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Summer

Wow! It has been a while since I have posted.  I think I forgot I had this blog.  Sorry folks.  Well, I finished my first year of teaching June 7th 2013 and now it is summer.   We are still living in the same place and it is HOT! Boy, our small AC window unit does not cut it here with the 100+ degrees.  It just makes you want to sit around and do absolutely nothing! However, I am happy to say, I've been accomplishing a lot.  I've figured out how to keep the house in order. (make it your full time job) I've also had a chance to read, get a quilt going, do some work for school and even take a couple online classes with my district.  We don't have many summer plans which is nice in a way.  We will likely be taking a trip to AZ for a wedding the end of July, first of August.  Otherwise, nothing else is new.  Life is Good!

Honeymoon/Vacation

Alex and I were married just before Christmas so our honeymoon got cut a little short.  We decided we would do something this summer for fun.  We had been thinking either a cruise or Disneyland.  When Alex's mom called and said they were going to Disneyland in June our decision became easier.  We decided to join them, after all we always here that going just yourselves is kinda boring anyway.  We planned, budgeted and even bought a car to get us there.  Luckily we paired the California trip with our friend Kevin's wedding in Arizona saving us 12 hours in the car.  By the end, we were so grateful to have done that.

We awoke Friday morning, got somethings done to prepare and then loaded up our car and got on the road.  We weren't in much hurry because my brother was up in Utah and we were headed to say at his empty house.  It was nice to kinda take our time, however by the end we just wanted to be there.  We did however stop in Barstow at the Tanger Outlets.  It was fun and Alex was so nice to let me look.  I found a cute belt and pair of sandals at Gap for under 7 dollars, thanks to my mother and grandmother's influence.

The next day we went over to visit the Zylstra's next door.  We visited with them for quite a while and Sue invited us to eat lunch with them.  We ate a fabulous taco salad.  We left not knowing what we would do with our extra time on a Saturday.  It was about 3pm and we decided not many places (ie museums, aquariums etc) would be worth paying for since they would close soon.  I forgot a jacket so we needed to look for one.  We decided to head to a local Ross, then go to see the Avengers.  Yes, we went all the way to shop and see a movie.  However, it was the perfect thing.  We shopped, found great things for both of us. Once we were hungry, we found our favorite restaurant Panda Express and shared our 3 entree meal.

After eating dinner, we walked by Cold Stone Ice Cream.  It used to be the thing I always thought about but knew it wasn't very healthy.  I was sorely disappointed by it. I definitely was not as good as I thought it would be.  Oh well, still good enough.

We were way early for our movie so we walked around a bit, but mostly just sat and chatted and people watched.  We decided in California, anything can be in style if you just put it on.

Sunday we went to church with Zylstras and everyone asked why we took my brother and his family's place.  We then went over ate a BBQ Pizza made by Melanie Z. and chatted some more.  We left to go back over to the McMullin House and Alex's mom said we could come that night down to Anaheim. We decided not to fight traffic that morning and head down Sunday evening.  We met them at Chili's and then headed back to the hotel and hit the nice warm spa.  It was just what I needed before a day of theme park-ing.

Monday, we awoke bright and early, prepared for a day at Knott's Berry Farm.  We went down to the hotel's continental breakfast which consisted of cheap donuts, two kinds of bread, two cereals, coffee, milk and juice.  We ate and then left for Knott's.  We drove there with the Briggs's and couldn't find the parking lot.  Luckily we were there about 45 minutes early.  We waited in line with hundreds of teens, excited to get into the park.

Kevin bought us a fast line pass.  It let us go to the front of the line on about 10 rides.  This meant we would basically walk on lots of roller coasters.  It sure was fun! I started to get sick though.

This ride was called the Perilous Plunge.  It dropped you at about a 75 degree angle and goes down into a harbor FULL of water.  No one gets off dry, in fact everyone gets SOAKED! It was nice on a hot day though.

We ended up quite wet as you can see if you look close.

Another roller coaster was called Pony Express.  The seats were horses that you would get on and ride the coaster as if you were on a horse.  Clever I'd say!

The Silver Bullet left me most sick and dizzy but was probably my favorite.  Your feet hang down while you are twisted and turned through corkscrews and loops.  I could only do this one once.

Boomerang was my least favorite.  It was a coaster that brought you up backwards, then dropped you through corkscrew thing and a loop then up again.  It then took you all the way backwards again.  I just shut my eyes all the way through the second part (I'll admit it) because it was so bad.

Here is a picture of Alex and others going a second time (Alex is the top left)

I really liked this ride.  It is like the rocket at Lagoon.  It reminded me of Skydiving when it took you up really high and just dropped you.  It gave me the free fall feeling once again.  I went on this 3 times :).

Alex wanted to go on this one so much, but I couldn't do any more thinking about Disneyland the next day still.  Luckily, both his brothers also wanted to go.  Here is a video of what it was like.  Can you see why I didn't want to go?

We ended the evening with a meal at Claim Jumper.  It reminded me of the night I went there with my family.  It sure was a funny feeling to be there again.

