#390 - Disneyland with a Kiddo

The last time I went to Disneyland, I was a college student. So today's new thing was completely different: visiting Disneyland with my family. This was my hubby's amazing birthday gift to me, and it was spectacular! We were there before the park opened in the morning to purchase "ears" for TLG (see below). The lines for rides were very short so we got to try tons of rides! We walked straight on (no waiting!) to Pirates, It's a Small World, Buzz Lightyear, the flying rockets, King Arthur's Carousel and Winnie the Pooh. I think the longest we waited was 30 minutes (for Autopia and the Matterhorn, which only the hubby went on)... amazing. We had lunch in Tomorrowland and went on every single ride there except Space Mountain, which was closed for them to put up Halloween decorations. The only two rides TLG wanted to go on again were Small World and the teacups, and he really didn't like the Roger Rabbit ride. (I forgot how scary that movie was!)

We met Pluto and Mickey Mouse, and saw Snow White from afar. TLG and I had fun playing in Toontown with all the bells, switches and levers all over. We ate popcorn for dinner and stayed until closing time, running to get on "one last ride" (teacups for the boys, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for me). When it was time to leave, we had to stop on Main Street to buy souvenirs including a Mickey light saber for TLG. Then we hiked across the street to IHOP to have pancakes for dinner late in the evening.

What an amazing day we had, and some great memories for our photo album too. TLG is the perfect age for a first trip to Disneyland - he loved seeing all the characters and choosing which rides to go on. And I loved watching him explore and see all the amazing things Disneyland has to offer.

#389 - California Adventure

Today, our family flew to Burbank, CA then drove to Anaheim and spent the day in Disney's California Adventure. None of us had ever visited there before, so it was entirely new for all of us... and it was great fun! We met Mickey Mouse just inside the door of the park, had some lunch, and headed off for some rides. My wonderful hubby's favorite was the Soarin' Over California, I loved the California Screamin roller coaster and the Muppet-Vision 3D (of course). TLG's favorite ride were the bug bumper cars (though he seemed to like the Soarin' ride with his Dad too - upon exiting the ride, he was pumping his fists and yelling about how cool it was). Meeting and posing for a photo with Lightning and Mater was awesome (TLG looks tired here, but I think he was just in awe... when we were done posing, he patted Lightning and said goodbye). We also enjoyed the Pixar Play Parade which had many of our favorite movie characters in it, before they closed the park for the night.

#382 - #384 - Convention New Things

After my wonderful hubby and TLG went home, I stayed on in Chicago another week to attend a national board meeting and five-day convention. While I was there, I...

#382 - Shared a Hotel Room with My Fantastic Mother-In-Law
One thing you should know: I have the world's best mother-in-law. She and I have a lot in common, and I am extremely lucky that we get along so well. I had convinced her to attend the convention with me, and we agreed that staying together would be best for all of our wallets. I really enjoyed sharing the convention highlights with her, attending concerts and workshops, and reviewing all the day's activities. I am so happy I got to share this with her!

#383 - Watched "Flight of the Conchords" Season 1
If you like quirky, musically-related television shows, and if you've never seen this one, please add it to your Netflix queue. Brit and Jermaine are two New Zealanders living in New York City, trying to make it as musicians. They are hilarious, and each of the songs they perform plays out like a music video in the episode... and each song is a different style, from pop-techno, to love ballad, to disco, to French rock. Hi-lar-i-ous, and kept me in stitches while I was waiting between board meeting and convention activities. Season 2 is also out on DVD but I haven't seen it yet.

#384 - Limo Ride to O'Hare
Yes, instead of a shuttle ride or a private car to O'Hare airport, I got to ride in a limo. (No, I didn't ask for a limo, and no, I'm not anybody important. They just had over 800 people all going to O'Hare at the same time from the same hotel. They brought out the big guns.) The last time I rode in a limo was at my wedding over five years ago! It was really classy and made for a great last impression of my time in Chicago. No frills in the car, I will report, but it was fun to pull up at the airport and feel like a million dollars.

#380 - #381 - Chicago (Day Three)

The next day in Chicago, we had a blast...

#380 - Taking TLG to a Children's Museum
We visited the DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville, IL. We were only there about 45 minutes before they closed, but it was AWESOME. I don't know if TLG liked the wind toys, the hands-on construction area, the water toys, or the giant mazes best. Part of that was my wonderful hubby and I were like kids in a candy store - "Hey, look at this!" (Then from the other side of the room: "Wow - check this out!") TLG didn't stand a chance with the two of us crazies. If you are ever nearby with a little one, I urge you to go and see this place.

#381 - Family Visits
We also spent a good portion of a day driving around Chicago and visiting various members of my extended family. We had lunch with my great-aunt who turned 91, and one of my uncles. It was such fun to hear stories of my Dad and his brothers when they were children! And we had dinner with two sets of uncles and aunts, plus one cousin and her twins. TLG was happy to have kids to play with, and I had a great time visiting with my family (who I don't see nearly often enough).

