Our Disneyland Thanksgiving, Part 3

Happy Thanksgiving to us! On this day, we were the most thankful for everyone's good health. Lorelai woke up Thursday morning after recovering from her stomach bug, and she was ready to go. Also thankfully, none of the rest of us were sick for the remainder of the trip. Time for fun!

On Thanksgiving Day, we'd planned to spend most of the time in California Adventure. But since it didn't open until later in the morning, we walked over to Disneyland to hop on a couple of rides...and meet Donald Duck, my favorite "Classic Disney" character! I enjoyed his cute sweater & matching earmuffs. The girls were a little weirded out by Donald, but they took it in good humor.

Then we visited one of Disneyland's most famous (and for some, most annoying) rides...

...It's A Small World. Nathan was reluctant to go, because he was afraid that song (you know the one I mean) would be stuck in his head for the rest of the day. We were in luck, though...Small World is another ride that's altered for the holiday season! It has holiday bling added to both the exterior and interior; each room had significant additions of "winter wonderland" and "holiday spirit"-themed animatronics in addition to the usual multicultural puppets. Best of all, the music involved "that song," alternated with a handful of Christmas carols. So it wasn't too bad. The kids, I suspect, experienced a bit of sensory overload.

After that, it was California (Adventure), here we come! Our first stop was Radiator Springs...

...what, you though only boys are excited about Cars? Lorelai was thrilled to see Lightning McQueen & Mater. I'm no NASCAR fan, but I thought these mock-ups were pretty cute, creepy moving eyes & all.

After looking around the park a bit, our family split up briefly; Lorelai & I tackled Grizzly River Run, a whitewater-rafting-style water ride that was a little wet and a lot of fun (and best of all, the line was very short, so we went on it two or three times!)

After that, we joined Daddy, Celeste & Aurora, who'd been entertaining themselves at one of the hidden treasures of California: the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail! This is a forest-themed, giant-sized playground, filled with slides, rope bridges, climbing walls, and logs to climb on (and through).

Apparently, the whole trail was modeled after the movie "Brother Bear," which no one saw but WHO CARES? This place was great. It sure beat standing in long line after long line to passively experience some mechanized super-ride; you were the one actively engaging your sense & having fun. You actually get real exercise doing all the climbing/walking/crawling/sliding/etc.

The woodsy setting actually helped us feel isolated from the noisiness & crowds of the rest of the park. Best of all, there weren't many people around, so we had the run of the place! If you have young children, I highly recommend the Challenge Trail area for your little ones to "unwind" in between visiting other attractions.

Then it was on to the unofficial "main hub" of California Adventure, Paradise Pier: it's designed to look & feel like an old-timey, Coney Island-style amusement park. It was very retro & cute, and our family found lots to do here. Daddy & I each took turns going on California Screamin', the only "real" roller-coaster in either park!

As you can see, Nate enjoyed it quite a bit. I even liked it, and I'm not a big roller-coaster fan. We also visited a few of the more traditional carnival rides, such as the Silly Symphony Swings, which became Lorelai's favorite ride of the whole vacation. She was not tall enough to ride the swings alone, so Nate & I would ride with her on the tandem swings...and since the wait time for the tandem swings was practically nonexistent, we went on this ride many, many times.

...yeah, anyway, just imagine this over & over, and you have a fair approximation of what our afternoon was like.

We also ate lunch in the Paradise Pier area (sourdough bread bowls & soup, yummy!), then checked out the seagulls on the lake and caught a glimpse of Santa in the upper pier area, visiting with kids (he's sitting in the pavilion just behind that tall Christmas tree). Lorelai used this sighting as ammo in our "does Santa exist?" argument that we had later that month.

We spent much of the afternoon waiting in the long line for the Toy Story Mania! attraction. Too bad there were no FastPasses for this thing, but what can you do? It's Toy Story, and the whole family loves it, and you've gotta go. We spent part of our wait being entertained by a giant talking Mr. Potato Head, who also serenaded us on occasion...

...and when we finally made it on the rides, we ended up having a lot of fun! It's more of a "game" than a ride; the little cart shuffles you from 3D screen to 3D screen, and you use your little pop-gun to toss virtual rings, and shoot virtual darts, eggs, baseballs, etc. The controls were pretty sensitive, and you played a random set of any of a dozen games narrated by the Toy Story characters.

