinner there, not just dessert.  We are so lucky to have a good babysitting-swap system set up with another couple so we can go out every other week.

Pedicures and Braids

Clara just loves having her toenails painted and the other week I actually even let her paint my toenails for me, which she thought was pretty awesome.  She even did an okay job of it and man alive was she focused on getting them just perfect.  I did both of our hair in milkmaid braids that day and she looked so darn cute. 

On most Thursdays I take the girls to Music Makers at the church.  There is usually a really good turn out of moms and toddlers there and Clara and Rose really enjoy the singing, games, storytime, and snacks.  I enjoy the chance to visit with other moms and watch the girls having fun with other kids their age. 

Kitchen Adventures

My friend Amy came over the other week and brought her pasta machine so we could try our hand at making fettucine from scratch.  It was super fun and interesting but probably more work than it was worth and I'm planning to stick to the dried pasta from the store rather than go through all the labor again.  But I sure love trying new things in the kitchen and we made plans to attempt other things that we have never tried making before like potstickers, baklava, and spring rolls.

Rosie-Posie

And last, but most certainly not least, Rose continues to be such a little sweetheart.  She has her hard days or hard times of days when she is a little fusspot and is prone to throwing tantrums when she is already cranky and doesn't get her way, but when she is happy and in a good mood she is the smiliest, sweetest, funniest little thing.  She has the best, most beatific smile and loves to tease and play.  Just this past week she has seemed to make some progress on forming some words.  She said "Adelaide" and "all done" with enough distinction that we knew what she was talking about in context even if it wasn't super clear yet.  Yesterday I'm pretty sure I heard her say "bubble" when getting into the bathtub and she seems to think a cat is called a "meow" because that is the sound she makes when we see one.  It's hard to say if any of these count as her first words because it is still more of just getting the correct number of syllables paired with the proper vowel sounds and maybe a consonant or two along with context but it is exciting to see her speech start progressing.

Rose loves berries, gummy vitamins, milk, all animals (she goes nuts over dogs and cats), her blankie (the purple one that Jennie made for her when she was born), touch-and-feel books, going for walks outside, being chased, Ring-around-the-Rosie, bathtime, and brushing her teeth.  She looks to be teething again given the state of her runny nose and drooling mouth and I am wondering if her canines are coming in next.  Rose is in size 2T and will move up to 3T by the end of the summer in all likelihood given how fast she is growing.  She is a very big girl and is the size of a 2 year old even though she is only 15 months.  She likes to climb on everything and follow her big sister around.  And we just love her to pieces.

 

First Date Night of 2014

One of my New Year's Resolutions is for us to go on dates at least twice a month.  I tried to schedule a date night swap with our friends for this past Tuesday/Wednesday but it didn't work out because they had other obligations.  But I REALLY wanted a date night, so I guess I resorted to drastic measures.

As I was chopping cilantro for the chicken flautas that I was making for dinner, I accidentally sliced into my thumb.  It all happened so fast that I didn't register the pain at first.  I have knicked myself and even sliced a little bit here and there over the years, but this... well, I pretty much went about 3/4 of the way through my thumb a little less than an inch from the tip.  It was gruesome.

Clara was watching "The Little Mermaid" and I didn't scream or cry out or anything.  I just quickly doused it under cold water to rinse off the first welling of blood, then realized just the extent of what I had done and grabbed a clean white dish towel from the drawer and laid down on the kitchen floor trying to draw deep breaths and keep it together so I wouldn't pass out.  Because I have totally passed out from blood, needles, and pain in the past.  I don't swoon or anything - it isn't romantic by any stretch of the imagination.  I am more of the eyes-roll-back-in-the-head-and-I-topple variety of fainter.  It's kind of one of those embarrassing things about myself that I don't usually share.

