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It’s time to share part 3 of our Cousin Connect adventure! We switched up our original plans and ended up going to Disneyland on Thursday and Friday instead of Friday and Saturday. Universal Studios was still closed due to high winds and the threat of fires. My brilliant and fast-thinking cousins figured that if we moved our Disneyland plans up a day and left Saturday free, we might just have a chance of going to Universal Studios if it reopened. We were hoping really hard that we wouldn’t miss out! Spoiler alert—Universal reopened on Friday, so we made it there on Saturday (phew!) Disneyland Day One Oh, my goodness, words cannot describe how excited I was—how excited we all were! We were running purely on adrenaline after staying up late the night before, making a last-minute plan. So, what does one do when they’re living a wish come true? They take random pictures! Here’s my first pic of the day, taken the minute I got out of the Uber. And, of course, a Disneyland garbage bin because it says DISNEYLAND!!! I promise the photos do get better, and just to prove it, I’ve posted about a million. Sorry, not sorry. 😜 Every time I read these words, I choke up! Isn’t it just the most beautiful message? I couldn’t hold back the tears the minute I walked under the sign. And to make the moment even more perfect, Minnie was waiting to greet me! Ok, I’ll be honest—I was so excited that I didn’t notice the small queue of waiting kids. All I saw was Minnie, and I ran straight to hug her. Sorry, kids!! My cousins haven’t let me live this down yet! Hahaha—oops!! They’ve even come up with a new saying: “Ruthie Minnied Minnie!” And now, if someone pushes past, we say they’ve “Minnied past.” First stop: Galaxy’s Edge—no questions asked!! Watching the pre-show for the ride Rise of the Resistance! This is a very unflattering photo, but I think it does capture the “I can’t believe this is happening” moment. The ride was an unbelievable experience, and we all felt like we were right there in a Star Wars movie, fighting for the resistance. Words can’t even begin to describe! Hello friend! We were on such a high after visiting Galaxy’s Edge—being a family of Star Wars fans, it was an absolute dream come true! I’m still pinching myself! Next ride-Pirates of the Caribbean! Waiting for the Cars ride at Disney California Adventure Park I can’t quite remember the exact order of the rides we went on, but I’m pretty sure our next one was Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! It’s no secret that I’m a scaredy-cat, BUT I had promised myself I was going to conquer all of my fears on this trip. I’m not sure if I’ve conquered them all (the list is pretty long), but I definitely crossed off a huge chunk! And I didn’t chicken out of any rides or activities I’ve been too scared of in the past—go me! I knew that the Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! ride was a fast, free-falling (gulp) ride. So I was prepared—scared but prepared. That’s the best way to be, no? What I didn’t know was that they were going to play the awesome 80s music from the movie during the ride. Heck, if you’re going to play my kind of music, throw me down a building anytime! I’m totally cool with that! And when “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar started blasting, I almost died—and no, not from fear! I’m in the back row next to Steve, who I think must have been praying at the time, hehe! He did love it enough to ride it again with all of us the next day, though. The Incredicoaster was a different story—I did not love it. But I’m glad I went on it, and once was definitely enough for me. The ride was fast, and the car tipped from side to side as we went up, down, around, and upside down. I remember thinking, “Yep, this is when the car flies off the track and we end up on the news.” Haha—also, I was wearing contacts so I could see distance crystal clear and not have to deal with my glasses. But when I got off the ride, I had clamped my eyes shut so tightly that the contact in my right eye got completely squished—like an accordion—and fell out! My face says it all! Cars Land is just so sweet! We shot anything and everything on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. It was a fun tame ride after the Incredicoaster! We wore funny glasses to see the 3D effects on Webslingers. The Cars Ride was so much fun and a lot faster than I expected! But it wasn’t scary at all. Sam, who grew up watching the Lightning McQueen movie about ten times a day, absolutely loved it. When he was two, he would go everywhere with his little Lightning McQueen car in hand. I even kept a spare one just in case he ever lost it. Some of the Cousin Crew All of the Cousin Crew. This was so cool! It looks like I’m about to fall into an abyss, but it’s actually a brilliant illusion! The floor is completely flat, but if you stand in just the right spot, the tiles create a mind-bending effect that makes it seem like there’s a giant hole beneath you! You can find this optical illusion in Tomorrowland, near Star Wars Launch Bay—definitely worth a stop for a fun photo! It got dark pretty quickly as it was winter. All the pretty lights came on everywhere and here is one of my favourite rides, It’s a Small World. I know some people think this ride is boring, but I love it! The song is so sweet, even if it got stuck in my head on a loop. It was

