It's Vacation time in Hollywood, California!

Because of the pandemic, we were long overdue for a family vacation. We went back and forth about where to go and finally decided to go to Universal Studios because we have some Harry Potter obsessed kids in our family and Lego Land because we have some Lego obsessed kids as well. We almost had to cancel our trip because a few of our kids got sick, and we didn't know if it was covid. Luckily it was just a cold, but it went through all of us. Tyler was the last to get sick, but he said he could power through. 

So on a road trip we went. We had our snacks, our music, and our pillows. We had a 6 hour drive to Las Vegas. 

Selfies in the car

If this picture gives you an indication of how our drive was going. Caden is not throwing up, he was just bored. Brynnli was mad because we were listening to music she didn't like, so she covered her face. 

We finally made it to our hotel in Vegas. I chuckled as we walked in because it looked like Daddy duck leading all of his little ducklings along. 

We explored the hotel and casino and got free donuts. Our hotel was so fun because it had a bowling alley, movie theater, and arcade. 

Then we went to see The Adams Family 2 movie. 

After a good night's sleep, we headed out for our second day of driving. We were so excited to finally make it to Hollywood, California. 

We went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The kids had fun looking for celebrity names they recognized. They found Donald Trump. 

And Bob Thomas. Not to be confused with Grandpa Thomas. 

We had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe

They were having a movie premier for The Eternals with the blue carpet and lots of celebrities. We tried to see if we could see anyone famous, but it was too hard to tell. We later heard that Anglelina Jolie was there. 

The kids found the hand and foot marks of the main characters of Harry Potter. They thought that was pretty cool. 

If found George Clooney's hand and foot marks. I used to have a huge crush on George Clooney. I guess this is as close as I'll get to holding his hand. 

Makayla was so excited when she found Daniel Ratcliff's star. He plays Harry Potter in all the movies. 

Then we drove to Santa Monica Beach. We got there right as the sun was setting. 

His name is Forest, Forest Gump. 

Churros, seaside

The kids were begging to go to the ocean, but it was getting late. Luckily we found a spot and our kids spent forever playing in the sand and water. 

I love this picture. Brynnli was scared to go by the water, so Makayla took her by the hand and stayed by her side until she wasn't scared anymore. 

The next day we were off to Universal Studios. We had about a 15 minute walk to get there, which was mostly uphill, and poor Tyler had to push the stroller the whole way. To get to Universal Studios, you have to walk through the shops area. They had some fun photo ops along the way. 

Is it really a trip to Universal Studios if you don't get a picture in front of the globe?

They even pulled out the red carpet for us. We must be celebrities. 

Our first stop was Harry Potter Land... I mean really, would we go anywhere else first? Our kids were in heaven. We walked down Diagon Alley and got to see all the shops and restaurants that are right out of the book. 

The kids first ride was the Harry Potter ride. You get to walk through the castle and see all sorts of things from the movie. Makayla and Caden told us all about the things from the movie. Unfortunately Brynnli was too little to go on the ride, so we did a rider switch pass. The kids loved the ride and that they could go twice in a row. Did Tyler and I love the ride? No. Both of us had to close our eyes the whole time and we walked off the ride feeling like we could throw up. I guess you could say we are getting old. The kids wanted to go again and again. Luckily they were able to go by themselves. Tyler and I took turns taking Brynnli on the Hippogrif roller coaster. 

Our next stop was Ollivanders, Makers of Fine Wands. We waited in line for about an hour, but when we got inside it was worth the wait. If you don't know about wands in Harry Potter, the wands choose the Wizard, not the other way. Makayla was chosen to demonstrate how the wand chooses the wizard. She tried out a few wands by trying different spells, but none of them worked until this one special wand. It was so fun to see the look on Makayla's face as she got to experience this. 

All of the kids got to pick out their wand (to the hefty tune of $60 each). Then they walked around Harry Potter land doing different spells at the different shops. 

We had lunch at Three Broomsticks. 

Of course we had to try Butter Beer! It was so yummy. I could have this all day long. 

After Harry Potter Land we spent some time going on other rides around the park. One of our favorites was the Secret Life of Pets ride. 

Those silly Minions are always creating messes. 

Some say Tyler looks like Shrek. Maybe it's the bald head?

We met Guy Diamond from the movie Trolls. 

And Beetlejuice. Caden was a little scared of him. Probably because he has never heard of Beetlejuice. I better be careful not to write Beetlejuice one more time or you know what will happen...oops. 

Our favorite ride was probably the Jurassic Park ride. We went on it all together and got a little bit wet. The lines at Universal were not bad at all. In fact, we walked right on to the ride and were the only ones on the ride. 

Smithfield aka Simpson's Land was very entertaining for the kids, even though they have never seen any Simpson's shows and had no idea who Bart or Homer were. 

To end our first day at Universal, we spent some more time in Harry Potter Land and took a lot of pictures. 

Day 2 was just as much fun as day 1. We hit all our favorite rides multiple times.

Access Hollywood was filming and we got to see Mario Lopez. Who doesn't love A.C. Slater? Our kids had no idea who he was, and Tyler and I felt very old. 

Hug Time with Poppy!

Makayla and I loved our Butter Beer. 

We went to the Animal Actors show and Caden was chosen to come up on stage. He got to be an actor and work with the different animals in the show. 

One funny memory I have to share happened at dinner. The kids were hungry, but in true Evans Kids fashion, not all 3 kids could decide on a place to eat. We didn't want to go to three different places, so Tyler and I made the executive decision to get pizza. It would have been $50 dollars for each person to get a slice of pizza, or we could buy a whole pizza for $60. Let that sink in for a minute. We bought a cheese pizza for $60. So Makayla was unhappy because she doesn't like pizza, Caden was whining because it didn't taste like normal pizza, and Brynnli was happy because she likes pizza. Tyler and I were so frustrated because we spent so much money on a pizza that our kids wouldn't eat, so we pretty much ate the whole thing and were sick the rest of the night. Oh the adventures of an amusement park. 

We hit all of our favorite rides one more time. We went on the Jurassic Park ride again and Makayla convinced us to sit in the front and Tyler and I got soaked! None of the kids got wet... just me an Tyler, and Makayla thought it was so funny. 

We ended our Universal vacation with the kids choosing their souvenir at the gift shop and then started our 2 hour drive to Carlsbad, California. We waved goodbye to the Hollywood sign on our way out of town.  

What should have been a 2 hour drive to Carlsbad turned into a 4 hour drive because of traffic. If you need a reason not to move to California (do you really need just one reason?) traffic would have to be at the top of the list. 

We finally made it to Carlsbad and were so excited to spend the next two days at LegoLand!