The occasional bloggg de los Jenkins

Florida trip report, Disney edition

2012-01-25T19:09:00.000-08:00

After a wonderful wedding on Saturday, we spent Sunday at church and then with the whole family enjoying each other's company at the house.

Monday morning, Stacey and I got up pre-dawn and hit the road for the most Magical (and most visited) place on Earth. Because we only had a day, we had drawn up a crazy plan to hit all four parks. Our priorities were favorite attractions that we knew were fun and also attractions that we hadn't done before. Obviously, we avoided the attractions that we had done before that weren't fun. We couldn't do everything, but boy did we sure try!

Our first stop was the Coronado Springs Resort Hotel, where we were able to check in at 7:30 in the morning.
Being resort guests would allow us to hit the Early Magic Hours at the Animal Kingdom and stay for the extra Evening Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom.
Once we got checked in, our first stop was the Animal Kingdom.

Great AK-themed tree outside the front gate.

We got to the park before the general (non-resort) public could get in and made a beeline for Expedition Everest, a really fun coaster that goes forward and backward.

Had I been a quicker thinker, Stacey would be in this photo.

After Everest, we went and rode Dinosaur!, then headed out of the park. We had a schedule to keep.

Stacey doing her best Aladar face.

One of us was very surprised.

Our next stop was at Disney's Hollywood Studios, where we got a great parking spot near the entrance, then we stood in line to get into the very crowded park. We were there by the time the park opened, but the lines were so long it took us 15 minutes to get from the back of the line to the turnstiles.
Because the lines for Toy Story Mania! were already at 90 minutes by the time we got into the park, we altered our plan and headed for the Rock n' Roller Coaster,
after which we rode the Tower of Terror with FastPasses.

After these two adrenaline-filled rides, we grabbed some FastPasses for Star Tours (the FPs for Toy Story were already gone for the whole day, and it wasn't even 10:30am!) then headed out of the park and back to the Animal Kingdom.

The motivation for returning to the Animal Kingdom was to see Finding Nemo: The Musical, which I missed out on the last time we were at Disney World due to a sick child. While waiting for the Nemo showtime, we grabbed some lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, which, I must say, was fabulous. Great portions and good tasting food--we highly recommend it!

After the BBQ, we headed into Finding Nemo and were not disappointed. They really do their musicals well at the Disney Parks.

After the show, we were finished with Animal Kingdom for this trip. We would have loved to have done Kilimanjaro Safaris, but that will have to wait for our next trip!

One of the biggest motivations for this trip were the fact that we were there at Christmas time and we really wanted to see the Christmas decorations. Another motivator was the fact that we've had extended stays at WDW twice and never really gotten to do much in the World Showcase at Epcot. As such, it was on to Epcot!

We did nothing in the Future World section of Epcot, simply because of our limited time and our desire to do things we hadn't done before. Additionally, the World Showcase portion of Epcot was the part that was decked out for Christmas. They had "Holidays around the World" storytellers at each of the lands, and we were able to catch a couple of those, including Pere Noël in France.

In addition to the Christmas fanfare, we went and watched O Canada!, Impressions de France and Reflections of China, as well as visiting the pavilions of most of the other lands. We watched Chinese Acrobats and Japanese candy makers, and visited (and sniffed) a life-sized gingerbread house in the American Pavilion.

We grabbed some goodies at the Patisserie in France--yumm!

We watched the Candlelight Processional from afar and decided that we've been spoiled by great choirs like MoTab. Also, the celebrity was Chet Atkins--if I have to look up the celebrity to see who he is, he's no draw for me.

After a counter-service dinner from the China and Mexico pavilions (which we *don't* highly recommend), we headed back to Hollywood Studios for the nighttime attractions.

We got to Hollywood Studios and headed over to the Osborne Family lights. They were, in a word, spectacular. There were so many lights (I read that there are more than 3 million) that it was a tremendous sensory overload. It was fun to just watch them dance and twinkle without having anywhere else to be.

From there, we rode the new and improved StarTours, for which we had grabbed FastPasses earlier in the day. They did a good job revamping this erstwhile stale ride, making it a 3D ride and adding a randomizing feature which makes the ride different every time. When we go back, we'll do this one multiple times!

Rex, the incompetent Droid pilot from the original ride, is preserved in the queue.

After getting a good dose of Christmas cheer and battling the Evil Empire, we moseyed over to Toy Story Mania! just to see what our chances were of getting on. As it turned out, they were very good! The line was only 33 minutes, and the Orlando version has the kind of queue you don't mind spending a half hour in. Yee haw!

She really WAS pointing to Colorado!

While we were in Toy Story, we shut the park down (8pm), so we had no alternative but to go to another park! The last stop on our whirlwind tour was, of course, the Magic Kingdom.

We got there just in time to catch a glimpse of the Main Street Electrical Parade, then we hit a mix of rides that we loved or had never done. These included Pirates of the Caribbean and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (it was too cold to do Splash Mountain by this time of night), after which we went to the hub and watched the Fireworks show.

It was fun, but I wasn't wowed like I was by the Disneyland show (did I just say that?!).

After the fireworks, we grabbed a Dole Whip Pineapple Float in Adventureland and went to watch the Country Bear Jamboree (Stacey took a nap). After the Bears, we toured the Swiss Family Robinson's treehouse, then headed over to Tomorrowland for the People Mover (Stacey took a nap), Stitch's Great Escape (Stacey took a nap) and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. I guess there was a reason that Buzz Lightyear was the only one of these we'd done before--it's still a whole lot of fun!

After Tomorrowland, we went to Fantasyland to try to see what we could see of the expansion construction (not too much in the dark, but we caught a glimpse--very exciting stuff!), then we watched Mickey's Philharmagic (we both took a nap; this is actually a really fun show when you aren't dead tired) then took a spin with 999 happy haunts in the Haunted Mansion (I think Stacey took a nap). When we got out of the Mansion, it was 1:30am, and we decided to call it a day (and a half!). We were spent.

After a quick night's stay at the hotel, we checked out and spent the morning shopping at the very large hotel gift shop in Coronado Springs, then over to Downtown Disney for some last-minute souvenir shopping. After that, it was on to the Airport and our flight home.

While there was so much more we would have loved to do if we'd had more time, we were pretty pleased with what we could accomplish on just a one-day pass! We scratched the Disney itch for a while and got to see their Christmas offerings. The only word I can come up with is "supercallifragilisticexpialidocious".

Florida trip report

2012-01-25T18:48:00.000-08:00

The week before Christmas, Stacey and I had the opportunity to go to Florida for a few days. The motivation for the trip was Stacey's brother's wedding, but we did our best to pack in as much fun as possible.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and made a detour to Sonny's BBQ, a favorite from my childhood.

After we filled up on pulled pork and stocked up on some bottles of BBQ sauce (it's good stuff!), we headed to the house on Anna Maria Island. The weather was absolutely perfect all weekend.

The wedding was to take place Saturday evening, so Friday evening and Saturday morning were spent prepping. Stacey and her sister made the cake, and the rest of us did various odd jobs.

As a side trip, I got up early Saturday morning and headed up to Clearwater to run the SayNoToDrugs.com 10K race, which basically went across the Clearwater Causeway Bridge and back. Other than forgetting to bring my watch with me, it was a fun race. They even served pancakes at the park by the finish line.

After I got back from the race, the rest of the day was spent prepping for the intimate family celebration that was to take place that evening. The wedding was to take place on the beach, so we spent a good bit of time setting up there. The water was a little cold, so we didn't get in above our knees (and even then only for a short period of time), but it sure was fun being there all the same.

The wedding took place in the evening with a beautiful sunset as a backdrop. Nathan and Ana María are now a family and we're very happy for them.

We didn't do much picture taking (though others did) while on Anna Maria Island, so there's not much else to see here. Did I mention that it was 78 degrees?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-30T07:08:00.000-08:00

It's a good thing that today is only the sixth day of Christmas. We're fresh out of geese-a-laying, however, so you get the annual Christmas letter instead. Click on it for a full-size image (or, if you're an out-of-towner who normally gets a letter from us, wait for it in the mail!). You can find the answers in the post below.

Spoiler Alert!

2011-12-30T07:01:00.000-08:00

The image below contains the answers to our annual Christmas letter (click on it for a full-size image). If you want to try to complete the letter, see the post above. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Runnin'!

2011-09-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

Pretty much every year for my birthday and Christmas I get some cash, and since the two are only a month apart, I customarily hoard the cash until after the holidays so that I can figure out the best way to spend it and not ruin somebody else’s gift plans. This year, after much deliberation, I decided that I was going to invest in some running shoes. I had never, in my life, owned a pair of running shoes; in my mind, this made for a perfect excuse not to run. I was reasonably athletic and owned both court shoes and cleats, so I figured I was good.

Over the last year or two I’ve been inspired by multiple individuals who have done all kinds of cool (or, in my parlance, “crazy”) things as runners. One of them won an ultramarathon while climbing a volcano on Maui. Cool points for winning, cool points for winning on a volcano, crazy points for climbing 10,000 ft. over a 35-mile stretch. Other friends have dropped significant amounts of weight by taking up running. I, on the other hand, was not dropping significant amounts of weight; I was dropping significant amounts of chocolate chip cookies down my gullet. I like to do this. I don’t think that will ever change. Therefore, I needed to come up with a solution that would allow me to continue to feast on cookies and cake (keep in mind that this isn’t just any old cake, either) without becoming a candidate for the Biggest Loser. Given the inspiring feats of my friends, I figured I’d give running a shot.

I eventually bought the shoes and, after a false start with a sore foot, began running when the weather began to be tolerable, around April. When I bought the shoes, I thought maybe I’d take on the Bolder Boulder, but I didn’t really give myself enough time to train for it (I blame the stupid long winter, actually), so that was a non-starter. I ran my first 10K distance on July 2^nd, and two days later ran in our Ward’s 5K fun run. It was, in fact, fun.

After the 4^th of July, I began to think seriously about running a race. I started looking on line for training programs and figured out that I was, serendipitously, on track to train for a half marathon. After finding the two Colorado Half Marathons that don’t happen on Sunday, I determined that I was on pace to compete in the ADT Half Marathon on Labor Day. My parents live in Colorado Springs, so it seemed like a good race to make my first as we could stay the night down there. I did all of the training that Runner’s World online told me to do, though I was never happy with how slow I felt I was doing the long runs. I did enjoy the taper week, when I got to run shorter distances (at faster paces).

Race Day came with a nice crisp morning, but really the weather was perfect for a long, morning run. The most I had run in training was 11 miles, so I really didn’t know how 13.1 was going to pan out. My plan all along was this: I was going to latch on to the designated 2:00 pacer (that is, the guy that committed to pacing racers to run the race in exactly two hours) and see how long I could hang with him. If I was successful in keeping up with him, then I would hope to break away near the end so that I could come in under two hours.

I had absolutely no problem keeping with the pacer (seen in the photo holding the flag). I ran about 20 feet behind him for the first half of the race, then ran right behind him or right next to him from mile 7 to mile 12. We actually conversed for probably three miles, as other runners had gone on ahead or fallen behind. At mile 12, I got excited when I saw the mile marker, looked over to the pacer and realized that I was a few steps ahead of him. This was no doubt the adrenaline, but I figured I’d open it up and see what I could do over the last 1.1 miles. This was, without a doubt, my favorite part of the race. They say you learn something with every race. I learned a ton, but this one point stands out above any other: I really like passing people. Up until that point, all of the training and preparation was basically a competition with myself. While I found my personal improvement and goal setting to be quite satisfying, I must say that there’s a certain je ne sais quoi in smoking someone who’s been running ahead of you. I must have run that last 1.1 miles in about 8 minutes flat, because I beat the pacer by 1:20 and he finished right at a 9:05 pace. That was tremendously satisfying (though it made me wonder how much earlier I could have broken away).