 Your scores were posted afterwards. Theoretically, you could play over & over again and try to top the daily score charts, but I would never want to wait in that line more than once in any given day, so we forgot about that. Still, it was fun and (almost) worth the wait. Plus, we got to pose as superhero toys nearby:

I think we were all doing our best Buzz Lightyear impersonation...with varying degrees of success.

A quick rundown of a couple of other rides/attractions we enjoyed at California Adventure:

Tower of Terror. Nate went on this free-fall, Twilight-Zone-inspired ride about 3 times, but I never got up the nerve to go. He said it was lots of fun; I'll take his word for it (free-fall rides are not my favorite)

Soarin' Over California. A fun flight-simulation ride, in which you are elevated up in the air, and then watch an IMAX-sized screen as you fly over various scenic California locales. It's surprisingly exhilirating, and maybe too "peaceful" for some adrenaline junkies, but Lorelai & I really enjoyed it.

World of Color: This is California Adventure's new evening show, and it's a pretty amazing production involving water fountains, colored lights, and projected images. It's more a tone-poem with several interlocking themes, but it's gorgeous and engaging. Two caveats: it's late at night (about 9:00 or so), so little kids may not care about it much (Lorelai liked it at first, but was mostly bored & tired by the end). Also, if you really want to go, get there early, since not all the seating is very good (like the seating we ended up with).

Some other not-so-great things:

ElecTRONica. Bwahaha! I know California Adventure caters more to the teen/adult crowd than Disneyland, but this really seemed like they were trying too hard. I guess you've got to market your new holiday sci-fi movie somehow. Crazy neon lights, talking electronic robot tracking systems, and images from the upcoming film "Tron:Legacy" were sprinkled all over the Hollywood Backlot area of the park. Also, there was a DJ and some kooky Eurotrash dancers. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Daft Punk (who scored this film), but this was all a bit much.

A Bug's Land. Meh. We only went on one ride here (the kiddee flyers shown above), and were unimpressed. Nice try, but I guess A Bug's Life didn't exactly set our imaginations on fire.

Monsters Inc. Ride. Don't get me wrong, I actually quite like Monsters, Inc., but this ride didn't really do it for me. It was nothing more than a passive ride through major scenes in the movie. It was nicely made, but too conventional. It felt like a ride that belonged in Fantasyland, not shoehorned into the far corner of California Adventure. The highlight was a talking Roz figure at the end of the ride that seemed uncannily aware of the visitors (she told the guy in front of me with a camera to "be sure to get her good side," and in the next car she referred to a young woman by her shirt color. Hmm...)

Another thing I noticed about California Adventure was that much of it was still under construction. Several parts of Paradise Pier were completely closed off, as was much of the area adjacent to A Bug's Land. Word it that these new attractions will include a Little Mermaid-themed aquarium/water ride, and a whole new section of the park devoted to the Cars films, complete with go-kart racing. Cool.

In summation, California Adventure was more fun than I expected, but I think it has a way to go before it can give Disneyland a run for its money. It's not as thematically unified, and not quite as attractive. However, you can tell it's working hard on improving its image, and I suspect that when I visit here again (in a few more years), it will be even more fun. Then again, Nate said he liked it better than Disneyland itself, so what do I know? Of course, it does have more adult-themed rides, so maybe that's why he enjoyed it more.

When we arrived back at our hotel, tired & hungry, dinner was waiting for us...

...in the form of a Mexican chicken Crock-Pot casserole! I got the idea of cooking our own meals in the hotel room from a friend, who said she'd used her Crock-Pot  on her last Disneyland vacation. Before heading to the park that morning, we threw all the ingredients into the Crock-Pot, turned it on, put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on our hotel room door, and voila! A tasty, "home-cooked" meal that was probably more cost-effective than going to that darn IHOP again. It was probably the first time I've ever had a Mexican casserole for Thanksgiving dinner, but this was a special time!! Just one more day of park-hopping to go...

Our Disneyland Thanksgiving, Part 2

Now, at long last, I renew our chronicle of the family's Disneyland vacation. Too bad our first day at the park was a mixed bag, with a few unpleasant surprises...more on that later.

As you can see by the picture above, everybody was really excited to get to the park. We are in the hotel parking lot; it only took 5-10 minutes to walk to the park entrance from our hotel room! That proved to be a great advantage. We were all still a little chilly, but all the walking helped keep us toasty. Off we went!

