Happiness is a DisneyLAND BTMR Fastpass - 12/11 - The End! Parts 28-32 + Epilogue

[Gymfan15]

List of Contents:
May 22nd - A lil' Update
June 9th - Arriving in Sunny CA, oh yeah!
July 9th - Food Envy and Blue Cars
July 17th - Oodles of People Pics
July 18th - Toolin' Around Town
July 19th - Last day before Disneyland, I PROMISE
August 2nd - Will I get the FastPass of my dreams?
September 3rd - "She called me a Princess..."
October 1st - Help, I think I've lost my Grandpa!
October 3rd - Those stupid kids are going to get themselves KILLED...
October 6th - Soarin' to a Cotton Candy-Soup Bowl Heaven
October 9th - Non-Smoking, please...
October 12th - *squee* NARRRNNNIAAA!
October 15th - Of Props, People and Parties!
October 17th - Familiar Friends and Places
October 20th - Lost in LA...WITHOUT A CELL PHONE!!!
October 22nd - Um...Disneyland, anyone?
October 25th - Dining with Pirates; arrrrrrrg!
November 2nd - Ice Cream, Yummy!
November 5th - Gotta love little green slips of paper..
November 7th - What IS that smell?!?!
November 10th - Girls Just Wanna Sho-op...
November 15th - It's a StoryBook Land...
November 17th - "Good Time? Are you having a Good Time?"
November 21st - We got STUCK on SPACE MOUNTAIN!!!
November 23rd - Jody's first trip to DCA
November 29th - Screamin' Over California
December 1st - The rest of our DCA fun
December 11th - A Mountain and A Meal
December 11th - Is ASIMO Awesome?
December 11th - So long, farewell...
December 11th - The Big Wok!
December 11th - The Beach, and we say Farewell!
December 11th - Epilogue
​

Um...hi!

I'm a newbie to Disneyana, so y'all will have to forgive my wide-eyed innocence when it comes to trip reports...I've never done one (in this style) before, so it will be as much of an adventure for me as I hope it will be for you, hehe!

I've been lurking around DisBoards for the past few months and have only recently gotten hooked on the Trip Reports section and have been totally and wholly sucked in by a few people's trip reports, including but not limited to ZUBB, LaLa, The Sweaty Asian (does he even have another name? ) and a few others whom I can't remember their names because, well, I'm Dory's cousin and I think we all know how THAT goes.

Let me just start out by saying that while I may be quite seasoned as far as internet forums go, I'm also probably a fourth of the age of pretty much everyone here, so cut me some slack, k? And I'm home-teached, for good measure. And while the voices in my head tell me that pretty much everything I say is amusing, I've learned that I can't always take their word for granted. So you'll have to bear with me and all my horrible jokes and bad puns and atrocious grammar and etc. I'm young and green, what can I say?

And home-teached.

For whatever that's worth.

I also am a shameless copier and will emulate anything and everything that I find amusing, so if you value the uniqueness of anything you write or say, I suggest you go get a copyright patent on it immediately.

Anyhoo, about my trip.

I COULD bore you with the long tale of how I was Mouse-deprived, for lack of a better phrase, for the better part of my life, and how I was re-introduced to the Happiest Place on Earth during a day that can only be described as insane and included but was not limited to an embarrassing tumble, no Space Mountain and below-freezing temperatures.

Okay, so not really. But whoever said it never gets cold in California was a worse liar than Pinocchio.

But that's a story for another day, a day when I'm holed up in the house with nothing better to do. For now, I'll just skip to the important stuff so I can stay within the legal word count for a post.

The long and short of it is, early last year, my mom got AP's for herself, my dad, and two of my younger siblings. It was a stress-reliever, she claimed, her escape from an impending move from the Land of the Nuts to the Windy City. And then she got my older sister one, as a sort of babysitting deal.

Hmmph. You have no idea how much I coveted that tiny slip of plastic. I wanted my own AP, people! But in order to get it, I had to pay for it myself...my parents simply could not afford to get AP's for the motly crew that is our family. We have a ridiculous number of kids, by the way. Not as much as that family from Arkansas, but we're working on it. We're good friends with them, for whatever that's worth.

A word to the wise. Never get involved in a land war in Asia, and never, EVER move a family of 12 across the country. It isn't safe for the sanity.

Anyway, last September, I finally got my wish. Mistakenly believing that our trek to Chicago was going to be delayed until March, my parents finally caved in and bought AP's for the rest of us. Was I pumped or WHAT! I finally had what I'd been desperately wanting for so long!


And then a month later, we found we'd be leaving in December after all.

Um. Can we say SCREAM??????????????!!!!!!!!

