July and October reports...and in December, the end of this era

[kaoden39]

Thank you Molly!

 

[Brady's Mom]

Molly, it looks like we are going to be in DLR the week AFTER you! We will arrive in Anaheim the Sunday of Gay Days and then be at DLR the following 4 days. I'm bummed we won't get to there at the same time! We do get to go to the Halloween Party, though.

The boy jokes and general "boy-ness" doesn't go away anytime soon. My oldest is almost 24 and he still has it!

 

[bumbershoot]

I think I noticed that! Hey, maybe there will be 5 minutes overlap after you get there but before we leave...we can say hi.


So sorry about the slacking here! I'm slacking on a lot of stuff in my life right now; I just can't focus on any one thing. Gah.

 

[bumbershoot]

While I have a moment of clarity....


After the "pew pew" shirt, we had to go meet Roberto. Well, it turns out that he was earlier than expected on his Travel Day, and had a little bit of time to goof off. Just like having a long layover at an airport, but way more fun.

So the following things were seen.

(mind your speed as you go sheriff's old but he's not slow)

That arch, for those who don't know, frames the *other* way to get into Cars Land, via the old farmer's market area. Super-pretty.

The backside of the previous picture.

It's just neverending prettiness in there.


We didn't have that long that day, and it might be that we parked at DTD so were on a strict time limit. Or maybe not. I can neither confirm nor deny. But this is the last thing I took pictures of as we walked to the rental car.

(this is over on the side of RFC...has it always been there, or are those the old RC boats from DLH grounds?)


And then we made a mad dash to Phoenix! DH had to be well rested for work, which was, of course, his whole point during the trip while E and I had swirly fun around him, making him jealous and sad. (j/k)

 

[kaoden39]

Those look like the boats that used to be in DLH grounds.


Hi Molly!!

 

[bumbershoot]

What do I have to say about Phoenix in July? It's hot. And it's pretty in its own way. And I wish we could have toured the Frank Lloyd Wright museum place, but that will have to wait for another time. Cellphone towers are ugly, cellphone towers disguised as evergreens and palm trees are funny, but cellphone towers disguised as enormous cacti??? Hilarious.

The cactus can grow tall, and they make all sorts of funky shapes, but they aren't normally exactly symmetrical and exactly the same size as each other, let alone the one right next to it. And a cactus doesn't normally have a big grey electric box at the base of it.


E and I managed to see my cousins. Robert, too, since he is allowed to have dinner while working. It was nice. Way nicer than the family reunion E and I went to last year where my father was, well, himself and caused me HUGE amounts of stress. And since no one ended up horribly tummy-sick at the end, it was fabulous.



When Robert's time there was done, he needed to get back to CA. There was an area he needed to be for work, and I noticed that Garden Grove was part of that area, and GG was way way way cheaper than LA proper. Found an incredible deal on a place; had everything he needed, in the area he needed, and was the cheapest I really could find in those categories, and hey, it was the exact same price for 3 as it was for 1. Score! We could stay with him.

And so that started the second part of the fun-time. For E and I, at least. Poor Robert had to slog along, working, while E and I got more and more tanned (through the 30spf!) and had more adventures. (on the other side, we get to sit at home most of the time while he's roaming around Ireland or New Zealand, or seeing Eastern coastal Canada in the springtime, so it all evens out)

We drove back, and continued to be amazed at how HOT Arizona is. The rest stop in Quartzite was astonishingly hot. I had to check my shins to make sure they weren't actually on fire when I got out of the car onto the asphalt.

Eventually we got there, to Hilton Garden Inn. It was decent. Never did figure out the shuttle there, whether it was their shared shuttle, or ART, or what. Their site said a dollar figure for the shuttle, but they said another (higher) amount. It was confusing. Walking was way easier, and got me lots of "activity points". I even wore my heart rate monitor a few days, to see just how many calories I burn at Disneyland. People on the WW forum say you don't earn that many, and you don't get to eat more while at theme parks. Well, it turns out that I burn over 1000 calories in 5 hours at a theme park (including the mile walk to and from that hotel), so, uh, yeah, I'm allowed to eat a little more, LOL. And I did! By the way, we went to a weigh in in Phoenix, and I had lost something like 2 lbs while there. When we weighed in after getting home, I'd lost something similar while in CA. That was pretty awesome.


Once you get past the icky part of the walk, you get to prettiness.

There was a parks visit after getting into town. Tiki!

Tiki is odd. The CM there was odd. But I'd get odd, too, being a CM there. Applauding for long-recorded voices and computer-operated birds and flowers, etc? Just odd.

I don't really know what all we did. The other day we went to a minor league baseball game, and I realized that I like Disneyland and minor league games for the same reason. You get the happy atmosphere, people there for a common reason (fun), weather changes, I don't know, it's just the whole vibe just feels the same to me. Robert only barely understood what I was saying, so I don't expect you to, but it's how I feel. Just...fun. Anyway, what I am saying is that there was wandering around, just feeling the happiness and seeing the sights.

