SoCal 2010 part 4: Disneyland!!

I heart Disneyland. Sean hearts Disneyland. Ethan hearts Disneyland. And we are lucky enough to have family in Southern California, sooo..... we went to Disneyland!! I'm old enough now that I can actually sleep the night before but young enough [at heart, at least!] that I still get a huge smile on my face and super excited when we walk through the front gates. It is magical!! :)

We lucked out with some beautiful, sunny weather the day we went {which was the Monday after Christmas and it was way more crowded than I like - I don't recommend going on the first weekday after Christmas!} and all wore our Oregon Duck t-shirts. I remembered to bring Ethan's ears this year and he humored me by wearing them off and on most of the day. Such a nice boy! Our group was the three of us, Blake and Alysha [baby Wyatt stayed home with Nana and Papa], Cassie, Ashley and then Todd, Muffy and Spencer met up with us later.

This was an exciting year for us to visit because Ethan is officially over 40 inches tall! Just barely, but he still hit the minimum height requirement for every ride but Indiana Jones {which is 46 inches}. It was so nice to only have to do the stroller swap once {well, in theory at least - we had to do it for Space Mountain too because Ethan was dead asleep}.

We started the day on the left side of the park and went straight for Jungle Cruise while we sent someone over to get Fast Passes for Indy.
I think we did Haunted Mansion next {the line was already insane for Pirates} and then maybe the stroller swap for Indy and then headed over to Splash Mountain - Ethan's first over 40-inch ride of the day. Wahoo!! We prepped him a little about the drop and he loved everything about the ride.... being in a log, floating in water, all the animals singing.... and then there was the drop. Oh, if looks could kill!! Though, later in the day he did say the log ride was his favorite... except for the "big drop"!

Took this picture while waiting in line... Sad day when someone loses a balloon early in the morning at Disneyland!

I'm having a hard time remembering the exact order of the day, but I think lunch at the Hungry Bear in Critter Country was next. Lunch from home for Ethan, turkey sandwich for me and a burger for Sean. I always like to get a sandwich for lunch at D-land so I don't feel like I'm just eating junk all day.

This is Ethan sitting on Sean's shoulders while we waited in line for lunch. In D-land, there's a line for everything.

Next up was Big Thunder Mountain, one of my favorites and Ethan's second over 40-inch ride of the day.

Cassie waiting with us for Big Thunder Mountain. Love the pink shades and Perry the Platypus tee!

We tried to build up the hype by pointing out that we would be riding in a TRAIN! So cool, right? We all survived, but Ethan had wide eyes that said, "Holy crap!" through pretty much all of the high-speed twists, turns and drops. He he he!! I sure hope we didn't scar him for life. After that semi-traumatic experience we headed over to Fantasyland to take a break on some of the slow rides. Ethan kept reminding me how much he likes the "slow rides".

We rode on the Peter Pan flight, the King Arthur Carrousel and then headed over to Small World.

Love that picture of Ethan on his horse. And that's cousin Spencer in the upper right picture.

I lost some of the Disney magic waiting in line for Small World. I really don't like that ride. And I hate to waste time waiting in a long line for a ride I don't even like. But Ethan wanted to go, so I sacrificed. With gritted teeth. Don't let the above picture of our smiling family fool you. That smile was me happy to finally be on the dang ride!

Todd's enthusiasm was a bit much, I thought!! ;)

But the boys loved it! And it was fun to look for some of the Disney characters they've added. For instance, you will find Mulan in the China section and I think Peter Pan was in London, that sorta thing. We played "I Spy" and it made the never-ending boat-ride-of-happiness slightly more enjoyable. Oh, and the hippo picture is for Sean and the frog picture is for Ethan - their Southworth animal names.