Although my long-desired ownership of my AP was maddeningly short, I still treasure every moment that we spent there. About once a week, we would stop whatever we were doing, throw all the kids (or a few; we would switch out) into the van and head to Disneyland. It was like our Happy Place...there, all of our stress over packing and worries that we might not have a place to LIVE once escrow closed on our house melted away like so much butter, and we just had fun and enjoyed each other. I began to realize that it wasn't all about the rides, but the experience...that feeling you get walking down Main Street, seeing the Castle up ahead and knowing that at least for a little while, all was right in the world.

To a young person stressed out about leaving the land of her birth for a strange city thousands of miles away, such moments were valued and could not have come at a better time.

So anyway, at the end of November, we said our goodbyes to California and made our way to the snowy wasteland that is known as Illinois. Even though I loved the area and was chuffed at being able to experience snow for the first time, inevitably my mind would always drift to June, thinking of what I would be doing then.

Because you see, I had plans.

While you probably don't know this, I'm a Narnia nerd. Nut. Obsessed. Whatever. It's only been a part of my life four years, but it's been a pretty important part. I can't really explain why I love the world that C.S. Lewis created so much, but I do. I became very involved in the online community when The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was coming out, and I still am today. It's been ridiculous the way this has progressed...one month I read the books for the first time, and exactly ONE YEAR LATER I'm modding the biggest Narnia forum on the web (Narniaweb.com) and running my own website. Scary fast, if you ask me.

Anyway, since about August of last year, I'd been making plans to attend a Narnia fan conference called LionCon that a few friends were putting together. Moving to Chicago had thrown a slight hitch in my plans, but I had already started saving up for the airfare and had been making preliminary plans for my trip. Besides helping out at the conference, I was going to make use of my still-good AP and visit Disneyland. Duh.

But as time went on and things started going down to the wire, I began to re-think my plans. The thought of visiting Disneyland in the peak season was making me itchy; me and crowds do not get on very well at all. And there was a lot of things going on at that time that I wasn't sure I wanted to miss. Plus, considering that I was paying for this whole boondoggle myself, it was getting to be preeeeeety expensive. Money matters a lot more when you're a teen and without a paying job, lol!

Alternate plans started surfacing. A few fellow mods mentioned that they were putting together a Lion Party (Line party, for the unlearned) for the Prince Caspian premiere in May, at the mother of all theaters, the El Capitan. And the idea of attending really, really appealed to me. I began to consider moving my trip up a few months, but was I really brave enough to ditch my plan of a loooooooong time and just wing it?

I was sitting in our car with my parents one day in March, explaining my problems with them, when my mom said, "Hey, I want to go to Disneyland too...if you go in May, I'll go with you and chauffeur you around since you can't drive."

There was just ooooooooneeeeeee lil' hitch though. My mom is pregnant with her 11th child.

*gulp*

I TOLD you we had a large family!

(Oh, and did I mention that we found out she was pregnant just a few weeks before we moved? Another word to the wise...not only should you NOT move a family of 12 cross-country, you definitely should NOT do it when mama is severely morning-sick. That's all I can say.)

We sat down and began to consider our options. My mom would still be two months away from delivery, so it would be okay for her to fly. She thought the trip would be therapeutic and great for pre-baby stress, and hey, Disneyland is an awesome form of exercise! Having her come with me was also going to solve a LOT of our problems.

So, after a lot of talking and a lot of prayer, we made our reservations!

I'm very, very excited to say that mom and I will be leaving for California next Tuesday. Prezactly one week, baby!

Not only am I absolutely giddy at the thought of seeing a movie I've waited THREE years for with a group of people I've "known" for years but never met, I have to admit that the prospect of visiting my Happy Place has become increasingly prominent in my thoughts and plans. So call me a horrible Narnia fan. It's true!

So, while I'm super-excited about visiting all my favorite rides again and getting a Dole Whip, oh, the infamous Dole Whip, and going to DCA, which contrary to most people's opinions, does NOT suck (what can I say; maybe it's just because I'm green in the things of Disney, hehe), there is something else that is pretty important.

Because I have unfinished business with the House of the Mouse.

As some of you have noticed, I have a photo of quite a nice collection of FastPasses in my signature. Thank you; yes, it did take a long time to acquire. I don't really recall how I got started doing it, only that I'm a pack rat and I can't stand to throw anything away, so a few unused FP's multiplied into a little stack, and since I also hate anything incomplete, somehow I ended up getting FP's and SAVING them. Instead of using them. Trust me, that was really hard with Space Mountain and Screamin'!

But while I've collected all the FP's available from September to November of '07, including the hardly-ever open ones like Mulholland Madness and seasonal ones like Haunted Mansion Holiday, there was one I was never able, for some reason, to get.

BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN!

You can't believe how badly I want that little thing. Without it, my collection is empty, incomplete, worthless. Well, not really, but it leaves a rawtha (say that in a British accent) glaring hole.

