Blasted!

We went to Disneyland for the first time since being blocked out for the summer, last Thursday. We had a great time. It wasn't very crowded at all. It probably helped that a lot of people were waiting for and watching the parade.

Anyway, one of the last things we did that night was go on the Astro Blaster ride. Anna was kicking my butt with an early lead by hitting the sweet spot on Zurg a couple more times than I did. I had a lot of catching up to do. Anna was pretty confident that her lead would last. Right as we were about to exit the shooting area with the last large Zurg, the ride stopped. Guns were still firing away like crazy. I locked onto a high scoring shape and repeatedly fired on it. Anna was shooting as often as I was... I could only hope that I was doing it faster. As the ride began again, and we are now finished on the ride, I looked at my score... It was the highest score I've ever gotten... 933,800! NICE! I asked Anna what her score was, and it was in the 700,000 somewhere (she doesn't remember exactly). She saw my score and was amazed... I was certainly going to be emailing myself the ride photo from this ride, so I could have a record of this huge score, and I did so. I even had Anna's picture sent to my email.

The next morning I opened the Astro Blaster emails and saved them to a picture file... but something wasn't right... I looked at them a little longer... then I realised... NO SCORES!?!?

What the.... ! How?... Why?... Buuuuummer! So Lame!

So yeah, no pictorial record of my super high score. But, Anna saw it, so I do have an eye witness. I'll have to try it again next time we go.

We had a very fun time at Disneyland. One thing we did differently was, I took the 3 oldest on Big Thunder Mountain with me (Tegan's not tall enough). They were a little nervous, but went anyway. We practically walked right on the ride. When we were done, they all wanted to do it again, so Anna took them all again, and I stayed and played with Tegan.

Good times.

friday flashback 08.27.10

Wow, it's been a while since I've looked for a picture to put here for friday's flashback. Came across this one in the hunt. It actually doesn't look that old, but it's from late February, 2009. So about a year and a half ago.

Looks like we're having fun.

The other reason I probably chose it is because it feels like it's been sooooo long since we were at Disneyland and Ca. Adv. I really wanted to take the kids this week, but there were enough good reasons not to, that I didn't. The biggest reason was, it was just too dang HOT! I wasn't in the mood to have to deal with all that would come with the heat and the kids combined. I wanted to go on Wednesday when Kelly and Danny and other family members were going, that way I would have help with the kids, since Anna's already back in school, but Duncan had cub scouts that night, and they were playing water games, and Duncan REALLY didn't want to miss it. So anyway, I chose the easy route and just stayed home with the kids. Hopefully we can go next week sometime.

things and stuff

Here are some recent things and stuff...


Here's a picture of my Father's Day breakfast. SOOOO good! Two different kinds of sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs with cheese- perfect!


Anna made some chocolate frosted brownies. As you can see, Tegan enjoyed hers very much. Tegan has been potty-training the last couple weeks. She's doing pretty well. Staying drier each day, etc. It's going to be REALLY nice to be done with diapers!... Seriously, just as I finished typing those sentences... Tegan pees her pants *sigh*.

I needed to pick up some shirts in Fullerton on Tuesday, so since I would be going all the way down there, we made a small detour to Disneyland. The boys were at school, so Anna and I just had the girls with us. We stayed about two and a half hours. It was pretty busy. We're now officially blocked out till the end of August. Love this picture of the girls on the carousel.

Our last stop at Disneyland was the Tiki Room.

The boys' school had their awards assembly this morning. They have one of these each time they go off track and at the end of the school year. Liam got an award for his skills in math. He was promised an award by his teacher loooong ago. This was her making good on that promise. Still, he was very excited to get an award.

Some of the many things going on at our house these days. As busy as we seem to be, I'm sure that in a few years, we'll look back at these days and think we had it so easy back then.

Escape to Disneyland

On Monday, Anna and I were able to sneak away to Disneyland for the day. Well, maybe we didn't sneak, we had some help in making it possible (Thanks Bonnie!).

We've never gone to Disneyland together in the summer months before. We are usually able to go, just the two of us, in December, when we spend the day for our anniversary. But we took some liberties with our family schedule, and spent a warm day with Mickey and friends.

Anna took this shot for a specific reason. Can you figure it out? (it was a bit random)


One of the first things we did was get in line for tickets to see the new water show at Ca. Adventure. The line went through the Grizzly Bear rapids, where we found this sign... How could Anna resist?!

Our wind blown mugs on the Screamin' ride. Yes, I'm doing a rock and roll sneer.