Next on the agenda was disappointing my dad.... again. Every year he reminds [begs] us to go do the Lincoln Experience and every year we forget or run out of time or find a rollercoaster we would rather ride. Nothing personal, dad. We did actually make an attempt a couple years ago. We went all the way to the front of the park and were all set to go in when we found out that the Lincoln Experience had been replaced and was not showing that year and they were unsure of when it would be back. It was there this year, though. And we chose to do the 3-D Michael Jackson "Captain EO" show instead.

What can I say? We were distracted by the coolness of the 3-D glasses.

We got dinner in Tomorrowland next and as we were finishing our meal rocked out to some 80s music from a live band. Fun, fun!! This was followed by... Matterhorn at night!! I don't remember the last time I rode it during the day and it's a well-known fact that they run it faster at night! Ethan rode with me and Sean and his brother squeezed into a bobsled together!

We got caught in a slow shuffle crossing the soon-to-be parade route as we headed toward Rivers of America for Fantasmic! As we slowly made our way, I snapped this picture of the castle all lit-up at night. Beautiful!
We opted out of the first showing of Fantasmic! and instead took advantage of the line for Pirates finally being a big shorter. It had been one of the longest lines for any ride all day!

Somewhere in there we had parked our strollers so they were out of the way and while the others snagged front row seats and waited for the next showing of Fantasmic! I went off to do a little shopping. As I walked back to meet everyone else for the show I noticed something off about where we had parked our strollers... Spencer's was still there, but ours {a D-land rental} was gone! I tried not to panic and sat down with everyone to watch the show, which was delayed {and we worried they would cancel it} but after about 10 minutes the show started and we sat back and enjoyed our front-row seats while our bums got super-sore sitting on the ground!

The search for the stroller was on. We looked all around, hoping it had just been moved. We got Disney "cast members" involved but had no luck. Who steals someone else's stroller at Disneyland?! Really?! How rude. Our name was even on it. Luckily, the only thing we lost was Ethan's {brand-new!} sweatshirt. What really bugged me, though, was that Ethan was REALLY tired at that point and falling asleep and also complaining that his tummy hurt and had no stroller to sit and rest in. Not cool. Our last stop for the night was Space Mountain. Another long, long line. With Ethan asleep and 30+lbs. of dead weight for whoever was carrying him. But Sean and I sat front row and I screamed and tried to keep my hands in the air. Good times.

We did our usual last-minute shopping on main street at midnight and were bummed that we missed the last call for ice cream! I was so looking forward to my peppermint ice cream in a waffle cone {with the top dipped in chocolate and rolled in crushed peppermint!} but I guess that is a treat I will have to get next year... after the Lincoln Experience. Now THAT will be some serious motivation to go!

Oh, and here was my splurge for Ethan at Disneyland. I didn't find him any shirts that I was really in love with, so I decided to bag the idea {knowing I had a 4T vintage Mickey shirt that I got him at Target on clearance a couple years ago} and spent the shirt money on these....matchbox size cars in the shapes of the rollercoaster cars! A rocket for Astro Orbitor, a bobsled for Matterhorn, a jeep for Indiana Jones, a log for Splash Mountain and a train for Big Thunder Mountain. By far, one of the coolest, random souvenirs I have ever purchased at D-land. $18 for the 5. Ugh. But I justified it with the thinking that the CARS movie cars we buy are at least $3 a piece... that and I didn't buy him a t-shirt!

Doc Hudson sighting... among other things.

We interrupt these Cali trip posts to bring you our Doc Hudson sighting from last week. Ethan and I were driving along {but Ethan was asleep} when I look over and spy a real-life Doc Hudson look-a-like! So, this is how you know you're a mother... when you slow way down and also get in the slow lane, just so the Doc-Hudson-look-a-like will have to pass you and then your kid can see it too! Well, it took a while, but he finally passed us and as he did Ethan caught his breath and said, "Huh! It IS Doc!" He was so excited. And then I got back up to speed and passed the guy. The pictures don't show the color well at all, but the car was actually a dark blue. It even had white wall tires!

The look-a-like.
The real thing.

