Anniversary Present

Friday the 21st was our wedding anniversary,

 

 and as we’ve done for the past 6 or 7 years,

the grandgirls got the present

and were allowed to play hookey from school for a day.

 

We asked them where they wanted to go and - shocker! - they both chose Universal Studios over Disneyland**. (!!) 

Our first stop of the day was the Hogwarts ride -

silly us thought the line would be shorter first thing in the morning.

Wrong! This was our second longest line of the day, at slightly more than an hour. We came back just before the park closed at 6 and waited less than 15 minutes*. Yay!!

 
Next up was lunch, the Minions ride,

crazy critters ride - 

I can never remember the name of this one

 
but both girls love it -

 

and then one of both girls’ top 3 favorite attractions - 

 

the water park.

 
(I loved it too -

 
45 happy minutes of sitting in the shade, watching excited girls play).

Leia loves the tram ride - Leanne likes everything on it but the 3D dinosaur fight - so we headed there . . .

The “I’m so bored in this line” selfies.

annnnnnnd straight into the longest line of our day. Their “30 minute” wait - according to their app and ride signage - turned into almost 90 hot, miserable minutes of shuffle-forward-turn-another-corner. We had less than 10 minutes left in line when they finally turned on the mist cooling system. Um, thanks guys?

Notice Leanne’s white-knuckle grip on Pop’s arm 

At least it gave the girls time to dry off

and we really, really enjoyed sitting down once we reached the tram.

 
We finished up with “can I have a present, pleeeeeeeeeeeeese, Grandma” shopping. 

Leia got a giant cupcake (shhhh, don’t tell her parents); both girls got a chocolate wand;

and Leanne found Purplebud, her newest stuffie, which included a sweet adoption ceremony at check-out.

All in all, a very good day. Happy Anniversary to us and see you again soon, Universal!

* The Hogwarts ride broke down while we were on it the first time, leaving us suspended sideways in our seats, and scaring Leanne to tears. So proud of her facing down her fear and deciding she’d go on the ride again before we left. And she enjoyed it! Hooray!!

** Dear Disneyland, please bring back the Elsa and Anna Boutique in Downtown Disney. My girls **love** it and its loss was the deciding factor in their picking Universal Studios over Disneyland.