Busy Week

Very busy week with us all trying to get back into the swing of real life. Kelsie adjusted about Wednesday to getting up early again and going to school. Friday night we had 2 couples from church over for dinner - fun evening. Saturday was restful except for the many loads of laundry to do and Sunday was very busy with rehearsals, meetings and a reception for the pastor's daughter and her new husband, celebrating their recent wedding. I guess we are officially no longer on vacation, but it's good to be home.

Spring Break - Final

California Screamin'

Breakfast with Tigger.

Who doesn't love Minnie??

Last 2 days - on Wednesday, we finished all the rides at the California park. We all rode California Screamin' and Wayne and Kelsie rode the Orange Stinger and the Golden Zephyr (both spinning, dizzy rides) and Kelsie and I had fun on the jellyfish. We also saw the Aladdin show - great little mini musical. Wed. night we headed to downtown Disney again for the Jazz Kitchen - the guitarist was great and the food had a New Orleans flavor - Bananas Foster - yum!!! Thursday was the last day, we had breakfast with Minnie and friends and got in a few last rides. Our plane was scheduled at 2:55 so we had to check out of our hotel and get to the airport. Once we checked in, we found out that our flight would be delayed b/c our plane had mechanical problems. At 6:00 p.m., we found out that we would be leaving soon. We finally got out around 7 and got home around midnight. We were tired and glad to be home - Bogey was glad for us to be home too. Well, back to reality. We had a very fun vacation - made many memories! Hope you enjoyed it too. More about real life to come.

Spring Break - Part 3

Mickey Mouse Ice Cream - a favorite treat!!

Kelsie climbing at Tom Sawyer's Island

Kelsie peeking through the caves.

Kelsie and Princess Aurora - pretty in pink.

Kelsie, Amy and Minnie at Goofy's Kitchen -she is one of our favorite characters!!!

Sitting on Main Street curb waiting for the parade.

Day 5 and 6 - Monday and Tuesday:

Monday we slept in a little (thank goodness - we needed it) and then contacted Disney to change hotels. As I said before, Desert Palms was disgustingly unclean, the shower went stone cold as soon as someone upstairs turned theirs on and then Amy had a hair on her breakfast danish - that was it!!! So, Disney moved us to a much nicer hotel called the Crowne Plaza Resort and Hotel. It was MUCH better - they let us check into our room early and get on with our day at Disney, the hotel also had it's own shuttle to and from Disney that was on time and had a regular schedule (unlike the trolley system, which we waited 30 minutes for on Sunday to get to our hotel). So, with that little inconvenience behind us, we were off to finish Disneyland side of the park on Monday so we could do the California Adventure side on Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday's highlights were riding Indian Jones ride (Kelsie HATED this ride), seeing the "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" 3-D show, Star Tours ride, riding the Mark Twain river boat and hanging out at Tom Sawyer's Island - it was fun crossing bridges and going through caves. We had dinner that night at Goofy's kitchen and saw Goofy, Pluto, Minnie, the Mad Hatter, Pinocchio and Gepetto but the highlights were Minnie and Princess Aurora (from Sleeping Beauty). We had a full day and off to bed.

Tuesday we were headed to California Adventure side of the park. Favorites in the park this day was the Monsters, Inc. ride, the Bug's Life 3-D show (Kelsie didn't like the glasses), Talk Time with Crush (from Nemo - really cute show), we went to an animators class and learned how to draw Donald Duck, we saw Mr. Incredible on the street and got a pic with him. We had a great time over in the Bug's Life area doing all the "fair" rides - bumper cars, spinning lady bugs, etc. After a full day we decided we still had the energy to stay for the parade and fireworks show in the Disneyland park. We had great seats for both and really enjoyed it. After the fireworks show, we closed down the park by doing the Buzz Lightyear ride again, the Runaway Mountain Train ride and ended the night by finally riding Space Mountain. Kelsie and I were nervous to ride it but it ended up being our favorite ride yet - really fun - it was the first time the line wasn't over an hour. Since it was 11 p.m. by the time we left - we were exhausted and were planning to sleep in!!! More to come.....

Spring Break - Part 2

Kelsie, Josiah and Caleb at Ruby's (Friday)

Entrance to Disneyland Park - Kelsie took this picture with her camera!