Anyway, we spotted Doc on our way down to Oregon last week. Ethan and I went to watch Lizzy's basketball game. They were supposed to beat the pants off cross-town rivals Thurston, but unfortunately even the best-laid plans don't work out. Boo.
It was a short but fun visit. We had Papa's pizza {still haven't really found a good, non-chain pizza place up here} and Dad helped me turn in all of our soda cans from the past year. Turns out, it's cheaper to pay tax in WA than it is to pay the deposit in OR. Of course, that also means remembering to haul them all down one of the weekends I visit. Still, I got $7.50 for my efforts. :) Mom and I did our typical late-night movie watching and her new addiction is the series Burn Notice. My parents don't have cable/satellite so it a new show to my mom. I remember when it first came out a couple years ago, but never got into it. Count on my mom to get me hooked. I think we watched at least 4 episodes and I already have 2 re-runs set up on our DVR to record. Not a bad show. Sorta like a cross between the show Leverage and the movie Mission Impossible.

Speaking of movies, is this one the current hit with the kiddos at anyone else's house?! Sheesh. This is the number one pick every day lately!
And the most popular thing to do at our house right now? Team GEO-TRAX, all aboard! Ethan is obsessed. Grandparents, he already knows which trains and additional sets he wants for his birthday in 2 1/2 months!
Other than that, we are just getting back into a routine now that we're home and unpacked from our trip. I'm looking into trying swim lessons again for Ethan next month or maybe March. Yesterday we had a little heat wave in our house. The thermostat went out in Ethan's room and it was ROASTING!! Holy heat. We had the heat "turned off" in his room and everywhere else in the house, the window to his room wide open and it was still putting off enough heat to keep the whole house warm. Luckily, our landlord came by and got it all replaced last night so we are good as new. Which is a good thing, because I was not liking the potential fire hazard {that ceiling was HOT!} and not looking forward to the extra $$$ from all that unnecessary heat.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Cali trip posts. I promise, Disneyland is up next!

SoCal 2010 part 3: Christmas in Cali

Alright, sorry for the delay in the Christmas post - it was a busy week!

* Christmas Eve Highlights
- Yummy dinner w/ ham, veggies, potatoes and then I contributed homemade rolls and a chocolate/peppermint dessert.
- Finished this 500 piece puzzle! We all helped a little, even though it was originally bought because Nan {Lynnie's mum} likes to do puzzles.- Christmas music... LIVE! This is always a highlight. Sean on the piano {keyboard this year}, his Dad on guitar, me on violin and Cassie {and whoever else joins in} on vocals. Good times!- New jammies!! It's tradition, ya' know. I love this picture of Ethan in his new p.j.'s - all different emergency vehicles, very fitting.And here's our family in our new jammies. In case you can't see, Sean's t-shirt is the kid from the Christmas Story movie - which he loves and I despise! * Christmas Highlights!!
- Read Luke chapter 2 with Todd's family while waiting for the festivities to begin. It was a very nice way to start the day.
- Ethan was the most excited person in the whole house!! Old enough to know that there were presents waiting for him to open upstairs and young enough to care about it more than food or sleep!! {Auntie Cassie is a senior in high school and she was the next youngest in the house.}
- Traditional Christmas morning picture on the stairs.- Santa came!! And ate the cookies and drank the milk that Ethan had left out. Such a nice note he left in return: "Thank you SO much for the cookies. They were delicious!! The milk really hit the spot, too. Have a Merry Christmas! Love, Santa" I'm impressed he has that kind of time. ;)- At Nana and Papa's house, Santa always leaves a small, unwrapped present for the kids on same table as the milk and cookies. To all the adults, it was "obvious" which toy went to which little boy - a fire truck toy and a tow truck toy. Obviously, the fire truck was intended for Ethan, right? I mean, he loves fire trucks! Well, Ethan went straight for the tow truck and Spencer went straight for the fire truck! Ha ha!! And they were both perfectly content with the toy they picked. - Stockings. I love stockings. They're always one of my favorite parts of Christmas morning. It's fun to see what little treasure and goodies fit in the stocking. This year I got a football cookie cutter! {And it's already been put to good use, as seen in this post.} Plus, our stocking candy often lasts us at least until Valentine's Day.- So. Many. Presents!! Holy moly. Though, not too surprising considering the 14 people we had in the house!

