Personal | Sibling Vacation | Los Angeles

Disclaimer: most of these photos are of my sister’s awesome, derpy cat, Gambit, because he is hilarious and adorable. Also, some iPhone photos are included in this post.

To the best of our knowledge, the last time my siblings, Rebekah and Daniel, and I were together for Daniel’s birthday was in 2008. When he turned 14. After that year, I left for college…then Bekah left for college…then Daniel went to college. Josh and I moved 1,000 miles away to Colorado in 2012. Bekah moved to L.A. in 2014. Then Daniel moved to Colorado in 2016. Bekah and I have each been with him on different birthdays over the last decade, but this was the first time, in far too long, that we were all together to celebrate him!

To celebrate, Josh, Daniel, and I flew to L.A. for an extended weekend at Rebekah and Joe’s and went to Universal Studios Hollywood on Daniel’s birthday. You’ll only find one picture of us together from that day in this blog post because other than stopping to take that picture, we just wanted to stay immersed in the day and enjoy our time together.

And we definitely did!

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a theme park with Rebekah and I almost forgot how intense the experience can be for her. She used to never want to go on the big rides when we would visit Six Flags and Cedar Point back in the midwest as kids. When we were in line for The Mummy (an indoor, in-the-dark, high speed roller coaster), she was doing her best to not psych herself out. When it was finally our turn,* she did get on. However, as soon the ride stopped she said, “Not doing that again!” (We did get her to go again later that afternoon).

Daniel is even more introverted and quiet than I am, so it was fun to hear him yelling and whooping and laughing on the rides all day. Happy 24th year of a life, little brother. I know much of it will be spent studying for your CPA exam, but other than that, I hope it’s only full of good things!

*When we finally got to the front of the line for The Mummy, the car in front of us didn’t empty so that we could get on. Instead, 5 people, who were clearly having a blast, all shuffled to new seats and got to go again. I was super confused and just looked over at the ride operators as if to say, “What the heck? Can we do that, too?” Josh often points out how unobservant I can be out in public (I blame my introversion), and was quick to point out that I didn’t notice it was John Boyega (aka Finn from Star Wars). And not only did I miss seeing him right in front of my face on the ride, but I also missed him just outside the ride as we were exiting. I’m just going to blame it on having so much fun with my family, I had no time to notice celebrities receiving special attention and treatment.

Love me some Joshua! Also, yes, I am on my tiptoes. There is a 1 foot difference in our heights!Beats being at work on Friday afternoon, that’s for sure.

My favorites!

Oh, hello, Mr. Sea Lion!
Two of Gambit’s favorite things: his tunnel and playing in the bathroom. #weirdo

Such a majestic little beast. Don’t let his gentle demeanor here fool you.

“Mom has a poof!”

“Mom….gimme that poof.”                                                                            “Thanks!”Kitty yawns. #adorable

Also, #hysterical!“Erm…what just happened? Nothing to see here”
“Oh…is that food? For me?!”“Gimme!”