one last visit for movie magic

our passes for universal studios don't actually expire until early august.  but we took a closer look at the blackout dates for 2017, which included random days in june, the entire month of july and the first two weeks or so of august.  d-oh!  and so we decided to the park for one last visit.  the van eaton gallery (where we checked out all that fun disneyland memorabilia) just happened to be a couple of miles past universal, which was perfect for our afternoon of fun.

because it was about a zillion and seven degrees that day, i'd made sure to pack a towel and extra clothes for the bean.  there's a super fun water play area next to the "despicable me" ride, and i knew she'd want to head over there one last time.

okay, maybe i wanted to cool off a little too.

afterwards, we did a little reminiscing about our european vacation.  it's hard to believe it's already been four years.

and then it was time for a snack.  ice cream from the simpsons area seemed like a good pick.

because it was so late in the day, the lines for rides weren't terribly long.  the minions ride had a 30 minute wait time posted, but we were on it in about 10.

it's not a trip to universal without getting on the tram for the backlot tour.  doesn't matter how many times we've done it...it never gets old.  and it's fun at night, when all the lights are on.

the simpsons ride had an equally short line.

the harry potter area was super crowded with folks waiting to watch that light show we'd been so unimpressed by.

by then we'd pretty much done everything we really wanted to, so we headed outta there.  on the way home we stopped at a wienerschnitzel to grab some hot dogs.  i'm pretty sure this is the only one we've ever been to where they have beer on tap.

we typically alternate years at universal, so we probably won't return until next year.  they're one of those parks that does a "buy a day, get the year free" deal, so it's actually a really good deal.  and it seems like things change every other year anyway, so hopefully by next summer there will be something new for us to check out.

until then, we'll go back to all disney all the time.  yaaaaaaaayyyyy!

what the hell is a "rat rod"??

the first annual lordsburg cigar co. "cars & cigars" show has finally come and gone.

the poor hub has been working his ass off over the last few months on planning this thing - website, car registrations, marketing, vendor booths, permit applications.  the biggest obstacle that he had to overcome was making a beer garden happen, and after some seriously 11th-hour maneuvering between him, his partner, the city, and the department of beverage control (haha, that sounds hilarious to me), they finally got the ok to serve beer in a tent behind the shop.

because of the nature of the business, the girls and i don't typically have much of a role at the shop.  i mean, we don't particularly want to hang out in a shop with stinky cigar-smoking dudes.  but since the car show was outside, the hub enlisted us to come hang out at the lordsburg tent and sell bottles of water and t-shirts.  sounded like fun, and the bean was excited to go make some money.

car show selfie!

except that the teen ended up having to work.  and then as we got settled in the tent, the hub and i realized something that should have been painfully obvious...at a cigar shop-sponsored event, there's gonna be lots of cigar smoke.  i mean, duh.  how did we not even think of that?  good lord.  the hub has been crazy busy, but i...have no excuses.  oy vey.  and you can see how happy she was to be there.  heh.

okay, she was just being silly for the camera - she actually wanted to stay and hang out and see all the action.  but it just didn't work, because we didn't want our presence to keep the guys from being able to enjoy their cigars, nor did we want to breathe in the yuck.  and so we just took a stroll around to see the cars that had arrived for the show:

checked out the trophies for the awards to be handed out later:

and then we got the hell outta dodge.  it was one of those horrifically hot july days, so where did we go?

the hub didn't get home till way after we'd gone to bed.  poor guy was completely exhausted.

will there be a second annual "cars & cigars" show?  guess we'll have to see.

feelin' hot, hot, hot

whatever happened to buster poindexter, anyway?  heh.

the heat is most definitely on (why am i stuck on bad 80s songs today?).  summer always seems to hit us hard right around now - from mid-july through september, it's pretty much like the ninth circle of hell around here.  the craziest part is that the difference between here and, say, my folks' house down at the beach can be up to 30 degrees.  blech.

we're also getting to the tail end of summer school for the bean.  today's actually her last day of class, and then she has a few weeks before she starts the first grade (!!!).  and with a free morning, we decided to pack it up and head down to disneyland to ride a couple of rides and play in the splash pads at bug's land.

it was crazy hot down in anaheim.  when we arrived at 10am, it was already 85 degrees.  but still...we were at disneyland, and you can't be mad at disneyland.

when it's just me and the bean, we usually do all the stuff that the teen doesn't love (and vice-versa, when it's a trip sans bean).  and so after grabbing a fastpass for soarin' over california, one of our favorite rides, we headed to the pier to stand in line for toy story mania.  i actually really dig this ride, and so does everyone else - the line is usually a minimum of 45 minutes long.  the bean somehow possesses a ton of patience for standing in line when it's something she enjoys, and so we settled in for the long haul.  happily for us, the posted time of 30 minutes (already a gift in itself) was exaggerated as we got through the line and onto the ride in just over 20.  pretty sweet.

another way to stay cool at california adventure is to hop onto the little mermaid ride.  it's typically a pretty short wait, and today was no different.  we basically walked right onto it, and the air conditioning is magical.  magical, i tell you.

by then, it was time to head back to soarin' and sashay through the fastpass line.  i love when the printed time on fastpass tickets comes sooner than the wait in the standby line.  and when you're trying to avoid spending as much time outside as possible, this works wonderfully because the fastpass line gains you entrance to the building, for more of that magical air conditioning.  woohoo!

i'd promised her that she could visit the newly reopened redwood creek adventure trail, where she loves to take a ride on the tire swings.  except that they were closed, so she settled for a turn on the rock wall.

we were both sweating our faces off at that point, and it was starting to make me pretty stinking miserable.  perfect time to hit up bug's land and cool off.

talk about turning that frown upside-down.  and i had a great time sitting on a bench in the shade, catching some of the sprinkler overspray now and then, watching the bean and other bathing suit-clad kids squeal as they got soaked to the skin.

we stopped in at the animation academy to do a quick drawing (olaf from frozen, yay!), grabbed a turkey leg to go, and headed outta there.  and later, this is what we shared for dinner.

pretty sweet for a 104 degree day, huh?

hotter than a witch's...

it's been butt ass hot 'round these parts for the last couple of weeks.  ugh.  i'm seriously scared of what our electricity bill is gonna look like this month - but not quite enough to shut the a/c off.  it's just too damn uncomfortable, and it makes for some rough naptimes when it's too warm inside the house.

but sucky weather doesn't hold us down.  oh, no.  we've got to keep on movin'.  it would blow to stay home all the time, and so we've been trying to keep our outings centered around finding cooler places to hang out.  in southern california, this usually means the beach.

splash pads are a good choice too.  and there's a pretty good one in an outdoor mall not too far from home - never mind that the temperatures there are usually even higher than at home, but at least this way we can shop and cool off at the same time.

and when our good friend amber, who has a pool in her backyard, invited us over for a playdate, we jumped at the chance.

of course, the happiest place on earth has provided some relief too.  it's a little cooler down in anaheim, but not by much.  and at california adventure, there are actually two splash pads available for chillin'.  this one is in the "bug's land" area.

the other one is near the pier, by the little mermaid ride.  except that on this particular day, there was a woman there with what looked to be her grandson, stripped down to his diaper.  not a swim diaper, and so it was puffed up like a balloon - and as i watched her in horror, she pulled it off and tossed it across the ground past us and a few other folks.  um, gross.  what is wrong with people?  so we settled for kicking back under an umbrella and enjoying the breeze.

this heat wave needs to end, stat.  i'm running out of ideas for outings.  ugh.