Loren (Sean's Dad) surveying the damage so far.

Spencer {in his cute Mickey jammies} opening his big tub of play-dough fun!

Cassie w/ her new Perry the Platypus tee. In this family, we all heart Phineas and Ferb!

The boys {Spencer and Ethan} both got this remote control Lightning McQueen.

Lynnie's mum and niece were visiting from England {so fun to meet them!} and brought LOT {and I mean LOTS} of English goodies {Cadbury is a major supplier} with them. They were a big hit.

- Games! With no major events this year to be planning and preparing for {last year was Blake and Alysha's wedding} we got to spend lots of time playing games - including the new ones that Todd got for Christmas. In fact, much of Christmas afternoon was spent lounging in p.j.'s, munching on yummy leftovers and treats and playing games.

Playing Snow Trails. This was a fun one, requiring lots of careful planning. There is no half-paying-attention in this game! Todd's expression in this pic cracks me up! And did you notice Blake's t-shirt? The baby in the front carrier. Yeah, I was doing double-takes all day!The boys playing an English version of the game Hungry, Hungry Hippos. This one was with frogs. Super cute.

* Sunday, aka Boxing Day, aka the day after Christmas
- Ethan wore his new church clothes. Daddy helped him tie his first tie. Such a stud! {And he loved having his own belt - just like Daddy.}- Went to church in Sean's family's ward.
- Ethan's last official Sunday in Nursery.
- Ham and cheese sandwiches with the leftover ham for lunch - Yum!
- More games.
- Father/Son time as Sean helped Ethan put together his race car from the kit he got from Ashley from England. Seriously, so cool. It came with its own power drill with 3 different bits to turn the screws. Ethan was in heaven. And now he can completely disassemble and reassemble it without any help. {Thank you, Ashley!!}- Thoroughly enjoyed spending more time with the fam!

Next up... Disneyland! Oh, yeah - you don't want to miss that! :)

SoCal 2010 part 2: Yreka?!?

A little background info... When we left for our trip we thought we were very prepared: new tires on the SUV, oil changed, transmission flushed, etc. - everything seemed to be in working order. We left Springfield and were on our way to Simi Valley. Next stop, California!

As usual, I took the first driving shift - all down the 5 through Oregon, including going through the Siskiyous with no problem. We had a little bit of snow, but nothing that really slowed us down. But then, coming down the pass in the snow, we noticed a weird noise - kinda like a knocking sound. And coming from our car! But only when we braked. But the brakes were still working. What the heck?! Everything was absolutely fine unless we braked. Finally we passed the border and were slowing down for border patrol....
The knocking noise coming from our car was horrible! And when we actually came to a stop our car died. What the...?! Are you kidding?! It's 1am! Deep breaths. Try not to panic. Turn the key and restart the car.... It drives fine! Phew. And then I try to brake again as I pull off to the side. Same horrible knocking sound and it dies when I make a complete stop. Oh, great. We pop the hood and take a look. Nothing out of the ordinary. Brake fluid is a little low, but that's about it. Border patrol guy suggests backing up and then pulling forward to see if we're dragging anything. Nope. Finally we decide to carefully drive to Yreka - about 16 miles down the road. We make the journey slow and steady and pull into a 24hr. gas station to get some brake fluid - hoping and praying and crossing fingers that it works, but knowing it probably won't. It doesn't. At that point it was about 2am Sunday morning and we decided it was time to get a hotel and re-evaluate in the morning - luckily there was a Super 8 just a couple blocks away. We unloaded what we needed, got in jammies, made a couple calls to parents to let them know of our stranded-ness and went to bed.

