The good & the bad ...

The good news today - the rain stopped! It was wet when we woke up but by 10am the rain had stopped and the blue sky peeked through. The bad news - we decided to head to Universal Studios today.

The day started out a little late, as everyone was still sleeping at 8am. But we headed to IHOP for a free short stack of pancakes (it was National Pancake Day! LOL).

After breakfast we hopped in the van for the 45 minute drive to Universal Studios. Halfway there Chase starts complaining that he has a headache. I give him some Advil and eventually that goes away. But about 20 minutes before we get to Universal, Tristan is complaining that his stomach hurts and he thinks he is going to puke. Great. We are NOT prepared for that. But we manage to find a grocery bag in time to catch most of it. He did manage to get it on his shirt though, making this day 2 that he goes through a park with just a jacket and no shirt. He did feel better after puking, but I wasn't thrilled with holding a bag of puke for the 15 minutes we had until we got to the park. ICK!!! But we arrrived at Universal Studios safe and sound and everyone eventually felt better.

But here's where the bad begins. Now call me spoiled, but after you've experienced the magic of Disney you just can't accept anything less. And that's exactly what Universal Studios was. The rides were boring, the workers weren't helpful or kind and they had people trying to get you to do surveys and sign up for credit cards in the park. Sheesh. It was an absolute disappointment.

There was some good news though - the park was dead (probably for the lack of magic mentioned above!) and the kids got to see quite a few characters.

The redeeming factor for today is that we got back early and Brian and I snuck away for some much appreciated quiet time. We went to Downtown Disney and perused the stores, just enjoying some alone time together. Brian found a nice Disneyland jacket and a Grumpy shirt, which were his first purchases for himself this trip. We bought the Stitch version of the board game "Trouble", since the boys adore Stitch. And we searched around for a gift for Brian's mom's birthday, which is Thursday. (I think the kids are going to make her a build-a-bear with a "Happy Birthday" sound in it).

Now we are all just looking forward to getting back to the magic tomorrow when we visit Disneyland again.

I leave you now with photos from Universal ... Brian and I as Fred and Wilma (we couldn't resist!) and the family in front of the Universal Studios globe. Remember, you can click on the photo to see them larger.