(NOT shown above was the small throwing-up incident that had occurred a scant half-hour BEFORE the picture was taken. It was sudden & alarming, but Lorelai seemed much better immediately after being sick. She insisted she was fine, and ready to go to the park. And after all, we'd driven so far the day before, we reasoned that it was probably the stress from traveling that had caused her to be sick. Maybe we should have been more cautious...maybe then we wouldn't have...uh, oh, I've foreshadowed too much!!)

Anyway, after a quick breakfast and a short walk, we were there at the winter-decorated front gate...

...where our first unpleasant surprise of the day awaited us. We arrived at the ticket booth to claim our park passes, complete with all forms of ID, our service vouchers from earlier in the year, etc. The ticket booth lady handed Nathan & I our Park Hopper passes...so far so good. Then we waited for Lorelai's 3-Day Park Hopper...and waited...and waited. It seems our lovely travel agency forgot to send Lorelai's information, and the resort had no record of it either. Oops. Apparently, there had been a computer glitch somewhere along the line.

Thirty-five minutes later (amidst many bored whinings from our daughters), an arrangement was finally reached. Thankfully, Disneyland (being the customer-service whizzes they are) managed to not only get Lorelai set up with all the necessary admission passes, but also sweetened the deal by giving our family one free attraction pass for each day of our stay--sort of an extra FASTPASS for each day. Nice! Thanks, Disneyland Resort (and no thanks, travel-agency-that-will-for-now-remain-nameless).

Okay, the hurdles were cleared! It was time for a long day of FUN! After all, nothing else could go wrong...right? RIGHT???

Well (for a little while at least), everything went fine! Main Street, USA, was decorated for the holidays, and it was beautiful. We all loved it (we Arizonans have a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit, so this was a big help). The kids were thrilled to see all the sights, including...

Sleeping Beauty's castle...

...and Rapunzel's tower (the movie "Tangled" actually opened in theaters while we were at the park; we didn't see it until weeks later. We didn't wait in line to visit Rapunzel anyway--that would have taken all morning!!).

We also went on a few rides. First we took a spin on the "Finding Nemo" submarines:

Daddy had to "swing" Celeste down the steep stairs; don't worry folks, she landed fine. Lorelai seemed super excited at first...

...but then, once the lights dimmed and we started moving, she started freaking out a bit. Claustrophobia, maybe? Oh well, once Nemo, Dory, and the gang appeared out the portholes, all was well again. After the submarine ride, we took a quick spin on the merry-go-round:

Next was the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster attraction. My kids were mesmerized by the life-size, animatronic Buzz who greeted us at the entrance.

Of course, I couldn't get pictures of the ride's interior, but suffice it to say that much astro-blasting occurred. For those who haven't been there, this ride is interactive; you get a little optical raygun, then use it to shoot glowing targets throughout the space-ranger-themed ride. I have no idea how my score measured up to others, but it was still pretty fun (especially for a "Toy Story" geek such as myself).

Now here's where our story gets a little sad...much of the rest of the day looked like this:

If you're thinking, "Hey, that looks like you hung out in the hotel room!" you're correct. Long story short, Lorelai's throwing up that morning was not an isolated incident; the stomach bug that had terrorized our Sahuarita friends the week before had the temerity to follow us on vacation! She continued to complain about her stomach hurting at various times throughout the morning. Finally, when we were in line for Pirates of the Caribbean, she threw up again, right in front of everyone. Poor girl! With that, Daddy scooped up his eldest daughter and carried her all the way back to the hotel in his arms. A short while later, I brought the other girls back so we could spend the afternoon with Lorelai resting & napping. We decided that it would be best for her to sleep off the stomach bug, so that hopefully she'd be completely recovered for the rest of the trip.

Insert frowny face here.

It's very sad & frustrating to have a sick child on vacation (or children--Aurora had a touch of the stomach bug as well, but it limited itself to really stinky diapers). However, Nate & I made do; one of us would stay with the kids, while the other walked back to the park and went on a few rides. Luckily, after several hours in bed, Lorelai was doing much better. She was even ready to meet up with her cousins Abby & Elaine (my sister Jocelyn & her family were in SoCal for the holidays, so we met for dinner at the IHOP for the second straight night!)

We exchanged goods (Jocelyn brought us some hand-me-down clothes; we returned the books we'd borrowed from her over the summer), wished each other a Happy Thanksgiving (tomorrow!), then put the kids to bed. Nate & I both got a chance to visit the park again late that night; I snapped a few pictures of the beautiful holiday lights.

