Friday, July 7th:
We planned this as a complete surprise for Alex. Knowing he's leaving for boot camp next month, we wanted to spend some time with him and make some memories. (All his sibling were invited but had work so it was just James, Rylee, Alex and I.)
We woke him up at 4:45 am telling him he needed to hurry and get up, as Poole parents we were asked to do this if we could, that he needs to get dressed! He could see his bag on the floor and it still had it's duct tape label on it from his last Poole function - so he really thought he was doing something with the Marines.
He wasn't thrilled (as he'd just gone to bed at 1 am after playing video games) and refused to leave until we tell him where he's going. He's bigger than me - so there was no getting around that! "We're going on vacation! We were told as Poole parents to spend time and make memories with our Poole!" He was relieved but still on the fence - I had contacted his girlfriend and had her make "fake plans" for the weekend with him, and he really did have a Poole activity on Saturday he was suppose to attend. I explained that his boss at Camp U knew, his recruiter AND his girlfriend knew, they were all in on it! After that he was fine about going!
We flew into LAX - picked up our rental car.
And then off to Universal Studios!
It was HOT - super hot - the first ride was 1.5 hours wait. While waiting...
Frosty Butter Beers!
It was so hot we decided to leave and go check into our hotel...
Then we went down the street to a Thai food restaurant that was really good!
And back to Universal for the night - so much nicer at night - wish it was open until midnight - got video of Alex running stairs - getting his workout in - here's a picture I snapped from it (we were riding the escalator - he was THE ONLY ONE not only on the stairs but RUNNING!)
Not a lot of pictures that night. But we made a video for Harper with these minions and I snapped these two:
Saturday - the next day:
Took my own selfie - proof I was there!
And bought fruit from a vendor wandering the beach:
Rylee posing on the beach:
That night we wanted to find GOOD seafood and we found The Crabby Crab Shack!
The handed out bibs and gloves....
Probably the highlight of our trip? We told Alex we'd find another seafood place after he graduates from bootcamp while we're near the coast!
The next day - back to Universal!
This is James and Ry walking ahead in our hotel after breakfast:
We ran into my good friend, Lee! He played Captain Hook/Mr Darling to my Mrs Darling/Jukes the pirate twice. He's now working for Universal and hooked us up with some front of the line passes!
It wasn't much cooler but we were better prepared with lighter clothes, sunscreen, water, visors, and snacks!
We shut the park down - staying for the lights at Hogwarts.
Slept in the next morning.
Ate our complementary breakfast, drove back to LA, ate at a not so great Italian place, returned our rental car and caught our flight home - we had a connection in San Francisco so the flights home was a lot longer than the flight there.
It was a great trip and I really hope on Alex's hardest days in the next four years he thinks back to this time we kidnapped him for a vacation....