And then we walked back, it was bedtime, and we rested from that long drive and walk.

 

[kaoden39]

Minor league baseball are so much more fun than major league ones. To me the excitement is much better.

 

[bumbershoot]

Those look like the boats that used to be in DLH grounds.

That's what I thought!

 

[rokstedy]

Molly, you would think that a business as large as Disney would work to be more diverse in their food. We are not all a "meat and potatoes" society and I wish people would realize it.

I think they're trying. I really do. The idea of a plate like this existing at all even 10 years ago was a long shot. They've gone from pretty much burgers and fries to a very diverse array of menu items. Not all of it is good of course. I frankly don't understand the fried green tomato sandwich at bear country. But I think they're on the right track and will get there eventually.

For what it's worth, I don't think its very easy to come up with a veggie menu that will be tasty to everyone.

 

[kaoden39]

I think they're trying. I really do. The idea of a plate like this existing at all even 10 years ago was a long shot. They've gone from pretty much burgers and fries to a very diverse array of menu items. Not all of it is good of course. I frankly don't understand the fried green tomato sandwich at bear country. But I think they're on the right track and will get there eventually.

For what it's worth, I don't think its very easy to come up with a veggie menu that will be tasty to everyone.

I think you are right about that. The food choices have even improved vastly in the last couple of years. I actually tried the fried green tomato sandwich in February and I loved the jicama coleslaw on it.

 

[bumbershoot]

I've read on other threads that the sauce on the tomato sandwich has some fish ingredient in it, though. So how is THAT good? Not that I ever walk by Hungry Bear when I'm hungry, or when it's open. So it's a moot point for now!

And I just think that having *one* thing on a menu with, what, 4 or 5 meat-containing items, just isn't enough.

But they've messed up a lot. Listing a "veggie burger" and giving you a *black bean* burger. Gah, totally different things! Black bean burger has cumin and other spices in it, and is something to get when THAT is what you want. A veggie burger is a veggie burger. Then they went to the Malibu burger, which I love. But my son, who eats more things than many other kids will eat, will NOT touch that. He likes broccoli, but he doesn't want chunks of broccoli and carrot hanging out of his veggie burger.

Now, I do appreciate the vegetarian chili and gumbo, VERY VERY much. And the vegetarian po'boys are absolutely fabulous. But again with those, ONE item in a place with more than a few options for the meat-eaters.


Gol, that Flo's meal was gross.....

 

[kaoden39]

Oh yuck! Why ruin a good sandwich with fish sauce?

 

[bumbershoot]

If it's true, I agree! But if we ever do go by Hungry Bear while it's open and when we're hungry, I'll definitely check. The sandwich sounds interesting to me, even if I have to forgo the sauce.

 

[bumbershoot]

Quick post!



Since Robert was working, E and I were on our own. My camera tells me it was after noon when we got there, but I have a hard time believing that. See, this is why I take notes. Except that I didn't. Sorry.

Today was all about Merida. E loves her. She's a redhead, she's feisty, she's cute...she reminds me of the girl he plans to marry. Also, she's brave (uh duh) and strong and heroic. She's all the good stuff! He hasn't wanted to meet a princess in awhile now, but she's more than a princess to him. (cue the BeeGees in your head) (or at least in MY head)

And so, despite this sign, we got in line.

Blasting hot sun. Not much to do *in* line. Stuff to do outside of the line, like coloring and crayon-rubbings of the 4 Kings, but we were *in* line. Hot hot hot. Whenever people got under the few umbrellas, they stayed until the last minute. I should amend that. When the *other* people got to umbrellas. We didn't much care for that practice, and really showed them (fist raised in anger), by getting out from under the umbrellas when the line had moved, and roasted in the sun like we thought was proper. Oh yeah, we showed them, we sure did....

At one point during our stay in the line, Merida left! She just walked away, on her own, and went into a building. What? Why? Eventually she came back. I wasn't overly worried, because they didn't break up the line, but still, you never like to see a character just leave like that.

Hotttttttt sunshine.....

But at least he let me mess with his hair, since he was meeting a giiiiiiirrrrl.

Light at the end of the tunnel!

Yay, a mere 50 minutes after we entered the line!

She signed his coloring sheet, they chatted, she introduced him to these 3.

At some point in there she asked if they were cousins, given his hair and all. He said "probably".

Now I know he doesn't have a huge smile here, but truly this was the happiest he's been, meeting a princess, since Princess Minnie. He adored her.

And then, alas, our time was done. I tried to make sure he got ample time with her; it's one of the reasons the line takes so long, because she gives the kids lots of attention. And when you have 3 or 5 kids meeting her, that takes up a lot of time! But with just the 1, well, there's just not that much time with her.

However, there's archery. Forgive the low shorts and almost outgrown shirt, please.

Robert still holds dreams of getting back into archery, as part of his Korean-ness involves being really good at it. And he admired E's form, when he saw the pictures.

Especially since E did it just right. All you move is your fingers, releasing the bow! And that's all he did.

You can just barely see the arrow under the left target, but it's there because he got a bullseye.