Hello cleavage... Oh, and there we are in the back. Anna was blocked by a hand, and now I'm going with the rock and roll tongue and devil horns (which are hard to see, but they're there).

We didn't take a huge amount of pictures. We had a lot of fun walking around, going on rides together, and eating. We had lunch across the street at IHOP. We brought some coupons. We used one, and Anna passed some out to others sitting around us. I said she's the "Robin Hood of coupons". We had a big lunch so we didn't have to eat dinner inside the park. But we did have a treat here and there...

We found this 6 mini cupcake sampler pack at the sweets shop next to the Pooh ride. It looked soooo yummy...

But I have recently rededicated myself to losing weight, and watching what I eat. No cupcakes for me...

More for Anna!!

Actually, I did take a small nibble on each of them, and Anna suffered through eating the rest of each one... the poor thing.

We had a great time. It went by WAY too fast. But that's the joy of having passes... we can come back again (almost) when ever we want.

Good times.

Disneyland with cousins

We went to Disneyland last week and met up with Kevin, Dawn, Hunter, Aidan, Ethan, Luis, Kim and Isaac. They were there for the whole day. We met up with them when we got there at about 5pm.

Here are some pictures from that trip...

"Wave good bye to the beautiful people on the dock... now wave to the ugly ones!..."


Almost everyone went on the Matterhorn- even Tegan! Yep, she's tall enough... when did that happen?! Here's before...

Here's after... Tegan looks like she's still deciding if she liked it or not.

Everyone else getting off the Matterhorn.

Regrouping, and snacking between rides.

It was a good time at the Disneyland. We only have a few more days available before we're blocked out for the summer. Hopefully we'll be able to go at least once more as a family. It would be awesome to be able to go for a date night with Anna, but getting babysitting during week days is tough. We'll see.

Disney Day

Yesterday we had a chance to run out to Disneyland for most of the day. How did we get to do that? Well, Anna had a jury duty summons. She tried calling the night before, but could never get through. She made substitute plans and went in on Wednesday morning. Once there, she was excused (along with everyone else for that day) because the phones were down the day before. So...

Instead of going back to school, we went to Disneyland!

California has an F, and so does Foutz...



L is for Liam.

Having lunch in the plaza/quad of Ca. Ad.

Lucky day! Santa was there!

Duncan made sure to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. It was important for him to know.

Mission accomplished!

Tegan is learning to sign "I Love You".

We checked to see if Liam was tall enough to go on California Screamin', and he BARELY makes the height requirement. He was a little nervous about it, but once it was over, he said it was awesome!

Another first! Tegan was tall enough to go on the roller coaster in Toon Town! No more baby swapping for that ride! She was a bit nervous at first but she was beaming with happiness when it was done. We even went twice.

We decided to get Duncan a birthday button because this was probably the last time the kids would be at Disneyland this year, and it was his Birthday month.

Once you have your birthday button, you have to go to the tortilla factory and get your pack of fresh tortillas. Turns out kids only get a pack of 3. Lame.

We went twice.

We had a fun day. Anna said it was her best jury duty ever. The crowds weren't bad at all. It did get pretty cold though. Good times.

way more fun

We went to Disneyland last night. We got to the entrance plaza at about 5:45pm. There were no lines at the gate to get into Disneyland. That was a good sign. We walked in, and it felt like we were there during a "special" time, as if it wasn't open to the public. Tons of room to walk around.

Anna was so amazed by it that she took this picture in hopes it would show how empty it was.


We planned on going on Buzz Lightyear first since we haven't been on that ride for so long. The entrance said 5 minutes, but our wait was probably less. After I schooled Anna and the kids on Buzz, I took Duncan, Liam and Jennan on Star Tours. Anna took Tegan on the rocket ride. The wait for Star Tours was probably 8 minutes. Here's a picture of Tegan in line.

Once the 3 older kids and I were done, Anna took them all on the rocket ride. She had to do it in 2 shifts. First she took the girls.

Then she took the boys. The rockets are way too spinny for me.

Jennan put in a request for the carousel early on, so we made sure to make it over there. We walked right on. Not that there's usually a long wait for it on a busy day either, but it was very easy to sit the kids all together.

We made our way to Pirates, where we walked right on. No one in line in front of us, in fact the boat in front of us was empty. There were a handful of people behind us as we walked on, so we didn't get a boat all to ourselves, but we were in the front, so it didn't matter.

Anna took this shot right as we went down a "waterfall" on Pirates. Jennan's expression is awesome. That's a kid having fun.

Then we walked over to the Haunted Mansion where there was no line at all. It was crazy to see the wait time as 3 minutes. We didn't think they put anything under 5 minutes. We walked right on, they didn't have to pack us in with the other people for us to fit. So nice.

