Disneyland Day One - A Very Long Day

Our first full day at Disneyland started early. We were up at 6:30a and went for breakfast at our hotel around 7:00a. We've gotten smart about the hotels we pick now. Free breakfast is important. It saves us $30 or $40 and saves us time too since we just have to walk from our room. This hotel has the best one so far with eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, hash browns and more.

The park opens at 8:00a throughout the summer and the most important rule at Disneyland is to get there early. The lines are surprisingly long getting in but once everyone spreads out in the park the lines are very short. We headed to Adventure Land to start which includes Splash Mountain. Kerry did this to me one my first trip with Indiana Jones. They take the new guys to one of the biggest scariest rides because the line is short. Ryan did not like his first ride and I don't think Kristen plans on going on it again either. They were both great the rest of the day though and kept trying new ones.

Ride number two was my nemesis. The Pooh Bear ride. Callie always has us go on it at least a half dozen times. At least the line is always short. Kristen and Ryan enjoyed it as well so I know we'll be back.

Ride three was the Haunted Mansion. I wasn't really expecting Kristen to want to go but she seemed to enjoy the challenge and found it more fun then scary.

We had Fast Passed Indian Jones earlier and went back at our assigned time. This is one of the few rides that Ryan is too short to go on so Corey waited while the rest of us took our turn. It's a very elaborate jeep ride which lot's of sharp turns and well done scenes from the movie. Once we were done Corey went on with Carmen and the rest of us wandered about. Callie and Kristen were lucky enough to find Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie. A great photo opportunity. I don't think we've had pictures with them before.

The ride we knew that Ryan was going to like was the Jungle Cruise and we weren't disappointed. It was just a short wait and his favorite part was the snakes in the trees. I think this was one of the first years that Callie and Carter have realized that the zebra surrounded by the lions was not actually 'just sleeping'. We tried to leave Adventure Land and go to Fantasy Land around the back which is my favourite short cut because it's so quiet, but it's closed for the new Star Wars area construction. That should be a great place to visit when complete..

We finished the afternoon in Fantasy Land with rides on the Carousel and the Tea Cups. It was incredibly hot by mid afternoon and we'd already been there for six hours so I was happy to head back to the hotel for a swim and a nap. Disneyland in the summer time is an incredibly busy place by the afternoon. Everywhere you look there are at least 100 people in your direct line of site. Too many people.

Before we did head back to the hotel though we stopped off at Downtown Disney. As mentioned in my last post, Carter wanted to spend all his money on the first night and this included a stop at Ride Makers. (Though this one was on us since we owed him something from being a trooper during his recent surgery.) Ride Makers was exactly the kind of money trap that I thought it was going to be. I knew remote control was going to be more money but I didn't realize that batteries were not included. In this case a $29 rechargeable battery pack. We did not let Carter pimp things up. We are a stock car family.

At every restaurant we've stopped at for the past week they've asked us if there was any special occasions. Each time we've mentioned that Callie and Kristen have their birthday coming up on the 7th and this time it worked. We were at the Rain Forest Cafe and we got a couple of cupcakes delivered to the table. This was on top of the 'Volcano' that we had already ordered. (A giant brownie and ice cream dessert.) It's a good thing we only really have two meals on these trips. A breakfast, snacks around lunch and then dinner. It's very easy to over eat.

We finished off the evening in Tomorrow Land with Cory's family checking out Hyperspace Mountain while we did a bit of shopping. We followed that up with Buzz Light Year and then "It's a Small World" just before the fireworks started. We got off just as they were starting and the exit to the ride is front row for the show. Some people of course try to stop on the bridge of the exit to watch but the usher you off pretty quickly. Their favourite phrase was "We can see you!".

A very long first day.

Disneyland Bound

On Monday we left on a three day journey to Disneyland.  I will admit that if we were to assign value to our time, it probably isn't worth it but we do save some money and if you consider the hotel time as part of your holiday it can still be a lot of fun. This year we were travelling with Kerry's brother Corey and his family. Our first destination was Medford. It's about an 11 hour drive and it means we've got about half the trip out of the way on the first day. We left at 4:30a and arrived in the mid afternoon. The hotel was nice and the best part was the Country Bear restaurant right in the parking lot. Made for an easy dinner and very well priced.