It was kind of a bummer that he only got one turn at it, especially because the group behind us was still with Merida, but I guess that's the rules.


He was flying the rest of the day, after meeting her. Almost better than Mickey, I think!


(and I'll tell you a secret...he asked for a Merida doll. they are/were sold out entirely at Disneyland, but we found one at Target last week. he loves his Merida doll, er, Action Figure.)

 

[kaoden39]

One of the things I liked about the sandwich was the spiciness of the coleslaw. Oh well. Maybe I can forget before November.


E is so cute with Merida. I happen to think she is pretty good too. Face it Disney needed a Princess that had hair that wasn't always in place.

 

[bumbershoot]

I"m not sure if it totally comes through, but this Merida looked pretty close to Merida! I've seen other pictures of a "friend of Merida", and she's princess-pretty, not Merida-pretty. Know what I mean?

She also looked a great deal like the daughter of my former best friend. I mean a LOT like her. But that girl is only now starting high school, and I don't think you can be a "friend" if you're only 14 or 15. (and live in WA, LOL)

 

[kaoden39]

It does come across. I have seen photos of one Merida's friends in WDW. She looked like a friend.

 

[bumbershoot]

It is becoming obvious to me that I MUST finish this! I don't remember if I've mentioned this anywhere, but we're doing a 3 night cruise in Feb. Supposedly this will be followed by some days at WDW, and through all of it, we're taking my MIL.

Because we've been so focused on making sure she's currently OK to travel (important for the expensive travel insurance with the pre-existing condition waiver) and trying to convince her to get a wheelchair or ECV for the trip (she has heart disease and a valve problem...not getting worse, and her heart is compensating well, but she gets tired), and being stressed about it...I managed to forget to make dining reservations for the WDW time. I'm weeks behind!

And before that, end of Sept and through Gay Days, we're going to DLR (I know I've mentioned that). I'm just getting so scattered. Oh, and this is the time to send the Declaration of Intent to Homeschool in for Eamon, as he's at the age of compulsory education now. Scattered!

So I need to go step by step. Send the DofI. Finish the report. Get the hours for the parks in Oct, make some plans, then start working on cruise/WDW.

I was talking to a friend who simply refused to give me empathy for this dang cruise. I say that I would rather be on a RCCL 7 night cruise, but other factors roped me into this one. She simply did not see the problem, LOL.


Oh and during all of this, we are STILL watching the Olympics. And here's what I think.
****************

I love Mustafina. She's beautiful, talented, and totally misunderstood by the incredibly, painfully, biased American commentators. I was a complainy, emotional rower, and my coach KNEW not to try to talk to me if we had done poorly. It didn't help me and it made my emotions worse. The fact that her coaches thought it was OK to console her just shows how much they do not know her. Being a coach means KNOWING the athlete. Knowing how to help them achieve greatness. It doesn't mean doing stuff that will annoy them (but not inspire them).



We started to seriously question the good sportsmanship of the US women's gymnastics team. If you watch the events without a pro-US bias you start to see how rude they were. When Mustafina congratulated and "thumbs-upped" Raisman on her floor exercise, I thought Raisman was going to fall over in surprise. I just don't think that sort of "love of the sport" even occurs to the US team in this Olympics. And when you watch things altogether like we've been doing, and you see the male gymnasts and most of the track and field people, who celebrate greatness no matter who is doing it, it becomes painfully obvious.

I *hate* the fact that you can challenge the judging. Hated it when Kohei's coach did it, hated it when Raisman's coach did it. And I don't even think he wanted to do it, but Bela/Marta kind of forced the issue. Amazing that people only feel like the judges messed up when it's the choice between medalling and not medalling, eh? Never see a gold winner saying "no, I think you judged me too highly, here's my money and application, please reevaluate".


Oh, and at the same time, I'm really tired of the showboating of some of the male runners.



That is all. I've said it, it can now go.

Then again, we're only on the events of the 8th. Who knows what might happen in that time?

 

[kaoden39]

I also felt that the announcers were very rude towards Gabby too. I felt that they had who they thought should win and that was all that mattered for them. I didn't like the bias of the judges at all. I root for all of the athletes, I think that it is amazing to be there participating for their countries and they are all amazing. Not just the Americans.

 

[bumbershoot]

Jumping right back in...


Editing things out to mention: I'm not actually sure where this picture was taken from, or where that Mickey/floor picture was taken.

I love ducklings!

mmm, French Market kid's meal. I didn't have anything as I was waiting for Robert to be done with work for the day and to come have dinner with us, but E is a growing boy and needed a "little" something.

Thank goodness the Quik I let him drink didn't cause any adverse effects; there is something in it that *can* mess with him, but it did not today. Whew.

Oh wait, I did have a little something. Cornbread and fruit. Weird combo.

We were sitting right next to a railing, and I kept hearing peeping from the tree/bush.

Well hello there!

This pose makes him look like the bird going after the bugs in Bug's Life, doesn't it? When you think it's an evil evil bird because you're on the side of the bugs?

Having a Ratatouille moment.