Disneyland - Day 3

Again this morning, we were up early and trying to get into the park as soon as possible. Cole had wanted, yesterday, to go to the Buzz Lightyear ride in California Adventure, but it was a horribly long ride and no Fast Passes. So, this morning, we headed straight there, thinking we could beat the rush - no deal! The line was already 45 minutes long when we arrived. Cole wanted to wait and I agreed to stay with him. Steve and Reagan went off to do something else. They joined us just as we were going into the last part of the line for the Buzz ride. We learned that the "something else" they had gone to do was to ride the Screamer Rollercoaster. Seriously! Apparently Reagan was scared, but did great. She was so proud! We finished up our Buzz ride and headed off to A Bug's Land. We ran into Mickey along the way - score!

After a while in A Bug's Land (and after running into Pilot Minnie - score again!), we decided to head back over to Disneyland and let Reagan and Cole each get their toy. (Every time we come here, they get to choose a toy to take home to remember this trip. It is a topic of discussion during our entire stay and on the last day, they choose.) Cole chose a Bullseye stuffed animal and Reagan chose Marie from the Aristocats (partly because of her Spring Program). They were super excited!

We took our new toys and headed for Adventureland. Pirates of the Caribbean happened to only have a 5 minute wait, so we rode that (again) - it is one of our favorites. Then, we went to the Winnie the Pooh ride. We hit the Jungle Cruise on our way back and ran into Peter Pan as we made our way over to Its a Small World (again) to finish out our day.



We caught the Disneyland Railroad by Small World and took it to the front entrance. We returned to the hotel, grabbed our luggage and caught our shuttle for the airport. A bit of a short day, but we've decided that 3 days is just about right for us. One day in each of the parks (generally) and one day to return to our highlights or catch something we missed. It ended up being a late night, but we were home, in our own beds and still had the weekend to recuperate. We've noticed a huge increase in attendance on the weekends and it just wasn't worth it to stay another day.

This is our first trip here without a stroller (well, since we've had Reagan and Cole). We were moving a bit slower than usual, but it was great! We felt like we were free - we didn't need to remember where it was, we didn't need to return to the previous ride, and we could take the monorail, railroad or any other mode of transportation here and not worry about leaving our stroller somewhere and having to backtrack to get it. I think we've hit a new stage - yeah!!!!

What a great trip. We'll try to go one more time before our annual passes expire. We had a fun time, the weather was awesome, the crowds weren't too bad and some of the attractions closed when we were here last time have now been opened - yippee! Thanks Mickey and Minnie - and all of our friends here - you didn't disappoint. See you next time!

Disneyland - Day 2

Day 2 - up and at 'em early. We got ready and went out to wait for the bus. As we were waiting, I mentioned that our friends in our ward, the Hoopes family, were going to be in California Adventure today and that Shannon's friend Jessica and her son were going to be at Disneyland today. "Let's keep our eyes open - maybe we will see one of the groups." The bus arrived, we got on and not two minutes later, Reagan stands up and yells "They're here!!" Yep, Shannon's friend and her family were on our bus, on our route, at the same time - crazy! Later in the day, we actually saw the Hoopes family in California Adventure. It really is a small world after all.







Since we missed out on Space Mountain yesterday, we went there first. We didn't have to wait too long and we had a great ride. Reagan was scared and apparently closed her eyes the whole time, but Cole did great. After that, we hit Star Tours. Cole was so excited and has been asking to go on it, but Steve didn't want to wait in the line. We had fast passes, but they weren't for another half hour. It didn't matter, Cole wanted to wait in line. I stayed with Cole and Steve took Reagan on Small World again. Then, we met up and it was time for our fast passes, so, we went on Star Tours again - Cole loved it! After that, we left Disneyland and went to California Adventure. We always have to go to Soarin' Over California first - its Steve's favorite ride! Later, we had lunch and walked around to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Reagan and Cole had a great time riding tires on a zip line, climbing ropes, playing in water and just having fun. We noshed on some churros (in Shannon's honor - she LOVES those) and we rode the carousel. We hit several more rides, including the ferris wheel (SO stinkin' high!) and the highlight of our day was when we saw Woody AND Buzz!



We were pretty tired, so, we decided to stop for dinner. We headed to the Grand Californian Hotel and just relaxed and cooled off in the lobby. What a beautiful hotel. We had to ride the Monorail all around the park and then head to dinner. After dinner, we returned to the hotel and hit the sack. Tomorrow is our last day.
 