Not pictured is our stop at the wishing well. It was so nice to have the room to walk, and not have to keep the pace of the rushing crowd. We could walk at a leisurely pace, and still make it onto what ever rides we wanted. This was one of those off-season visits that make having the passes so worth it. Not sure we'll have another visit like that in a while with the Christmas decorations coming up later next week. I'm sure it'll get kind of busy again.

Fun stuff.

what a day

Duncan was kept home from school with a slight fever he started on Friday, but he seemed to be doing pretty well. Anna had a meeting that took her out of the regular classroom for the day, and she was done and home before noon. We knew that Mindy and Carter were in town to visit Disneyland, and contemplated whether or not we should go, mostly due to Duncan being a little sick still, and probably taking Liam out of school early to have a couple more hours at Disneyland than we usually get.

Anna talked to Duncan about how he felt, and if he thought he would be ok if we went to Disneyland. He thought he would be ok, so we decided to go. We began getting ready.

One of the things we needed to take was medicine, in case Duncan's fever kicked up again, and we were very low, so Anna ran to Walmart to get more. While there, she decided to look down the costume isle just in case there was a medium size Mario costume. In case you didn't know, Duncan really wants to be Mario for Halloween (Liam will be Luigi), and we haven't been able to find one for weeks. Anna even almost was willing to pay $30+ for one online. Low and behold! There was a medium Mario costume right on the end! That's a relief. So, no matter what else happened this day... it would be ok because we had a Mario costume for Duncan.

We were packed up and on our way. We got Liam from school with out any problems. We picked up a tshirt order in Fullerton. And made our way to Disneyland.


Here's a picture of the kids hiding from me as I emerged from the restroom. They play this hiding game every time as we each take a turn using the restrooms at the tram depot.



We went into California Adventure first. We enjoyed the rides there. Here's a picture of Liam and Jennan while we were on the ferris wheel. This time we chose to go in a sliding gondola rather than a stationary one. The kids thought it was fun, but my equilibrium could barely handle it. I was uncomfortable during a lot of this ride. I wish I didn't have that problem, and I'm sure it'll get worse the older I get. Not looking forward to that.


Of course, after the ferris wheel, Duncan and I went on California Screamin'. We had picked up a handful of fast passes for it so Anna and I could both go on it with Duncan, he really likes that ride now. I ended up being first to take Duncan. I was not even close to being recovered from the swinging gondola, but it was my duty to go with Duncan so I sucked it up. That ride is not as fun when you're feeling dizzy. I was glad when it was over. Duncan had a blast.

While we were doing that, Anna took the other kids on the carousel right next door. Normally, I would take them for another turn on the carousel, but today... Nooooo way. We went and sat down to watch the take-off for the Ca. Screamin' ride, and ate our dinner till Mom and Duncan came back.

After these, we made our way over toward the entrance where we could meet up with my parents, and Mindy and Carter and some of Mindy's family. Carter is one cute kid. He looked at me a few times with this kind of "you sort of look like my dad, but you're not" look on his face. It was nice to see them. It had been a while. Shortly after meeting up, all but our family headed off to dinner in Disneyland, and we headed off to Disneyland too.

The main lost and found is right next to the entrances of Ca. Adv., and we were right there, so Anna checked the lost and found to see if our diaper bag got turned in. There were other people looking for items they lost as well. Once it was Anna's turn, she gave the description, and TA-DA, the clerk brought it out! The diapers, wipes, and medical cards, and fruit snacks were all gone, but there were hair clips, a pen, toy cars, chapstick, all still in it. First the Mario costume, and now the diaper bag. What a day.

Once inside Disneyland, we went on the Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, saw our family at Cafe Orleans, Pirates, saw Fantasmic and the fireworks. At one point, we had parked the stroller and walked to some of those rides and then came back to the stroller. When we came back, there were two girls, probably 9-11 years old, sitting in our stroller as their dad talks on his cell phone right next to them. The girls saw us coming, and as they see me seeing them, they hop right out. I shook my head at them. I think they felt uncomfortable about getting caught, but their dad was oblivious to the whole thing. Who ever they were meeting showed up soon after that, and they left. Luckily, there was nothing wrong with the stroller.

It was crowded yesterday, but not crazy crowded. It was a nice trip.

jacked!

And I'm not referring to an encounter with Mr. Skellington.


We finally got a chance to slip away to Disneyland yesterday. We haven't been back since the Fantasmic incident. Partly due to taking a break from D-land, but then we just couldn't make it work schedule wise.