#376 - #379 - Chicago Firsts (Days One-Two)

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been away so long. It has been a crazy couple of months here. I'll try to post more regularly as I notice new things in our lives! In the meantime, I just got home from 10 days in Chicago and have a handful of new things to share:

#376 - Waterfall Swimming
The first hotel we stayed at had an indoor pool with a giant (fake rock) waterfall. It was beautiful to look at but GOOD GRIEF the water was cold! We swam anyways, since TLG loves to be in the water... he thought it was the greatest fun to swim back behind the waterfall. Of course we couldn't stay in there long because our lips were turning blue.

But I would be remiss in talking about Chicago if I forgot to mention the

#377 - Rental Car Upgrades!
Leftover from my previous job, I have a membership as a Hertz Gold Club member. Somehow we got upgraded from a mid-size SUV to a new Cadillac Escalade... which was awesome! Leather seats with warmers, tons of room to spread out, a smooth ride, a satellite radio, and best of all, a GPS. OK, we knew we were getting the GPS because we paid extra for that - but thank goodness we had "her" with us. We were only 90 minutes late to the...

#378 - Major Family Reunion
One of the reasons we took this trip was to attend a major family reunion in Auburn, IN. There were about 35 members of my husband's extended family in attendance, including a bunch of kids. We were late NOT because of the GPS but because we failed to double-check the driving time in advance. Oh well, we still got to visit with everyone and eat a good meal. While we were there, one of my hubby's cousins gave TLG a...

#379 - Fishing Lesson
I'll admit I've never been fishing. I'm not even sure if my hubby has, either? Outdoorsmen, we are not. The park where the reunion was held had a small fishing pond, and the cousin's children clearly had plenty of experience. While we didn't let TLG actually fish any, the two of us stood there for quite some time watching. I asked our cousin to explain what he was doing (since I obviously was at a loss for words), and he did a great job telling TLG all the steps to catching a fish. I don't think they caught anything, but that wasn't really the point.

#306 - Funhouses are Fun?

After the pony ride, what could possibly be exciting to do at the State Fair? Amusement rides, of course! We purchased a $40 ticket (which was good for approximately 10 rides in the kiddie area). After trying the flying elephants and the helicopters, TLG decided to try a funhouse attraction. Being the big boy that he is, he wanted to go alone like all the other kids, so we stayed on the ground watching him as he navigated through his first funhouse. He did great on the first two levels with the punching bag maze, the rope ladder, the creaky swinging bridge to cross. But as he made it to the top of one side of the funhouse (two stories off the ground) he suddenly got a little spooked and he started to get upset. From the ground, we yelled encouraging words and started to panic a little when it looked like he might be stuck there, unwilling to move forward onto the next bridge. Finally, he followed some bigger kids across the second bridge, where an attendant was waiting to help him go down the two-story slide where I was waiting at the bottom. What a relief I felt when he was on the ground again! Of course, once he came down, he acted like the whole thing was no big deal...

#305 - Pony Ride for TLG

The little guy loves animals of all kinds. He loves our dogs, he is fascinated by Grammy and PaPa's cat, and he is always watching for birds, rabbits and other creatures in our backyard. Today we took him to the California State Fair and saw all sorts of animals, including horses, cows, pigs, fish, chickens, roosters, geese and an alpaca. But his favorite part of the day, bar none, was taking his first ride on a pony. The pony was wearing a saddle marked with the name "Tex" so we are STILL talking about riding on Tex and how great it was. The ride was set up like a merry-go-round but with four live ponies, and though it cost $5 (an astronomical cost if you ask me --- thanks, Poppy!) I'm so glad we decided to let him try it. He wasn't scared of the horse at all, but he did ask me to walk next to him the entire time and he held my hand while we were moving. Maybe he was just scared of falling down, not so much of the animal itself? When the ride was over, we patted Tex goodbye on our way out the gate. I wonder if TLG will grow up to be a veterinarian?

#278 - Overpriced, But Necessary

On our last day in Branson, we used the last of our 4-day park hopper passes to re-visit White Water park. While we were standing in line for one of the family slide rides, the neck strap on my favorite bathing suit broke! (How embarrassing!) My hubby was able to tie it up for me for long enough to get down the slide, but once we got back to the main part of the park, I insisted on buying a new bathing suit from the gift shop and changing into it pronto. I would normally never dream of spending so much moolah on a suit, much less buying a suit without trying it on! *sigh* It's an interesting souvenir of our last day in a wonderful city, where we had so much fun.

#277 - TLG's Adventures in Rides, Part 2

After visiting the other local amusement parks, today we finally visited Silver Dollar City. Some friends who moved from Reno to Arkansas years ago drove up and brought their wonderful kids to spend the day with us, exploring this park. Again, TLG was fascinated with the rides (the photo shows us on the hopping frog ride, but he also liked the ladybugs, the butterflies, the teacups, the elephants, etc.) Everyone's favorite ride was a family ride called Lost River of the Ozarks, where six people at a time float down a ride and get all wet. This park has lots of craftsmen and shows, but we spent most of the time visiting with our friends and waiting in lines for rides. We skipped TLG's nap in favor of staying with our friends all day, and eventually he fell asleep in the stroller (at which time the two of us snuck off to ride a roller coaster, leaving him peacefully snoozing with our ice-cream-eating friends). Thanks, Grubbs, for driving in to see us - what a wonderful day we had!