Disneyland - Day 1

We've been wanting to get back to Disneyland (got to use those annual passes, you know?) since we were last there in October. We thought of Spring Break, but all of our research said Spring Break is one of the busiest times. The time from two weeks after Easter until Memorial Day is supposed to be one of the least busy times, so, we booked our trip.

We knew we had to be in town for Reagan's Spring Program and for the YW Auction (both on Tuesday), so, we booked a flight to leave at 6 am Wednesday morning. Not easy for this mama who had to clean up after the auction and come home and pack. I had to be up at 2 to get ready and then get everybody else up at 3 to get ready to leave the house at 4 to be at the airport before 5 for our 6 am flight - whew!!!! I think I got 2 1/2 hours of sleep. No matter - we're going to the happiest place on earth. We flew into Long Beach and it worked out pretty well. We were actually in the park by 9:45 am!!!

We hit Fantasyland first - of course - and rode on many of our favorites. We also saw the parade and met up with several of our character friends. Cole and Reagan were excited to ride Autopia, so, we headed over to Tomorrowland. Cole was so cute - when the guy gave him a "Driver's License", he put it right in his pocket and kept it throughout our trip. He wanted to drive so badly, but couldn't stay on the track well enough to keep us from hitting the track. We would hit on one side and then totally overcorrect by turning the wheel to the opposite side - then we would hit on the other side. He was frustrated, but laughing.



As expected, Reagan and Cole petered out about 3. You know he's tired when Cole is asking "Can we not go on another ride?" We headed back to the hotel for naps and snacks and returned to the park around dinnertime - perfect! All day, Reagan and Cole had been talking about Space Mountain. When we were here in October, they had it all decked out for Halloween - as you are on the coaster, you see ghosts, skeletons, fire, etc. After we got off the ride last time, Reagan said "Let's never go on that again." This time, we told them there wouldn't be any of those - just planets and stars and stuff, so, they wanted to give it a go. Well, the line was so long that we opted to get Fast Passes. Even still, it was over a half hour wait. We were about 10 people front the front of the line when the ride (or something) broke. We were super disappointed, but glad that we weren't on the ride when it broke.  They gave us tickets to return the next day and to come through the Fast Pass line. Oh well, it was late anyway.

We stayed a while longer and then returned to the hotel for the night. We spent all of today in Disneyland and figured we'd hit California Adventure tomorrow. What a great first day here!

YW - YM - Scouts Fundraiser

We have an amazing ward, but we are small. Or should I say our budget is small? Adding to our small numbers is the fact that many people in our ward have second homes, so, our Sac Mtg attendance (from which the budgets are awarded) can be small. As a result, we needed to have a fundraiser for the YW, the YM and the Scouts to fund their camps and other activities.







We held a dinner and auction with an Italian theme. We titled it "That's Amore!" and focussed all of our promotional materials on the Amore (or love) that the ward had for the youth and how they could help us with the fundraiser. Members and neighbors donated items or services for the auction, the Scouts sold tickets to the dinner (to the ward and neighborhood) and we auctioned off the donated items (to the ward and neighborhood). Most items were in a silent auction while the "bigger" items were by live auction.






We served bread with butter and garlic bread, salad, lasagna and a mix of cakes and cheesecakes for dessert. The youth served each of the tables and coordinated the auction. One of our former bishops served as auctioneer and he got everyone going. Some people just watched, some participated and some got crazy (yep - lookin' at you STEVE!!!). Oh well, its all for a good cause, right?

We were so grateful for the people who donated. Since this was to benefit the youth, each of the youth had to donate an item or service. Also, we had two gift certificates for the youth to come and do yard work as a combined activity. We had baked goods (our family scored Colleen's homemade scones for a big party - YUM!), quilts, crafted items, gift certificates for restaurants and movies, car washes, baby shower gifts, babysitting gift certificates, Utah football tickets (got those!!), rounds of golf, dinner at the country club (got that!), and many assorted items. The Elder's Quorum, as a group, donated 10 car washes to be done on a scheduled day - cool. We also had two separate fishing trips donated, a week in a vacation house in Hawaii (lost that!), and dinner with the Bishop and his wife ALONG with a one year respite from being asked to speak in Sac Mtg!!!!!! (lost that one too!)



I was in the kitchen most of the night, but understand that everyone had a great time. Reagan and Cole were so cute - they kept coming in and wanting to serve the guests. Cole would come back in time after time and say "Please may I have another chocolate cake - its for Brother So and So or Sister So and So?" Our dinner was well attended and well supported. We made almost $7,000!!!! Yeah!!!!! We SO appreciate the "Amore" the ward showed the youth and hope that we won't need to have another fundraiser for quite some time!