Why Be Normal?

Since returning from Disneyland, life has tried to return to "normal". (Yeah, like that would ever actually happen!) School has resumed, laundry's still starring me in the face, the dogs are still tracking mud into the house (oh, the joys of Spring), and my treadmill calls me daily. Rehearsals are in full swing, Dad's gone back to school, Little League rules our evenings, life keeps on keeping on... but it doesn't feel "normal". What's my deal?

Maybe this is the "new normal". Am I just weird (yes, I know I am...) or what?

Sunday in Disneyland

Sunday was our last day at Disneyland. We decided to something really special; we splurged and took our kids to Goofy's Kitchen for a Character's Brunch. Although it was the most expensive meal I've ever eaten, it was worth it! We got lots of time with Pluto, Goofy, Snow White, Chip, Dale, and Honest John. The food was amazing! We had a fabulous time playing with the characters, especially when Goofy brought out some toy pots and pans to play with the kids. We had a blast, but most importantly, we made memories that will last forever.With extremely full tummies, we went to Splash Mountain. It was closed on Saturday, and Friday there was a huge line for it. We were pleasantly surprised to get right on the ride with only about a ten minute wait. We really enjoyed this ride!
We tried Big Thunder Mountain next. Remembering that I am always the one who gets drenched on rides like this, it was fun to watch Dad be the one who got soaked this time. I love this picture of Yakko taken while we were in line. The look on his face in reaction to the fossils cracked me up.
Crazy-full tummies prompted a more subtle adventure. We went to the Pirates' Lair Playground. While waiting for our barge, Captain Jack Sparrow interacted with the crowd. He was hilarious! He snatched things out of backpacks and purses (and eventually gave them back), and wouldn't stand still long enough to get a good picture. He was a hoot!
We played on the island for about two hours. We enjoyed playing in the tree houses, in the caverns, and with the pirate activities. Lots of pictures were taken on the island; this is Dad's favorite one of the kids.
We spent a long time in line waiting to meet the princesses at the Princess Fantasy Faire. It was so worth it since we got some great pictures with three princesses--we were able to talk to them individually, and spend one on one time with Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Cinderella, and Jasmine.
After meeting the princesses, we decided to stay to watch the Snow White Story. It was a nice Sunday activity; very relaxing, but fun for the kids.
Our kids participated next in the Coronation. This was lots of fun! They learned manners for when they are in the presence of royalty, and became honorary knights and an honorary princess. By the way they acted the rest of the day, it was obvious they took it seriously!
On our way out of the park, we saw Captain Hook. I'll blog later about all the characters we met.
We decided to go on one last ride before we went home. Dad picked Star Tours. I'll tell you what--we'll never forget our trip to Disneyland!

No Pics of Me?

For those who are wondering why I'm not in any pictures, I have a simple answer: I was the photographer and pack mule for the majority of the trip. Sorry, Charlie! We have a couple of pictures that Dad took, but so far, they haven't made the cut for the blog. I'll see what I can do...maybe.

Saturday at Disneyland, Part Two

Saturday afternoon found us in California Adventures. The lines were long because the weather had cleared up, but that didn't dampen our spirits. We heard so much about Soarin' Over California, so we went there first.We went to the Grizzly River Raft next. This was great fun, except for the fact that every time we go on this type of ride, I end up being the one who gets drenched.
We had a ball at the Muppets in 3-D movie. I'm a sucker for the Muppets; it was one of my favorite shows ever when I was a child.
We had a blast at the Monster's Inc. ride. Our family loves this movie, so the ride was super fun!
As we were heading towards dinner, we happened upon the California Adventures Parade starting to line up. We had a great view; it was great!
We were starving by the time the parade was over, and Mexican food sounded so good... we went to Tortilla Joe's and got tacos, burritos, and nachos. Yummy!
After eating a full meal rather than our snacks that we had been munching on all day, Wakko was alive, hyper, and crazy! He went singing and dancing all over the place. We could have charged admission to watch him, he was so funny!
We went back to Disneyland and got another classic ride under our belts: Peter Pan's Flight.

Our last ride of the day was Pinocchio's Daring Journey. It was so neat; we really were impressed by how cool this ride was, even though it is a classic (old) ride.
We were excited to watch the fireworks show again, but unfortunately, it was canceled due to high elevation winds. It was a bummer since we had such a great spot to watch them... it ended up being just fine since we were so tired we could hardly move. Besides, we got some great pictures anyway.

Saturday at Disneyland, Part One

Saturday in Disneyland was a very full day! We arrived at the gates of the Park at about 7:15 a.m. We headed straight for the Finding Nemo Submarine ride, since people the day before had spent up to three hours waiting for this ride. We waited in line for 45 minutes; it was a great adventure and a great way to start the day.