#275 - Feeding Stingrays

After our Ducks adventure (see below), we headed to Predator World, a zoo/aquarium that had a great assortment of mammals, reptiles and aquatic life to see. The photo shows TLG getting up close with a leopard! But the most exciting part of this visit was that we fed some sting rays! (Note: my hubby thinks they might have been mana rays, but I can't find any info on their website to confirm this?) In any case, the helpful employee explained where his mouth is (well under a flap that looks like it should be a mouth), and how to hold a piece of fish for them to retrieve. TLG just dropped his piece of fish in the water, but my hubby and I both got to feed fish directly into the ray's mouth. It was very smooth underneath his chin, and a pretty amazing experience.

#274 - Ride the Ducks

This morning we rode in an amphibious vehicle, based on the WWII DUKW, as part of Ride the Ducks, a local tourist attraction. This tour of town took us up into the Ozark mountains, showed us some other WWII vehicles, then went driving into Table Rock Lake and out into the water quite a ways. It's amazing to think that this vehicle/boat is 60 years old, and it was lots of fun to learn about them. The tour guide graciously let TLG "drive" the boat while it was in the water (see photo), which he loved... but his favorite part about this tour was getting a souvenir "quacker" noisemaker that does sound remarkably like a duck. It looks like a duck's bill and we all got one to take home, which was fun and will make for a nice reminder of a fun morning.

#273 - TLG's Adventures in Rides, Part 1

After doing more driving around and relaxing today, we visited Celebration City (an amusement park also affiliated with Silver Dollar City) and took TLG on his first amusement park rides. This photo was taken before the carousel began moving on his first time around - we went on it three or four more times before we told him it was time to find another ride to try. He loved the rides, he went on all the smaller kiddie rides we could find, plus the giant ferris wheel with both of us. He was sad that he was too short for the bumper cars - our only meltdown of the day - but fortunately he's tall for his age so he met the 36" requirement for most of the others. When it got towards closing time, we high-tailed it across the park to see the laser and fireworks show, which was pretty spectacular. Since he'd seen fireworks on the 4th of July and knew what they were, he was doubly impressed to see them so big, and so high in the sky!

#272 - TLG's First Water Park

White Water Park in Branson is part of three amusement parks affiliated with Silver Dollar City, and today we gave White Water a try. My childhood penpal and her son met us there, so our little party of five braved the fountains, lazy river, wave pools and some of the family-friendly larger slides. TLG was a little cautious at first, but once he realized how great his lifejacket was for making splashing fun, he left us adults in the dust! He splashed everywhere, turning levers and wheels to turn the fountains on-and-off, and wanted to float down the river without an innertube (and without me holding on) just to be swimming by himself. The waves at the wave pool got a little intense in the water, so we sat at the edge at let the waves lap at our feet instead. Once we wore ourselves out, we all went to dinner together to enjoy a little more time in one place. Man, it was great to spend a whole day with my good friend Steph! Thanks for making that drive to see us!

#271 - Sightseeing Branson

We drove around Branson today and explored the resort where we're staying. The humidity here is enough to make a desert-dwelling family melt, but we saw plenty of things we'd like to visit more in-depth in the days to come. Our resort has three pools (indoor, outdoor, and a kiddie pool) and we spent plenty of time there cooling off, but in the evening we visited a newly refurbished downtown area of Branson called, aptly: Branson Landing (see photo for a great shot of the fountain show we saw). Mostly filled with chain stores like Bass Pro Shop, Coldwater Creek, etc., we stopped for ice cream at a Marble Slab Creamery.

#270 - Tulsa to Branson

Today the three of us flew to Tulsa, OK where we rented a car and drove to Branson, MO. None of us have seen this beautiful part of the country before, and it did not dissapoint! A few new things, wrapped up into one post along with some observations:
- Oklahoma, at least the part we saw, is very flat and green. There are many cows and horses, and each time the little guy saw a bunch of cows, he parroted my hubby and said "Holy Cows!" So very cute.
- An interesting observation at the Arby's in OK where we finally had lunch: they had a little bar next to the soda dispenser where you could get pickles and peppers for your sandwich. I've never seen that before!
- Missouri is more hilly near the border, and once you enter the beautiful Ozark mountains, you can definitely tell.

- Missouri has awesome rest areas (see photo). The first one we stopped at had a big sign for "2007 Quality Award Winner" from the MODoT, and it was easy to see why. The little guy and I had a blast playing at the playground - a good break after being on two planes and in the car all day. They also had a great welcome area, bathrooms, and tons of vending machines.