We're driving down in two cars and we left at different times but somehow, when we were about an hour out of Medford I looked over and saw the Kilden family coming onto the freeway from an off ramp. Almost 1,000 km and somehow we ended up at the same location at the same time and we noticed each other. Our day two destination was Stockton California. Like most places with a 'reputation' there are different views of what the city looks like. Our hotel was in an area with shopping and didn't look too bad but we did see some rougher areas on our way in. The hotel looked nice but for some reason the service was lacking. Our room only had two hand towels and no bath towels.

Day two consisted of about 6 hours of driving and day three was scheduled to be about the same but Los Angeles had something different to say about that. Travel was great for the first four hours but the last hour took closer to three. Just when we thought traffic was clearing up we'd end up stopped for construction or an accident. For the most part the other cars behaved but we had a few texting close calls. How people feel they can text and drive on a six lane highway is beyond me. We made it to the hotel around 2:30p which was too early to check in so we headed to the Garden Walk which is a strip mall near the park and had dinner at Bubba Gumps.

We checked into our hotel after dinner and the kids decided where everyone was going to sleep. We are staying in the Residence Inn near the park and our place has room to sleep 8 and a full kitchen. This will save us some money on food and the kids enjoy being with their cousins. (For now. We'll check in on day 5.) We've stayed here a few times before because the hotel also takes dogs. That adventure was a few years ago. We finished the day off with a quick trip to downtown Disney where Carter was ready to spend all his money at once. I managed to make him think about it for the night. We'll be back.

Goodbye Rondo, Hello Sportage

After 9 years and 160,000 kilometres it was time for us to get a new car. The Rondo was still going pretty strong but we were looking to get a new car within the next year and 12 days before our trip to Disneyland the air conditioning broke. We also had quite a bit of service items that needed to be attended to. Rather than a $1,200 bill and any number of additional items that may have come up in the next  year we decided it made sense to take a look at moving up our plans. (We realize it was likely cheaper to fix and repair for another 5 years but new cars are fun too.)

We had already been checking out another Kia called the Sportage and after a couple days of test drives with a few others in the same class we made our decision. We probably would have gone with the Suburu Forester if we had unlimited funds but cost was a consideration we had to factor in. This one isn't a seven seater and it isn't fully loaded like the Rondo but 9 years later and most of the extra features from the Rondo are now standard. The only thing we have left to do is to replace the Disney family. Luckily we are headed there in a few days.

Summer in Prince George

The school district that Kerry, Callie and Carter are in has a rule that states that the last day of work for Kerry must be a Friday so the last day of school must be a Thursday. This year, July 1st was a Friday so the last Friday of June was a week before. As per tradition we go to Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park. (Formally known as Fort George Park and no, I don't know how to pronounce it.) As per usual it was a great place to stop for lunch, watch a few dancers and enjoy the sunshine. The kids also got to get their picture with the RCMP bear.

Once we were done with Canada Day at the park we went to GG's house for a visit. It was fun to see her as she met us at the door wearing her Canada Day hat. You can't quite see it in the picture but it was a picture of the Canada Flag from the front page of the paper that she had turned into a hat. Even at 94 she continues to be full of life. She always has treats for the kids and this year we surprised her with a new puzzle. We helped her with the outside and got her started in the middle but left the rest for her. 1000 pieces. I think she was happy. ;)

One of our favourite things to do when visiting Prince George is to go out to West Lake where our family has property. As soon as Carter finds out we are leaving for Prince George he goes to get his fishing rod. It's a small plastic one but with the right bait he was able to catch his first fish that didn't catch him. The last fish he took stole his fishing rod. In this case the right bait was a piece of hot dog. Not quite big enough to eat but bigger than the minnows we were catching with the nets. I think we need to get him a tackle box for Christmas.

While we were there we also decided to take Oliver for his first hike. Our destination was the Fort George Canyon trail. I didn't have proper shoes due to a shoe mishap that happened in Oliver so we could only go about half way. I was fully expecting to have to carry Oliver most of the way since he was only 3 1/2 months old but he was a great hiker. As long as one or two people were in front of him he walked the whole way. I think if we had done the full 10k instead of just 6k he probably would have done the whole thing. Good to know as we like to go on family hikes.