We then went to the Astro Blaster's ride. The boys really liked this ride since it involved two of their favorite things: Buzz Light Year and feeling like they were in a video game.
We then headed over to the Indiana Jones ride. For anyone who knows me at all, it is no surprise that this was my favorite ride! I love Indiana Jones (okay, I have a bit of a crush on Harrison Ford). We all really liked this ride. It was a bit scary for Yakko, but he ended up wanting to go back to this one!
Since it was still early in the morning, the line for Pirates of the Caribbean was not too bad--in fact, we got right on the ride. We learned for ourselves why this ride is so popular. It was such fun! My favorite was that Captain Jack Sparrow was an addition to this classic ride.
We then headed to the Winnie the Pooh ride. I was especially proud of Dad for being a good sport and going on this cute ride.
We next went on the Jungle Cruise. Our guide, Stephanie Grace, was hilarious! She made our cruise a blast!We then went to the Aladdin's Oasis show. It was lots of fun, (and a great chance to sit down) to watch the story. Yakko was chosen to contribute to the show by adding a sound effect. He got a special button for his contribution.

Off to Space Mountain! All I can say about this is that : 1. it was worth the wait in line, and 2. it's a good thing that I didn't remember how intense the ride was because otherwise, Dad never would have gone on it. This ended up being the kids' favorite ride!Via repeated requests from Wakko, we then went to Autopia. The only bummer was that neither Wakko nor Yakko could drive the cars, but they didn't seem to mind once we got on the track.

We considered going to the Jedi Training Show, and just so happened to get off the Autopia ride just in time for the show to start. Much to our delight Dot was chosen to participate. It was so fun to see how seriously she took the "training". She got to "fight" Darth Mol. She loved it !
Since Saturday was such a very full day, I've chosen to break it into two parts. So, until I post next, TTFN!

Friday at Disneyland

I am addicted to Disneyland! I love the place; I want to go back. There are no two ways about it--I want to go back!
Friday at Disneyland was awesome. We awoke at 4:00 a.m. and drove from Hurricane, UT to Disneyland. Although tired, we were stoked to go! Our hotel room was amazing:We went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride first.Then we went to Snow White's Scary Adventures.It was then time for the "real" rides... off to The Matterhorn Bobsleds. This was the most intense ride on which Wakko and Yakko had ever gone, up to this point in their lives.We jumped over to Star Tours. Dad especially enjoyed this one... I got motion sick-ish.We decided to wind things down at Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. This was the first 3-D movie the kids had ever seen, and they loved it! Yakko was a hoot to watch--I enjoyed watching him more than the movie itself.We played for a long time at the Tarzan Tree House.Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes were our next treat.
Feeling brave, we headed to the Haunted Mansion. Wakko and Yakko spent the entire ride with their faces in my sides; they did not like this ride AT ALL.In order to calm things down (again), we went for a leisurely cruise on the Mark Twain Riverboat. The views were amazing!We decided to head over to Toon Town; our first stop there was at Minnie Mouse's House and met Minnie Mouse. It was lots of fun.Then, we hit our longest line of the entire vacation: we (the kids and I) spent two hours in line at Mickey Mouse's House and finally met Mickey Mouse. Despite fights among the boys (aargh), it was worth the time in line. It was so cool!We wound down the day by watching the Character Parade: it was so cool!
Dinner was delicious--we ate at Napal's and had yummy pizza. There was a really sweet young woman walking around, making balloon animals and such for the kids. She made a helmet and sword with belt for Yakko, a sword and belt for Wakko, and a monkey climbing a tree for Dot.After dinner, we were exhausted, but returned to the Park for what would soon be our favorite event of the weekend: the fireworks show. It was an incredible fireworks show that was choreographed perfectly. The music, fireworks, and dialogue were fabulous! I can honestly say that I was so touched, that I actually cried. I couldn't believe we were there; I'm dreamed of taking our family to Disneyland since I was ten years old, and had gone with my family. I will never forget the feelings and adventures there.On our way back to the hotel, we went to Lego Land. It was so cool to see HUGE things made of Legos. I think the Darth Vadar was the coolest!
Needless to say, we slept like rocks that night!

Disneyland!

We just got back from our family's first ever trip to Disneyland! Okay, you have to forgive my corniness, but it was truly magical! For those who may read this (all two of you) who may not know, I won four park-hopper tickets for three days as well as two night's stay at the Disneyland Hotel. Right off the bat, when we arrived we were upgraded to the Dreams Tower. Holy Cow! The room was amazing...the attention to detail was incredible. We got free upgraded parking, and a discount on Jacob's park-hopper ticket. We were there Friday through Sunday... 570 pictures and 10 hours in the car later, we're home! Needless to say, I'll be blogging about this trip for a while.

My computer can't handle the shear number of pictures needing to be downloaded, so I'll see what I can do about it tomorrow. TTFN!