Random Tuesday Thoughts

We're back! And very, very tired... so you're gonna get a theme meme about a theme park today.

We all got sucked into the world of Disney pin trading. I got some awesome ones, including a Toy Story Alien, the evil Malificent, and a "Do Not Disturb" door hanger for the Tower of Terror's "The Hollywood Hotel".

Here's the four girls in the theatre, waiting for the stage production of "Aladdin" to start. (And if you are ever in Disneyland/California Adventures, you HAVE to go see this...)


Overheard on the shuttle bus going to Disneyland:
Mom to 2-year old girl: Janie, would you like to come over here and sit by me?
Older sister to 2-year old girl: Don't fall for it!

Ron is 6'2", and still had to stretch to high five Sully. :)

I ran into an old friend from college while at Disneyland! We haven't seen each other in over 15 years. We found out we were both there at the same time because of our FaceBook updates. LOL!

Favorite rides at California Adventures: Tower of Terror and California Screamin'. The latter is probably the smoothest coaster I've ever ridden, and is just plain FUN to ride.

Favorite new ride: Toy Story Midway Mania! in California Adventures.

Favorite rides at Dizzyland: Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Haunted Mansion. I find it rather strange that Splash Mountain, one of the main ride attractions at Disney, is based off a movie you can't even get ("Song of the South"). Go figure.

We also went to the beach for an afternoon. It was Jak and Nikki's first time at the ocean! Doesn't Nikki look like she's having a blast in the waves? :)

A half hour into our long drive home, the check engine light came on. Thankfully, we were traveling back in the afternoon, and found a Jiffy Lube to diagnose the computer code for us. I googled the code on my Blackberry, and we figured out that we needed to tighten our gas cap. Yes, really. I guess if it's not on tight enough, something happens to the emission vacuum positron electron gasitron whoknowsitron thingamajig, causing an air leak. And causes you much stress until you figure out you don't need to worry about it.

Home Again

....which means unpacking. Ugh.

I took Jak to the dentist this morning, and she had broken her tooth in two places. It may or may not require a root canal within the next six months, depending on whether or not it starts to turn black. Eep! I'm glad we were able to get her in so quickly upon returning, though. Our dentist is awesome. :)

But what a great vacation! I highly recommend Yellowstone to everyone. It is one of my favorite places to go. I've been there.... oh.... I think 6 or 7 times now. :) I think we saw practically every kind of animal Yellowstone has to offer. It was awesome!

I wanted to share my three favorite quotes of the trip with you:

Jak: "Kayaking really helps your Ninja skills."

Violet: "Mom, your ideas work 100% of the time."
Ron: "Well, they work at least 99% of the time."
Violet: "I guess the other 1% is where you got your scars from, huh."

Woman we passed on a trail, talking to the guy she was with: "Don't you just hate it when the FBI comes to your house?!"

And now I'm back to the daily grind at work. Yuck.

Yellowstone, Day 7

I guess that technically, this was more of a "Grand Teton" day, as we packed up camp and drove out of the park this morning. We stopped for lunch at String Lake in the Tetons, which is a beautiful little lake to kayak in. We made passing hikers jealous of our lunch of grilled hamburgers and hotdogs.

I love the Grand Tetons-- it is so amazingly beautiful there. I camped there a few years ago, and am just itching to get back. It's so peaceful, and the backdrop of these stunning mountains just adds to the experience all the more.

On the drive back home from the Tetons, we amused ourselves by playing a song game-- I whistled tunes from Disney movies, and they had to try to guess the movie and the name of the song. I had a terribly dry mouth after a hour of this! :)

Jak called her mother when we got closer to home, to see if she could come home with us that night so I could take her to the dentist tomorrow. Her mother was awful to her, as usual. She insisted that Jak had to stay the night at her house that night, and that we could drive all the way back up to pick her up in the early morning (45 minute drive, usually), and then take her over an hour back down to the dentist office, and then drive her all the way back home. Jak was crying after she got off the phone, saying, "She's such a bitch when it comes to you guys. I don't know why, but she just hates you." I responded with, "But this isn't about us-- it's about you." She looked sad and said, "I know. But she doesn't care." I told her I was sorry.

Divorce sucks even worse for kids when one of the parents is an asshole.

But, even with the little spoiler at the end of the trip, we had a GREAT time. :)

Yellowstone, Day 5

Happy Fourth!

Today we did the Fountain Paint Pots, and the thermal areas along the road to Old Faithful. Some of my favorite pools are in this area. Beautiful! I especially love this photo I took of the Grand Prismatic Spring-- it looks like a sun or a flower.

We then drove into West Yellowstone to celebrate the Fourth. They had a local parade, which consisted of pretty much all Yellowstone Tour buses and vans. It was a total tourist parade! The kids scored lots of candy. I had fun "heckling" the parade people-- we were yelling for one guy to throw his boat to us instead of candy; and when the Kentucky Fried Chicken people came by, we yelled like crazy at them to throw us chicken. It was fun. :)

We picked up pizza for dinner at Wild West Pizzeria. They are known for the best pizza in West Yellowstone, but I'd say they had some of the best pizza I've ever eaten in my life. You gotta eat there when you're in town!

In the park, the kids played on the teeter totters and flirted with boys. Jak had a bit of a mishap on the teeter totter-- she smacked her mouth on it, and broke her tooth.(!!!) She said it didn't hurt too bad, so we figured we'd get an emergency appointment Monday morning when we were back.

We listened to a local band play at the park, and Ron and I danced to a number of songs (to lots of applause afterwards). We like to swing dance, so it always looks very cool when we get going. Some lady intercepted us on our way off the "dance grass" and asked if she could dance with Ron. The girls were shocked, and told him when he came back that he should only dance with me. :)

We watched the fireworks, and drove back to camp late. Yawn!!!