I'm a sucker for Christmas lights...and, as it turns out, I'm a sucker for Christmas lights on fanciful castle-shaped buildings as well! The soft carols piped through the air around Main Street USA really contributed to my merry mood, despite the late hour.
Tomorrow: Thanksgiving Day, and California Adventure!!

New Year, New Resolutions...Needed: NEW BOOKS

I've made some New Years' resolutions...it only took me about a month, but I finally did it!! One of those resolutions is to be more faithful at maintaining our family blog. I SWEAR I will finish posting our Disneyland pictures by the end of the week; the holidays have made me, at varying times, both too stressed to post and too much of a slacker to do so.

I have never been the best journal-keeper. My mission journal ends abruptly, almost to the day I became senior companion. COINCIDENCE?? As a married adult, I've rarely found time to jot down my thoughts--I've always been working full-time, either as an employee or as a mom. However, this month's Visiting Teaching message (that's "spiritual thought of the month," to you followers that aren't Mormon) dealt with family history and its importance. I'll be the first to admit that I've been very lax in doing my family's history...but maybe I can take baby steps towards that goal by keeping better track of my OWN family's history, as read in this blog.

Besides, I've always wanted to be an author/writer...and if I want those writing skills to continue improving, what better way is there than by WRITING...even if it's just to document my day and my thoughts? So here goes. I'll try to post in this blog more often--at least once a week or so. They may not always be coherent, or interesting, or pretty...but hopefully they'll be real and sincere and meaningful, at least to myself & my loved ones. But don't get too turned off...life is pretty silly lots of the time, and I hope to comment on that as well.

Now, to the second part of this post...a simple question! "Read any good books lately?"

NOTE: if you're already part of my book club, you don't need to read the next part... :)

As many of you perhaps know, I am part of a local book club with several friends. I really enjoy it...it's a group of women with diverse tastes & interests, which means I get to discover & read lots of good books I may not have found on my own. However, we've been doing this a few years, and sometimes we need fresh blood and/or ideas. In one week, we'll meet to plan our reading schedule for the next several months. I have a few great books in mind, but I'm always eager to hear about others.

That's where you, my gentle readers, come in. Are any of you in a book club of your own, or are you an avid reader on your own? Have you read a book recently you really enjoyed and would recommend to others? It can be any genre, fiction or nonfiction, you name it! Just leave a comment (here or on the Facebook link) that includes the book title and author's name. I'm open to any suggestions!

Thanks for sharing the joy with me! Reading has always been one of my favorite activities, so thanks for contributing to my "habit"! Stay tuned for more updates from our family. Here's a tease: WE'RE MOVING NEXT MONTH!

Our Family Christmas Letter, 2010 Edition

We interrupt the Disneyland blogging (we'll resume recaps after the holidays, I promise!!), to bring you our family letter, that gives a general outline of our lives for the year 2010. Enjoy reading, and happy holidays to you all!

Merry Christmas!

Our family has been pretty darn busy this year. We took 2 major vacations in 2010—to Colorado/Utah in the summer, and to Disneyland at Thanksgiving; we had a blast! Also, we just found out that we will at last become homeowners; we close on a lovely home in Sahuarita at the end of January 2011! We're excited to see what lies ahead for our family. Here are some “individual” highlights from this year:

Nathan—Keeping up the good work at the Planning Department of the San Xavier Indian Reservation. In January, he finally dedicated the newly refurbished San Xavier Mission Plaza—a project he's personally overseen for several years now! His next assignment—the construction of a pedestrian bridge over the Santa Cruz River, to improve safety for the residents. Nate also serves on the Planning Commission of the Town of Sahuarita. In church, he serves as Elders' Quorum Secretary. In his spare time, he reads lots of books, plays lots of video games, serves as Dungeon Master in his newly formed RPG group, and teases/cuddles with his 3 daughters.

Adrianne—One busy mama. On January 15th, she had Baby #3—Aurora Leigh Barrett. Adrianne also participates in a weekly exercise/baby-sitting swap, a monthly book club, and various church activities (on Sundays, she plays the piano in Primary). At home, she cooks (she was especially proud of her home-canned salsa this year!); updates the new family blog; and earns a little spending money on the Internet. She also teaches piano lessons; this fall, she taught four students! Adrianne is very proud of how far they've all come, and hopes to continue teaching in the future.

Lorelai—The eager student! After a fun winter in preschool, Lorelai started kindergarten at Great Expectations Academy in the late summer—just before her 5^th birthday! In the last 6 months, Lorelai has learned to read & write better than anyone expected, and her imagination has taken off! It has been a joy to read the books she's written, and listen to her crazy stories that make us all laugh. She is quite the jokester! Lorelai also joined a Kinderchoir this fall, and she loves it as well.