Hey friends, welcome to a bonus Monday night post where I’ll continue the trip recap. So, here’s what we had planned for Tuesday, January 8th: we were meeting in the hotel lobby at 6:30 am to make sure we’d get an early start for Universal Studios. We were so excited! Honestly, the anticipation was through the roof. When we stepped outside, the wind hit us hard. A super friendly hotel staff member with the coolest U.S accent asked, “Where are you folks headed?” All seven of us said “Universal Studios!” at the same time. Then, my ears and brain didn’t quite sync up, and it took me a minute to process what she said next, “Sorry folks, it’s closed today because of the winds.” I honestly think my first thought was, “Wait, what? Could you please ask them to open it because we’ve come all the way from Australia, and we’ve been planning this for two years!” She told us that overnight the strong winds had blown debris everywhere. Universal needed to check that everything was operational. She also mentioned something about a fire. My cousins, who organized the trip, are amazing at pivoting and coming up with a Plan B. So after the initial disappointment and shock—wait, a fire? What fire? Oh, maybe the one we spotted from the plane the day before?—We all agreed to grab some breakfast and then call my aunt, who lives in LA, to hang out with them instead. Originally, we were going to visit Universal Studios on Tuesday and spend Wednesday with our LA family. Switching up the days made sense—after all, once the debris was cleared, Universal Studios would be open. Or so we thought. They say ignorance is bliss, and that day, it sure was. It was still early, so before heading to my aunt’s house, we stopped at Walmart. I know this sounds crazy, but I think my excitement about stepping inside a Walmart was equal to my excitement for the theme parks. I kid you not! When we got out of our van, we noticed the smokey sky and thought Hmmm, that looks kind of bad. Do you know what really stands out about the U.S? The amount of space they have. Space to build huge, stand-alone Walmarts with massive, wide-open car parks. We don’t have that over here because land is expensive, and every bit of space gets used efficiently. You’d never see a Walmart-sized store sitting all on its own with a giant parking lot in Australia! Well, definitely not in Sydney. Cool Walmart entrance Then I spotted some of the food items I’d read about on blogs and just about lost my mind. Look, Crescent rolls!!! I couldn’t cook or taste them, but I could hold the package!! Minute Maid!!! And eggo’s just like on Stranger Things! Huge packet of strawberries. We only see these at Costco. Everything is so mini over here 😂 So many varieties of sauces! And look at the huge bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s! I wished we could take one home—Sam goes through the small bottles (the only ones available) so quickly. Haha! The price signs are in English and Spanish, and so were the store announcements. My cousins were laughing as I tried to translate fast before the announcement came on in English. I should probably explain that Spanish speakers are few and far between over here. Australia has a large Chinese-speaking population, along with communities from Italy, Greece, India, Vietnam, Lebanon, and many other cultures, especially in the suburbs where we live. After Walmart, we hopped back in the van to go to my aunt’s. We could see some blue skies, and we were pretty certain that those fires that were mentioned were probably all under control. But then, as we kept driving towards Tujunga, a strange alarm started beeping super loud in the van. At first, we thought the noise was coming from the car, maybe the door wasn’t closed properly. What was that piercing noise? After a minute or so, I realised it was my phone with an alert. We were confused and totally unaware of the severity of the situation, so we kept driving towards my aunt’s house. When we got there, we met up with some cousins we had caught up with the night before. They had been evacuated to my aunt’s house because their homes were closer to the fire. Oh gosh, I thought, this must be serious. Nah, everyone’s probably just being cautious. We grabbed my aunt and cousin to go and explore Glendale Mall. All the photos I took are of shops we don’t have back home. My cousin M loves and plays baseball, so he bought some cool cleats from Dick’s. They sell alcohol at Target!! No way!! Okay, before you think we don’t have escalators in Australia, and that’s why I took this photo—don’t worry, we do have them! What we don’t have, and what I’d never seen before, is a trolley escalator. You just place your shopping trolley in between the escalators, and it goes up. Woah!!! I saw someone doing it, but my jaw dropped, and I fumbled with my phone, missing the shot. I did manage to get a video later, though. Haha! As we walked around, I was chatting with my aunt, and she said she had never seen the mall so empty. She said it was like a ghost mall. Afterwards, we walked over to the Americana Mall, and it was so pretty! Some of the Christmas decorations were still up. What?? A cupcake ATM!!! Most of the shops were closed. I don’t know what this shop was but it’s the name of that movie I’ve never seen. Then it was time to grab something to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings. Something I’ve always wanted to do is go to a sports bar, eat wings, watch sports, and drink beer. Now, here’s the thing: I don’t actually love sports, and I don’t drink beer.