So, number #1 objective on this trip to Disneyland is to snag the elusive Fastpass. Will she DO it? I hope so!

Otherwise I'll be coming to you begging for one.

So...Mom and Daughter head for California, with Disneyland stops on the 16th, 19th and 20th, with my friend Hoday joining us for the last two days. To save me from having to ride all the rides by myself. Because pregnant women can't ride the majority of the rides there, y'all.

And I ain't Southern. I just like to pretend I am sometimes.

I realize this has been pathetically long and drawn-out; I really don't know how to edit well, so let's just skip to the cast of characters, shall we?

The Motely Crew​

Nickname: Asile. A cool smilie to the first person who "gets" that nickname. Another cool smile to the first person who "gets" my screen-name.
Age: Old enough to go to regular jail but not old enough to drink. Not that I would. But just to give you an example.
Role: Authoress, instigator, what have you.
About: Third child of soon-to-be 11. Quite average. Has red hair. Likes Photoshop and web design. Webmaster of Spareoom.net. Not that you've ever heard of it. Mod on Narniaweb. My REAL claim to fame! Likes to cross-stitch. Is part-time nanny to her younger siblings.

Nickname: Mommy, Superwoman or "Moooommmmmmmmmmmmm...."
Age: Young at heart
Role: Mother, chauffeur and pregnant woman.
About: Mother of 10, pregnant with her 11th. What else can I say? She home-schools 'em all too. And when people come over, the house is so clean you could eat off of it. A downright miracle, of you ask me.

Nickname: THE BOY
Age: - 2 months
Role: Sleeping and kicking. And not making it's arrival until we're safely home, thank you very much.
About: Our surprise baby. With seven girls and only three boys, can you guess everyone's reaction when we found out the gender of this little munchkin? Yep. No longer is it referred to as "it" or "the baby" it is now, The Boy. Do you feel The Boy kicking? Is The Boy behaving? When is The Boy coming? Yeah, you get the idea.

Nickname: Hoday, or Jody
Age: Quarter of an hour.
Role: Asile's tag-along friend and saving grace from being forced to ride all those wonderful rides ALONE. Perish the thought!
About: Hoday also comes from a big family of home-schoolers. Although not as nearly as big as ours. Or cool. So there. She's a great swimmer and I had plans for that girl for the Olympics, but noooo, she wants to go work for Pixar. Did I mention that she's also an amazing artist? So poofy. She may be younger than me but we've known each other since we were infants, and we get along pretty well...she tolerates my Narnia-ness and I tolerate her obsession with Avatar. She's only been to Disneyland once, and never to DCA, so I'm looking forward to showing her around!

Nickname: Becks, or Becca
Age: 20
Role: Asile's cousin who managed to wing her way into her first Disneyland trip ever
About: Becks has some sort of mental disability (I honestly have no clue what it is) so she's a bit like a child, but she's very sweet and quite funny at times. She was so fun having around and I loved showing her around Disneyland. Her reactions were priceless!

I also couldn't close the introductions without a shout-out to my crazy family...while they may not all be coming with us, they're still a big part of me and this trip, and since I'll probably be referring to them often, I thought you'd want to know what we all look like.

This is all of us, minus the oldest, my big brother, who was away at the time. There's a long story behind this photo which I may tell later.

Well, I think that would conclude this post. I have no illusions that people will come rushing to this TR and beg for more of my witty wisdom (Ha. Ha. Ha.) but I do hope that the people who come enjoy it.

I'm young and green and inexperienced in the way of TR's, so any and all encouragement is most welcome, lol. I just hope I don't scare you off with my horrible grammar or my not-so-funny jokes. I also warn you that I'm not inclined to wordiness...I'm actually shocked that I've been able to write this amount in the short period of time I've been working on it. I doubt it will always be this way.

So sit back, grab your Dole Whip or your Mickey Ears or whatever floats your boat and enjoy the ride!

'scuse me. There's a certain two-year old who is demanding my attention. And a suitcase that is demanding to be stuffed to the brim.

Only a week left to go! Oy vey!

 

[OhMari]

Welcome to the DIS.
I was just going to glance at your pre-trip, but you sucked me in. I think you know what I mean, since you are a moderator.

What a great looking family. I bet you have a blast with your brothers and sisters.

I'm going to leave you on this board, since you are leaving very soon. And, do not, and I mean do not forget about this TR!!!

 

[Gymfan15]

Thanks for the encouragement. And yes, I do know what you mean, lol!

I do have a lot of fun with my siblings...sure, it's not ALL fun, but more good than bad, really.

Leaving in four days! 8-o And I'm still packing! AHHHHH!!!!

