California Trip Part 4 - Disneyland

On Friday of our trip, we went to Disneyland! We got an earlier start that morning and though we were tired, we were excited!

We ate breakfast at the River Belle Terrace where we had Mickey Mouse pancakes. The prices seemed fairly reasonable at most of the restaurants, at least, but they really seemed to add up fast!

We ate outside overlooking the river where we watched the steamboat come by. There was also a pirate band playing fun sea tunes outside the nearby Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was such nice weather! The kind we seem to rarely get in Texas.

We rode rides for several hours straight, including this fun rocket ride. You can't see Jacob, but he's sitting in between Esther and myself. He said "wheee!" the entire ride. The kids went on this one again later with Daddy when the line was short.

Esther really wanted to meet Tinkerbell. Sigh. The line was short so she and I went while the others walked around. This was one excited girl.

While I am not a fan of most of the Disney princesses, I was impressed at how the few actresses we met took their time with Esther and talked to her like a good friend.

Autopia was a big hit. I rode with Esther - she steered, I pushed the pedal. At one point, she got mad that I was going too slow and stomped on my foot with her own. We nearly collided with several cars stopped in front of us! Now both the kids think they can drive.

One of my favorite parts of the day was at the Jedi Training show. At first both Esther and Nathan wanted to go up, but then Nathan changed his mind and didn't stand up. After they'd picked all the kids, he was starting to change his mind. One of the actresses came up to him and told him that they needed one more trainee. He shook his head, suddenly all shy. She insisted that the Force was strong in him. He looked at her with a huge smile and got up. He did the training, but as soon as Darth Maul came out, he plopped himself down with the kids who had already done their fight. He'd skip that part, thank you very much.

Esther's fight with Vader was precious. She put a serious look on her face and really went at it! She had everyone cheering. I wished they had time enough to just let her go it for awhile. By the way, the look she gave him was one she gives me sometimes when she isn't getting her way!

 

 

I love this little clip of Nathan all serious and then waving at me. Then he's all serious again.

Merida was really sweet. We were one of the last ones in line before she was about to go on a break. She must have been tired but she talked to the kids as if she had just gotten there.

Towards the afternoon I ran out of steam taking pictures. Plus we were going on rides that were too difficult to take pictures on. We had dinner that evening at Cafe Orleans in New Orleans Square. We had some great salads and salmon. And it was nice to sit quietly outside and enjoy chatting. After dinner was Pirates of the Caribbean (which Nathan kept his hat covering his face for most of the ride). But Esther was whooping it up with the pirates. Even Jacob liked that one! A quick ride on the Jungle Cruise, one last rocket ride, and we were back to the hotel with tired kids.

We put Jacob to bed while Daron's parents watched a cartoon with the big kids. Then they put them to bed while Daron and I went back to the park. We used our Fastpasses for the Indiana Jones ride, though it was quite the mess getting through the crowds waiting for the fireworks.

We watched the Fantasmic show and both came away scratching our heads. While it was great as far as the special effects, etc, it was really rather scary at the end. Maybe intense. Too intense. In that respect, it was disappointing.

We had ice cream sundaes on the curb on Buena Vista Street, enjoying the bright lights and the quiet of each other's company. Then walked back to the hotel to find some cute, tired kids snuggled up in the bed.







Woodbadge Award

In October of 2011, Daron completed six days of Woodbadge training for Scouts. Since then, he fulfilled the rest of the requirements.

Tonight he received his award at a Court of Honor held in Frisco with another member of his Woodbadge group. They were the last two of the group to have their "beading."

Congrats, Daron!!

California Trip Part 3 - California Adventure Park

The still fairly new California Adventure Park was a new for all of us. It was much less crowded than Disneyland and really had a clean and pleasant atmosphere. The employees were very friendly and the food was delicous!

Daron's parents came with us to the park. They went on a few rides, but mostly enjoyed being with their grandkids and watching the fun they were having. We really appreciated having them with us!

Waiting in line for the Toy Story 3D ride. It was like a moving arcade game. The kids looked pretty cute in their 3D glasses.

We ate lunch at a little bar area on Paradise Pier that had appetizer type food. Daron had lobster nachos and I had fish tacos. They were probably some of the best fish tacos I've ever eaten!

Esther posing as a mouse in her new Minnie Mouse ears.

Pirate Mickey!

Posing with Donald Duck.

We did not wait in many lines to meet characters. It was not worth the time to Daron and myself. However, we had a few lucky breaks like this one. We had just come out of the Disney Junior show when Jake stepped right out by us. The kids really like his show and so they enjoyed getting a photo with him.

Occasionally, Jacob got to get out of the stroller to run around. Here he is enjoying his break!

However, some breaks from the stroller had to be in our arms which he did not like. It also didn't help that his only naps were in the stroller. He was pretty grouchy by the evening.

One of the main reasons for going to California Adventure Park was the new Cars Land! It looked just like the movie. Kudos to a job well done! We visited Cars Land but decided to come back after dinner to ride the Radiator Springs Racers (when the wait would be 90 minutes instead of 120 minutes).

We love good food so we ate dinner at the Carthay Circle Restaurant. It is a recreation of the original Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles where the premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was held. We were way underdressed for such a fine establishment, but so was everyone else who had been running around the park all day. The food was excellent. And Esther and Nathan were very well behaved. Jacob, on the other hand... not so much. But we managed to make it through without too much trouble.