We headed straight for the Haunted Mansion Holiday ride to see the Nightmare Before Christmas crew. It was about a 25 minute wait. Not that great, but not too horrible either. From there we headed over to the Winnie the Pooh ride since we were pretty close to it.

Here's the only picture we have from our visit. And oh boy, it's a keeper!

Fun ride. We got back to the stroller, and the kids wanted a drink, so I dug out some apple juice drink boxes from the stroller basket, and realised that the diaper bag was gone! It was hanging from the handle and would sit right at the opening of the basket. LAME! As Anna and I quickly discuss it, Duncan becomes aware of the theft and almost gets emotional about the bag being gone. We explained that sometimes these things happen, and so on.

Luckily, there wasn't anything too important in there. Really, it was diapers and wipes, a handful of fruit snacks, a couple small toys, A&D, tissue, nothing worth stealing. The kids' Kaiser cards and immunization records were in there, but Anna says those aren't that big a deal. As we made our way to the Pirates ride, I noticed a fruit snack on the floor like the ones we have, and upon inspection from Anna, it was unopened. It probably fell out as they looked through the bag. Knowing it was a waste of the theft's time, we hoped they would ditch the bag somewhere findable, like a restroom, or along the walk way. Maybe a cast member would find it and turn it in to Lost and Found. We didn't stress over finding it, but we did look as we walked, and did check restrooms we happened to pass. Before we left, we did check out Lost and Found, but there were no bags fitting our description. They hold items for 2 weeks, so we'll go back and check again, just in case.

We did stop to watch the fireworks show. It was pretty good. We also made our way to Small World after the fireworks since 80% of the people in the park were headed out and we didn't need to be a part of that. The line was a little long, but not for us...

Actually, when we first got into Disneyland, Anna took Liam over to the City Hall to see about getting a pass for special needs kids. We decided to try it out. We would only use it for really long lines and when the kids are a bit restless. I took the rest of the kids with me to the Haunted Mansion and got in line. Anna used the pass to meet us at the entrance to the ride, and then we used it to get on Small World. It was about a 2 minute wait as opposed to a 20 minute wait. It was quite nice actually.

So yeah, first time back since our last poor experience, and jacked during this visit... what the heck?!

We may go back as early as tomorrow (I have a shirt order that needs picked up in Fullerton), or next week, Monday or Wednesday.

No Longer Blocked

We were finally able to return back to Disneyland on Monday, after being blocked our the bulk of summer! It was also cool because we'd be able to spend most of the day there instead of having to rush there after work or school.

One of the main objectives during this trip was to get Duncan on the California Screamin' ride for the first time. Somehow, Anna had planted that seed in Duncan's head, that he should do on that ride. A day or two before we went, Duncan came to me about the ride, and I asked him shy he was scared, and he said he didn't want to fall out. I explained, in detail, the safety harness, and that there was no way for him to fall out... the only thing he can do on that ride is have fun. That seemed to help quite a bit, and I think he was actually looking forward to it.

Anna took him on first. She said he was nervous, but he didn't drag him feet or chicken out. Though he did keep his eyes closed most of the time, and his head down too.

In the mean time, I took the rest of the kids on the King Triton Carousel. While we waited for the ride to start, Liam was asked if he wanted a crown to wear. He accepted, and was announced as one of the royalty joining us on our ride. Very Fun. I adjusted it to fit his head better, and he wore it all day!

After Duncan and Anna's ride, and then ours was done- Anna and I switched. I went with Duncan on Ca. Screamin' and Anna took the kids on the carousel. Duncan had a great time on that ride.

Since we had more time, we stopped by the Brother Bear outdoor area place and let the kids slide and climb for a while.

Liam and Duncan were tall enough to do the zip line swing, and had a great time dong that.

We made our way to Disneyland, took fewer pictures (I don't know why that always seems to be the case). Here's Tegan playing on the slide in Goofy's house play area. Duncan and I had a fun game of hide-and-seek going. Anna tried taking a picture of that, but it didn't turn out.

Duncan really wanted to go into the Innoventions building in Tomorrow Land, so we did. One of the cool things we did was play chess on this table top touch screen computer. There are tons of video games on the second floor, so the boys could easily spend hours in there if we let them.

One of the last things we did was go on Pirates. Liam was holding on to his hat and glasses for the "waterfalls".

It was pretty crowded, but not unmanageable. We knew we'd probably be coming back Wednesday so we could spend the bulk of the day there too, so we didn't stress about not doing rides or what ever.

It's nice to have Disneyland as a family activity option again.