Another point worth mentioning is that my family was hanging out at a park through which the course ran at miles 4.5 and 8.5. This was huge. Seeing them along the way was a big boost--David and Sarah even ran along with me for a minute or two. They were near the finish line waiting for me as well, and David ran with me for another minute or so.

Here’s the most astounding thing about the race: It went exactly according to plan. I envisioned myself keeping with the pacer. I envisioned myself breaking away toward the end. I envisioned myself running the race in 1:58ish. My final time was 1:58:04 (exactly a 9:00 mile pace), and it wasn’t chip-timed, meaning that even though it probably took ten seconds for me to even get to the starting line, that time counted toward my overall time.

The only anticlimactic moment came at the finish line, because I was confused as to where the exact finish line was (in retrospect, I think it was a strip of red tape on the ground)! In the video I raised my arms triumphantly not because I was crossing the finish line at that moment (which, apparently, I was), but because I heard somebody announce my name over the speaker system. Then I saw people stopped ahead of me in the chute and I realized "Oh, I guess I'm done".

My mom and wife were surprised that I didn’t even seem tired after the race. Make no mistake, my legs were sore after the race, but I think I was on such a high from the accomplishment that I didn’t seem drained.

The Saturday after Labor Day, folks from the Parkview Ward held a 5K in which I ran. Even though my legs still were pretty heavy (that lasted about two weeks) from Labor Day, I was thrilled with my time (3 minutes better than I ran the 5K on July 4^th), and I really, really loved passing people. Especially younger people. That’s when I knew I was hooked.

Looking forward, I’d like to run some more races (and pass some more people). I think maybe I’ll do a 10K this fall, then set my sights on smokin’ the Bolder Boulder. After that, who knows? Right now I’m thinking maybe another Half Marathon (Georgetown to Idaho Springs in August?), then maybe doing the ADT again on Labor Day, but this time possibly as a full Marathon. That would involve more training, but I wouldn’t rule it out. At any rate, I’ve got the bug. I’m not going to go insane with it and run ultra marathons or anything along those lines, but for now, I’ll keep on runnin’.

Eyes wide open

2011-08-25T05:44:00.000-07:00

Fifteen years ago life changed forever! We had children. I don't remember much about my thoughts on how family life would be--most likely it was very unrealistic as I dreamed of perfect children and a daily picture perfect scene that you would see on the cover of the Ensign. Of course, I have a different view now and my eyes are wide open, sometimes in shock (I didn't know it would be like this! or "what have I gotten myself into") other times I'm trying not to miss any precious moments-because like all experienced parents say: "it goes really fast". In the early years of having children, days were eternally long but the years seemed to be going by pretty quickly. Now I feel like each day goes by very quickly and the years....I feel like it's so fast I'm missing it.

Another school year has begun and I find myself yet again in awe of how quickly time is going. David is now a Sophomore; do I really only have 3 more years left before he heads off on his own exciting adventures? Sarah has begun her first year at middle school enthusiastically jumping with both feet in participating in the Advanced program called "EDGE" and joining track the 2nd day of school with plans to join many clubs after that. Hannah begins 3rd grade a little nervous at not having her "bestest" friends in her class. Then comes out after her first day introducing me to her "new" friend and has a scrap piece of paper with her phone number written on it.

Now after 15 years of having one or more children at home to tend, teach, nurture, entertain my baby begins Kindergarten. I feel that this should not be a shock to the system; after all, he has been in Preschool for the past two years. I keep telling myself that "I should not be surprised," that "I knew this would happen, in fact you have wanted this to happen. What about your endless list of what you can do 'once all the kids are in school.' " Now that list doesn't seem so important.

Before Devin gave the children Father's Blessings he asked Seth if he was worried about anything; Seth said, "...that I will miss you." His simple sweet response broke the dam I had been building to help keep me together while I let my youngest go face the world of Elementary School. Will his teachers understand him the way I do? Will they be patient with him? Will they see how smart he is and will it be enough to help him have confidence for the other challenges he will face? How will the other children react to him? Will he be able to make friends? His social skills are so much better than I ever expected thanks to the early intervention he received at Polton Preschool. I will forever be indebted to the amazing team that worked with him (Ms. Alissa, Ms. Esther, Ms. Leslie, Ms. MaryBeth, Ms. Angel, Ms. Jenny, Ms. Beth....). I wish they could move up with him; but I suppose they must continue to work their magic with other children like Seth.

Seth has been soooo excited to go to Kindergarten at his new school. He had colored a map of the school we printed off: his classroom is blue, the art room is rainbow, music room is red, Science is Pink, the library brown and Hannah's classroom is purple "because that is her favorite color". We've met his teacher, got his backpack with all of his school supplies ready by the door and his favorite shirt washed and ready (a Lego Star Wars shirt). As he is going to bed he tells Devin and me how the morning will go: "1st- scriptures, 2nd-breakfast, 3rd-get dressed, 4th-get my backpack and take a picture, THEN go to school!" He woke up 3 times during the the night before his first day; I don't think its even that bad on Christmas eve. The morning went as he described and he was ready to go 5 min before we needed to leave. His teacher Ms. Thomas puts a "My name is..." sticker on his chest and Seth doesn't even mind; she gives me a tissue and I mind very much as I try to keep things together. It was exciting to see other children lining up including 3 girls from his Church primary class--they all said "Hi!" to Seth and he even said "Hi" back.
He has friends.
Because we were there so early we waited a good 15 minutes before his class was ready to go into the building--an eternity for a 5 year old (and myself). So we played "I spy." Then it was finally time to go. As he walks through the door, he stops...turns around....waves to me and says "Bye Mom! I love you!" The tears begin.

I drive in the car not knowing what radio station to listen to and so it stays off. I run errands and come home to a very quiet house. The quiet I so desired seems so loud and empty now. Where is the joy in the freedom I craved? I'm sure it will come; I will wait with my eyes wide open.

Seth's first day was a hit! He loved it and asked, "Do I get to go to school tomorrow?" I told he would. He pumped his fist and said, "YES!"

Summertime!

2011-06-08T12:51:00.001-07:00

What better way to start off the summer than with a summer haircut?

Eye level

2011-06-02T13:51:00.001-07:00

I love this picture (not bad for a cell phone camera).

Take Your Child(ren) To Work Day

2011-04-28T10:03:00.001-07:00

You can just call me...

2011-03-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

We were at the doctor today and the research assistant called Seth "Dude". The ensuing conversation followed:

--I'm not a 'dude'.

--Sorry. Can I call you 'little man'?

--No.

--Well, then what can I call you?

--'Awesome'.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-27T19:03:00.000-08:00

Our family made Mail Boxes so that we could give each other valentines throughout the month. It was sweet to get little notes here and there from the kiddos. Although I don't mind the guaranteed date to go out with my sweetheart, I wonder if Valentine's is more of a young person's Day; they really know how to have fun with it:

The girls requested buttermilk, heart shaped pancakes for breakfast (how could I refuse?).

Sarah and Hannah have loved a website that was recommended to us for cute girls hairstyles: cutegirlshairstyles.com That is where we found this adorable hairstyle for the girls; perfect for Valentine's Day and so easy to do! Playing with my girls' hair has gotten a lot more fun!

February

2011-02-26T16:36:00.001-08:00

Other than Valentine's Day, February is really kind of a boring month. Not that I'm complaining.

¡Ajuua!

2011-02-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

We discovered a new-to-us Mexican Restaurant--Ajuua!!

What we love about it is the refreshingly diverse menu. It's not the same old burrito/chimichanga fare (though they have that, too). This place was born as a Mom n' Pop restaurant, but has grown to four or five stores, while still maintaining the flavor that made them great in the first place. The service was very reminiscent of what you'd find in a family-owned place: less-than-perfect mastery of English but excellent care for the customer. Everyone seemed invested in our enjoyment.

Location: where the old Zio's was in Aurora at Iliff and Abilene.
Salsa: 3 stars--not the least bit of spice, but good flavor for both the red and green. The red salsa was sweet, and the green had strong lime overtones.
Entrée: 4.5 stars--I actually let out an exclamation when I took the first bite. The serving sizes for our dishes, the discada and the alambre, were so big that we could have easily shared. The only thing keeping it from five stars was that the beans and rice tasted like they do in every other Mexican restaurant.
Drinks: 2 stars. The horchata was slightly weak, and the tamarindo was very watery (I think it's the way it was supposed to be, but I'm used to the strong, thick Dominican stuff). I'll likely just stick to water next time.
Dessert menu: Don't know yet. We really wanted to try it (again, not the same old stuff), but were way too full. Lots of fruity options like Strawberry chimigangas and banana enchiladas (or something like that), as well as the stand-by fried ice cream.

We'll be back, to split an entree and dive into that yummy-looking dessert menu. Wanna come with us?

Disneyland is History

2011-02-05T09:30:00.001-08:00

We could probably create 20 more posts about Disneyland, but this is it. We'll just have to blog about the happenings at home, I suppose.

One of the cool things about Disneyland is the nods to the park's history. I made mention of this earlier, but here are a few of our photos that help illustrate the point.

Many of the windows on Main Street USA reference the people that helped make Disney and Disneyland what they are today. This is just one example--Don Edgren was one of the original chief engineers who designed Disneyland.

Most of the critters in Splash Mountain (including the geese, birds, gators, buzzards, porcupines, etc.) are not from the movie "Song of the South", but rather from the extinct "America Sings" attraction.

This is one of a couple of tunnels that used to be part of the old "Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland" ride. It can be seen from the walkway between Fantasyland and Frontierland and really does not look out of place in any way. In fact, right across from it sits Big Thunder Mountain, which makes use of the old building façades from Rainbow Ridge.

This is an actual car (bronzed to look like a statue) from the old "Midget Autopia" ride, which closed in 1966 to make way for Small World.

I took this photo in the Winnie the Pooh ride (you have to look up and back to see them). These guys were once part of the Country Bear Jamboree, which occupied the spot on which Pooh now resides.

Thanks to MiceChat and Yesterland.com for all the trivial park info that I would otherwise have never known.

Hidden Mickeys

2011-02-05T08:40:00.001-08:00

When we were at Walt Disney World in 2008 we discovered the phenomenon of the Hidden Mickey. Throughout the park, seemingly innocuous patterns and shapes every once in a while manifest themselves in the form of a Mickey Mouse, most often the "three circles" head and ears shape.

We casually found a couple in Orlando (the coolest one we found was in this photo from Spaceship Earth--can you spot it?),

but became consumed with the phenomenon at Disneyland.

I got a "Hidden Mickeys" book for my birthday, and David became the official seeker of the Mickeys at the park (the ubiquitous book is evident in a couple of our bloggg photos from Day 4). Below are a few of our favorites (for which we actually got still photos, at least):

This one was in a wall in ToonTown.

The holly berries form a Holiday Hidden Mickey in Small World.

Not only does the license plate sticker at Autopia have the Mickey,

but this plate features my initials!

Check out the light-colored portion of Duffy's face.

The placement of these three ovals qualifies as a Hidden Mickey.

This one's from the floor in Pinocchio (it's upside-down here).

This is one of a many 'crests' in the Matterhorn Bobsled queue (but the only one with a small black Mickey in the middle).

The crest on this armor has a Mickey, dead-center.

Tough to see, but really cool.

This one's in the pavement out in the plaza between the parks.

This was serendipitous, but undeniably Mickey.