 

[Rebecuberduber]

Wow! What a beautiful family! I love seeing big families that home-school. I'm from a home-schooling family, myself, though not as large as yours. We're a family of, let's see, I have to recount every time -- 8. Yeah, a baby in comparison. But I love them to death. I'm now 24 and have two little ones of my own and we're all going to Disney World in the fall. My husband included who has never been. I can't wait to read more of your report! I think you are much too humble because your report is wonderful, so far. Very well written and fun to read. And I don't see any glaring problems with grammar, either. Keep it coming!

 

[Gymfan15]

Thanks for the kind words!

Well, I'm baaaaaaaaaaackk! I had a fabulous time, and I can't wait to share it with y'all. A lot of really exciting things happened outside of Disneyland, but that's not to say that the actual visit to the parks was boring, either. In fact, it was quite extraordinary, with some things that I'd never done before, including one perk in particular that I'm fairly certain a lot of people on this board would give their eye teeth to experience. I think, anyway. And no, it wasn't a visit to Club 33, unfortunately. I got reeeeeeeeeely close, though.

Seeing as I just got back last night and I'm still in catch-up mode from the movie business last weekend, it may be a few days before I can sit down and write the first installment, but I promise I won't forget! I'm so excited to share my trip with everyone.

Have fun and hang tight!

 

[Rebecuberduber]

Welcome back from your trip! I know those always end too soon. I'm glad you had a great time. Can't wait to hear about it!

 

[ta2edgoofy]

welcome to the board! I'm very intersted to hear about your trip, from your vivid discription it looks to be an exciting ride! You are off to a great start, but hurry back *he he* and finish this baby up, we are all dying to read more!

 

[Gymfan15]

Almost!

Hey folks! Thanks for the encouragement! I would have had my first chapter up already but I spent all day yesterday writing up my review for Prince Caspian (what can I say, work before pleasure. ). By the way, I'd like to encourage everyone to go see it; give Disney's newest franchise a little love; it could use some!

Oh, and here's my revew by the way, in case anyone is interested, lol!

http://www.spareoom.net/movie/princecaspianreview.php

Be back in a bit with the first chapter to my TR!

 

[Gymfan15]

Hey guys! I am SO sorry that I have not gotten the first updated up by now, but as you will soon see, I had a veeeerry good reason.

Let's see. Sunday night I was having bad stomach pains, and could not even think about writing then. Monday started out normally enough, but to make a long story short, my mom ended getting admitted to the hospital with preeclampsia and had to be induced to have the baby right away. Benjamin James was born at 4:30 this morning and weighed in at 4 pounds, 1 ounce, and 17 inches...he is five weeks premature. Both he and mom are doing great, but as you can probably guess, this was quite a scare and I have had more than enough to keep me busy over the last two days! :lol:

Here's a picture of Baby Boy Benny for y'all. He's the one that visited Disneyland last week while still in the womb, so I guess he's got Disney in his blood.

I'll update my TR as soon as I can; probably later this week! Again, sorry but thank you for understanding!

 

[Rebecuberduber]

Congratulations on your new brother!!!! He looks like such a sweety. I'll bet that was scary, but I'm so glad everything turned out alright! Can't wait to hear about the trip, but I can understand that you have a lot on your plate, right now. No need to hurry.

 

[AGPrincess]

This sounds like a great trip report in the making! Don't discount the voices in your head...you are a rawtha great writer! And love the fastpass quest. I had a fastpass from Space I got May of last year and never used. I kept it on my bulletin board all the long school year and finally used it this April!

lol...and I thought I had a big family with my four brothers (but then, at least you have sisters! ). Congrats on your new baby brother! That's cool that he was at Disney right before he was born!

Can't wait for more!

 

[Sorsha]

Ahhhh!! I just WUV babies!!

Baby brother looks like such a sweetie! Please keep us updated on how he is doing.

Can't wait to read all about your trip too, when life lets you have the time to write. Great start to your report, but family first!

Hugs to you, and sending easy recovery thoughts your mom's way.

 

[Gymfan15]

Eeep...I seriously had no intention of neglecting this TR for so long. Yeah, I realize I have a good excuse what with the baby still being in the hospital and all (although he may be coming home tomorrow, yay !), but really, I have had a lot of time I could have devoted to this, but you know how it goes. You sit down, all ready to write, and not a single thing comes to mind. I hate when that happens. Writers block...it afflicts us all!

*sigh*

Oh well. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I might as well just dive in and hope that this little bit of writing I've done so far is enough to keep me going. I'm an okay writer once I get started, but it's the beginnings and ends that get me stumped. Can't do a good one for the life of me.

