Tag: Disneyland

One Heck of a Busy August = Blank Blog Dates, ARGH!

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.
Denis Waitley, Author of “Raising Confident Kids“

In the course of four weeks we will have accomplished (among other things…)-

  • One Freshman leaving for college.
  • One Freshman starting High School.
  • One  High School Senior moved into our home.
  • Four visiting groups of family and friends.
  • One hotel stay in Anaheim for VidCon and Disneyland.
  • Countless trips to the Salvation Army/Goodwill drop off as three teens swapped rooms to make space for each other.
  • The cramming in of a few new things that I didn’t have time to write posts about. Boo.

I’m pooped, my kids are cooked, and we are all keyed up for so many new things happening in our lives in our near future. My cup overfloweth, my gratitude is reaching heights I’ve never experienced and I am beyond thankful that my uneventful, humble life is one of the greatest gift to be treasured.

Disney’s California Adventure

I grew up in Southern California. That means that I went to Disneyland at least once a year- it was less than an hour’s drive from our home. By the time high school came around it grew to two to three more trips with band and choir trips plus the yearly family visits. When The Husband and I moved our kids back to The Southland (where we add the word “The” in front of our freeways like nature intended), we didn’t visit Disney or any of the local amusement parks at all. Every time the kids asked or casually mentioned how the neighbor family had yearly passes our answer was always “Nooooo! Your father/mother and I are sick of Disney!” At least we put up a united front.

We won four “Park Hopper” passes at the same school fundraiser that also netted us two cases of wine. I think that these two prizes are meant to go together… “Park Hopper” passes provide access to not only Disneyland, but the sister park California Adventure. Here is where the need for the wine comes in- after three days with three teens in Anaheim at the Convention Center for VidCon, we thought it would be a great idea to pick up two more teens and go across the street to the two parks.

It was worth it.


Neither The Husband nor I have been to California Adventure, and not only did we love the park, we both want to return. We screamed and laughed through California Screamin’, the biggest, fastest coaster in the parks. We got soaked and ooh’d and ahh’d through the World of Colors water show at the end of the day. Crammed in the day were some of our other favorite rides and a few new ones, too. We loved the Soarin’ Over California- a 4-D ride/movie/experience… despite my issues with vertigo.

Our view, shortly before our steady, misty, soaking…

We did make it back and forth between the two parks. Several times. My feet are killing me, but I’m in good company- people thirty years younger than me are hurting, too. Ha!

And about Disneyland? Both The Husband and I think that Space Mountain is even more cool than it was when we were kids.