The Dream Day at Disney

aka The Best Day Ever.

If you know the Spongebob song, then you know the chorus the boys and I were singing the entire day at Disneyland. If you don't know the song, you can listen to it here (I recommend it so you get the full affect).


Me, Joshua and Elijah in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle


So Jesse is a musician, and he got us these special tickets to Disneyland. The five us went (me, E, J, Dawn, and Jesse), and met Eric, Dawn and Jesse's friend, there. We had valet parking right at the hotel which literally is adjacent to Disneyland. We had our own Escort, Kelly. Kelly walked us around the entire park, so there was really no need for a map. However, we got a map because Elijah does love maps so.

Sounds good so far, right? Well, going around the park with an Escort means you go to the front of every single line, regardless of the ride, the wait, etc. It felt slightly absurd at first, but we soon fell into the routine. We didn't shove people aside; rather we entered the rides from the exits. So most people didn't realize we were going directly to the front of each line.

I must say that not waiting in any lines is the absolutely BEST way to experience Disneyland. I have never been before, but I'm sure I would agree to that statement even if I had been before (I've been to Disneyworld and of course other amusement parks so I can attest that the no-wait rocks).

I'm so proud of my boys. They rode rides I never would have imagined such as Indiana Jones (helps that they didn't know what they were getting into on that one), the Materhorn, Space Mountain, and Joshua even rode Tower of Terror. They were well-behaved and didn't complain about anything. Again, not waiting in lines on a hot day surely helps that.

Jesse was beyond generous. He paid for everything except my kids' pirate chest full of toys which they chose as their souvenirs. This includes a snack, lunch, dinner, lots of water, and sillouettes.

I feel so happy just remembering that day. I have always wanted to see Sleeping Beauty's castle. I was almost 29 years old when I first went to Disneyworld. I was practically running to the castle as David pushed Elijah in the stroller and tried to keep up. I was so disappointed when I arrived to find not only is it a big shop but they did not sell Sleeping Beauty stuff at Disneyworld. I stood there, a 29-year-old kid, feeling ripped off and that my dream of the castle was a big fake-out.

Well, Sleeping Beauty's castle is also a big store full of stuff...Sleeping Beauty stuff. I ooohed and ahhhed as we walked through. I didn't stop or even want to stop and buy any of it. It would have ruined the experience for me.

To save you from a play-by-play of our day, I'll just list the rides we in sort of the order we rode them. I can say that we skipped a 2-hour line at the Nemo Submarine ride. The Indiana Jones line was fairly long, too.

Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion, Sailing Ship Columbia, Peter Pan, Pinnochio, Dumbo, Teacups (blech, not me), Story Book Land Canal Boats, It's a Small World, Roger Rabbit, Matterhorn, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Star Tours, Space Mountain, Souring over California (California Adventure Park), and Tower of Terror (Cali Adeventure Park).

We ate dinner at Blue Bayou, which was really yummy.

It's taken me days to get this blog written, so this is it. I can't express really what a fantastic day it was. Just think of those rare days when everything goes just right. No one is sad or mad or sick or fussy. The weather is lovely. The company is lovely. The food is good. It was one of those days.

Elijah and Dawn on the Matterhorn.



Jesse, Joshua and Dawn on Dumbo.



Joshua and Jessica at dinner at Blue Bayou



Jessica, Elijah, Jesse, Dawn, Eric, and Joshua in front on the Golden Gate Bridge in California Adventure Park.

Surfin' and Runnin' Cali-style

8/27 Update: Added photos. :o)

Friday was a fun day in California for my boys. The boys and I rented bikes and biked along the beach between Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier. We had planned to stay at Venice beach to swim and hang out, but Dawn wanted to take us to another beach where she knew her surfing friend would be.

So we head out to that beach, which really was just down the way from Venice Beach. In fact, it might be considered part of Venice Beach. We spread the blanket out, and Dawn goes looking for her friend. Two minutes later, Newt is swinging Dawn around in his arms so happy to see her. Newt is dressed in a short wetsuit unzipped so the torso part is hanging. He's tanned to the max. His hair is shoulder-length golden from the sun. His eyes are sparkling green-blue with red from the salt water.