Hey friends, It’s time for Friday Favourites! I’m starting with a trip recap (the first of many) because our family trip definitely tops my list of all-time favourite moments! You know that feeling when a big day finally arrives, and you can’t believe it’s happening? That’s how I felt on the 7th of January, the day we were flying out. I’d been thinking about it, counting down the days, and looking forward to it for what felt like forever! Time to Go! Our flight didn’t leave until 4:30 pm, but we got to the airport around midday. We checked in early and headed to the lounge. My cousins fly a lot for work and holidays, so they have lounge access. We got to join them as guests. What a way to kick things off! We raided the incredible buffet, which had everything from pasta, soup, nachos, sandwiches, sweets, coffee, and so many other delicious things I can’t even remember. They also had a bar stocked with everything! But I only had a couple of glasses of sparkling wine because, you know….I needed a little liquid courage to get on the plane, hehe. Before we knew it, it was time to board, and we took our first of many family pics. Here I’m smiling like this frightened emoji 😬 The Flight The dreaded flight was thankfully okay. I mean, I didn’t love it, but it was bearable—I survived and even felt a bit braver for it! But it was a long 13-hour journey, and the plane was packed. My cousin’s family were all seated together behind me, but somehow, Steve, Sam, and I got separated. We managed to get two seats together on one side of the plane, while the third seat was one in from the aisle on the opposite side. Both Sam and Steve offered to take the separate seat, but I insisted they stay together since they’re both over 6 feet tall and needed the extra room. They were a bit surprised I volunteered, knowing how nervous I was. But honestly, I’m glad I stuck to my decision. I was squashed the whole way, and I’m kind of small—Steve or Sam would have found it unbearable! The girl sitting on the aisle next to me wasn’t the friendliest, but I won’t judge—she might’ve been terrified too. Her way of coping seemed to be covering herself, including her head, with a blanket for the entire flight. After a few hours, my bladder couldn’t take it anymore, so I finally had to ask if I could squeeze past. I needed to get my numb legs to the toilet—fast! She grudgingly obliged… ho-hum. We landed in San Francisco and then raced to catch our connecting flight to L.A. Los Angeles After such a long flight to San Francisco, the flight to L.A. felt like a breeze. We were up, and then we landed, and I felt so relieved. But once we hit the tarmac, all the fire alarms inside the plane went off for about five seconds, and I thought, Whoa, that’s weird. Then I looked out the window (the only time I looked out during the entire two flights) and said to my husband, “Hey, look over there at all that smoke! In the distance, it looks like a fire.” I joked, “Nah, it’s probably just the pollution in the city.” Little did we know! We grabbed our bags and headed to pick up the van my cousin S would drive us around in for the next two weeks. I remember Sam saying, “I want to hear people talking American; I can’t wait!” He was so excited too! On the way to the car rental place, I called my aunt to let her know we had arrived, and she was excited. She also reminded us to be careful while driving because the winds were so strong. I thought it was sweet, just like my mum used to be—always looking out for our safety. We got in the van, and as we drove around, I was in total awe. Here I was, in L.A. pinch me!! I started snapping photos of random things I had only seen on TV, like a school bus. (We don’t have those in Australia!) I’m not sure why I took a pic of this street sign with a number on it. Maybe because we don’t number our streets like that back home. It’s more likely that I just was so excited that I wanted to capture every second. So I snapped away at the most random things! And then I spotted a Lowes! A Lowes, people!! My family must have thought I was nuts. We stopped for a snack at Wendy’s, and I had to video it because… WENDY’S! I was finally going to eat at Wendy’s!!! Cousin Connect in Los Angeles! After checking into the hotel, we quickly freshened up and drove straight to my cousin’s house. On the way, we definitely felt those winds my aunt had warned us about! The van was swaying along the road, but we were on such a high, completely clueless about what was really going on. As we drove, we noticed power lines coming down and entire suburbs losing power. Still, we weren’t worried—just casually pointing out, Hey, look, another blackout! Duh!! We finally made it to my cousin’s house, where my aunt and a whole bunch of other cousins were waiting. I had met most of them on previous trips when I was much younger, and my aunt and her son had even visited us in Australia when I was pregnant with my second son. But my cousin J and her family—who we traveled with—had never met them before. So, having this family reunion after all these years was definitely a highlight! When my cousin T opened the door, we screamed, hugged, laughed, and I almost cried—it was just pure joy! If I could freeze a moment in time, this would be it. We ate pizza