Para celebrar el día del padre,  fuimos a Universal Studios en Hollywood.  Universal Studios realmente tiene algo para todos.  Fue un día lleno de diversión, con decirles que hasta vimos a la inigualable Marilyn Monroe.

La razón primordial por la que visitamos el parque fue para subirnos a la nueva mega atracción “Trasnformers: The 3D Ride“.  La nueva atracción de los Transformers en Universal Studios va más allá de una experiencia tridimensional.

Nos sentimos como que estábamos dentro del mundo de los autobots y fuimos parte de la acción.

Ver una película en el cine siempre es divertido pero no hay nada mejor que conocer a los personajes cara a cara.

No me pude contener en tomarle una foto a este niño celebrando su cumpleaños que estaba en shock al conocer en persona a su héroe Optimus Prime.

Por unos segundos el niño no se pudo ni mover.

Es una experiencia que seguro recordará toda su vida.

Avahna, tuvo la oportunidad de conocer a un decepticon…

Decepticon meets little girl

Como ya les he contando mi hijo Mateo trabaja haciendo comerciales en televisión.  Algún día él quisiera llegar a ser actor de películas, por lo que visitar la atracción de Studio Tour de Universal Studios la cual también esta disponible en español, fue importante para que Mateo aprendiera más acerca de cómo se hacen las películas.

En el tour visitamos sets donde han filmado varias películas que hemos visto en el cine. La guía nos explicó que varios de los edificios solo son una fachada y también nos compartió algunos secretos de cómo utilizar un solo set para filmar varias escenas que incluso podrían representar diferentes ciudades.

Una gran sorpresa del Studio Tour fue ser parte de la la atracción King Kong 360° 3D la cual es la más grande e intensa experiencia 3D en el mundo.

Photo Credit http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/

La experiencia se siente tan real que por un momento me preocupe por mi hija y creí que ella empezaría a llorar, no fue sino hasta que le vi su carita de asombro que me asegure que ella también estaba disfrutando de la aventura.

Por todos lados vi a varios jóvenes con camisas anaranjadas así que les tuve que tomar una foto. Estaban en Universal Studios celebrando su graduación de high school.  Fue un orgullo ver a jóvenes compartir con sus amigos un día tan importante como este en un lugar sano y lleno de energía positiva.

Otras de nuestras atracciones favoritas fueron WaterWorld, Jurassic Park y The Simpsons Ride. Le quiero agradecer a Universal Studios por haber facilitado nuestra visita.

Moraleja: No solo veas las películas en el cine y shows en la televisión…¡vívelos!

Conecta con Universal Studios en Facebook y síguelos en Twitter @UniStudios #TFride 

The post ¿Dónde Celebrar Días Especiales? Universal Studios Hollywood appeared first on Living La Vida Blogging - Blog En Español.

Así como el Gran Cañon, ves la playa y te quedas asombrado.  La inmensidad del mar, la textura de la arena, la brisa y el sonido de las olas nos permiten por un momento tomar un descanso mental. Vamos a la playa.

La arena húmeda nos invita a jugar con ella.  No queda más que quitarse los zapatos y ensuciarnos las manos, lo cual es solo una escusa para luego tener que ir a sumergirlas en el agua.

Se construyen obras simples las cuales se aprecian como obras maestras.  Se admiran y luego se destruyen o se las lleva el mar, pero el recuerdo de un momento feliz queda impreso en nuestro corazón más profundo que una huella en la arena.

El sol brilla directo a nuestros ojos indicandonos la presencia del atardecer.  Hemos vivido un día más.

Cada grano de arena es un milagro y fue puesto específicamente en ese lugar adrede.  Hay personas en el mundo que nunca han visto el mar asi que la próxima vez que vayas a la playa disfrútala aun más.

Moraleja: Según la revista Nature para construir un castillo en la arena perfecto no se necesita más de un 1% de agua. 

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There he was dancing ballet, moving gracefully through the water. It was perfect. It was breathtaking.

The more I zoomed in the more it amazed me. It was paper thin and more delicate than a rose petal.

I’ve always been intrigued by seahorses, what fascinates me the most about them is that it’s the male that carries the eggs. To be pregnant is something beautiful that while challenging men don’t get to experience.

“Before breeding, seahorses may court for several days. Scientists believe the courtship behavior synchronizes the animals’ movements as well as reproductive state so that the male can receive the eggs when the female is ready to deposit them. During this time they may change color, swim side by side holding tails or grip the same strand of sea grass with their tails and wheel around in unison in what is known as a “pre-dawn dance”. They eventually engage in a “true courtship dance” lasting about 8 hours.” via Wikipedia

They say that the sea is as near as we come to another world and I have a few diver friends who can attest to that. I have never tried diving, I am afraid of feeling claustrophobic. But once you see scenes like these behind a glass all you can do is wonder how it would be to be part of this world at least for just a moment.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California claims to be your window to the wonders of the ocean and after my last visit there this past weekend I have to agree. It is a place definitely worth visiting.

Moraleja: There is more than one world out there.

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Have you ever been to a war re-enactment? What better time to experience this than during Memorial Day weekend.

There we were in the middle of a fake war, covering our ears trying to bear the loud sounds of the gunshots. The sun was hitting me in the back of my neck, my feet were tired and the smoke was blurring the vision of my lens, I was not enjoying myself. 

Thankfully, then it hit me… this show I was watching happened in real life, but worse. How did they do it? How did they survive all these elements? The answer to that is that many of them didn’t.

As actors kept falling to the ground pretending to have been shot, some others kept shooting. I tried to follow up with what was happening but even for a show it all happen so fast.  There was no time to figure it out; there was only time to try not to die.

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday that occurs every year on the final Monday of May. It is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

“Since 1776 there has been a 91% chance that America was involved in some war during that calendar year.*“  America has been at war for over 200 years almost non-stop.

Millions of military have died and have been wounded. Memorial Day is a day to remember them.

I highly recommend visiting Roaring Camp in Santa Cruz California to experience these type of events.  They built a whole town and camps for each of the opposing armies.  

My favorite part was the train ride. Roaring Camp’s steam engines date from 1890 and are among the oldest and most authentically preserved narrow-gauge steam engines in America.

The ride was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I enjoyed every minute of it “through towering redwood groves and up a winding narrow-gauge grade to the summit of Bear Mountain.” *

Moraleja: Let’s also remember what Memorial Day is NOT about:

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The photographer said “let’s take some shots on the sidewalk” to what I thought “Really?  The sidewalk is not that nice.”

She seemed confident about the location and he was ready to go,  so I grabbed my own camera and followed them with the hopes to learn some pointers from the pro and take some photos of my own.

There we were, on the dirty sidewalk just across from an abandoned gas station with cigarette stubs on the floor.  She started shooting so I did as well and the first picture I took was this one:

The sidewalk turned out to be a great place.

They both continued working as I struggled to keep up.  Suddenly, he looked at my lens and it dawned on me… these are his last photos as a 10 year old.

We celebrated his birthday last week with a sleepover.  We invited 5 of his friends to stay at the Intercontinental Hotel downtown San Francisco.  It was epic.  And it was also the last sleepover he might have.

The kids where well behaved but having a suite filled with 11 year olds is very different than when they used to come over the house with their sleeping bags.

He has become a young man, and that realization made this a Kodak moment.

Moraleja: A photograph can reveal more than you think.

p.s. I showed Mateo this blog post and as soon as he saw the title he asked me ¨What does Kodak mean?”

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