Celeste—Our little diva! Celeste just turned 3 on December 13^th, and we celebrated with a “Wizard Of Oz”-themed party, after her favorite movie! Celeste has an excellent memory, and can sing songs very well after only having heard them a few times. She loves playing dress-up, “Mama,” and “princess.” She can charm her way out of many a jam, but her “terrible twos” sometimes get her right back in again! However, she is very sweet and brings so much joy to her family.

Aurora—The newest Barrett! She is a big, healthy baby, who is less giddy and more “serious” than her sisters. She loves to people-watch; to take rides in the car; to cuddle with Mama & Daddy; and to follow her big sisters around—she idolizes them! She has beautiful blue eyes, blond hair, and a big smile that lights up the room!

We hope this, the end of 2010, finds you all happy, healthy and prosperous. May the Lord bless you & keep you in the upcoming year!!

Our Disneyland Thanksgiving, Part 1

Some people travel to Disneyland several times a year; we are not those people. Before marrying Nate, I'd only been to Disneyland once--when I was 1 year old (just guess how much of it I remember). Nate & I went together in 2003; despite having some reservations, I LOVED our time there, as my inner kid awakened. We vowed to return again someday with our own children.

Flash-forward to 2010. The time is right for another trip. We've got 3 kids now (and the oldest will remember the trip); we recently bought a new minivan, to make the drive more comfortable; we only have to pay for one child (Celeste's 3rd birthday was 3 weeks away--ha!); and, Nathan and I had each performed some community service earlier in the year that gave us a FREE one-day voucher to the park for any day in 2010. Yay!

In other words...we'd be able to do this Disneyland vacation on the cheap...at least, "cheap" by Disneyland standards, which is still pretty pricey. Nevertheless, we felt ready! We planned to visit the park at Thanksgiving, to have a change-of-pace holiday, and to enjoy the decorations & holiday-themed events the resort was known for.

 On Tuesday, November 23, off we went!! We spent most of the day driving (luckily, it's only about an 8-hour drive). And, seeing as how we have 3 young kids, MANY potty breaks were taken. One of those potty breaks, by odd coincidence, occured right next to the General George S. Patton Memorial Museum. I'm not a big "war" person, but hey--think of it as our late observance of Veterans' Day! Besides, look at this baby...

...the one BEHIND me, that is, not the one in my arm. This tank and at least a dozen others were parked around the museum; we didn't pay to enter, but we got a nice little look through the fence, satisfied our American lust for large weaponry, and stretched our legs all at the same time!

There were also several Memorial Walls outside the museum as well; a "West Coast Vietnam Wall," as well as the one pictured above, which commemorated the men & women who have given their lives fighting in Iraq & Afghanistan.

After this brief detour, we headed out again. On to Anaheim--and Southern CA traffic, yuck. At last we made it to our hotel room...

...where we unpacked our coats; it was time to go on a walk & stretch those legs! Lorelai and Celeste also danced along to some music on TV, to get their wiggles out.

We stayed at the Anaheim Del Sol Inn, which is just a short walk away (1/4 of a mile or so) from the park entrance. It was GREAT to be so close to the park; it made coming and going pretty easy (which would prove important the next day, as it turned out)...

We took out our stroller and walked everyone to Downtown Disney--basically an open-air mall featuring many upscale shops (often with a Disneyland theme; the World of Disney store in particular was a huge behemoth that took up a whole building). It was chilly and rainy; however, while our hats were damp, our spirits were high. Lights were on all the trees, Christmas music was playing, and the air smelled strongly of caramel popcorn...mmm.

One of the stores we visited was a huge LEGO store, which had a lot of giant sculptures throughout--including this cool Woody statue made entirely from Legos!

We also watched through the window of a candy store for a while, and saw cute little custom cupcakes being made; they were shaped like Mickey Mouse snowmen! (sorry I didn't get a picture).

Now that our legs were stretched, it was time for dinner!

We ate at the IHOP right across Harbor Blvd. from the Disneyland Resort entrance. This IHOP proudly proclaims that "KIDS EAT FREE" every night. Of course, they can afford that because every entree is at least $15! Yikes! Oh, well...we were too beat to look for anything else. At least Aurora was still in good spirits. We ate, then headed back to the hotel to get ready for bed. We were so excited to see Disneyland the next day, it was hard to get to sleep!