Oh, and just a quick mention, I've added a new character to my intro in the first post, and that person is my cousin Becks. I ended up spending a lot more time with her than I had earlier anticipated, mainly because she happened to be at my grandparents while we were there and through a series of events they all ended up coming to Disneyland with us on Friday the 16th. Becks is 20 and has some sort of mental disability...I'm not even sure exactly what it is. I never really pursued an understanding of it, but basically she probably has the mental capacity of a 10 or 12 year old; that's my guess anyway. She doesn't let it bother her, however, and she's an incredibly sweet and unintentionally funny girl. I had a great time spending time with her, and it was SO fun to take her on her first ever trip to Disneyland...she was so awed and impressed. There's nothing like seeing a place you love through the eyes of someone who's never been there before, especially one who is still very much a child in many ways. But enough of that; all the good stuff shall come later, I promise!

But in the meantime, let's just skip to the meat, shall we?

Going Back

As I've already said before, I lived in California until this past November. I'd lived there my whole life and it was hard to leave, I will admit. But life has adjusted itself very well to life in Illinois and I really do love living here, despite the ongoing love/hate relationship with the weather. Really, I liked, nay, loved the winter snow, but I hate thunderstorms and tornadoes with a passion that cannot be imagined. They truly scare the you-know-what out of me, and I have to say earthquakes are alllllllmost preferable. Almost, I said. There is something to being warned when danger is imminent. But that doesn't keep me from hating all the weird weather we've been getting out here. But I'm straying from the point.

What I meant to say is, while I've adjusted very well to the move, I do still miss California very much. I miss the convenience, the people I've grown up with, and since this past year, I have missed Disneyland a lot, lol! Especially since my AP has been sitting in my closet torturing me. It says, "I want to be used! Use me! My life is worthless instead!" Tell me about it.

I know for my mom in particular, she never really got to "say goodbye" when we moved, due to the fact that she was quite violently morning-sick with her eleventh child. I guess she sort of viewed this trip as a sort of making-up goodbye, a chance for her to really view the differences between our current home and our former home, now that she's seen what life in Illinois was like. I know that for me as well, this trip was a bit of an eye-opener. But more on that later.

Anyway, now to the actual TRIP! Yay!

Departure and Arrival

Let's see. Monday May 12th was Departure Eve, and also one of my younger sister's birthday. My mom spent a portion of the day with her, celebrating her birthday at the American Girl Place in Chicago, so I spent my time putting things in order and doing my packing. I'm very much of a last-minute packer. Well, sort of...I gather things together sometimes weeks beforehand, but I never put everything in the suitcase until the night before, or even the day of. I obviously have to use my toothbrush and deodorant before I pack it up, right?!

So. Stayed up late that night, with my alarm going off at 4:30. We had a 8 AM flight out of O'Hare, so we had to leave the house at 5-ish to be there by 6 or 6:30. One can never tell how long security lines can be, so we preferred to be safe rather than sorry. So, got up at 4:30, puttered around on the computer until my parents got up and then got my suitcase all zipped up and lugged it downstairs. It's always a scary feeling when you close your suitcase for the last time and thing, "Man, I really hope I got everything, because this is IT".

We had a beautiful sunrise on the way to the airport. I remember when we were getting out of the car at the terminal and I was collecting all my stuff and hugging my dad goodbye, I was literally shaking. Not because I was nervous; I LOVE flying even though I haven't been in four years, but from excitement and adrenaline...it was so surreal to be actually GOING!

We chose to have someone check our luggage for us right there on the curb as opposed to going in and checking it ourselves, and I remember as we were standing there waiting for the guy to process our two suitcases, I saw someoneelse's suitcase with a green Home Depot lime green Mickey on it, or whatever you call those. I immediately thought, ahhh , someone else from Dis is going to Disneyland! I had toyed with the idea of procuring a lime green Mickey for myself, but I haven't been a part of this forum for very long and I was NOT about to start fielding all the curious comments from various friends and relatives (they all think I'm cracked already for flying across the country to attend a party for a Narnia movie, for pities sake) so I let it slide, Maybe next time!

Going through security was fun in an interesting sort of way. My mom carried a purse with her and I carried a tote bag and a backpack containing her laptop (MAN, that thing got heavy after a while!) and for the *small* amount of stuff we had, it sure seemed like a lot when we sent it all on the conveyor belt, lol. Although it was nothing compared to what we had on the way back. 8-o But that's another story. I have to say though, walking on the floor barefoot was NASTY.

So, we traversed from arrivals to departures, going under the runway (I thought that was pretty cool) and grabbed a bite to eat before heading to our gate. Due to adrenaline or maybe the fact that I hardly ever eat early in the morning, I was not hungry at the time, so my mom got a sandwich to split with me later and I got a bag of fries, which smelled wonderful while hot but were kind of nasty when cold. Oh well.

We had some time to kill before boarding time, so mom went to get a Starbucks and I finally took out my camera and snapped a few pictures. I'm definitely not a photographer and I'm not one of those people who are married to their camera and take photos of EVERYTHING, as you will see...while I took a lot more photos than I'm used to on this trip, it sure wasn't as much as some folks. So you'll have to bear with me on that count!