Plug for a Plan

2011-02-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

I used to think that going on vacation meant no itinerary, do as you please, relax, sleep, take it easy. While some vacations lend to this kind thought, I have since converted to a "plan" when we go to "THE parks." It all began when a good friend offered to make a plan for our first trip to Disney Land. "Why do we need a plan?" I thought to myself, "We've been to Disney World, and did just fine....didn't we?" It ended up being a wonderful learning experience for myself as I learned the art of navigating an amusement park to make the most of your time (bonus: more bang for your buck too!) I learned new terms and ideas like: slow loaders, peak season, fast pass, count-down to open, short cuts (did you know that the shops that line the Main Street of Disney Land and Disney World are all connected on the inside? If you can't get through on the streets because of a parade or event and you want to get out--go right down the center of the shops and bibbidi-bobbidi-boo: You're out! A short cut. Good luck not getting sucked in by the Disney merchandise.)

Our friend brought over this amazing map to point out how itinerary would work and his reasoning for how things were planned. He even planned in a nap in the middle of the day because we had small children (Hannah was 1 at the time). Being at the park before the park opens was key to the plan: less crowds=short lines. But we couldn't miss out on the night shows which are late (much later than my children were used to staying up)--thus a nap was necessary. However; we found we needed the nap just as much as the children. We went to Disney Land in the middle of July (peak season), followed the itinerary, and didn't stand in a line longer than 15 min. Not an exaggeration. We saw everything and enjoyed the full Disney Land experience in 2 days. I was sold! I didn't feel tied down like I expected. It was more like a Treasure Hunt, following the clues to enjoy the magic to the fullest extent. I compared my experience to the last time I had been at a Disney park wandering around wondering what we should do next, standing in lines for hours at a time thinking this was just the way it was done. Not so; there really is a better way. We enjoyed our time even more because of having a plan. (this sounds like it could make a great analogy for a life plan or even the Plan of Happiness...kinda like how the commandments don't tie us down but help give us our life line so we can FLY like a kite...ahem, re-focusing...) So, needless to say we always make a plan before we go to the Disney Parks (twice since the first time with the plan).

Jenkins family, with itinerary, 2004

Is the plan perfect? Not really. We live and learn, tweak and adjust. There has to be an element of flexibility when it comes to who you are with, the age of children, and unexpected events. Having a plan is a great way to start as long as you don't forget why you are there in the first place--and that is to make memories. If a kiddo wants to "ride again" (even if it is the 3rd time)--then I say, "Lets enjoy the ride!"

Disneyland v. Walt Disney World

2011-01-31T15:54:00.000-08:00

I've often heard people claim that Disneyland is WAAAAYYY better than Walt Disney World, and vice versa. My response to that: Hogwash. Balderdash. Humbug. Baloney. You're full of it.

Often, when pressed for more information, you'll find that those making such preposterous claims have grown up in either SoCal or Florida, never actually been to one of the parks, or been once to one park and 838 times to the other.

I'm no expert on the Disney Parks, but having been to Disneyland and Walt Disney World twice each over the last ten years, I'd like to offer my humble opinion on the matter:

They're both awesome.

Having said that, I'm aware that each park has its advantages, which is probably what people are basing their silly opinions on (my opinions, of course, are never silly). As such, I'd like to discuss five things that actually DO make each park better than the other. Here we go.

Five reasons why Walt Disney World is better than Disneyland:

1. The size. Disneyland is a land-locked place with limited space, which hamstrings the park in terms of growth and potential. Walt Disney World has no such restricitions, as the land on which it sits occupies 47 square miles (about twice the size of Manhattan). As such, the park can grow, grow and grow some more. Compared to Disneyland Resort's two parks (and three hotels), Walt Disney World is huge. In addition to the four major theme parks on the property, Walt Disney World also counts two great water parks, a considerably bigger Downtown Disney and 33 hotels and resorts. As such, there's much more to do at Walt Disney World.

2. These five attractions (featured at both parks) are better at Walt Disney World: Cinderella's Castle (come on, there's really no fair comparison--Florida's version is a true landmark); Fantasmic! (rather than jockey for position in the middle of New Orleans Square, this show has its own amphitheater with unobstructed seating for all); Toy Story Midway Mania (while the ride is comparable in both parks, the queue area in Orlando is fantastic--it's like you're a little toy in a giant toy box, and you don't mind being in the line. By comparison, the queue in Anaheim is, well, a line that you stand in); The Tower of Terror (fun in both places, but the Orlando version actually moves your ride vehicle through the hotel and there's more scenery. In Anaheim, there is no movement on the horizontal plane--you go up, you go down); It's Tough to Be a Bug (again, it's all about the pre-show experience here--descending into the Tree of Life for the show is at least as cool as the show itself).

3. The number of exclusive attractions at WDW far outnumbers the exclusives in Anaheim. These five attractions are probably my favorites among the exclusives: Rock N' Roller Coaster, Test Track, Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Mickey's Philharmagic. There are plenty more where that came from.

4. The Weather. Florida's weather is consistently warmer than Anaheim's, which most of the year makes for a more pleasant experience.

5. The Shows. This is a product of its size, but Disney World has a lot more shows, each in its own theater, than Disneyland. This spreads the crowds around better and gives you plenty of opportunities to be wowed by the Magic.
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Five reasons why Disneyland is better than Walt Disney World:

1. The size. Yep, you read that right. Disney World is so stinkin' huge that it takes forever to get around. It's not uncommon in Orlando to get up in the morning, wait 20 minutes (at least) for the right bus to come along, then ride said bus for another 20 minutes to the park. If you want to take a nap, add 90 minutes of travel time to get back and forth between the hotel and the park. The wait for the bus at park closing is ridiculous because everyone is waiting, too, and the ride home at night is just prolonged torture. Sure, if you stay in one of the hotels along the monorail then your travel time is lessened (though not a lot) between two of the parks and the hotel, but who has that kind of money? If I'm going on vacation, I don't want to lay down a couple grand just on the place I'll be sleeping.
By comparison, Disneyland is cozy and close. We can stay in an off-site hotel, walk across the street to the park and be at the gate in less than 10 minutes. Once in the parks, the attractions are closer together, too. The closeness makes naps a much more palatable proposition and therefore a much more enjoyable day IN the park, rather than getting there. Leaving the park is just as pleasant a walk as it was the rest of the day, too.

2. These five attractions (featured at both parks) are better at Disneyland: Pirates of the Caribbean (the ride lasts about twice as long and there's so much more to see--the Disneyland version is quite impressive, really); It's a Small World (the outdoor façade is so much more pleasant to look at--it also doubles as a screen for the new projection shows, and they've added something on the order of 40 Disney characters in the ride, which makes it that much more fun to try to take it all in!); Space Mountain (I'm a fan of the side-by-side seating); Tom Sawyer's Island (the addition of the Pirate's Cove is definitely an upgrade); Splash Mountain (I actually think the ride in Orlando is longer, but the Anaheim version has a few dips and surprises that I think make the ride more fun).

3. These five exclusive attractions are out of this world!: Matterhorn Bobsleds, California Screamin', Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular (in the interest of full disclosure, I missed the Nemo show in Orlando with a sick child, but I hear it was also fantastic), and World of Color (Mickey's Fun Wheel might have made the list, but I couldn't get the group to go on it with me).

4. The History. Disneyland has an unparalleled history that is visible throughout the park. I'm sure that the California fans think that the Florida version is just a copy cat park, while the Florida folks think that their park fixed all the mistakes that Disneyland made. The reality, however, is that Disneyland appears to make a (more?) concerted effort to maintain its history in a visible manner. As an example, tunnels and track from the old mine train can still be seen, but they don't look out of place. One can find characters from the old Country Bear Jamboree surreptitiously hidden in the Winnie the Pooh ride, which now occupies the spot of the former. Main Street also has several galleries and attractions which highlight the history. Really, quite neat.

5. The cost. Sure, it probably costs the same for a one-, two- or three-day ticket to each of the parks, but Disneyland is eminently more affordable, especially for us. Two large reasons for this are the fact that, at Disneyland, you can spend three days at the parks and feel sated, while in Orlando three days only scratches the surface--I'd say you need at least seven days to get a full appreciation of the parks (think of all those extra meals and nights in hotels!). I would think leaving Orlando after three days would be very unfulfilling. Additionally, Disneyland has affordable hotels right across the street from the park; good luck with that in Florida. For us, it's also more affordable because it's a reasonable road trip (from Denver, it's about 15 or 16 hours of driving--easily accomplished in a day and a half) to Anaheim, whereas getting to Orlando would either require a week of driving (round trip), or plane tickets, which ain't cheap. In fact, an entire trip to Disneyland costs us only slightly more than just the plane fare to Orlando.

On the whole, I'll say this about these two totally awesome parks. If you've got three days or less, spend them in Anaheim. You won't be disappointed. If you have five days or more, spend them in Orlando (if you have four days, go to the one you haven't been to yet). Both trips make memories to last a lifetime (or at least a few years, until you can make the next trip!).

Pirates of the Caribbean

2011-01-26T20:50:00.001-08:00

Disneyland, 2010

Walt Disney World, 2008

Disneyland, 2004

Walt Disney World, ca. 1976

Belay that talk! We wants the keys, not the mutt!

Trip Report, The rest of the story

2011-01-26T19:56:00.001-08:00

It rained.

Beginning with the morning we left Anaheim, it rained non-stop Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. On Day 9, we went to church with Nathan that morning (for another ward Christmas Cantata--at least this time the Bishop shared a brief message), went back to Nathan's for lunch, then the Jenkins loaded up and headed for our friends, the Littons, in Ridgecrest, CA (where the roads were largely flooded). Sadly, we didn't get the camera out the whole time we were there (I think we were enjoying being with them too much). We spent a couple of nights at Sean and Melanie's, played some games, caught up, and just generally did the relaxing that every vacation should have.

Tuesday morning we got up early and headed back toward home. All of that precipitation translated into boatloads of snow in the Colorado mountains, so we decided to take the southern route across I-40 through Arizona and New Mexico. It rained the whole way to Albuquerque.

We grabbed dinner at the Cracker Barrel (a family favorite) in ABQ, stayed the night at another Holiday Inn Express where we swam for about 30 minutes that evening, then hit the hay for the final leg of the journey. We have many, many friends in Albuquerque, but because our stay was so short we didn't see any of them--too bad we couldn't stretch it out another day, but we couldn't. We'll have to schedule a trip down there some time soon.

On Wednesday we got up, had another stellar continental breakfast, then made the final, uneventful leg of the trip home. The rain was intermittent, but not bad. We stopped in Colorado Springs to visit with my parents for a bit and exchanged Christmas presents, as they were on their way out of town to visit my sister in Utah. After that, we spent the final hour in the car and finally were back home in time for a laundry day before Christmas at the Nannies.

What a great vacation. We played hard, relaxed hard, enjoyed the company of friends and family, and made memories that will be with us forever. Perfect.

Trip Report, Day 8

2011-01-26T19:36:00.000-08:00

Day 8 was a pretty low-key day. We slept in, had breakfast at the hotel (we love Holiday Inn Express because they have the best continental breakfast), then headed over to Nathan's house. After a couple of mellow hours at Nathan's, we all (including Stacey's parents) piled in the cars and headed out to lunch and a movie. We ate at one of those soup and salad buffets, but we were pressed for time because of the movie, so all-you-can-eat went out the window. Oh, well.
We split up to watch the movies--the big boys went and saw TRON in IMAX 3D,

while the girls and Seth stuck around at the restaurant and tooled around the shopping center,

then they caught Tangled in 3D.
I think the girls probably saw the better movie.

After the movies, we went back to Nathan's and chillaxed for the rest of the evening.

Trip Report, Day 7

2011-01-26T18:59:00.000-08:00

I love Downtown Disney. I don't love it because it's hip and trendy (though it is). I don't love it because it has some good eats (but it does). I don't love it because of the Disneyland hotels (what real person can afford to stay there?). I love Downtown Disney because of the mega super souvenir shops (e.g. World of Disney).