Silver Sage's 20th Anniversary

At the end of June we departed on our annual trip to visit family in Prince George. Ordinarily we do the trip to Oliver for family on a different weekend but this year we had to go there first to help out at the Silver Sage Winery's 20th anniversary. This has always been one of Kerry's favourite wineries because of the people that serve you during the tasting. It's best when the owners family are the ones doing it because they have a one liner for every one of their wines that always makes you laugh. Over time Kerry's parents have developed a relationship with the owners and have volunteered to help out during big events.

The big event this time was their 20th anniversary. A free event for their best customers that included drinks and lot's of food. Reg was helping out serving wine while Kerry and Barb helped out in the kitchen and with setup. I came later with the kids but couldn't avoid helping out as well. Even the kids got involved with carrying food out to the tents. The weather looked like it wanted to rain but things stayed dry and it looked like everyone had a great time.

While we were there we walked across the street to visit some friends of Barb and Reg who own a kayak. In past years we've done it where Kerry and I each take a kid on our lap. Callie is getting too big for that so she got to go out on her own. I was a bit worried when she set off because she only seemed to be able to go straight away from shore but after a few minutes she got the hang of it and had a 45 minute tour of the lake. I think she really enjoyed it.

Father's Day at Stave Falls Dam

Since I work for BC Hydro we get regular reminders about some of the activities we can do that relate to our facilities. One in particular has always peaked my interested because it's relatively close by and has regular appearances in TV and movies including X-Files and X-Men. The Stave Falls Dam was built in the early 1900's when they retired the old powerhouse in favour of a newer one slightly down stream in 1995 they opened it as a historical site. Since I get to choose the activity on Father's day it seemed like a great opportunity to drag the family out.

I do say drag because I wasn't really expecting it to be very exciting. Since it was just an old BC Hydro facility I was expecting to just find the old equipment in it's  original location and not much else. As it turns out they did quite an excellent job turning it into a museum and considering we don't have a lot of heritage sites on the West coast this is now one of the nicer ones I've been to. Not only can you tour most of the facility they also have an interactive area much like you would find at Science World and they've brought in a number of older electrical appliances from every decade since they were first invented.

I will admit that we were the only ones there but it was early in the morning on Father's day. Having said that, Kerry agrees that it was a good place to visit and since her class is doing electricity next year she's already planning a field trip. It will include a couple hours at the powerhouse, lunch on the beach and a 6k hike downstream to the Ruskin Dam which is on the same river. I think her students will enjoy it and I'm not just saying that because I work for BC Hydro.

Callie's Dance Recital

Last Saturday was our annual night out for Callie's Dance recital. This year Barb and Reg drove down for the event and Callie was signed up for four dances. Other than a couple of open houses where we get to see her practice portions of the dance we aren't able to see her dance the whole year. All of her hard work culminates in a single staged event. Most years I'm quite worried for her but after so many successes I found I wasn't worried at all and just looking forward to some excellent calibre dancing for 5 to 18 year olds.

The first event was Jazz and she danced to Rihanna's Disturbia song. It's a great song for this type of dancing and the girls did an excellent job of looking disturbed. I'm not certain but there may have also been one boy in this class. He's been in Callie's classes since the beginning. There aren't too many boys at Callie's studio. The next event was ballet. She has two classes of this a week and the other classes seem to just be there to broaden her skill set. Ballet is the one that she can get graded on and she has now passed grade 3.

My favourite dance style is lyrical. It doesn't start until the kids are a bit older and I like the style of music that they typically use. Callie's song was 'All Through The Night'. I don't know if she did the original but the popular version is by Cindy Lauper. This was a much slower version by an artist I don't know.

The most amazing part of Callie's efforts this year was that all her dances were before the intermission. This mean she only had about 6 or 8 minutes between each dance to get changed.

The final dance was Hiphop. It's the most free style form and her teacher picked a mash up of about a dozen songs. This had them switching moves every 15 seconds or so and it was well received by all. I think Callie had the most fun during this dance though it's hard to tell. She has a big smile for every dance.

This was also the first year that my niece Kristen was in a recital. She's signed up for ballet and looked very cute in a pretty blue dress.

Both girls were showered by flowers at the end by family members and everyone had a great time. Now a short break before summer dance and then everything starts again in the fall. I'm very happy Callie continues to stay interested in dance.