Disney Adventures

This is Scott's blog for me! Sorry it is sooo long, but really, we had a big adventure! My additions will be in italics.

We had an absolutely fabulous time in California this past week with our little family. We got to see & visit several old Johnson family (Scott’s parents) friends, as well as see some of Scott’s old friends in Oxnard.

We attended 2 Sacrament meetings on Sunday just to see more of his old friends.

Monday Sunny clogged at Disneyland & Tuesday at California Adventure. It was so much fun she'd love to do it again. Scott was so good to take Ryan & Izzy while I had to prep/perform, etc (each day about 3 hours).

In no particular order, I list the highlights of our trip.

1. The beach was fun, but the water was chilly. We loved the diving pelicans snaring fish near the pier in Oxnard. The pelicans had to compete with half of Asia fishing from the pier. Our family was the only white meat on the pier for most of our jaunt.



2. We enjoyed our stay at the Disneyland Hotel (thanks to our economic stimulus check & Scott’s part time ACN business). We really did stimulate Walt’s wallet that is for sure. Monday morning we received a little perk when a "castmember" in the lobby of the hotel gave us four free pins (cool ones) because Sunny admitted she didn't know what she was doing with pin trading. (Sometimes it pays off to admit ignorance.)



3. Sunday night, we enjoyed the fireworks from the comfort of our 7th floor hotel room overlooking the park.

4. Scott & the kids enjoyed the pool & the slide at the pool. Izzy was allowed to go down once without her life jacket, & she struggled to swim to the side to Scott since the water coming down the slide was pushing her away. Scott jumped in before the life guard & rescued her.



5. A high for Isabelle was when she talked Sunny into going on the teacups with her. Sunny let Izzy take a picture for proof that she survived such a spinny ride.(Isn't Isabelle adorable as well as a great photographer?)



6. On day one of our four day pass, we lost all four passes on a ride (the bar on the car ripped off the metal ring holding the plastic sleeve to the lanyard. Someone right behind us in the ride found them & we quickly realized they were missing so we were reunited with our passes to fun rather quickly.



7. On day one, we were given the Dream Fast passes (a fast pass to all rides having fast passes to both parks-they are handed out randomly in the mornings in various spots.) It made life so much more fun.



8. On day two, the kids and I got them again while Sunny was clogging, but we were told that City Hall might have another one for her so all of us in the party could stay together. They did.

9. While using our Dream Passes on day 2, we were given another bonus gift that allowed us to stay in Cal. Adventure an hour after the park closed. It was like having a hyper fast pass to any ride we wanted. Much to the kids delight, we got to ride Mulholland Madness (similar to Mouse ride at lagoon) 4 times without even getting out of our car.



10. Izzy loved the characters (Ryan did too although he was more subtle about it). She thought it was funny that Pluto tried to get her to give him a snack. The rest of the day she was on the look out for Mickey so she could tell him to feed Pluto.

(Ryan denied that he wanted to meet the Princess, but he sure hopped up when Izzy wouldn't because she had her mouth full of cotton candy.)

11. Day 3 was more mellow. No Dream Pass for us but we did do a character breakfast that was a lot of fun. The buffet at Storytellers’ Café was really good.


12. When we heard someone talking about how Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, Ryan said “the happiest place on earth is our home!” It was later expanded to say anywhere our family was together. Maybe we are doing something right after all.


13. Early entry into the park for Disney Resort guests was pretty cool the 2 days we got in early.
14. After walking at least 15-20 miles days 1 & 2 (the kids were troopers), day 3 meant a stroller for Izzy & more shoulder rides for Ryan.


15. Day 3 also meant a lost camera. You know, the new one Sunny recently bought after Izzy broke the other one. (I was sick about it. My cute boys bought me a caramel apple to help me feel better). Luckily someone found it and turned it in the next day. (If not for this, I wouldn't have my favorite picture - see previous post)


16. Day 4 meant a stroller for both children, yes, our nearly 7 year old & our 4 plus year old. I tell you what, strollers were easier on the kids & easier on our shoulders (no shoulder rides needed). We would do it again early on. Thanks Disney Visa card for making stroller rental free at Disneyland (2 even).


17. Day 4 meant Dream Passes again (3 out of 4 days). When I remarked to the gentleman that we had received them on Tuesday as well, he said “you should go to Vegas, that is very rare” I mentioned that we don’t gamble but failed to mention we had also received them on Monday.


18. Ryan’s favorite ride is now the Screamer (Mine as well although I wouldn’t have gone close to a ride like that when I was 6 years old. Izzy cried when she found out she was too short to go on the Screamer. She is our speed demon & Daredevil in the family (ask Scott about the 4-wheeler rides or the scooter we owned for 3 days). The kids thought it was fun to wave at Sunny before she shot off.


19. Ryan & Izzy were both chosen to be in the Jedi Training at the Star Wars show. (I was one of those obnoxious mom's in the crowd waving and yelling to get him to choose them. Scott claims I was winking at him, but really I was wearing my sunglasses, however, it still could have been because I'm so charming). This was during the lost camera time, so we don't have pictures, although there was a family from the stake in the audience so I asked the father to take pictures, so we should have some later.


20. The Billy Hill & the Hillbillies show was a classic once again. My kids still laugh at the "pros-teeth-is" joke.


21. Izzy's comment after Tower of Terror – “that was awesome.”


22. We chased down Captain Jack on pirate island to get his picture (I'm told it's rare to catch him - we really should have hit Vegas!) Ryan wasn't sure that he was the real thing, but he was willing to go out on a limb 24. The kids insisted on hands up on Big Thunder (my favorite) and on riding together - it was cute.

We all had so much fun on the trip but after 4 days at Disneyland, we were ready to return home to Kit (our cat) & our home.