Dawn's other friend, Crash, is there also. He is just as thrilled to see Dawn. He has long bleach-blond hair and a tan that almost rivals Newt's. Dawn points out her two little cousins, Elijah and Joshua.

Newt and Crash work as surfing teachers. People generally pay for lessons from them, and I have no idea what the going rate is because we didn't pay. Dawn is definitely The Maker of Dreams Come True. It seems as though my boys just need ask, and Dawn made it happen (she has some really good connections).

So, my boys get a few minutes of lessons on the sand to practice the "Pop Up," and then it's into the water. My original plan was to run while they swam in the surf, but now they are the surf. I couldn't let this happen without me there and without photos. Joshua is the first to ride his board...stays on his belly. Elijah goes next on his belly. They both seems to enjoy it.

Elijah is a good student. He will do just what his instructor tells him to do. So on his very next attempt, Crash tells Elijah to stand up. So what does Elijah do? He pops ups and "surfs" for about 2 seconds before crashing into the wave. He gets choked up and looks fairly scared as he spits water out. He doesn't want to surf anymore. He's done it. He stood up. There is no need for him to go again.







Joshua spends the next 20-30 minutes with Newt in the water. He stands on his board many times and crashes many times. Newt was a great teacher - very patient and understanding. Turns out he learned to surf just a few months ago as he is a recent LA transplant from Nashville. I never would have known if Dawn hadn't told me.















After watching them surf, it's run time for me. I ran south along the boardwalk. It was 3:00pm, and the weather was so pleasant. I felt really strong running, and I am sure that is due to the Texas-spring-like temps and low humidity. It might also be due to the lovely scenery. It's not often one runs along the Pacific Ocean. I don't know how far I ran. I just ran 15 minutes down and turned back, but I ran faster coming back. I tried to slow down near the end to make sure I did at least 30 minutes. I think my final time was 29 and change.

That evening, we headed back to Jesse's house to find him waiting for us. He'd arrived from NYC while we were at the beach. Jesse and Dawn went to pick up our delicious dinner of grilled chicken, grilled veggies, and salad. Jesse entertained my kids by teaching both of them (but mostly Joshua) to skateboard. He kindly listen to Elijah play a song on the piano. He patiently listened to both of them play the singing bowls. It's not hard to understand why my boys think Jesse is "awesome" and "really nice."

Dawn had been wanting us to hike where she hikes at least 3 times/week - Runyon Canyon. We packed up the car (the boys, dawn, and I were staying at her apartment the rest of the trip). We head out (sans Jesse) to the canyon and hit tons of traffic. Elijah and Joshua fall asleep. We realize there is no hope of hiking as the sun is setting. We never did get to see her canyon or hike on this trip. It will be something we do next time, I'm sure.

Stay tuned for Saturday...The Best Disney Day Ever. This really was a trip of "ask and ye shall receive." My boys and I wanted Disneyland, and Dawn delivered. She won't take the credit because Jesse rightfully does deserve the Disneyland credit. However, if Dawn didn't take us to California in the first place...

Spring Creek & Driving to Cali

I forgot to write last night about my Monday workout. We did Spring Creek. I was very exhausted from traveling and the time difference and staying up late in Cali (which is ridiculously late in Texas), so I'm happy that I even went to class. I would normally warm up from Runtex, but "Not today, Zurg."

I was a little late due to chatting (no!?) with Elijah's piano teacher. I honked and got Guy and Kerri's attention, so I warmed up with them. If you ever want delicious scones or coffee or cinnamon rolls, ask Guy and Kerri to bring you some from Coffee Dog (that's their Coffee shop in Bastrop).

I was looking for my friend, Sarah, when we arrived at the hill. I didn't see her, and Gilbert asked where she was. So after a call with no answer, I ran back down to the parking lot on Robert E. Lee (the most asked location on the Gazelle forum, btw). No Sarah, so back up I go. I counted the doubled warm-up the hill as 2 Spring Creek hills. Hey, I'm recovering from vacation, so it counts.