Here is mom with the Starbucks...she tends to make funny faces when I take pictures, so you'll have to bear with that, lol.

Here is me with said Starbucks...yeah, it's way too early in the morning. And I'm horribly self-critical of photos of me. So get used to it.

So, somewhere at this point, they start announcing boarding. I get extremely antsy when something is occurring that I am supposed to be a part of; I'm like, let me be first in line! I hate waiting around when I could be doing something. My mom on the other hand is completely the opposite; when it comes to things like that she prefers to take it slow and easy. It was kind of funny...I was saying, "Come on mom! They're boarding; let's get in line!" and she'd be saying, "It's okay, calm down, we don't have to be the first ones on the plane, you know". Frustrated me to no end.

But we DID end up on the plane and wow. That was the biggest plane I have ever been on in my life! Not that I've been on a ton, but I'd forgotten that they even made them this big. We flew United and this was a behemoth of a plane...the rows were two, six and two. We got a row to ourselves, obviously, and despite the fact that there wasn't a ton of leg room, it was a lot cushier than I had imagined. I had the window seat (cause I love them and mom needed to get out often) and they gave us blankets and pillows since it was an early flight, I'm guessing. Every seat had it's own individual TV, and they provided ear buds (I thought you had to pay sometimes). You could choose from a few different movies what you wanted to watch, or you could watch the coolest flight map I've ever seen. It was so neat to see all the information for the plane such as how high we were, what temperature it was, what time we would be arriving, and precisely where we were. It sure helped when we were flying over the Midwest and I had no clue where we were...geography was never my best suit.

Anyway, cushy plane. No complaints here!

My mom actually slept through the entire take-off...I of course was riveted to my window. Of the whole flying experience, take-off is probably the scariest part, but also the most exhilarating. That mixture of fear and excitement when the wheels leave the ground is not to be beat. Although I'm not a huge fan of feeling actual movement in the plane...ascending and banking can be a little freaky. But I really enjoyed the flight.

I started out watching National Treasure 2...I'd seen that movie before, so I definitely wasn't glued to it. I would switch between it and the flight map, and once the clouds cleared I spent a lot of time looking out the window. The landscape was so beautiful, especially when we were going over Colorado and Nevada...it was just magnificent. There's really nothing like viewing God's creation from such a vantage point. I've always been fascinated with such views...oh my goodness, if it were humanly possible, I would seriously consider becoming an astronaut. It's always been one of my dreams; being in space and seeing the earth from there. Wow...the whole thing is just awe-inspiring. Hey, maybe some day I'll be rich enough to become a space tourist!

But 'nuff said about that.

Eventually the flight came to an end...I remember that they put the seat belt light on just as we entered California and I thought that was odd as we still had practically the whole state to go before landing, but I guess California isn't all that wide when it comes to descending from such a high altitude. It was fun flying into LAX since I'm pretty familiar with it (although I've only flown in and out of it once before), and I could definitely feel the weather as soon as we landed...hot and sunny it was.

We were home!

There was an issue with another plane on the runway so we ended up sitting for about 20 minutes after we landed. Apparently my dad and grandpa had been tracking the plane online ever since we left Chicago and they were really confused as to why we had landed but not disembarked yet, lol!

I took the time to whip out my camera and grab a few shots of us on the plane:

One of my first attempts at doing a self portrait...I ended up doing quite a few of these as the week went on, as you'll soon see.

Mom and I...slightly jet-lagged, if that can come on so fast, and me with a slight headache, probably induced by all the altitude changes I'd been going through in the past four hours. We'd already been up for quite a bit and while still on an adrenaline rush, tiredness was to set in fast!

Up next...food envy and blue cars

 

[Sorsha]

Hey!! I'm first to post - YAY!!
Great to see you back, and wonderful to hear that baby brother is doing well.

Enjoyed this installment... there really is nothing like the giddy excitement of Departure Day. I have a great respect for your mother though, travelling that late in a pregnancy. Usually when I was that far along, all I wanted to do was lay on the bed and moan. She is a brave woman!

Sounds like your travels went smoothly, and I can't wait to hear about Disneyland!

 

[Gymfan15]

Hey! Sorry for taking so long to update, but you know what they say, life comes at you fast. I've been pretty busy, and I wanted to write but couldn't. I was getting all stressed out about not writing until one day I realized, "Hey! Nobody reads this anyway; why should I worry?"

Anyway, I shall endeavor to do better in the future. Oh, and if there WAS anyone who was actively waiting for this to update, I deeply apologize!

Enough is enough! Let's get to that TR!


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Where I last left you, were were stuck on a plane waiting to get into LAX so we could finally begin our California adventures. DCA pun not intended.