Because there is no charge to get into Downtown Disney, we can shop at our leisure and not feel like we're 'missing out' on something. Who wants to buy a Disneyland ticket to spend time in the souvenir shops? Not I, said the Dog.

The morning after our three days of perfection was spent sleeping in (a little), packing up (while Seth worked on his Jedi skillz),

then walking over to Downtown Disney for some leisurely souvenir shopping. Up to this point, Seth and I were the only ones who had already picked up our souvenirs, so the rest of the family was on tap to pick theirs up. The first stop was at World of Disney, where Stacey got herself a foxy little Disneyland hoodie and David picked up a challenging Disneyland Rubik's Cube (alas, no photos).

I should probably mention here that we woke up to rain, rain and more rain. It had not rained on us AT ALL for the four days that we were at Legoland and Disneyland, but now it had finally come, and there was no sign of letting up. We were extremely blessed.

The girls had had their eyes on some special Downtown Disney Build-a-Bears since the evening we arrived in Anaheim (see Trip Report, Day 2), so the next stop was the Build-a-Bear workshop. Sarah picked out a simple but elegant ursus with a special Disney logo on it, while Hannah went for the much more fun bear with multi-colored Classic Mickey spots (we don't have more photos of this because a certain four-year old threw a fit because he couldn't have a second souvenir, and a certain parent chose not to cave in. The consequence left only one parent in the store armed with the video camera, hence few stills).

After we said our final goodbyes to the Disneyland Resort complex, we piled in the minivan and headed north toward Valencia, where Stacey's brother, Nathan, lives. We caught a late lunch at In-N-Out burger (yes, I had a Double Double Animal Style, Cheese Fries and a Neapolitan Shake--thanks for the tip, Erin), then tried to weave our way through Friday afternoon, rainy, holiday weekend traffic in Los Angeles. We failed.

We crossed our way west from I-5 to the 405, which was no better, then crept northward. Finally, after about 3.5 hours of creeping, we pulled off at Santa Monica Boulevard in search of the Los Angeles Temple. We found it! While some temples look smaller in real life than they do in the photos (e.g. San Diego, albeit a gorgeous temple), the Los Angeles temple is actually way bigger and more beautiful in person than the photos are able to depict. The added bonus was that they had their Christmas lights up--very nice.

We spent a little more than an hour at the visitors' center, then piled back into the car (and the traffic) and inched our way north to Valencia. All told, we spent about 4.5 hours in the car to get from South L.A. to North L.A. I was beginning to think that California was a totally awesome place to live because they have Disneyland AND In-N-Out Burger, but the traffic pretty much killed it for me. I love Colorado.

After we (finally!) got checked in at the Magic Mountain Holiday Inn Express, we headed into Valencia and met Nathan for dinner. Good food, good company.

Trip Report, Day 6

2011-01-22T15:31:00.001-08:00

Day 6 was our third and final day in Disneyland Park. As always, we were up at the crack of dawn and at the park when it opened. We spent a few minutes on Main Street to get our pictures with Goofy and Mickey,

and I stopped in for a souvenir at the Mad Hatter.

Because of the Space Mountain technical difficulties the previous day, we headed straight for Tomorrowland. As is the beauty of getting to the park early, we walked right on to the ride. Twice.

If you look really hard, you still can't see Seth.

Stacey and Grandma skipped the second ride (actually, Grandma skipped them both) and headed up to get in line to meet the princesses at the Princess Fantasy Faire. We caught up to them and the girls were able to meet Belle, Tiana and Ariel.

While the girls were with the princesses, the boys got a head start on ToonTown and rode Gadget's Go Coaster something on the order of six times. When the girls and grown ups caught up, we went to Mickey's and Minnie's houses (where we met both the mice),

then took a spin on Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin (twice), outside of which we met Pluto.

Once we were done with ToonTown, we took a spin on the Happiest Holiday Cruise that Ever Sailed.

After Small World Holiday, the girls went back to the Princess Fantasy Faire for the Coronation Ceremony with Aurora, Cinderella and Snow White,

and the boys went and rode the Matterhorn Bobsleds again, followed by the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (twice).

We met up again at the Golden Horseshoe, where we sat and had lunch (corn dogs, chicken, fish and chips)while being entertained by Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. After lunch, it was time for Pirates of the Caribbean, followed by the Haunted Mansion Holiday, the Jungle Cruise and the Enchanted Tiki Room.

After hearing the birds sing the words and the flowers croon, we grabbed some Dole Whips, then we took turns riding Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye (the one ride in Disneyland Park for which Seth is too short) while Seth played at Tarzan's Treehouse.

As we completed Adventureland, we noticed that the park was getting CRAZY busy, so we headed out for a little while and got some dinner at the International House of Pokey Service.

We got back into the park, which by this time was wall-to-wall with people, in time to catch the "Christmas Fantasy" Parade (from the train station platform--not the best vantage point, but we did see everything).

We figured out that the reason for the sudden craziness in the park was this--we were there on the last day before blackouts for Annual Passholders, and the park got inundated mid-afternoon by all the locals who had put off coming to Disneyland for the Christmas fireworks (and the parade, I suppose).

Because we had pretty much done every attraction that we had wanted to by that point and were not interested in 60-minute (or even 30-minute) lines, we dropped into the "Disney Story featuring Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln". In truth, it was really cool. We loved looking at the displays of the Park's history, and the Mr. Lincoln presentation was extremely well done. We really felt like our experience was enhanced by having done this--we got the "Full Disney", if you will.

After Mr. Lincoln, we headed up and snapped a few photos of the pretty castle, swung by Pixie Hollow to check it out--even though Tinkerbell wasn't there (much to Seth's chagrin--he's got a serious crush)--then over to It's a Small World to check out the AMAZING amount of lights on the façade. They even had a little projection show that took us off guard. The lights and decorations were what we really wanted to see by going in December, and we weren't disappointed!

After seeing Small World, we went and staked our claim around The Hub for a spot to watch the fireworks (we even lucked into four seats on the benches). Since Seth really doesn't do standing around very well, Stacey and David took him to Tomorrowland to check out the Star Wars souvenirs. He came back with his very own green lightsaber that he built himself. His skills are complete.

At long last, the fireworks show began and it was, in fact, spectacular. I'm not a big fireworks guy, but this was a really great show. The fact that the castle is included in the show with some really good music makes it a very enjoyable experience.

After the show, the streets were trashed, but in true Disney style, the cast members were out in full force and the place was spotless within about 10 minutes. Magic.

After the show, we tooled around the park a bit, not wanting to leave, then made our way back down Main Street where we ducked into the Main Street Cinema for a few minutes. After that, we made our way out of the park for the last time (this trip, anyway). Three completely magical and wonderful days were complete, and we were sated. It was absolutely worth it.

Trip Report, Day 5

2011-01-16T19:07:00.000-08:00

Disneyland Day 2!!! We met up with Stacey's parents, who had flown in from Colorado the previous evening and, after a quick continental breakfast, headed over to Disneyland. The park was open early, but it was roped off at the end of Main Street so we were there for the rope drop and were able to get right on the rides we wanted. While we had covered a lot of the park on our first day, we hadn't touched Tomorrowland, where the first 99 minutes of Day 2 were dedicated. We headed straight to the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (another notoriously long line, otherwise), where we were the very first ones on the sub. This attraction was fantastic--they really repurposed the old submarines well!

After Nemo, we were among the first to drive at Autopia, followed by Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters (one of our favorites--we did it twice)

Protecting the Universe from the Evil Emperor Zurg (but seriously, check out that score!).

We followed up Buzz Lightyear with the Captain EO tribute--at the beginning of the show David leaned over and said, "He'd better not be singing and dancing his way out of trouble." Well, he did. We would have done Space Mountain after Captain EO, but the ride was down that morning with mechanical issues. Good thing we had another day at the park!
After Tomorrowland, we headed out of the park and over to Disney California Adventure, where we would spend the rest of the day. First up was Soarin' over California (rode it twice), followed by California Screamin' (which we rode three times throughout the day).

After Screamin', we rode Toy Story Midway Mania,

King Triton's Carousel,

Meet N' Greets with Jessie, a Green Army Man and Duffy the Disney Bear (don't think he's going to catch on in the States--just sayin'...),

then on to lunch at the Golden State Dining Area (Sarah had a burrito, Hannah and I had Asian rice bowls, and everyone else had soup).
After a satisfying lunch, we headed over to the Hollywood Backlot to watch Playhouse Disney Live on Stage,

then back to the hotel for some much-needed naps!

David stayed a little longer with Grandma and Grandpa to catch the Muppets 3D show, and met ~~Napoleon Dynamite~~ Jon Heder, who was there with his family.

After our naps, we went back to California Adventure for the Pixar Play Parade, then into A Bug's Land for It's Tough to Be a Bug!.

After that, the five thrill seekers went to catch a ride on the Tower of Terror (this ride is a can't miss!)

while the others stayed behind and played at Flik's Fun Fair.

After going back for the last of our three rides on California Screamin' (did I mention that we loved this roller coaster?) and an ice cream stop, we headed over to Paradise Park to watch the World of Color show. While the crowds were crazy and we had to stand in a cramped area for a long time waiting for the show to start, we LOVED the show itself--a very nice addition to the park's offerings. The best part of the show was the encore (or TRONcore), in which pretty much all of Paradise Pier turned into a TRON-themed backdrop for a three-minute advertisement for the movie. The best part about that movie was the hype, and the best hype was that segment from the World of Color.

With that, Disneyland Day 2 was complete. Another fabulous, fun-packed day!

Trip Report, Day 4

2011-01-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

Day 4 of the trip was Day 1 of Disneyland! Woo Hoo!
We woke up early Tuesday morning to catch the Magic Morning Hours at Disneyland beginning at 7am. Had a little breakfast in the hotel room, then headed out the door. Weather wasn't sunny and warm like at Legoland, but at least it wasn't raining (a HUGE blessing!).

Got to the gate before it opened, did the countdown, then headed straight for Fantasyland and Dumbo the Flying Elephant (arguably the slowest loading ride in the park!).

Our earliness paid off with no line at Dumbo, then we followed it up with the rest of Fantasyland in relatively short order. The only line to speak of was Peter Pan, but we still blew through Fantasyland (in order: Dumbo, Matterhorn Bobsleds (twice), Alice in Wonderland, Tea Cups,

Peter Pan, King Arthur's Carousel, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Casey Jr. Train Ride, It's a Small World Holiday, ,hot chocolate at the hub, Sleeping Beauty's Castle Walk Through) in a few short hours. In fact, the longest line of the morning was for hot chocolate (due to the cold).

After Fantasyland (and hot chocolate) we headed over to Frontierland, where we did Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (twice),

then Critter Country and New Orleans Square, where we hit Haunted Mansion Holiday (which was fantastic, by the way),

Splash Mountain (three times),

FYI, Hannah's petrified look is purely mugging for the camera.

Winnie the Pooh (twice, for the sake of a photo), Lunch at the French Market,

the Pirates' Lair on Tom Sawyer Island,

then we rode the Disneyland Railroad out of the park for naps.

After a little downtime at the hotel (yes, we slept) we headed over to California Adventure for Aladdin the Musical (nearly broadway-like in caliber and worth the price of park admission),

followed by dinner at "Award Wieners" (great corn dogs!), Mike and Sulley to the Rescue, ElecTRONica (a giant, TRON-based street party, complete with this really cool performer called "LaserMan") and we ended the day at Soarin' over California.
If you're keeping score at home, that's 27 attractions on Day 1. Awesome.

Legoland Bonus photos

2011-01-09T21:40:00.001-08:00

Because you're a faithful bloggg reader, here are a couple of bonus photos from Legoland.