Day 3 and 4 - Saturday and Sunday

UPDATE - added picture (still have one missing roll of film that I got to Wal-Mart today - was buried in my purse)....here's the descrip to go along with these 2 days. Saturday we met up with the Mackey's and this was the day to get a tour of Saddleback Church (where the Mackey's serve on staff now). The guys were more interested in the detailed tour but the girls and kids were satisfied with the overview so we took the short tour with the kids and then headed to the mall leaving the guys behind to talk church in detail. YAWN!! The kids had a great time in Discovery Store and Build A Bear and then we hit a few sales. Had a good time - then headed back to change into warmer clothes - still cold and rainy! Went to the 6:30 service at Saddleback - I went to hear the music in the Ohana service (Hawaiian) and Wayne went into the big room - Kelsie went with Caleb to Bible Study. I enjoyed the music and then went to the big room with Wayne for the rest of the service. It is a very big church but friendly and welcoming - with great kids facilities - Rick Warren was preaching the week we were there so that was good - really enjoyed the services and being with our friends. After church we went to Miguel's Mexican Food Restaurant and said goodbye to the Mackey's until summer when they come to Texas to celebrate birthdays.

Sunday morning Kelsie and I were slow getting around - Wayne got up to go to a couple of other music venues at Saddleback. His favorite service was the rock and roll service where you get earplugs when you enter! After he got back, we drove to Anaheim to begin our Disneyland adventure. It was cold and cloudy so we didn't stay late that day but we got to do a lot in the Disneyland park because it wasn't that crowded - highlights were we rode Snow White's Scary Adventure, Alice in Wonderland, Storybook Land canal boats, Matterhorn bobsled (FUN!), and Buzz Lightyear Astroblaster - a favorite that we did several times. We checked into the Dessert Palm hotel - YUCK!!! We will move hotels tomorrow - that hotel was horrible but we endured one night there. Off to ESPN ZONE for dinner and playing games. More pictures to come soon once I get my missing film.

Spring Break-Part 1

Kerry, Stephanie, Caleb and Josiah Mackey.

At the top of Dana's Point looking over the beach. BEAUTIFUL VIEW!!!

Sunset at Huntington Beach as we walked down the pier.

Caleb and Kelsie in front of a museum boat on display.

Caleb and Kelsie running from the waves - too cold to stay in long.

Kelsie splashing in the water!! BRRRR.......

Well, I got a lesson on how to update this blog site (thanks Stephanie) so hopefully now I can keep up with posting more often. The next few posts will be dedicated to our trip over Spring Break. We went to sunny Southern California to visit friends (the Mackey's - Kerry, Stephanie, Caleb and Josiah) who just recently moved there and then off to Disneyland for a few days. I will update by posting pics and description a few days at a time so I can remember for future reference (scrapbooking) and so it will be short and enjoyable to read.

Days 1 and 2 - Thursday and Friday:

Our trip started out Thursday with a flight delay (weather), but it worked out great b/c we passed the time eating lunch at Chili's in the airport and left just an hour late. We got to California, checked into our hotel and then headed to the Mackey's for burgers on the grill and a good time to catch up and hang out. The kids had a great time and little Josiah had more attention than he could stand with Kelsie wanting to be a little mom. We soon realized that evening that we were packed for SUNNY California but we were really in cold and rainy California. Everyone said it was highly unusual weather for this time of year. We headed back late to our hotel hoping that going to bed late would cause us to wake up late and that we would then be on CA time. That didn't exactly work as Kelsie popped up ready to go on Friday at 5:45 a.m.(really 7:45 TX time). Kelsie and Wayne went to breakfast together and let me catch a few more zzz's. We had a LONG but leisurely morning and then had to head to Old Navy for some warmer clothing - picked up some jeans and sweatshirts. We met the Mackey's for lunch and then we were off to a day of sightseeing - the beaches were beautiful even if it was cold. We went to Dana's Point and then to Huntington Beach - played in the sand (the kids splashed in the really cold water), went to a couple of little museums and then went to dinner at Ruby's diner - it was at the end of a pier and the view was great. When we got back to the Mackey's, the kids put on a little show for us with their guitars - they were funny. We had a great day and took our exhausted bodies back to our hotel. Days 3 and 4 at laster posts!!!