The One Where we All Went on a Cruise

For Spring Break this year we decided to book a cruise to Ensenada and Catalina Island. 

Although it can sometimes be a pain, we decided to drive to California where our ship would depart. It is so much cheaper to drive than to fly 5 people. So here we are at 4:36 am ready to leave on our adventure. 

The kids did great and slept until about 7:30. We have done this so many times our kids are pros at sleeping in the car and then entertaining themselves for our long 9 hour drive. 

We made it to California, ate some dinner at a cute little pizza place, then headed to Manhattan Beach to explore. 

You would think being in California the weather would be nice, but the weather is so weird this year and it was surprisingly cold. The kids still had fun playing in the water

Check out Makayla's amazing trick. It looks like she is flying upside down as she is doing her aerial. 

I have passed down my love of writing in the sand to my kids. Caden was here. 

We got some dessert at a cute little shop, watched the sunset, then headed back to our hotel. 

The next morning we were up and ready for a fun day. 

We booked tickets for the Warner Brothers back lot tour where you get to see where a whole bunch of tv and movies are filmed. 

The kids found some cool Harry Potter stuff

The tour took us around to where they film different shows. It was crazy to see because it looks like real buildings, but its just the front. You can't actually go into the buildings. 

There are some buildings that you can walk into where they would film an inside scene. Everything was smaller than a normal size kitchen and stairs in the house didn't lead to other areas of the house.

One of my favorite shows when I was a teenager was Friends. I think I have seen every episode and even still quote one liners from the show. The show was set in New York, but they filmed in L.A at the Warner Brothers studio. In the show the characters would always meet for coffee at a place called Central Perk. I was so excited to see the set they used for the show. 

When you would watch the show, the coffee shop seemed big, but when we were on the set, it was so small. This is the set and couch where all the actors sat. We felt so famous. 

We even got to go see the famous opening credits where they dance in front of the fountain. A lot of people think this fountain is in New York, but it is actually just on the lot in L.A. Seeing all this stuff was so cool.

Caden found Michael Jordan's uniform from the movie Space Jam. 

This is the set from the show Big Bang Theory, which is a popular show that was on tv just a few years ago. 

Then we got to walk around and learn about how they can make things appear different for t.v. and movies. Take this for example, in one of the kids' favorite movies, Harry Potter, there is a giant. In order to make the character look big, they use different angles with the camera. Tyler is sitting closer and I am sitting far away. It makes it look like Tyler is giant. 

Tyler and I loved the show Game of Thrones. They had so  many cool things from the show like clothing the characters wore. 

The kids' favorite part was the Harry Potter stuff. This is from the movie where Harry Potter's room is in a small room under the stairs. 

One of the workers showed us how you can manipulate the camera to make it look like the letters are flying all around. This is a part from the movie too. I think our kids would be great actors in the Harry Potter films. 

We all got to sit at the sorting hat and find out what house we belonged to. Caden is in the Slytherin house. 

The kids look like we stuffed them into a suitcase. 

At the end of our tour we could look at the actual Golden Globe Awards. 

Tyler and I would like to thank the academy...

The award was actually a lot heavier than I thought. 

After our tour we got lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (remind me not to go here again. The service is not great, the food is overpriced, and it takes forever). 

Then we walked along the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

We ended our night with swimming and McDonalds ice cream. 

We were so excited for the next part of our fun vacation... Our cruise!!!