David, June 2004

David, December 2010

Trip Report, Day 3

2011-01-09T20:54:00.000-08:00

We woke up in our Anaheim hotel, ate some continental breakfast and hit the road to Legoland in Carlsbad (an hour south). We stopped in Oceanside at a Best Buy to buy a new video camera since we realized that ours had given up the ghost the day before. Unfortunately, we had no way to charge the battery, so the abundant videos would have to wait until Disneyland. We did take some (though not much) video with the still camera at Legoland; even with little video proof, we certainly had a fabulous time. The weather was beautiful (85 degrees for the high) and the park was perfect. We were there by the time they opened the gates and really had no lines to speak of the whole day.

One cool thing about Legoland is the fact that many of the rides are interactive. There's a driving school in which the kids drive mini lego cars...

On the Sky Cruiser you have to pedal in order for it to go (it's motorized, but it senses whether or not you're pedaling). Another ride, the Kid Power tower requires you to pull a rope in order to ascend, then letting go of the rope lets you descend (gradually).
For the Knights' Tournament, the riders get to choose the intensity of the ride on a scale of 1 to 5. David and I dialed it right up to 5. We were smart to plan lunch AFTER this ride.

Finally, a big attraction at Legoland is the Miniland USA area. It has several mini cities from around the United States with some amazing lego buildings in them. It's easy to spend long periods of time looking at all the detail in each of the many buildings.
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They even had some extra features just for the holidays!

After the park closed, we headed over to In-N-Out Burger for some California goodness.

I prefer the Double Double Animal Style, thank you very much. With cheese fries and a neapolitan shake, of course.

Trip Report, Day 2

2011-01-09T18:47:00.001-08:00

Sunday morning we got up earlier than we wanted to (but right when Seth wanted to), went to IHOP for breakfast (highly recommend the Banana Bread French toast), waited too long for our food, ran out of there to make it to church and sat through the Christmas cantata of the Tropicana Ward (a performance, to be sure). After sacrament meeting, we were on the road again. A relatively uneventful drive (listening to the Tennis Shoes among the Nephites series) got us to Anaheim by mid afternoon, where we checked into the hotel (right across the street from Disneyland--if you look closely you can see the park entrance and Space Mountain in the background).
Once we got settled in and put on our shorts, we walked over to Downtown Disney, where we spent the evening ogling souvenirs and enjoying the fabulous(!) weather. We just beat the dinner crowds at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen Express (pretty good cajun food).

We spent a LONG time in the following stores: World of Disney, where we contemplated every possible Disneyland souvenir, Build-a-Bear Workshop, with some exclusive Disney wares, and the LEGO store, where they have (among other cool stuff) this really cool video screen that scans the box in your hand and shows the item built and in action on top of the box (see Space Shuttle, below).

After hitting the shops (and buying nothing--yet), we poked our heads into the Disneyland hotel, enjoyed the Christmas decorations in the area, then headed back to the hotel to get some rest for the following day, when we'd head down to LEGOLAND!

California Trip Report, Day 1 ('bout time!)

2011-01-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

I've had all these great ideas for blogging about the trip, but my time and energy have never coincided to actually blog. I have time; let's see how long the energy lasts...

Day 1, Denver to Las Vegas
We left home about 5:30 am, got 10 minutes down the road to the interstate where a bungee cord snapped and we lost the stroller. I parked on the shoulder, played Human Frogger in the pre-dawn hours, picked up the pieces and we continued on our merry way. We assessed the damage at a rest area on I-70 and bid adieu to the stroller (it was on its last legs, anyway---an exciting demise, to be sure). I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to the Georgetown, CO sanitation workers for filling the entire rest area trash can with our stroller.

We then continued westward over Vail Pass, where whiteout conditions had us driving pretty darn slow for a while. Once we got past the town of Vail (where ski traffic was backed up a LONG way at the off ramp), the roads and the weather cleared and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way to Las Vegas. In Eagle, CO we discovered that Burger King makes great croissanwiches and nasty everything else for breakfast. Highlights of the rest of the drive included the cool rock formations west of Green River, the 80 mph speed limit on I-15 in southern Utah and the canyons of northwestern Arizona. The kids enjoyed spotting the St. George temple from the Interstate ("wow, it's OLD!") and loved the twilight skyline of Las Vegas.After we checked in at the Excalibur Hotel, we went to Greenberg's deli in the basement of New York New York (sandwiches to die for), tooled around the strip a small bit, found it to be largely pornographic and spent the rest of the evening in the relatively safe, four-story M&M's store.

Merry Christmas...

2011-01-05T18:48:00.001-08:00

...from the Happiest Place on Earth!

Autumn Time

2010-12-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about our front yard is our big beautiful maple tree that shades our house in the summer and provides loads of leaves for hours of entertainment. Seth loved hiding his blanket in the pile of leaves and then jumping into it (maybe it made the pile softer?) I wonder how jumping into a pile of prickly, dry leaves full of bugs (and who knows what else) ever became fun...but it certainly is to my children.

And one of my personal favorites shows Seth practicing his leaf levitation skills. I never knew he had it in him. What a kid.

Love

2010-11-30T05:17:00.001-08:00

Tucking my sweet little boy into bed, I tell him softly, "I love you Seth!" He smiles, strokes my cheek with his little hand and says "I love you too......but, I love David the most!"
Stinker.

Big Changes

2010-11-28T13:05:00.000-08:00

Part of me wants to start this blog by singing the song from Toy Story "Strange things are happening to me....straaaange thangs." While our blog has been silent many changes have been happening to our family. The biggest one:

Yes, you are reading the name correctly. That is our very own Devin, or as our girls affectionately call him, "Bishop Daddy." He is stepping into the calling with grace and appropriate humbleness. Many ward friends mentioned "they saw this coming" other responses have been "congratulations" (not sure what for) and "condolences". My personal favorite, directed to me, was "welcome to single life." It actually hasn't been too bad. As a High Councilor he was gone all day on Sundays as he counseled the Denver 4th Ward (a Spanish speaking unit in our stake). Not much has changed as far as a time commitment there. Although, if I needed him home, he always had the option to not attend the 4th Ward. It hit me one Sunday as we celebrated Sarah's Birthday with family, without Devin--but expecting him late--that this really was going to be different. Then there are the couple of days a week where he might not get home until after 11 pm. I love watching him speak, teach, and lead. There is just a glow about him that is different than before. He has many wonderful gifts that have enabled him to begin this position quite impressively.

Each week he has a new "favorite thing about being the bishop". One week it was presiding at a baptism, another week it was speaking at the YW Night of Excellence. Today he said the best thing about being bishop today was awarding a young woman her "Young Woman in Excellence Award." I'm sure there will be many more favorites, especially as our children "come of age" in various capacities: baptism for Hannah and Seth, priesthood advancements for David and maybe even a mission farewell, primary graduation to Young Womens for Sarah (is that really next year???).....strange things are happening to me (er...us).

Changes for David
High School.
So much emotion, expectation, stress, and fun is packed into those two words. All of which David has experienced. I am happy to say that it is MUCH better than Middle School ever was. The biggest experience we wanted him to try was Marching Band. He wasn't too thrilled about it and as we got into the practice season we weren't too thrilled about the schedule. Now, we all agree it was a good experience and he might even go as far as saying it was....fun. His marching band even made it to state competition! It was the first time in 10 years the band was able to make it that far. And this year, most of the band was Freshman.

Seth and I met Devin's mom (aka: Grammy) in Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy Stadium to watch part of the competition.
It was very cold! Grammy even treated us to some hot cocoa at Burger King. It was a...mix-it-yourself...type of hot cocoa.

David declares that seminary is "the best part of the day." And he shows it by getting himself up in the morning at 5 am. This is quite an accomplishment for him since he never before has been able to wake up to an alarm. I have been amazed. He also has been able to stay on top of his heavy academic load which consists of mostly honor classes and an AP class (I still wonder why college classes offered to freshmen in High School?). His latest accomplishment in scouts after achieving the rank of "Life Scout" was to qualify for the "Shot Gun Shooting" merit badge. He had never used a shot gun before and yet he was able to hit 29 out of 50 clay pigeons.

My little boy is growing up. Time really has gone faster than I ever imagined. How can I slow down the clock?

Stating the obvious

2010-10-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

I ain't bloggin'.

My Ten Favorite Movies

2010-06-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

Some movies are so enjoyable that I can watch them again and again without ever getting tired of them. The following is a list of my Top Ten favorite movies to watch. If they’re on, I’m watching. I am not saying that they’re the ‘best’ movies ever created or the best stories, etc. (certainly not by the Academy’s standards), and there are no R-Rated movies on this list. If I wouldn’t feel comfortable watching a movie with my teenage son or my parents (not to mention my wife), then to me it’s not a good movie. What follows is simply one man’s list of his ten favorite movies to watch:

The Great Escape—when asked about my favorite movie, this is generally my answer. The fact that it’s a true story is all the more remarkable, but watching the movie is just a fantastic way to spend a few hours. For me, it has the perfect mix of story, drama, excitement, character idiosyncracy, great actors and comic relief.

The Fugitive (1993)—If The Great Escape is #1 for me, then The Fugitive is 1A. What makes this movie great for me is that paying attention is rewarding for the viewer. There are enough twists and turns, with Dr. Richard Kimble just barely staying one step ahead of the U.S. Marshalls, to keep it exciting from the word ‘go’. The bonus, of course, is the acting of Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, the latter giving one of my favorite acting performances ever.

The Sting—I love clever plots, small substories and resolutions that make me laugh out loud in surprise, and The Sting does not disappoint in this area. I’m also a big fan of a good con, so this one’s a natural fit. Besides, how can you go wrong with Newman and Redford in their heyday?

Men in Black—This movie is laugh-out-loud funny and thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones make for a great ‘partner’ movie; I totally get Smith’s sense of humor and Jones plays one heck of a grumpy old straight man. The aliens also allow for a lot of creativity in the story: “Do you have any idea how much that hurts?!” It doesn’t hurt that Vincent D’Onofrio gets to show a little versatility as Edgar, either.

Get Smart—This is the most recent addition to my list, but I couldn’t leave it off after recently watching it again and laughing out loud a LOT. It’s meant to be silly, and it delivers from beginning to end. The Minsk bathroom scene is even funnier with the subtitles on. Now that I mention it, the other bathroom scene is also hilarious, and I’m not generally one for toilet humor. Kudos to casting for putting Alan Arkin in the role as ‘Chief’. He makes the movie. “Sand Trap! Tractor! Swordfish!”

Babe—The next two movies are on this list largely because the end of the movie always produces a huge smile of satisfaction, with maybe even just a hint of mist in my eyes. Babe is a great story on hidden potential and on the virtues of innocence and benevolence.

Driving Miss Daisy—With apologies to Woody and Buzz, this is probably the best buddy flick out there. Both Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy give All-Star performances, and it’s a great story of an unorthodox friendship that develops over the second half of the 20th century.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off—This is on my list for the nostalgia factor. This was my favorite movie of the 80’s, I can still basically quote the whole thing and, along with the rest of Chicago, I’m pulling for Ferris. Mr. Rooney is the perfect foil.

The Sandlot—Also on my list for nostalgic reasons, this movie reminds me of being a kid; I wasn’t a kid in the 60’s, but I did grow up playing baseball from sunup to sundown, and I can attach a real name of someone with whom I grew up to most of the kids in this movie. I like this movie so much that I’m a member of the Squints Palledorous Fan Club on Facebook.

Toy Story (I, II or III)—I’m a sucker for the Pixar films. They haven’t laid an egg yet (Wall-E is the closest they’ve come), and most of their movies have been bang-up fantastic. In my home we own all the movies, and the whole family can identify 99.8% of the quotes from them. Toy Story, simply put, is the gold standard of computer animated films. Frankly, the whole trilogy knocked my socks off, but if I have to pick only one I’ll give the nod to the first movie because the story is great, it introduced us to a lot of fun characters, and because it forever changed the movie industry.
---------------------------------------------
Honorable mention:

Another movie I’ll always stop and watch when it’s on TV: The Dirty Dozen. Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Donald Sutherland, Jim Brown, Telly Savalas...? Posey, Franko, Jimenez…? Come on.