After dinner came night time in Radiator Springs. We entered the line for Radiator Springs Racers just before 8:30 and didn't get on the ride until nearly 10pm. Holy cow! Nathan was sleep walking in line. Esther had to go to the bathroom and Daron took her all the way back through the line and then back in again. The wait was worth it.

The fast part of the ride was a lot faster than I had imagined it would be. Nathan's face was sheer terror, though he was excited once it was all over. Esther thought it was great how her rear kept flying up off of the seat on the downhill parts.

The day was over and we had some pretty cranky kids who complained about the long walk back to the hotel. Fortunately, we were nearly across the street from the gate at the Fairfield Inn.



California Trip Part 2

We spent Monday morning walking around Balboa Park in San Diego. What gorgeous architecture! The San Diego Zoo is right there and I would have loved to go again (I went there 15 years ago) but we didn't have the full day to spend so it wouldn't have been worth the huge ticket price.

We rode a miniature train, the carousel, and then had a quick lunch at a little burger joint. Daron's parents were tired so they headed up to Escondido where the family reunion was to take place. We would join them later.

We went down to La Jolla to see the seals and sea lions lounging on the beach. I guess sometimes there are people rights activists who complain loudly about the seals taking over this particular beach. But we didn't see any. California is a little strange. Sorry, Tony and Debbie!



There were a ton of pretty roses growing outside of an assisted living home near where we parked.

We met the family at Old Town at the Mormon Battalion Museum. They have redone the visitor's center with all sorts of new videos and a very cool tour. It began with a sister missionary introducing certain persons who are pictured in frames on the wall who had significant roles in the story of the Mormon Battalion. Suddenly, one of them sneezed and we all jumped! They were actually video screens. I recognized a lot of familiar actors from other church and church related movies (like Lincoln Hoppe who played Deverl on The Singles Ward). I don't know why we didn't take any pictures there.

We had dinner at a great Mexican place. Again, it was crazy with all of the family there and Daron and I were sitting with our kids as well as four other little cousins so it was crazy. Jacob was starving and wolfed down an entire breakfast burrito as well as a glass of milk, most of my water, and a lot of my horchata!

We drove up to Escondido that night and checked in to the Hidden Valley Retreat up in the mountains. There were several guest houses, a pool, hot tub, pretty paths, flowers, pool table, books, movies, common rooms, etc. for us to enjoy. The kids got to bed and we sat out on the patio talking with the adults under the stars. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures there. Too busy relaxing or something!

Tuesday... beach day! La Jolla Shores beach was very nice. Jacob had a great day. He toddled around the sand, played in a kiddie pool, and splashed in the surf.

Even a face plant in the water didn't faze him. He was ready for more!



Let's go, Dad! What are you waiting for?

The teenagers learned to surf while the little ones dug in the sand and splashed in the surf.

We spent nearly the entire day at the beach and got to bed late that night. Esther was the only one who ended up with a bit of a sunburn as I didn't reapply sunscreen on her as many times as I should have. But it wasn't too bad. Jacob was a grump as he did not nap at all. It was a long day, but it was worth it.



California Trip Part 1

We left Texas two days after the Fourth of July. It feels like ages ago!

Arriving at our hotel in San Diego on Saturday afternoon, we met Daron's parents at the hotel and we went out to dinner in the Mission Valley area at Mama Testa's Taqueria. Yummy fish tacos, but not nearly as yummy as the ones I had at Disney's California Adventure Park later. I digress. I meant to take pictures of dinner but the kids were completely freaking out and so we ate and went back to the hotel for a swim.

Sunday morning we stopped at the San Diego temple to walk around the grounds. Jacob napped in the car with Mom Janis while Daron and I took the kids around to snap photos. These are my favorites.

After attending a ward in the afternoon, we took a walk on the beach at Coronado. Esther was very grumpy that we were wearing our church clothes on the beach. She thought people would think she was strange and then became very upset that her pretty dress had sand on it. 



Nathan, on the other hand, didn't care about getting his clothes dirty. He was enjoying himself. We even rolled up pants and skirts and dipped our toes in the water!

Jacob loved the sand between his toes! He kept toddling straight to the water! Look at that happy face.

Summer Happenings

This will be the first of several posts over the next couple of days! We have had a busy summer so far!

Esther finished her second season of softball just after school finished. She really enjoyed playing and getting to know the game a little better. It was pretty crazy having both Esther and Nathan play on different teams with different schedules so we'll see about next year. We may have to tell Esther no as she is already involved with dance and piano lessons and Nathan has no other activities as of yet.

Nathan missed his awards ceremony while we were in California so we'll be getting his trophy from his coach this week. I'll take a picture of him with his uniform and trophy and post later.

Esther participated in a Junior Players program at the library this year. There were several dozen groups in the Dallas area. At the end of two weeks, they had a "Festival of Plays" where the kids performed the short plays they'd prepared. Esther was disappointed theirs was about aliens instead of mermaids, but she had fun anyway.

Hamming it up, as usual. Our little actress in training...





A quick nod to the Fourth of July. We celebrated by attending our local parade. Jacob was tired as it was naptime and there was lots of noise and people, but he enjoyed it with a serious face. I love this picture of Nathan!

Our friend Julie gets to ride in the parade every year now since she was a former Ms. Mature Irving.

Then we had a ward BBQ at the church complete with a kids' bike parade!