The next morning we got our free breakfast and went to work looking for an open repair shop. Yeah, right! On a Sunday in a small town. Not likely. So Sean suggests we see what time the local ward starts and go to church [hotel had free wi-fi]. I have to be honest, going to church was kinda one of the last things on my mind, but since it looked like we wouldn't be going anywhere that day I decided it would definitely help pass the time. We called a cab and hurried to get ready - we would actually only be a few minutes late for sacrament meeting. The pick-up time came and went. No cab. We waited. Nothing. Sean called the cab company again. Turns out, despite Sean giving our exact address in YREKA, the cab was in REDDING -over an hour away. Oh, boy. Well, that wasn't going to work. So we bundled up, I changed into my Nikes and put my dress shoes in a backpack, double-checked directions and started walking to church. That's right, we walked. And get this.... It started snowing. And, after the first 3/4 mile on main street, we turned onto the street the church was on and kept walking. And furthermore, get this.... the street was on an incline. That means we walked UPHILL IN THE SNOW to get to church!! Ha ha ha!! It's true. Granted, we did have shoes on and we only walked uphill one-way, not two. But still!! We walked UPHILL IN THE SNOW to get to church! We were miserable, but I still had to laugh. And then it started to rain. Ugh. I liked the soft, quiet snow better. We got to church just as Sunday School was starting and we were soaking wet. And let's not even get started on how my hair looked like a wet dog, plastered to my face. A real thing of beauty. But one of the sisters put two and two together and took care of us right away. She got Ethan to Primary and directed us to Sunday School.

As Relief Society was preparing to start I had a number of sisters with questions and it wasn't long before everyone knew our story and that we were there "by accident" - an unplanned stop. I have no doubt that it was not an accident that if we were going to have car problems, it was purposely in Yreka on a Sunday. That ward took such good care of us! By the end of church, we had more lunch and dinner offers than we could go to. Someone gave us a ride back to our hotel to change, someone else picked us up for lunch at their home {thank you, Killians!!} and someone else picked us up for dinner at their home {thank you, Hills!!}. We didn't spend a dime that day. Unbelievable. But here's the real kicker... In the Bishopric of this ward was an auto mechanic with his own shop. We went to bed Sunday night well-fed and with a mechanic {we felt we could trust} all ready to work on our car first thing in the morning. Awesome!!

Another free breakfast and then we loaded the Explorer and slowly made our way to the repair shop. After a test drive, some tear-down and diagnosis the problem was discovered: our brake assembly was completely missing a huge, 4-inch bolt and another one was really loose. Seriously?! No wonder it was making so much noise coming down the mountain. Sheesh. But while they were in there, we went ahead and had new brake pads put in and the rotors turned. 3 hours and about $300 later we were back on the road. And how did we spend our three hours?? Confined to a 6' by 10' waiting room we browsed old magazines, I cleaned out my text message inbox and Ethan watched movies on the DVD player.
Gotta give a shot-out and thanks to Finwall's repair for taking such good care of us and getting us back on the road so quickly. We filled up the gas tank, stopped at McD's for some grub {I was jonesing for some hot chocolate} and finally, after a 36-hour "layover", we were back on the road!! The entire length of CA loomed ahead of us and we were raring to go!Despite the car problems, I think Yreka will always a hold a special little place in our hearts. The view there was beautiful - surrounded by snow-covered mountains.We made very few stops that day because we were so anxious to get to Simi Valley. Timing-wise, it was kinda nice to hit Santa Nella just in time for dinner and a pit-stop at Pea Soup Andersen's - chicken salad sandwich for me, BLT for Sean and a plate full of favorites we brought from home for Ethan.
About four hours after that we were finally in Simi Valley! Yay!! Family, hugs and this comfy bed were greatly appreciated!

Next up: Christmas!!