she kisses my booboos, she braids my hair. we love you mothers everywhere.

with the annual passes we got for universal studios this summer, we discovered a fun perk:  a free guest pass during our birthday months.  i discovered it first last month, but because of the craziness of our schedules never got to take advantage of it.  but when the bean's freebie came through, she was in luck:  grandma's in town.  and it just so happened that she was out of school last friday for a teacher inservice day.  how very convenient!

she and her sister strolled down the red carpet towards the entrance:

while i hung back for just a second to take a peek at that day's extra filming schedule to see if there was anyone worth checking out.

the harry potter land is well underway.  lots of construction going on.

our first stop: a visit with our favorite yellow friends.

although it wasn't too terribly busy in the park that morning, we did notice hordes and hordes of asian tourists.  that's not racist at all - there were literally hundreds of them swarming around us almost every second.  and it was really fun to watch their excitement at the end of the despicable me ride, where the dance party with the minions happens.

of course, the bean got her groove on too.

she was excited to show grandma "super silly fun land."

and okay, i love me some minions too.  plus, i love how my silly jump from paper tote just really goes with the whole theme park.

on our way to other attractions, the teen shielded her little sister from the scary sights of the "halloween horror nights" setup.

we got to see other fun characters, too.

we hadn't been able to talk her into doing the simpsons ride the last time, but today we were successful.  it's fun and bright and colorful, and she grudgingly admitted that she liked it (despite the look on her face in the ride photo).

the kwik-e-mart offered some silly simpsons souvenirs.  like, don't you want a donut bigger than your head?  or to slide your feet into homer's mouth?

but the girls did scoop up a couple of fun things to take home.

super fun time all around.  and with only two visits plus a free guest pass, the annual pass has already paid for itself.  yay!