Disneyland: Meeting Mickey

KidsMickey_zps8azfyqzu-1We’re in the home stretch, friends!  School gets out for us tomorrow and it’s probably a toss up as to whether E or I are more excited about him not having any more homework.

The weeks have been whipping by in a blur (per usual around here) and I wanted to blog about a trip to Disneyland we took at the end of April before the details escaped me.  We haven’t been on a family vacation in a few years and thought the kids were good ages to go and it turned out wonderfully.

We wanted to limit the time N and the kids missed work and school and so we flew into the Long Beach airport instead of driving.  It was our first time using this airport and we loved it!  It’s small, relaxed, and very easy to get around.  We picked up our rental car, stopped by a Whole Foods to get some food allergy-safe food for E, and then had dinner at a fun Korean fusion burrito place we found online.  After dinner we drove to our hotel and as we got to our room and started unpacking we watched an impressive fireworks display from our window.  And then we put the kids to bed in their bunk beds and closed the door on their separate bedroom and it was awesome 🙂

The next morning we headed into Disneyland for the first of our three days at the parks.  It was a Wednesday and busy but not crazy crowded.  As we walked into the park we were checking out Main Street when we saw Minnie pop out of an unmarked door.  Mimi loves Minnie but before we could approach her Minnie grabbed a couple of kids by the hand and booked it across the square to where a long line immediately formed.  The kids were a little dejected at having missed Minnie but then Mickey popped out of the same door!  E and Mimi ran up to him and he grabbed their hands and immediately started hauling it out of there.


As soon as people saw Mickey they joined the quickly-growing crowd following him and the kids.  N and I had to weave in and out of the crowd and scramble to keep up with them.  Mickey took the kids to what I’m assuming was his assigned meet-and-greet spot, I quickly snapped a pic of them with my phone, and we said goodbye.

It was a surprising and memorable start to our Disneyland trip 🙂

Round-Up Parade

At the Parade from Faith on Vimeo

One of the fun things about Utah is that almost every towns has a summer festival/celebration with parades, concerts in the park, activities for the kids, etc… My town hosts a professional rodeo every summer and apparently rodeo-wise it is a BIG deal.  (Last year I took some relatives visiting from Korea and it was really interesting.) 

There are 3 parades every year (one just with horses, one with mini floats, and a grand parade) and this year we decided to bite the bullet and attend the main parade for the first time. One of N’s coworkers’ parents live right on the parade route and she graciously saved us front row seats.The kids had a blast and went nuts every time a float threw candy their way.

E’s new favorite song

So lately this Erasure song is E’s favorite thing ever.

The whole thing started with E playing a game on my iPhone that uses the song as background music. Then N showed E the music video. Warrior monks and magic gardens and evil demons to be vanquished?  That’s right up E’s alley.

So for the past week E has been asking to watch the “Always” video at least a few times a day. And being as how E is a quick study when it comes to learning songs, N and I get treated to performances like this one.

The little hand thing he does at 0:13 cracks me up every time.  I love this guy so much.

Killing with Cuteness

It’s probably only a matter of time before E takes taekwondo; it IS in his blood, after all. We’ll probably wait until he’s old enough to understand not to use martial arts on his baby sister/Mimi is old enough to fight back though.

Anyway, this video is ADORABLE and also gets extra points for featuring the very catchy Ponyo theme song.

A bit too much

Thanks for the feedback on the room! It’s fun to share my progress. Over the weekend I worked on cleaning out what we call “the junk room” (a.k.a. what will eventually be the baby’s room) and think I might have overdone it a bit because I’m rather sore today. Bending over at the waist doesn’t really work well for me right now so I was doing a lot of squatting to pick things up off the floor and my hips are killing me today. N kept telling me to take it easy but the nesting instinct is a harsh task mistress!

I’m off to go run some errands and then work some more around the house. But first I wanted to share this. This Pulp album has been around for a long time but N just recently bought it and and I’ve been listening to it a lot lately. I have a soft spot for sexiness that’s a little bit silly and this video is spot on.