tales from a far-land

On Friday, October 8th, a week after Josh and I were in California visiting Santa Ynez Valley, we drove back out to Calabasas to spend Shabbat with the Vorobiofs, Dione and Selma.  Plus, it was a fun way to kick off the kids' fall break.  The kids really enjoyed seeing and playing with the cousins.  The boys played a ton of Fortnite together and the girls kibitzed in the hot tub.  On Sunday, before we headed out of town, we enjoyed a family barbecue.  I am so glad that we decided to do a turnaround trip to California to see Dione while she was in the States. On Sunday night, we drove to Valencia to stay at a hotel near Six Flag Magic Mountain.  The kids had been wanting to go to a "real" roller-coaster park.  Well, this was certainly the place to visit.  We arrived at the park as soon as it opened and decided to try the fastest and most thrilling of all of the rides first -- X2.  X2 is a ride that had 360-degree rotating seats, you are positi...

We started our Thanksgiving Day celebration at IHOP for breakfast.  Or if you are Josh and Paige, they started their morning with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy.  While in the restaurant, the rain really started pouring.  But, we were on a mission.  So, we put on our ponchos and headed out to California Adventures.  Sadly, the day didn't ever really clear up and most of the fun roller coaster rides like Incredicoaster, Radiator Springs Racers, and Goofy's Sky School were closed for a majority or all of the day.  There was a brief moment right after lunch when the rain stopped for an hour and we were able to at least ride the Incredicoaster, but then it started up again and the ride closed again.  This meant that we visited the inside attractions (like Soaring, Little Mermaid, Guardians of the Galaxy, Toy Story, Animation Academy, etc.) a ton.  The Raetz clan left us after lunch as Mae had bruised herself pretty good when she fell gett...

During fall break, we surprised the kids with a visit to Universal Studios.  As a family, we have been reading the Harry Potter book series and the kids have been becoming huge fans.  So, what could be better than a trip to visit "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" at Universal Studios.    We arrived at Universal Studios Monday late afternoon after surviving Los Angeles traffic.  A road trip that should have taken less than two hours took us almost four.  Ridiculous!  But, once we arrived, we had the opportunity to peruse CityWalk and check into our hotel.  My society sister, Toni, joined us for dinner at Karl Stauss Brewing Company.  She happen to be in town on business.  It was a pleasant coincidence and gave us some much needed time to catch-up with each other.  While we dined, the kids enjoyed running through the water fountain below the restaurant.  I am not sure they quite understood how wet and chilly they would be...