Favorite R-rated comedy that I’ve only ever seen in an edited version: Trading Places. Were I to consider only the edited version, it would displace either of the comedies in my top ten. I love this movie. Ask me about a funny story regarding an edited version of this movie sometime.
Edited runner-up: Plains, Trains and Automobiles.

Favorite R-rated drama that I’ve only ever seen in an edited version: The Shawshank Redemption. Redemption, indeed.

Favorite Soundtracks: Happy Feet, Muppets from Space. The movies are okay, but both have lots of good funky tunes that will get me to watch; Happy Feet wins here for its great mashups.

Favorite overall DVD experience: Apollo 13. The bonus features alone make it worth owning.

Favorite cult classic: I’ll give this one to The Princess Bride, though So I Married an Axe Murderer deserves mention as well.

Best big-screen movie for which a small screen wouldn’t work: Avatar. I enjoyed seeing this in the theater so much that I went twice and paid for the 3-D both times. However, the story is not especially strong, and I just don’t think I’d enjoy it that much on my 27-inch screen.

Another reason to love summer

2010-06-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

One of many, many reasons for loving summer

2010-06-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

Diary of a burn--update

2010-06-19T06:23:00.001-07:00

This evening will mark one week since "The Burn" happened. The pain is still present and accounted for, though Stacey would prefer that it not be so. This photo is a couple of days old, but gives a fair sense of the burned area. Since this was taken, the dead skin on the thumb as well as down toward the palm have receded more, leaving a nice, big, raw area. The last visit to the Dr. yielded a prescription that would have cost about $350 for a week's worth of ointment (the wonderful insurance, of course, no longer covers that medicine--SCAM!), so Stacey pleaded broke with the Dr. and they prescribed a different ointment that's much more affordable, covered by insurance, and stings slightly. As you can imagine, her use of the hand is still rather limited, and she faces the daily dilemma of being lucid and very uncomfortable or being loopy/asleep and pain-free.

Diary of a burn Day 1 and 2

2010-06-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

Day 1
It will be a long time before I try to cook sopapillas again. Or at least I will get a fry daddy first. Moving pots of hot oil around on the stove top is a very dangerous thing. Especially when the oil sloshes up onto your hand. Of course my knee-jerk reaction was to pull back and wipe the oil off on my pants. Do you know what happens when you do that? Oil all over the floor and stove and torn skin on your hand. (Day 1) I can't even begin to describe the burning, stinging, raw pain...but, stupid me, I'd rather tough it out under cold water than make a trip to the doctor. Thankfully at the insistence of my husband and sister I went to the ER at University Hospital (it was a slow night for them, thank goodness, and I got right in) I was asked about 10 times if I was up to day on my Tetanus shot--which I can't remember. How do people keep track of those things anyway? After the doctor and a student had a "teaching moment" about my hand (which seemed to last forever as they poked and prodded my hand and using terms I couldn't understand) I finally was hooked up to some Morphine and sweet bliss took over. The nurse cleaned and bandaged me up and I was even visited by doctors from the "burn unit" with instructions to come and visit them in a few days. With a prescription of Oxicodone in my hand off I went with instructions to keep the medicine going and I will be a happy person....well, at least a pain free person. I'm not sure why people enjoy this foggy, eye-swimming feeling but I'll take the pain free part.

I am so grateful that our home teacher could come over with a yummy plate of cookies and the priesthood to help Devin give me a blessing. I know that will make a difference in my healing. We also had an amazing dinner brought over by the McIntosh's. It was so good! And we are devouring the cookies that my visiting teacher brought! Thanks Kristin! I am feeling very loved.

Day 2
The nurse had this amazing gauze soaked in vaseline which made up the first layer covering my skin. I was so afraid it had stuck to the wound, but it didn't! The outer layer is a loosely knitted gauze lightly wrapped around my hand. I was very curious to see what the wound would look like the second day. After taking it all off, I was amazed to see the big blister that had formed. We were told not to pop any blisters since that would encourage infection to enter; but as skin gets loose we were to cut it off. Thankfully, Devin is helping me with this whole process. As soon as the air hit the raw, opened burn, the stinging began. So we took a quick picture, cleaned it up and wrapped my hand trying to repeat what the nurse had done. Not as good as she did, but it works.

Mad Skillz

2010-05-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

All of our children were recently caught demonstrating their talents on video. Here's a sampling:

David had the opening solo at the Jazz concert.

Sarah taught a very important lesson at the school variety show.

Hannah was a shining star at her choir concert.

Seth decided to bust a move at the Children's Museum.

Because I've never posted a video on the bloggg before, I thought I had to upload to YouTube then link from the Bloggg. As a serendipitous result, bigger versions can be seen on our YouTube Channel (devin8r).

While the cat's away...

2010-05-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

With Mom being out of town, Seth and I decided to take a trip to the Children's Museum yesterday, and we had a great time. After a short romp through the playground, we made our way inside (running in front of the buses full of field trippers) and frolicked away.

Seth didn't bother to erase the board before he wrote our names on here, and the D's didn't come out too clearly, but each of the three words is a different color for easier deciphering.

He even managed to squeeze in a short nap.

This kid is cute!

We spent quite a bit of time in the puzzle area.

After the museum, we made a stop at Wendy's to better acquaint ourselves with the Value Menu. Seth gave the whole trip a big Thumbs Up.

Favorite Shoes

2010-04-28T09:06:00.001-07:00

I believe most people have had the experience of not being able to get rid of their favorite pair of shoes. I mean really, how can you get rid of something that has become so form fitting that they are just an extension of your body? Hannah feels that way about her "sparkly shoes" which were given to her by her best friend Brenna. Unfortunately, they have seen the end of their days but not in Hannah's eyes.

Earth Day Paper

2010-04-26T08:41:00.001-07:00

I realize I might be the only one who thinks my daughter's writing is hilarious, I'm OK with that. I just love the way her personality shines through in the things that she writes. You can almost hear the inflection in her voice as you read some words and the way she thinks about things can be very unique. The mispelled words will correct themselves in time, I just hope she never loses the desire to write exactly what her sweet little heart is feeling. I just need to record Hannah's paper and maybe share a smile or laugh with anyone else out there:

"Happy Earth day. It's Earth day so that meaaaaaaans that we plant trees or flawers or plants or enething and thes ar some things you do evry day but most on Earth day and it is. Turn of lights when you leav the room. turn off water and take out trash and pick up garbeg and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and a millen times a millen a lots. You see ther are a lot of things to do on Earth day we have this day to clean up the Earth and mace the trees healthy and to mace the world helthy and stay that way so evrything will be helthy even people. Go Green!!!"

Birthday memories

2010-04-15T09:49:00.001-07:00

What does a birthday boy think about? It was a very busy day going to preschool in the morning and getting to bring the snack for the first time. Then he got to help make his birthday cake which he had designed several weeks before his birthday by printing out the picture (all on his own) of Woody the Cowboy and telling me the cake had to be "blue with yellow polk-a-dots". Thankfully, he forgot about the polk-a-dots. He helped mix the batter, pour and bake it. Then sat with me for two hours while I made Woody telling me what should be fixed and what we should work on next including giving me specific instructions on the colors of the words in the bubble. I was surprised he sat with me for so long...I guess he wanted to make sure I did it right!

Or maybe a birthday boy thinks about how much he loves his Grandpa?

I'm sure his presents came to mind...how he planned the whole thing, picking out the wrapping paper and how his mom is so wrapped around his little finger that he got exactly what he wanted: Toy Story Mania for the Wii!

He also had his heart set on the Lego versions of Buzz and Woody--a little advanced for a 4 year old unless you have a big brother to help you! (It was so sweet to watch David help him build Zurg, so patient and helpful. These two are best buddies!)

It was a fun, busy day with lots of excitement! Seth has grown so much this past year in many ways. We are so grateful for the help of his Preschool team who have worked with Seth's communication delays, sensory sensitivity, and flexibility issues (all symptoms of Autism). He has progressed so quickly with the help of many people. Seth is such a joy in our lives with his constant enthusiasm for life! He loves to move his body, sing (current favorite song: "Real Gone" by Sheryl Crow), and JUMP, JUMP, JUMP! Every little thing is a BIG deal to him (that includes the good with the bad); it all helps us appreciate the details in the world around us. He actually does take the time to smell the flowers on the side of the road, admire every rock, pay attention to every sound and the wind on his face. We love you SETH! Happy Birthday!

Blogger has a potty mouth

2010-03-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

I just posted a comment on somebody else's blog, and here's the 'word' that I had to type in for security purposes. Now my challenge for the day is to use it in a sentence.

It's a piece-of-cake

2010-03-18T20:02:00.001-07:00

Cake, cake, cake...it's coming out our ears! Thankfully, my family loves to eat all the scraps, mistakes, and experiments. I've been trying to take better pictures of my cakes, trying different angles, close up shots, different spacing in the picture, etc. I would love any feedback or tips from all of you photographers out there. I also want to know what is appealing when you look at pictures of my cakes so I know what is best to put on my website. SO, here is the first test: I'm putting several shots of a wedding cake I just did. What do you think should go on the website?
A. Conservative

B. Landscape

C. From the Top

D. At an angle

Awesome Kids!

2010-02-25T20:08:00.000-08:00

I'm so proud of my kids. They are so smart, talented, cute, and fun. This month has been busy with parent teacher conferences, band concerts, scout court of honor (David received his Star rank in scouts), activity days recognition (Sarah made a cake to display what she learned from an "awesome" cake decorating class...what can I say, she's a chip off the 'ol block), school district art show (only a handful of students from the whole school get chosen to display a piece of artwork at the school district's admin building and Sarah was one of them!) What great kids!

100th day of school

2010-02-14T20:20:00.000-08:00

Last week the kids celebrated their 100th day in school this year. For the younger kids there is a lot of practice counting and writing to 100, playing games involving 100 items, etc. Hannah brought home a booklet that she had to write in answers regarding 100; it was so cute I just had to share it with you:

What would you choose if you could have 100 of anything? "100 cats. I love cats because they snugle up with you."
If you had 100 dollars, what would you buy? ">Lany the amaricen girl and stuf for Kirsten the amaricen girl."
Would you rather live with 100 ants or 100 butterflies? >"Buttrflis. Ants are for boys"
Would you rather have 100 pet snakes or 100 pet dinosaurs? "Snacs. Dinosrs wood eat me"
What could you do 100 times that would make you tired or sore? "Wii Sports Resort."
If you had to eat 100 of one sort of food, what would you choose to eat? "Macoroni and chees pezza from seeses." (Cici's)
If it was your 100th birthday, how would you spend your day? "Sa goodby befor I dyie."

Olympics!

2010-02-12T07:52:00.000-08:00

OK, call us crazy, but we LOVE the Olympics! We even marked it ahead of time on our calendar so we wouldn't plan anything for tonight. Why tonight? Opening ceremonies, of course. The kids love to make the Olympic Rings in pizza form and we all watch the opening ceremonies together while eating our Olympic Pizza. We still talk about when we went to Salt Lake to see the ski jumping competition (tickets from E-Bay) at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Go team USA!

Sick day

2010-02-12T07:45:00.001-08:00

I think all of Seven Hills is fighting the same nasty respiratory bug: sinus congestion, mild fever, fatigue, relentless cough. We aren't excluded. After a long night of coughing her lungs out I thought it appropriate for Hannah to take a sick day and try to get some rest. After the kids left for school she cuddled up on the couch, not to watch TV but to get some spiritual strength as well. (Now I'll feel guilty when I'm in bed sick wanting to read the latest novel)

Nuggets 127 Mavericks 91

2010-02-10T15:44:00.001-08:00

Most lopsided win of the year, and Carmelo's first night back after eight games off. Fun times!

