Go Metro to Universal Studios Hollywood

I'll be at the Metro station at 3PM, let me know if you want to come with me so I can wait for you. Otherwise, you can follow these instructions to get to Universal.

From South Pasadena:

Look for this parking structure if driving to the station:

There may be a $3 charge for parking.  

Walk to the station.  Then purchase/reload your TAP card, the machine is to the right of this picture.  

Each person needs their own card and it costs $1 (keep the card for future trips).  Load the card with at least $3.50 to cover the round trip.  Don't put too much on it as the value does sometimes expire!

At the platform, make sure you're on the side headed to East Los Angeles.

Get off at Union Station.  Follow the signs to get to the Red Line platform.  Take the Red Line headed to North Hollywood.

Get off at Universal City, the station should look like this:

Go upstairs and make a left at this sign: 

Cross the pedestrian bridge:

The tram stop is right there: 

This will take you all the way to the area between the front gates and CityWalk.

Meet in front of the Forbidden Journey.  See you inside!

Two Weeks Down!

The first two weeks have just flown by!  Here's what you may have missed:

In American Girl Today we finished up McKenna and are moving on to Lea, Girl of the Year 2016, for week 3 and 4.  Lea loves adventure and photography and will journey to Brazil, where her brother is studying the rain forest.  

Last week, the American Girl Forever character was Felicity, a free-spirited girl who loved horses and was dealing with the tense times leading up to the Revolutionary War.  This week will be  Samantha Parkington, a girl growing up at the turn of the 20th century.  Samantha fought for the rights of child laborers and her Aunt Cordelia for women's voting rights.  

In Hogwarts, students visited Diagon Alley, where Mr. Ollivander provided them with wands.  There were Rowan, mahogany, ebony and holly wood wands with one of the following cores: Phoenix feather, dragon heartstring, veela hair, thestral tail hair or unicorn hair.  On their train journey, they learned about famous witches and wizards through chocolate frog cards.  They finally made their way to the castle and have been sorted!  Everyone is enjoying sending Owl Post to their friends and participating in potions class with other houses.  Next week promises to be full of even more surprises!  

In the land of Chewandswallow, we have been making apple pies and cheeseburger sliders, not to mention trying candy making with chocolate dipped marshmallows.  We even made a s'more inspired marshmallow, dipped in chocolate and graham cracker crumbs.  

Finally, in the American Girl Kitchen, we tried (and failed!) to make benne candy.  The recipe we got from American Girl omitted butter, which we are sure was a major ingredient!  We'll try that again at a later date.  We also made Kirsten's apple tarts, Coney Island hot dogs like Rebecca would have eaten, and French toast (invented to use up leftover bread and popular during the rationing era of WWII).  

We hope you are enjoying the Independence Day holiday and we'll see you Tuesday!

Summer School 2016!

Hello Students, Friends and Family!

We are almost finished with our first week of SPEF Summer School at Marengo, it's been a hot one!  Feel free to bring a water bottle to class and stay hydrated!  

When you have a chance, check out our Flickr account for pictures of some of the fun activities we have been working on all week. 

Flickr

In American Girl Today we are reading about McKenna, a gymnast who is struggling to keep up with her schoolwork.  Meanwhile, in American Girl Forever, we are reading Meet Kaya, about a Nez Perce girl growing up in the 1700s.

Hogwarts students have just received their acceptance letters by owl. They are working hard to earn galleons for their back to school shopping in Diagon Alley.  

In the land of Chewandswallow, all the food comes from the sky.  No such luck in our Academy, but we are having fun making receipes like Grandpa's Pancakes and Chili to Chile Dogs.  The American Girl Kitchen has been busy making the kinds of foods eaten by the historical American Girl characters, like johnnycakes and club sandwiches.

Check back next week for more news and updates and don't forget to check Flickr, photos are posted a couple times a week!

American Girl Event: Lea to the Rescue Premiere

We will be reading about Girl of the Year 2016 Lea Clark and her adventures in Brazil this summer.  There will be a movie viewing event at the American Girl Place Los Angeles (The Grove) this week!  Check with the store to RSVP, see details below:

American Girl’s Lea to the Rescue Viewing Event

Thursday, June 16 at 2:30PM and 5:00PM

Dive in and join us for a viewing of American Girl’s newest movie—starring Lea Clark, our 2016 Girl of the Year! Come celebrate the store premiere of American Girl: Lea to the Rescue, with a Lea inspired craft, a “red carpet” photo op, concessions, an exclusive movie goody bag, and of course, a screening of the all-new movie.

$10 per person, Reservations required, For girls ages 8 and up