We disembarked after about 20 minutes of sitting around and moseyed our way down to the luggage carousel. As it came in sight that ugly "Gotta get it NOW" urge welled up inside of me and I made a mad dash for the carousel, which just HAPPENED to be at the complete end of the room. This was after we waited for a long time by a different carousel, btw, the airlines kept switching gates and whatnot up on us.

Anyway, at that point I wasn't quite sure what happened to luggage that didn't get grabbed right away so I was DETERMINED to nab ours first time around, in any case. Just as I got there, I spotted one of our suitcases (both of them were bright, bright pink. ). I whisked that thing off as quickly as I could and ran to the other side where I saw the other suitcase and grabbed that one as well. Took thirty seconds, tops.

Told ya I get panic attacks like that.

So, after trying to juggle wheeling one suitcase while wearing a very heavy and very unwieldy backpack AND toting a canvas Grumpy bag, we headed outside to try and find the pickup location for the van to our rental car place. *Try* being the key word here. We walked for what seemed like forever along the bus stops, and obviously Murphy's Law would have it that once we finally stopped and mom sent me to run ahead and locate the correct pick-up, it would have to be located just one bus stop over. Now if that sentence wasn't confusing I don't know what is; I'm sorry, lol!

Anyhoo. We meandered over to the correct bus stop, chilled out for maybe five or ten minutes, and then the bus came. The bus driver stepped out and put the suitcases into the bus for us, which surprised me; I hadn't been expecting that. It was a nice surprise, though. I would become eternally grateful for this assistance at the end of my trip, believe me. But that's for another installment...

The bus took us to the car rental place, which was a bit away from the airport and really just sort of looked like a hole in the wall place at first glance. But the establishment had a good reputation and it improved on time, so we hightailed into the office to get the rental car business started. We were prepaid and all, but it still took mom FOREVER to get through the line. I judge that from arriving and departing, we were there at least a half and hour, probably more.

The way this place did business was that while you were filling out paperwork and etc., they would drive your rental care up to the front so you could inspect it for anypre -acquired damage. While waiting for mom, I had seen other cars being driven up and people going outside to check them. I took notice of one car in particular, only because it was the most astonishing shade of blue I had ever seen on a car before. Bright, electric blue. I thought to myself, "Poor person who gets that car!"

Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Mom walked outside to check her car, and I perked up and looked out to see which one had been designated as ours. Yeah, you guessed it. I saw her doing a check-over on the bright blue PT Cruiser and was mildly shocked, to say the least.Weeeeeeeeel....I guess we'll never lose it in a crowd, right?

[small]Taken at a later date[/small]

Just so you know, in the end we really liked that car. Very easy to spot, and it was kind of fun being a car that was kind of unique. Well, not all that much...while we were in California, I counted not less than four other identical cars.

Anyway, enough is enough. Mom completed all the paperwork, we climbed into our brilliantly blue car and away we went!

Since we were in the area, we decided to drive by the house my mom used to live in in Hawthorne. It took a little bit of finding, but we arrived there in the end.

My mom kept commenting on how run-down and just dirty the whole area looked. I know what she means. Things have definitely degenerated since she lived there, but I get the same feeling whenever we'd drive past the house I lived in from when I was born until my 10th birthday. It looked fine when we lived there, but ever since then I can't help but notice exactly how...icky the place is.

But we had other things on our mind besides run-down former abodes. We had our sights set on one place, and one place only. That's right! We were going to...

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IN-N-OUT!!!!!

*cue celestial music*

Best hamburger joint in the world, hands down. If you've never been there, you don't know what you're missing. If you have, then I'm sure you can agree with me!

I mean, how can you argue with food like this?

Food envy is comin' on thick, I'm sure!

Yuuuuuuuuuum

I'm sorry, were you talking to me?

Here's a bit of trivia you may not have known. IN-N-OUT is a family-owned company and they, or at least the founders are/were, Christians. You'll find Bible references on the bottom of all their paper cups and hamburger wrappers. If you don't believe me, check for yourself! Here's a VERY blurry picture of mine.

Camera didn't want to cooperate, unfortunately.

Anyway, I'm taking waaaaaaay too long to write this, so I'll just summarize the rest of the day quickly.

After stuffing our faces with the best burgers this side of heaven, Mom and I hopped back into our sparkly car and drove from LA down to where my grandparents live in Beaumont. It's about 30 minutes away from Palm Springs, if you're unfamiliar with the area.

The route we took was the same one we used to take coming home from church every Sunday...we used to live in Moreno Valley, which is in the county of Riverside. It was alooooong drive there and back every week. It was one of the reasons why we moved to Chicago; so we could be closer to church and other folks. It was difficult living so far out from everyone and not being able to get together often.