Thank goodness for cell phones because I had mine on the kitchen floor there with me and I called Paul while I lay there feeling beads of sweat form and drip from my forehead and down my neck (part of the whole passing out thing for me) and clutching my cloth-covered hand like the little chunk of semi-detached thumb on the top was going to drop off, hoping he was already on his way home from work.  When he answered I sort of stammered out what I had done but must not have been very coherent because he asked me to elaborate at which point I lost my temper and sort of bellowed at him to stop asking me questions and just come home.  Then I called my friend Christine who lives around and the corner (and with whom we normally do our date night swap), praying she would answer.  She did and she rushed over with her two kids in tow and loaded Clara into her car then gathered my wallet, purse, and shoes for me since I pretty much just stayed put on the kitchen floor pretending I was somewhere else and that I hadn't just done what I had just done. 

Christine made me feel better by telling me on the drive to the hospital that she had gone to the emergency room just a month before because of a bad splinter.  This was my first trip to an ER, ever, and I was pretty anxious, but I told her to just drop me off at the entrance and then take the kids home because nobody had had dinner and Clara had a bad cold and besides, I didn't want anybody there with me anyway.  And I knew it wasn't the most convenient timing for her anyway since her husband had things going on that night with work and church responsibilities that had made it so date night was a no-go for the week. 

Sure enough, as soon as I walked up to the intake desk and had to remove my dishtowel from my thumb to show them what I had done, I lost it and started wailing.  It was SO embarrassing and I am so glad Clara didn't get to see it or she would have been traumatized for sure.  I don't know if it really looked terrible (I couldn't bring myself to look at it) or if I was just freaking out the other people in the waiting room because they took me right back and checked me in without having me sign anything.  Very impressive service with zero wait time.  Way to go Kaiser Permanente Hospital.  The guy who helped me (I don't know if he was a nurse or a doctor or what) tried to put the dishtowel back over my thumb for me and I snapped and sobbed at him "DON'T TOUCH IT!!!" like some sort of hideous swamp creature.  He actually laughed. 

I would like to point out that I am THE WORST patient in the entire world.

Anyway, after that I shut my eyes tight and didn't open them again until an hour later when everything was over.  They told me that they were going to have to clean out the wound and I went ballistic when they sprayed a tiny bit of saline solution in it.  So then somebody (not sure who was really involved at this point because eyes were closed - there was a girl and a guy and at least the girl was a doctor for sure, maybe the guy too) had the brilliant idea to go ahead and numb my thumb BEFORE cleaning it since they were going to have to numb it later anyway for stitches or whatever.  I don't know why numbing or knocking somebody out isn't the first thing on ER protocol because it only makes sense to me. 

I knew that numbing my thumb would require a painful shot and I was full-on hyperventilating and full-body shaking when they came in to do it.  Fortunately, the shot went into the fleshy mound of my palm at the base of my thumb rather than into the thumb pad itself (which I had been worrying about).  I was told it would take 15 minutes for my thumb to lose all sensation, which turned out to be pretty accurate because they went back to work on it around 7 1/2 minutes (they told me how long it had been) and I started sobbing uncontrollably all over again (versus the pathetic keening I had settled into) because I could still feel them lifting open the wound to squirt saline solution into it.  They decided it would be better to wait the full 15 minutes before working on it any more. 

Paul showed up after I had been there for about half an hour and came in and tried to stroke my hair.  I kept my eyes closed but barked at him not to touch me (seriously, I mentioned I am the worst patient ever, right?).  He chuckled and stood off to the side while everything was finished up and at one point I thought to mention that he should take some pictures on his camera.  Because of course I would need photos.  He laughed and said that he was already doing it and I just hadn't noticed because my eyes were screwed shut still. 

The doctor(s) decided that the wound could be closed with superglue stitches or whatever that stuff is so that they didn't have to use traditional stitches which I would have to go back for to have removed.  So once everything was irrigated they sealed it up and Paul and I had about 20 or 30 minutes to just sit there while the glue dried and chat.  Paul texted Christine to let her know the update and she said that Clara was eating dinner and Johannes didn't end up having to go to the meeting that had originally made date night impossible so we should take our time and stop and get ice cream on the way home or something.  So when everything was finished we stopped by In-N-Out for burgers and fries (I was craving salt like crazy - is that a symptom of shock or something?). 

All in all, we had dinner, conversation, time alone with each other, and sort of an activity/entertainment.  We laughed, we cried, we went home.  So I guess the first date night of 2014 was a success.