AGH!

2010-02-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

"Okay, I'm officially freaked out now" (can anyone identify this quote?)
Seriously, I am freaked out...my son is now taller than me and here is the evidence.

My current attitude toward updating the bloggg:

2010-02-06T15:30:00.001-08:00

Bah.

Breckenridge Snow Sculpture Contest

2010-01-30T18:15:00.000-08:00

We (Stacey, the girls, and Seth) spent a fun Saturday up in Breckenridge with Grandma and Grandpa viewing the amazing snow and ice sculptures. Wow! Who knew you could make snow look so incredible? Teams started sculpting on Tuesday and pulled an all-nighter last night (Friday) to put finishing touches on the masterpieces. There were tons of people and their dogs! (What's with the dogs?--no offense to pet owners, of course.)

Christmas letter

2009-12-22T16:34:00.000-08:00

Last year I was able to post our family Christmas letter on the web for all to see, but this year I've been having problems accessing the server from a remote location (i.e. home). Because I'm a genius, I was able to create images of the letter for your enjoyment. Feel free to post comments on funny results, if you desire.

Merry Christmas!

A fish story

2009-12-22T10:04:00.000-08:00

Seth and Mom went to the Denver Aquarium for a field trip, complete with feeding "Big sharks", "Big turtles" and feeding the Manta Rays. Seth also enjoyed the bubble machine outside the Aquarium.

Christmas at the Soddies

2009-12-22T09:49:00.000-08:00

While David and Dad enjoyed a day of skiing at Copper Mountain (sorry, no photos), the girls went to enjoy a day of "Christmas at the Soddies" at the Plains Conservation Center. They got to go to school in the schoolhouse, made Christmas ornaments, learned how to make the most excellent ginger cookies and met Father Christmas.

Sweet and Sassy

2009-12-22T09:43:00.001-08:00

Sarah was invited to a birthday outing at the appropriately named "Sweet and Sassy", where she got a makeover. After that, the group went to lunch at the Olive Garden. She was definitely in her element!

Thanksgiving weekend

2009-12-22T09:30:00.001-08:00

We went to Colorado Springs for a couple of days to celebrate Thanksgiving with Devin's family. The weather was fantastic, so we spent some time at the park on Friday. The evening was highlighted by a trip to the ballet for the girls, who went to see The Nutcracker. Since we hadn't brought proper clothes for the ballet (it was kind of a last-minute thing), we got to go on a shopping spree to Goodwill, finding some fun outfits for a song. We followed up the shopping trip with a trip to ColdStone, where we combined birthday ice cream and gift cards to feed everybody for 83 cents.

Four oh!

2009-12-22T09:09:00.000-08:00

We had a few friends over for an 80's party to commemorate Devin's 40 years on the planet. 80's trivia and 80's karaoke never, ever get old. The same cannot be said, however, for fashion trends.

Another totally awesome cake by Stacey!

Thankfulness

2009-11-30T14:01:00.001-08:00

So, the whole "thankful bloggg" thing didn't work out so well. Nonetheless, here is a list of things for which I am thankful (as posted on facebook over a one-week period; funky formatting on here is unintentional):
I am thankful...

for four children who have plenty of love to share with me.
for sisters who are good to me, in spite of many years of the big brother treatment. I miss getting to see them very often. They rock.
for the few discernible talents that I possess.
for a good memory (and good memories!).
for my mad Karaoke skillz.
for good food. After sight, I think taste is my favorite sense.
for good parents.
for a great job.
that, at 40 years old, my body still works the way I want it to.
for all of the Happy Birthday wishes!
for friends.
for my education.
to live in Colorado.
for the technologies that make life so comfortable.
to have family close by.
for my relationship with Jesus Christ.

I hope that everyone had a fantabulous Thanksgiving!

This was posted by Devin, but I must have been logged in as Stacey.

2009-11-30T14:00:00.001-08:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

I'm so thankful

2009-11-18T16:44:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving's coming! It's among my favorites because it's much less commercialized than the holidays that surround it. For me, it's just about spending time with loved ones.
On that note, I shall begin my series of things I'm thankful for. First:

I'm thankful for my wife, who is without question the most awesome person I've ever met.

Boo!

2009-11-01T18:38:00.000-08:00

We got a pretty scary bunch this year (hey, a talking cowboy doll is scary!).

Cooking with Buzz...

2009-11-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

They cook some pretty mean rice up in the Gamma Quadrant.

A Wicked outing

2009-10-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

Stacey and I enjoyed a fabulous 24-hour period, which went something like this: Dropped off the children at Grandma's house, headed to Downtown Denver, had a fabulous steak dinner at Ted's Montana Grill (Stacey had the tenderloin filet and I had an out-of-this-world Bison Ribeye), saw 'Wicked' at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, stayed the night at the Downtown Denver Sheraton, slept in a little, breakfast at the Delectable Egg, a brisk walk on the 16th Street Mall (did I mention that we had a couple of feet of snow fall in the last 36 hours?), a trip to an indoor mall for some clothes shopping (Stacey was owed an outfit), then back to Grandma's to pick up the children. Cloud nine, my friends, cloud nine.

Field Trippin'

2009-10-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

In spite of very wet snow falling the whole time, Seth and I took a preschool field trip today to the Nursery for a hayride and a couple of hay mazes. Seth got to pick out a pumpkin to take home at the end of the day. Seth got to experience his first taste of "What?! My teachers exist outside of the school?" He wasn't too into that.

Birthday fun

2009-10-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

We went to Heritage Square to celebrate Sarah's B-day today. They have a nice Music Hall there where they put on a fun children's theater matinée on weekends. This go 'round it was Sleeping Beauty, which happens to be Sarah's favorite princess story. In addition to the music hall, the kids got to ride a ride each (thanks to some strangers who were trying to unload their ride tickets!), then Stacey's Dad treated us all to the Alpine Slide. Woohoo! After spending about 4 hours in Golden, we headed back to the house for dinner, cake, ice cream and presents. A fun day!
Hannah took the above photo. After that she wanted to take every shot! She's hooked.
Sarah bestowing a gift on baby Aurora. Hannah then got to bestow a "keen wit", though she had no idea what that means.
This was taken at the top of the Alpine Slide. I can't believe I actually got a critter next to the sign!

There they go!

It's Autumn Time!

2009-10-05T20:47:00.001-07:00

Makin' applesauce for FHE. Mmmmmm!

...IF you have no problem with printing thousands of these without having someone with a triple-digit IQ proofread them.

2009-09-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

I picked up this postcard at the West Branson Wal-Mart for my sister, the badge-carrying grammar cop (of course, I can never remember to drop it in the mail!).

The heinous "YOUR from Branson" caught my eye initially, but the absolute butchering of 'hors d'oeuvre' sent me over the top.

I don't even care about the content--This is egregious.

Three years of Seth

2009-09-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

Labor Day outing

2009-09-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Labor Day we met my parents and my sister's family at Castlewood Canyon for a nice afternoon hike. The weather was perfect, and the children weathered it very well. We managed a 2+ mile loop without any casualties! Afterward we all came back to our house for some great BBQ. All in all, a fun time. Thanks to everyone for coming!

Belford and Oxford

2009-09-02T21:49:00.001-07:00

I finally got to climb some fourteeners after a two-year hiatus. I felt every bit of that hiatus on the way up Belford, which offered no respite whatsoever. That thing was straight up! But I did it, and it felt great--actually, it didn't feel great at the time, but it does now, now that I can climb the stairs again.

First day of school

2009-09-02T21:43:00.001-07:00

Trip report, pt. II

2009-09-02T18:49:00.001-07:00

It took so long to get caught up after the vacation that I'm just now getting back to the blog. Picking up where we left off, the second show we caught in Branson was called "Six". It's six (of 10) brothers who form an a cappella group and put on a fabulous show! Not only are they talented singers (with some good vocal percussion, to boot), but the show itself was very entertaining. They had some pretty slick choreography, a good range of songs, and a nice stage humor. We highly recommend it.
We spent the rest of the weekend at Stacey's grandparents, playing in the lake every day and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. They sure rolled out the red carpet for us and we had a great time!

On Sunday we headed south from Branson to Dallas (en route to San Antonio). The highlight of the day was probably eating at the Cracker Barrel. Yum! In keeping with the Retro theme of our trip, we enjoyed hanging out in the Old Country Store. We got some jawbreakers, which are one of my favorites!
Monday was the highlight of Sarah's trip, as we got up and went to the American Girl store in Dallas. It was pure Nirvana for 90 minutes as Sarah got to see all the merchandise that she had previously only beheld in a catalog. We enjoyed not paying postage for our couple of purchases! From there, we swung by the Dallas Temple (about 5 minutes away) and snapped a couple of quick photos, then headed South to San Antonio, with the kids enjoying the evening in their swimsuits at their cousins' house. Interestingly, San Antonio has a paucity of street signs. There was no way to find our way around without flagging down a local police officer and going with his best guess. Thankfully, he guessed right and we ended up at Stacey's sister's house.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Schlitterbahn, largely acclaimed as the coolest waterpark in the country. We can't deny it, because we had a blast. The highlight for many was the sky coaster, where they lift you way up in the air (180 ft, I think), then drop you into a free fall out of which you swing for a few minutes. Hannah did it twice (Stacey gave her "permission", as long as Hannah met the height requirement, which Stacey thought would never happen. Well, it did), as did David and Stacey. Devin got to ride, too, but Sarah took a pass.

Thursday morning we piled back into the minivan and headed to Corpus Christi, where we spent a few days on the beach at Padre Island. The Gulf of Mexico is incredibly warm, and Stacey and I loved the nostalgic taste of the ocean salt water. We were able to celebrate Stacey's birthday on the 14th at the Texas Roadhouse in Corpus. She got to sit on the saddle as the waitstaff sang and wished her a happy 22nd birthday! She said she'd sit on the saddle anytime they want to wish her a happy 22nd.

Let me say a word here about Whataburger, where we stopped for lunch on Saturday. Its corporate headquarters is in Corpus Christi, and I am not exaggerating one tiny bit when I say that there was a Whataburger at EVERY EXIT! Their billboards (between the exits) say "There's one near you!". At any rate, they've got a new fan in me. For a fast food burger, it was good--I'd put it up there with In-N-Out and Good Times with regard to taste--and the service was THE BEST service I've ever had in a fast food restaurant. Very, very nice.

On Saturday we went back to San Antonio, spent the afternoon and evening at the Alamo and the Riverwalk, spent the night at Stacey's sister's home, then Sunday we were back in the car and headed home. We drove through a neat part of Texas which was founded by Germans in the 18th century, and some very clean towns with a lot of German relics (including the street signs) remain. We spent the night in Amarillo, ate some good Mexican food, then finished the trip home on Monday through the Oklahoma panhandle and Eastern Colorado. We were met outside of Denver with a womdiginous hailstorm which, miraculously, did not leave dents in the car. We couldn't even hear ourselves talk during that storm.

All in all, a great vacation. The kids had their swimsuits on every day for two solid weeks, and we all got some pretty good tans. We had fun visiting with family, who all gave us the royal treatment. We put 3372 miles on the minivan in those two weeks, and saw some new things. Now we're broke.