Anyhoo, so we drive, and drive some more, and finally arrive at my grandparents house! Also there to our surprise was Becks, or Becca, my cousin. We hadn't been sure if she'd be there during our visit or not (she lives with her dad down in LA, but visits Gram andGramps now and then), but she was. It was nice to see her, and she was really excited to see us.

Grandma, Mom, Grandpa and Becca

Mom in front of our brilliantly blue car...

...and I as well!

It was getting to be around dinner time, and since nobody felt like cooking, we all decided to go out to El Polo Loco, a Latin fast-food restaurant in the West coast that specializes in orange juice marinated chicken. Yum!

Becks posing for me. Luv her!

By this time, jet lag was setting in...hard.


After we ate, we went to the Super Walmart across the street to pick up some things we needed. I saw that they had the Narnia soundtrack there, and since I didn't have it I bought it. But being the good Narnia fan that I am, of course I didn't open it!

So, we shopped, went home, made chocolate-dipped strawberries, and then went to bed early. I was EXHAUSTED. I think when I laid down, I closed my eyes and didn't open them again until morning. I NEVER go to sleep that fast! Must have been that wonderful jet lag that everyone talks about.

Up Next: Oodles of People Pics

 

[Gymfan15]

So I woke up the next morning refreshed and ready to visit some old haunts and see some "new" ones. Mom, Grandma, Becks and I were going to the city I used to live in to visit and shop! I was super excited to see everything again. It was so weird having been away for so long!

I had some time to kill while Grandma got ready, so Becka and I went outside and took some pictures.

Mom really wanted pictures of the poppies, so I took some.

Close-up. Ain't they purdy? Grandma says they're weeds, though, and wishes they were gone from her yard. lol!

The trunk of our lovely blue car. Early on, we had SO many issues with that trunk door it's not even funny. For a while, we couldn't figure out how to open it. I would stand out there for literally ten minutes trying to get the stupid thing to unlatch. Eventually I figured out that if I unlocked the car from the inside, it would work. Later on, we also realized that two presses of the "unlock" button on the keys would do the trick as well. Good grief!

Here's Becks posing in front of the poppies.

Whoa. "Come closer, come closer..ahh, too close, a leetle too close!" (A cookie to the first person who tells me where that comes from!)

Becks is actually a good photographer, all things considering. She actually took my favorite picture from the whole trip; you'll get to see it later.

I really liked this picture I took of myself, but as you can see the lighting was off quite a bit. So I stuck it into Photoshop and...

Voila! Fixed. Although, it made the background all washed out. I could fix that if I wanted to, but I'm too lazy, and besides, I don't have the time.

My grandparents live on a golf course...I love the view from their living room windows and their backyard. It's it gorgeous?

Say cheese!

Cousins forever!

After our brief photo-shoot, I went back inside and decided to experiment with taking self-portraits with the aid of a mirror.

Whoooooops!

Okay, let's turn the flash off.

After several tries:

Much better! Kinda cute, don't you think?

Then, we all trucked outside to take a few more photos. So sorry to bore y'all, lol!

Becks, me and Mom

Becks, me and Grandma!

Next up: The REAL Toolin' around Town!

 

[Sorsha]

Whoa. "Come closer, come closer..ahh, too close, a leetle too close!" (A cookie to the first person who tells me where that comes from!)

I know, I know! *jumps up and down, waving hand*
Robin Williams as the merchant at the beginning of Aladdin! The fellow who does the Welcome to Agrabah speech.... I know this cause it has my very favorite line in the whole movie; I have the whole speech just about memorized. " Look at this! Yes! Combination hookah and coffee maker--also makes Julienne fries. Will not break (taps it on table), will not--(falls apart)--it broke."

Great pictures! Enjoying your trip report!

 

[reelmom]

Great report so far. Looking forward to more.

 

[Gymfan15]

I know, I know! *jumps up and down, waving hand*
Robin Williams as the merchant at the beginning of Aladdin! The fellow who does the Welcome to Agrabah speech.... I know this cause it has my very favorite line in the whole movie; I have the whole speech just about memorized. " Look at this! Yes! Combination hookah and coffee maker--also makes Julienne fries. Will not break (taps it on table), will not--(falls apart)--it broke." :***:

Great pictures! Enjoying your trip report!

Horray! TWO cookies for you for not only correctly identifying the line, but the whole paragraph!

Thanks for the comments, y'all! New post coming soon, I PROMISE! And yes, Disneyland is coming soon too. It's taking forever, isn't it?

 

[Sorsha]

Horray! TWO cookies for you for not only correctly identifying the line, but the whole paragraph!

Thanks for the comments, y'all! New post coming soon, I PROMISE! And yes, Disneyland is coming soon too. It's taking forever, isn't it?

YUM!! Coooookkies! (Insert drooling smilie here)