Disneyland was the next day.  We woke up early again, got dressed and ready to go.  We were there before they let us in to the rides.  We hurried to get to Star Tours.  This one was redone to have multiple scenarios that you randomly get.  (Overall we went on this one lots of times, it made me motion sick by the end though... 3D + rocking motion = sick feeling).

Main Street Disneyland

The Jones Family!

We made it to the submarines.  It had been a long time since I had been on this ride.  It was fun to go through the finding nemo show while in a very very small squishy space.

Alex and I in the Submarine ready for our journey.  Our guide even had an Aussie accent.

Down the row, it kinda shows how squishy it was.

We also got on Space Mountain waiting like 20 minutes. After spending the first two hours at Disneyland, we headed over to California Adventure when it opened at 10am.  It was my first time doing a Park Hopper pass.  We usually just do one day Disneyland passes.  We went on California Screamin', the roller coaster in the background.  I really liked it, but couldn't do more than once that day. 

Alex, however really loves roller coasters and he went Single Rider a second time.  I waited for him to come by.

We hit a bunch more rides, did a lot more walking.  We had fast passes for World of Color.  I really was excited to see this because I heard it was amazing.  I wanted to get a good spot so Alex and I went early to get some spots.  We waited for what seemed like forever.  Finally, they made us stand up for the last half hour before so they could smush more people into the area.  Finally the show started and it was REALLY cool! Water was shooting up.  They were shining colored light on it as well as projecting movies on to it.  So cool, however it was 45 more minutes of standing and we were dying.

After the show, Alex, Trevor, Spencer and I ran back to Disneyland to hit some more rides before the park closed.  We got on a lot of the smaller rides that usually have a huge long line, such as Dumb (pictured below), Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Autopia and more.

We finally left the park ready for some sleep.  We went to bed intending to get up at 6:15ish in order to leave by 7.  Our alarm never went off and I woke up at 6:56.  We were not going to be ready to leave at 7 that is for sure.  Luckily the other two rooms slept in too so we all left late.  Here is our group of 9 the 2nd morning.

We did more splitting up the 2nd day. We walked on Thunder Mountain 2 times.  We got on Indiana Jones waiting like 20 minutes.   It was a pretty calm day for Disney. It was awesome! Alex and I went on the famous Jungle Cruise.  Our tour guide wasn't the best (usually that is what makes it) but we still had fun.

We saw Snow White and Cinderella by the castle.  The line for Snow White was about 5 people; Cinderella had about 20 in her line.  We didn't wait; we just walked by. It was a fun, relaxed day surprisingly.  Our feet were killing us but really, we don't feel like we missed out on anything. We even had gone on some of the more major ride 2 or 3 times.  We were pleased with our experience but it sure felt weird not to be busy running around that second day.

Thursday we woke up, packed, ate breakfast at Denny's and decided to skip the beach because it was too cool and we were just tired and not in the mood for more driving than we had to.  We drove back to Jeff and Melanie's house and relaxed while playing with the boys and visiting with Melanie.  They were so funny.  Jack wanted the dog rocker and Henry wanted to share. Luckily, Jack didn't even get mad.

Henry's Funny Face.  

Friday we had to leave to drive to Arizona.  We were packing up the car and they decided to check out our new car.  It was so funny because they thought they were so awesome in the front seat.

We made it to Arizona about 6 hours later, picked up Alex's Groomsman outfit and then met up with Selina and her family.  We went to dinner then to Walmart to pick up a few things.  We let the kids choose their favorite candy and they both chose chocolate.  Normally, this wouldn't be a problem.  In Arizona, chocolate melts faster than ice.  Check out this face!

It sure was fun to see and play with these guys! We wish we could visit more often.

Alex forgot his razor charger.  He shaved the second day of the trip and that was the last one his razor had.  He just kept growing out his beard while at the theme parks.  I insisted he shave for Kevin's wedding.  It was an adventure to find a charger.  Luckily Kevin had the same razor so he borrowed it.  Here a before shaving picture.  It was about 1 week of growing....

And here is after! I was so grateful.  Beards are too scratchy for kisses.  The wedding was wonderful! It was so amazing to go to another sealing that wasn't our own.  I learned SO much! Kevin and Taylor's faces were just so happy!

Mr. and Mrs. Hinton

It was SO HOT! I was dying and I can only imagine Taylor in her heavy dress.  We waited around while they took pictures and then headed to the lunchen.

These are Taylor's littlest sisters.  They were so cute.  The youngest, about 1, was loved getting her picture taken.  The other, sadly, wouldn't look up.

I had to hold the bouquet for a few minutes, standing in for the bridesmaids... they were busy chatting.

We took a quick nap before the reception and made it there before the family did.  More pictures and then just eating and chatting.  Other people's receptions are much more fun,  we decided.  Not so much meeting and greeting of people.

Sadly, the night was over which meant a long drive the next day.  11+ hours later on the road through nowhere and we made it home just in time to go to bed again.  It sure was a blast to spend tons of time together having fun. Can't wait for another vacation :)