Brotherly love, sisterly love

2009-08-07T11:52:00.001-07:00

Road report

2009-08-07T06:11:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Branson! We've completed Day Three of our family vacation/monster road trip and have had a ball to this point. On Day One we left the house early and drove across Kansas, stopping at a park in Hays and moving on to Topeka. When we arrived in Topeka, we visited "Old Prairie Town", a little place with vintage 19th century buildings, an old mansion and a pretty botanical garden. The highlight of that stop was the Potwin Drug Store, where we enjoyed some delicious treats like Old-Fashioned Sodas (from a legitimate old-time soda fountain) and Malts. The candy wall had all kinds of old-fashioned treats, some of which we haven't seen since we were kids (and some of which our grandparents had as kids!). We picked up some Nik-L-Nips, some stick candy and a bag of butterscotch, plus a pack of Black Jack gum for Stacey's folks, with whom we dined later that evening. The rest of the evening consisted of playing in the hotel pool and dining at Boss Hawg's BBQ in Topeka.

Day Two took us from Topeka to Branson, with a fantastic stop at a Hidden Treasure in Bonner Springs, KS (just outside of KC). We discoved the Moon Marble Company, a great toy store with a bazillion marbles of all shapes and sizes and more retro toys than we've ever seen compiled in one place. They had some of the neatest old toys there! In addition to a 15-minute marble-making demonstration, we spent a couple of hours there just checking out the toys and picking out a few marbles to take with us. It didn't cost a nickel to get in (though it cost us a few to get out!), and was a great way to spend a couple of hours. We highly recommend it to families with children between ages 6 and 14 (and we've got three of those). After Moon Marbles and a bite to eat at Wendy's, we headed south to Branson and arrived at Stacey's grandparents' home. They live in this great house (used to be a bed and breakfast) with a private dock right on Table Rock Lake. They've really rolled out the red carpet for us, and we've had a great time! Stacey's parents brought the SeaDoos along, and we've had fun playing on the water for the last couple of days. I'm looking out the window right now and am ready to get back out there.

Day Three consisted of playing on the water in the morning and afternoon and heading into town last night to catch a show on the Branson strip. We saw the Hughes Brothers (or Hughes family?), an LDS family with five brothers, their wives and roughly 25 children (all under the age of 14). There was a lot of talent to share and the show was entertaining for the whole family (even Seth for a while).

The plan for today is to play on the water (a recurring theme for this trip) and then head to a show ("Six") in town tonight.

I call 'em like I see 'em

2009-07-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

I LOVE that the word "occasional" is in our blog name, because it's truth in advertising. I make no pretenses.

The next few posts are an attempt at some summer highlights:

We've still got three weeks of summer left before my semester begins (oh, that's depressing just to type!), so we're going to pack in as much fun (and painting!) as we can. We might even bloggg.

Utah--I've heard of it.

2009-07-26T19:39:00.001-07:00

We took a trip to Utah for my aunt's wedding the weekend of June 20th. While it was a quick trip, we enjoyed it and made the most of it. We got to spend a couple of days with Stacey's youngest siblings in Orem, attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, went to Seven Peaks water park in Provo (and the ever-fabulous Pizza Factory for dinner), then headed up to Ogden for the wedding itself (from which I have, oddly, no photos!).This was taken at a really windy rest area outside Green River, UTAlways photogenic
At the open house with Laura and Hayden (and Kit Kittredge)
Nothing says "celebrate" like an ultra rich Reese's cake
Boom boom pow!

Happy Birthdays

2009-07-26T19:33:00.001-07:00

David and Hannah each had birthdays at the end of June. In addition to celebrating in Utah, once we got back David took a couple of friends to Boondock's and Hannah took the family (and one friend), including my parents and my cousin and her husband, to Chuck E. Cheese's (to play) and Fazoli's (to eat).

In progress...

2009-07-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to paint the exterior of the house since we bought the paint on Memorial Day. Got the whole thing cleaned, scraped, primed, prepped, got the main color done, got the shutters put back on--just need to tackle the trim now. I have a week before we head back on vacation, so I'm hoping the weather will be reasonable. The wettest June since the 1870's has certainly slowed the process, but we're coming along. No photos until it's done.

McConaughy

2009-07-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we took a five-day weekend and spent it at Lake McConaughy in Nebraska. It's a family tradition for Stacey's family, and it's fun--especially when the weather's nice. With McConaughy that's no guarantee, but we were darn lucky and had a fabulous time.
The littlest mermaid.
Seth is such a poser.

Scout camp

2009-07-26T19:20:00.001-07:00

Last week David and I spent the week at Camp Cortlandt Deitler for Scout Camp. We both had a fantabulous time. The camp is based on the patrol method, so the boys did all of their own cooking (though the food was provided by the camp). Honestly, it's the best scout camp food I've ever had. As I put on my facebook status, here are two things I like. 1. Camping. 2. Coming home from camping.

Working on outpost shelter 1.0

Archery is still my favorite scout camp activity (honestly, I just like shooting things).

Quite probably the coolest photo David has ever taken.

Another great reason to love summer

2009-06-15T16:22:00.001-07:00

Hannah is getting close to sticking the flip

Seth gets some serious air

I want to ride my bicycle...

2009-06-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Hannah has upgraded bikes, but has skipped the training wheels and gone straight to learning the two-wheeler. Seth, of course, wanted in on the action.

Weekend fun

2009-06-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

Friday evening Stacey and I went out to dinner at Cuba Cuba (downtown) and dessert at the Cheesecake Factory while her mom watched the children. While we enjoyed the evening out, the highlight came after she said we needed to make one more stop. Much to my surprise, and I was absolutely surprised, she had planned an overnight stay for us at the Capitol Hill Mansion Bed and Breakfast.

It was a really great stay and a very pleasant surprise. On Saturday we hung around downtown, went to the peoples' fair, went to the movies ("Up" in 3-D) and enjoyed the Italian Chalk Art festival at Larimer Square. The chalk art was amazing! All in all, a thoroughly memorable and enjoyable weekend.

A good week at work

2009-05-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

Last week was one of my better work weeks--ever. Last Friday was the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences awards reception, at which I was presented the College's Excellence in Teaching award as well as the Excellence in Service award (that's 2 of 3 possible awards for the college). Also, my graduate student won the Outstanding M.A. graduate award and another colleague won the Excellence in Teaching award for non-tenure track faculty. A great showing for the department.
Click here for a link to photos from the reception.

On Tuesday I got the news for which I've been holding my breath since last summer--the Provost approved my tenure case. While it still needs to be approved by the Board of Regents, folks tell me that's pretty much pro forma. Since then it's been party, party, party! We had a nice faculty lunch/party (to celebrate my tenure) at PF Chang's this Friday, followed by graduation on Saturday morning and a party for my "Outstanding Graduate Student" that evening. All in all, a pretty good week. Now, back to grading those finals!

Easter fun

2009-04-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

What would Easter be without the multiple Easter Egg hunts at home, in the neighborhood and the granddaddy of them all at grandma's house?Wearing the jacket is way better than the morning's rain poncho! Sarah had to quit at 26 eggs because her basket was maxed out (actually, that was the per-child limit at Grandma's house).

The lottery people should be so lucky to get a photo like this one.

Assessing the haul...

Talents abound

2009-04-30T21:13:00.001-07:00

We've been treated to lots of musical shows this month. David had three band/jazz band concerts and Sarah did two acts in the school talent show, one on piano and one singing duet with her friend. Here they are singing "Peanut Butter and Jelly".

At David's concert tonight, he got to "trade eights" on a trumpet solo as part of a "Swahili Folk Hymn". Good times. Here's a photo from his recent Jazz Band performance at the Spaghetti Dinner fund raiser.

Zoo fun

2009-04-30T20:59:00.001-07:00

Haven't forgotten about the bloggg, just have found other good things to occupy our time. Here are a few updates:

We recently got to enjoy an outing to the Denver Zoo on a beautiful day during Spring Break. The beauty of Colorado is that even though we get walloped with Spring storms, we also get a smattering of days with beautiful weather.

Static shock

2009-03-31T07:03:00.000-07:00

Our couch is a major producer of static electricity. Seriously, I think we could leave our batteries on it and they would recharge. At any rate, after laying on it, this is what happens. Hannah, of course, thinks this is the greatest thing ever.

Once there was a snowman...

2009-03-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

I think this is pretty cool.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-03-28T06:49:00.001-07:00

This week was my mother's 60th birthday (the day before Seth's third!), and we went to Colorado Springs to throw her a surprise party. The only still photos we have from our video camera are of the boffo cake that Stacey made, so here it is. Happy Birthday, Mom! May the next sixty years be even better than the first sixty.

Happy Birthday Seth!

2009-03-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

Seth, our baby, turned three years old this week. What a great ride the last three years have been for us. We're looking forward to the rest of infinity (and beyond)! Anybody that knows him could probably guess who was on his Birthday cake. Happy Birthday, Seth! We love you!

Caribbean Vacation

2009-03-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

Stacey and I had a really great trip to Santo Domingo. We got to be tourists, go to the beach, go to the temple, hit some really great restaurants, experience the lack of traffic laws, attend church in one of my old areas (a couple of members even remembered me!), and just have a great time. Oh yeah, I did get in some work as well. On the downside, our camera was stolen, so we don't really have any great photos. We managed to buy some disposable cameras and take a few shots, but the quality, of course, is much less than what we had on the digital camera. At any rate, here are a few of our favorites.

About 100 yards out into the water at Boca Chica beach.

Same pose, very different setting.

A full view of the temple. Going there really was a dream come true.

Sunrise from our hotel room window.

Buying Stacey's first taste of sugar cane from a Haitian cañero.

A Dominican boy flying a kite at the beach.

Got milk?

2009-03-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

Family Home Evening and Milkshakes--a match made in Heaven.

Steak and Ice Cream

2009-03-09T19:51:00.001-07:00

Last week we got to go to Elway's Steakhouse to help my cousin Geoffrey celebrate his birthday. I'm happy to report that I finished every bite of my outrageously tasty 12 oz. filet. Geoffrey, however, could not finish off his 33 oz. porterhouse--that thing was a monster! We had a great time and are grateful to Jo and Spike for the fabulous evening. Happy Birthday Geoffrey!

Disney's Biggest Fan gets honored!

2009-03-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

Blah, I mean bloggg.

2009-02-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

So, we lost the camera for a while and it really doesn't work very well, anyway, so the blog has suffered. Not that we've had much to report (I'm sure we have, but it ain't in my head at the moment). Some bits of news over the last month include a 4.0 for the latest quarter of middle school (this is huge. I mean HUGE!), paying off the minivan (hooray!) and Stacey being probably the sickest I've ever seen her with pneumonia and the ever-amusing double ear infection.
Probably the best thing, however, has been Seth's beginning preschool. Now, you might ask, "What's a two-year-old doing in preschool? Are these parents zealots or what?". Think of the preschool as extended therapy. Seth's home therapist said he's reached the point where he'd be better off in a "young threes" (he'll be 3 next month) preschool program. The teacher to student ratio is 1:1 (actually, it's more like 4 teachers to Seth on most days), and it's specifically designed for Seth by like eight different specialists (speech therapist, occupational therapist, early childhood development specialist, teaching assistant, etc.). He LOVES it! The best part is that you, the state taxpayers, are paying for it. Thanks!!! We feel very blessed to have this program in his life, and he's making great strides.
We may update the blog soon; then again we may not. Stay tuned for pictures from the Dominican Republic. 20 days and counting...!!!

How cool is this?

2009-01-29T19:38:00.001-08:00

I wish I didn't have to explain this one because the picture is cool by itself (at least in my head it is). At any rate, the odometer reads my date of birth, which in and of itself is pretty fun when you think about it, but you need to calculate my age and then take a look at the trip meter. In a nerdy world, it doesn't get much cooler than that.

Where did you go?

2009-01-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

I tried one of these fancy backgrounds, which looks great, but in the process I accidentally deleted all of your blog addresses. I'd like to stick you back on here, so if you don't see your name at the right, send me the url so I can add it!