Musically Inclined

Our Savannah is starting violin!

Disneyland 2009 (cont)

What a great family vacation. I can't imagine going this in the middle of summer with the heat and the huge crowds. Waiting in line for 2 hours is not my thing. The longest wait time we had was 35 minutes for the Finding Nemo ride and Toy Story Mania. Most other rides we walked right on (without the FastPass). We did find that this trip was a little more crowded than all the other September's we've gone. I think people are catching on and not worrying about taking kids out of school. Savannah alone did 3 hours of homework BEFORE we even left and they also did some every night in the hotel. For a change of plans we researched the Orange County bus system and found a route that picked us up right in front of Disneyland and dropped us off right in front of Old Spaghetti Factory in Fullerton. OSF was a staple of ours when living in UT. Kansas City used to have one about 11 years ago (the sign is still on the building downtown) but not sure why they closed up. The closest one to us now is in St Louis so that is a must every time we go to the temple. We always save our shopping to the last day and just spend the evening in Downtown Disney (mostly at World of Disney). Needless to say the girls were given their budget and Haylie's way of doing things was putting everything in her basket that she liked then going over with me what items she could get within her budget. Funny girl! We've always gone during the off-peak season except for one October when I wanted to see it all decked out for Halloween - that was a bit crowded too. My last goal is to go just one time during Christmas (which I know will be extremely crowded) to see the park all decorated for the holidays before the girls are off to college. The nightly Celebration Parade was great. So many colors and lights!

 

Close up of our family brick.

 

Just a couple of snapshots.

 

Disneyland 2009

So, we took our 12th trip to Disneyland. Had an awesome time with just hubby and girls. We arrived Sunday afternoon and spent the rest of the day there. This was the last day that Disney stayed open to 11p. Since this is an annual thing we decided to purchase a family brick that is outside the park in what they call the Walk of Magical Memories. We purchased ours in 2005 during the special 50th Anniversary. Got to have the typical picture from Main St. with the castle in the background. We only went through Toon Town once as it isn't one of our favorite points in the park. Love this picture we got with Mickey.

 

No, we don't belong to the esteemed Club 33 (although it would be awesome). For those of you who don't know about it, it is a very elite club limited to 487 member. The waiting period is now 14 years long and as of 2001 the membership fee was $7500 per person. We didn't want to pay the price for a disney picture. Don't you love the picture of the picture at Splash Mountain? The girls love the tea cups.

 

The next day we spent at California Adventure. The girls did the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Mike and I rode Grizzly River Run once and got a little wet so we didn't want to push our luck. The girls wanted to go again by themselves. Mulholland Madness is lots of fun. Had to get a picture of all the new construction going on where the lake used to be. They are putting in a big water show kind of like Illuminations at WDW. I was just amazed with how much detail there is to it.

 

Paradise Pier is always fun. I think my favorite ride is Toy Story Mania. This was Haylie's first time on California Screamin' and she LOVED it. They are getting a little big for Bugs Land but they did all the rides there. The Pixar Parade was real cute but we wish they still had The Electric Light Parade.

 

We Remembered

Both my girls have belonged to the Cedar Creek Community Service Club ever since going to this school. Our first service of the year was to show our appreciation for the fire/police departments and to remember their contribution on 9/11. This group of kids walked from school down to the fire station with flags flying high. We sang the National Anthem at the flag outside then had a minute of silence. They then went inside to present the department with a huge italian dinner for them to enjoy. What a great thing our children can accomplish!

 

Cedar Creek Walk-A-Thon

For the past couple of years our elementary school has done a walk-a-thon to raise money. This replaces all the annoying fundraisers like wrapping paper, cookie dough, etc. All you moms know what I'm talking about. So instead of sending the kiddos door to door selling; they walked to earn their money. The school wanted to raise $25,000 but came just a tad short this year. Last year they raised over that amount. For each lap they did they were given a mark which in turn gave them a ticket for each mark to put into a give-away basket of their choice. Some of the basket themes were sports, arts/crafts, girlie girl, family game night and so on. There were some really neat things that were donated.

 

Savannah was able to do 13 laps.

 

Haylie did 15 laps.

What A Trip!!

We were lucky enough to get tickets to the BYU/OU game in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium this last weekend. It is just an 8 hour drive from our home so it is a fun little jaunt. We had a total blast and the fact that BYU won made it all the more worthwhile. Our hotel was in Ft Worth so Saturday we went over to the Stockyards again to see the Texas Longhorns out for their morning walk. Their horns are just huge. The Stockyards also have a bunch of fun little shops and dining options.

 

Next we drove over to Dallas. We wanted to go see the Dallas LDS Temple and they had a fun museum called the Dallas Heritage Park. Had a bunch of old buildings from sometime in the 1800's. I just loved the darling little lilac home with the wrap-around porch. Its kind of like a glorified Pioneer Village. Mike and I thought it would be awesome to turn the whole village into a haunted house for Halloween.

 

And finally, the reason for the entire trip. This game was freakin' cool. I am a true-blue Aggie fan but I have to admit I was stoked that the Y actually pulled it off. It was such an awesome experience to be there.

 

Some facts about the stadium: 1. It has the largest domed roof in the world. 2. The center video board is 90 ft over the field and runs from 20-yard line to 20-yard line. It is 72 ft by 160 ft. 3. There are a total of 10 separate levels in the stadium. 4. It is the largest enclosed stadium in the NFL. 5. The Statue of Liberty could stand on the star in the middle of the field and the roof could close and never touch her flame.

JACKPOT!

Now I normally run all errands for the week on Fridays. But because we are headed down to Dallas tomorrow for the BYU/Oklahoma game that isn't going to be possible. So I'm doing my stuff at WalMart and I ALWAYS buy the store brand of whatever I need before name brand stuff but this was a deal I couldn't pass up. I don't know if this is a Thursday thing at WalMart or if I just lucked out. But I was in the cheese section and all of the sudden this associate starts bringing out all these carts with stuff on them for either $0.50 or $1.00. Several people just rushed to the carts and started piling stuff in. What I added to my cart was this. Cottonelle Toilet Paper 20 roll for $1.00. Original price: $10.00 Sparkle Paper Towels 6 roll for $1.00. Original price: 5.97. Cascade Dishwasher Powder 5 lbs for $1.00. Original price: 5.97. Maybe I should switch to Thursdays.