So, at the hill I do 3 forward and 1 backward. My family had shown up, and David went off to do his pace run. Joshua loves running, so he was doing hills in his crocs. Elijah and Emma were serving water and Accelerade - so sweet. I only did 1 backward because Joshua fell pretty hard coming down the hill. I blame the crocs, but he might have fallen in running shoes as well. He's such a boy b/c he wanted to cry but didn't cry. It was a hard fall, too.

I had asked David to take the van to the parking lot, so could cool down. I knew it would just be a walk since I had the boys. Now I was wishing the van was right there still after Joshua's fall. But with a little water on the wounds, he was good to walk the half-mile to the car.

Not bad for my first day back from vacation.

Okay...part 1 of our trip: Driving.

We left Austin at 3pm Monday and drove for a long, long time. Stopped in Ft. Stockton at a Dairy Queen for a bit of dinner. We drove for as long as we could take it. The boys couldn't sleep well, and so around 1am MT, they were looking out the window for meteors from the meteor shower. I saw a couple, and the boys some some as well. Dawn was mad b/c she couldn't look out for them as she was driving.

We stopped in Lordsburg, NM at a motel (roach included for free). I think it was 3am MT? I woke at 8am, and by 10am we were on our way. We stopped in Tuscon for a very late breakfast, and drove on until finally we were in California! Celebration!

I really wanted to stop at the Joshua Tree NP, but we'd been in the car forever. I knew everyone (me included) just wanted to get to LA. But we stopped b/c it's right off I-10 (oh wait, when in Cali...THE 10). I figured we'd pull right in, find a Joshua Tree, take a picture, and get right back on 10. A 10 minute stop at most.

We drove and drove and finally came to a lodge with bathrooms and information. We drive some more, and soon it becomes absurd. We are in Joshua Tree NP and there are no Joshua trees. Now we've driven so far in that it's silly to turn around until we see a Joshua tree. We keep saying, "There's one!" but it turns out to be something else.

Finally, after 30 or more minutes of driving in the park, I actually see one. We spent a wonderful half-hour exploring and climbing rocks. It was a great diversion from the road trip. Because we we so far in the park, we just kept driving to the other side. We stopped in Joshua Tree (a town!) for a bite of supper. We drove around the park to get back to THE 10, and then it was on into LA.

We arrived at Dawn's boyfriend's house around 9pm? 10pm? It was so good to be out of the car. Coming soon...more from the trip, including cute things my kids said.

Driving photos (note that Joshua is sticking his tongue out in a "don't take my picture right now" sort of way). Elijah, Joshua and Dawn:

'Net withdrawals

So much to type; so little time. I'm finally home from California. I finally have access to the internet. Ahhhh, it feels so good. For the bulk of our trip, I didn't have access to a computer, which seems funny in a way in this e-this and i-that day and age. I did get to check my email from two different laptops on two different days, but there wasn't enough time or privacy to do much more.

Our trip was amazing. I will post all the fun things later, but for those wondering, I did in fact run on vacation. I only managed to run twice, which was my very realistic and doable goal. Can I count walking around Disneyland as a workout?

Here's a short breakdown of the trip, and I'll post day-by-day highlights soon. Some of you probably don't care, but some of you may really want to know. Anyway, all of you should look forward to "The Best Day Anyone Has Ever Had At Disneyland" post. I kid you not on that one. You doubtfully can compete with the day we had.

Monday, 8/13 - drive, drive, drive
Tuesday, 8/14 - drive some more, more and more. Stop at The Joshua Tree National Park
Wednesday, 8/15 - Santa Monica beach and Pier
Thursday, 8/16 - The Grove shopping mall, my run in the Hollywood Hills, and Griffith Observatory
Friday, 8/17 - Venice beach bike rides, run along the beach, and surfing!
Saturday, 8/18 - Dream day at Disneyland
Sunday, 8/19 - Drive up PCH to Malibu, flight home to Austin (arrive 1am)

There was so much we wanted to do and not enough time. My cousin, Dawn, had so many great ideas that the boys would have loved. We just ran out of time for them all. But it was a wonderful trip. I'm glad to be home though. I missed my husband quite a bit. I don't think I want to take a vacation for that long without him again. I think he missed us, too. :-)

Here's a sweet picture for now.