Disneyland Report

Two weeks ago today we returned from our most recent visit to Disneyland.  As previously reported, we had been trying to find a time to get away for a weekend, and it turned out to be a (nearly) perfect trip!  The Wife has done an excellent job of posting photos on facebook, but for those who don't frequent that place and still have an interest in sharing in some of the joy, I'll post them here with day-to-day highlights.

Thursday:

• Arose early, finished packing our bags and some snacks & cheeses, grabbed some breakfast burritos from Carl's Jr. and headed south on I-15.  We listened to music, talked, played Yes & No and only had a minor incident with the Iron County Highway Patrol (he seemed quite unfazed to report that he had been passing out tickets to several out-of-towner families on their way to southern California).

 SNOW in southern Utah.  Amazing!

• Still made it to Anaheim in good time, checked in to the local Travelodge, took a few minutes to recover from the long drive.

• Made our way over to Huntington Beach for some quality seaside sunset time.  It took a while to find somewhere to make change for the parking meter, but we had plenty of sun left by the time we laid out our beach towels and hit the water.  It was pretty cold at first, but we're not afraid of a little initial shock.  We took a walk down to the pier where we had last summer taken some honeymoon pictures, and then headed back to the hotel.

• We tried to catch Survivor while we were getting dressed, but couldn't find the channel.  What kind of hotel doesn't have CBS?

• We visited Downtown Disney dressed in our finery, did a little shopping and had dinner at the Rainforest Café.  We thought about getting something different from the last time we went there, but the ribs (for me) and the fajitas (for Julie) still just sounded like the best thing on the menu, so that's what we ate.

Friday:

• After a nice, much-needed rest, we walked the fifteen or so minutes to the entrance of Disneyland!  We redeemed our Give a Day vouchers with no problem whatsoever, were handed Honorary VoluntEAR buttons and passes to the park and entered!  (Though Julie rightfully pointed out that we aren't "Honorary" volunteers, we actually DID volunteer.  Still, the buttons had Miss Piggy and Kermit wearing hard hats and holding tools, so I was satisfied.)

• The passes were not park-hopper passes, so we spent the entire day at Disneyland.  We made really good time in the morning and went on a lot of popular attractions before the crowds came.  We did Peter Pan first (which is a good idea, considering its popularity and how the lines seem to form there first), then made our way through Fantasyland and crossing over into Tomorrowland.

Dumbo!  How did I not go on this ride for so many years?

Princess and the Frog decor!

• We spent the day riding our favorite rides (Splash Mountain!) and sampling some of our favorite treats (turkey leg!) and it was glorious.  The crowds were fairly minimal, it being a weekday, and we never had to wait longer than around 15 minutes for anything, even in the stand-by lines.

These are photos of Americans who have made significant contributions to the music industry.  Well, I guess they're photos of some Americans who have done that, and one embarrassment.  You be the judge as to which.

Now back for an indefinite period, and because he's dead, Captain EO!  It's still cool.

 

That's us!

This is how a turkey leg looks before you eat it.  So barbaric!

This is how a turkey leg looks after you eat it.  So dainty!

So our wishing well proposal locale was being worked on, so this is as close as we could get this trip.

She just loves that little Dumbo.

Will I ever pull it out???

 

Nothing like a late morning nap inside a teacup.

A woman appreciates a man who's comfortable behind the wheel.

 • We made reservations and had lunch at the Blue Bayou.  Of course, there was hardly even a need to look at the menu, as we ordered the Monte Cristo to share yet again.  I always wave back to the passers-by in their boats on their way into Pirates of the Caribbean.  Although I may want to try some of the other restaurants in the future, this is such a great one to relax from the heat and crowds outside.

 

Ah, the Blue Bayou foyer.

• We watched the fireworks show.  It's so romantic to watch fireworks with a loverwife.

• We walked back to our hotel and rested up for one more Disney day.

Saturday:

• We grabbed some muffins and cereal from the continental breakfast and ate them on our way back over to the parks just in time for opening.  The passes I bought through work also worked perfectly and we had two park-hoppers in hand.

• As it was our nine-month anniversary, we picked up some free souvenir buttons at the entrance to Main Street and wore them proudly throughout the day.

• We hit a few popular rides at Disneyland before heading over to California Adventure.  We saw the Aladdin show, became honorary bugs, rode the non-swinging gondolas on the ferris wheel, rode California Screamin' (which may or may not have ruined me for a couple of hours afterward), saw the ongoing construction for the upcoming World of Color show in the lake, and took two turns on Midway Mania (my gun didn't work for the first time so my score was too embarrassing--they let us ride again right away, and it was much better.  That ride is so fun.).  Of course we also visited Soarin' Over California, the Tower of Terror, Monsters, Inc., the Muppets and our beloved Disney Animation building.

I think it's the most awesome seahorse in all the land.

 

I can't wait to get the new Julie Doll!

 

Thumb War!

 

Ooooh, I hope it's good!!!

 

 

• We went back over to Disneyland when we had finished at California Adventure and took our time rounding out some of the attractions we had missed and reriding some of our favorites.  The crowds were a little thicker, as it was Saturday, but we still managed to have pretty short waits and had no problem entertaining ourselves (sometimes people behind you in line don't realize they're in a public place and say the most amusing things).

• We were allowed our very own boat for a private anniversary cruise through "it's a small world."  It was very romantic.

 

 • We stood in line for Julie to have her first picture ever with a character, and who better than the mouse himself?  It's a very interesting and slightly shady process, going through his house at Toontown, but it was great.  Julie did very well when it came to her nerves at meeting such a famous personality.

Meeting the Mouse.

 

 As it should be!

• We stuck it out until closing at midnight, though at times we didn't think we would make it, and after midnight we finally trudged back to our hotel.

Sunday:

• We woke up semi-casually, made ready and headed out of Anaheim.

• We stopped just half an hour north to visit a friend I know from the Survivor podcast I listen to, which was great.  It's so funny how people meet other people these days.

• We had a blessedly uneventful drive home.  The ride back is always less exciting, what with less anticipation, and vacation fatigue in you, but we made it just fine, and of course had to immediately sit down and watch the Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains finale.  It was EXCELLENT.

So there you have it!  It was a great trip.  So, erm, sweetie...  when are we going back?

In Less than a Week...

... this will no longer be necessary... ever again.

It's May! Indy, here I come!

Wisconsin Report Day 5: Time to Come Back Down to Earth

Day 5:

A lot of Hmong people asked me why we didn’t just make plans to stay with them. I guess that would have been less expensive, but I felt bad, as if I were already imposing on them. So on our last day we checked out of the Red Roof Inn and headed out for our last visit to Milwaukee. I was sorry to receive a message from Milwaukee member Ka that she, her husband Jimmy and her three adorable daughters were still in Appleton (where Jimmy had been playing in the football tournament and where Ka’s parents live), so they wouldn’t be able to make our Monday morning appointment. This is probably the one thing I regret about the entire trip, not being able to see Mala and Nali (I actually ran into Jimmy, Ka and their newest baby, Hayden, whose chubby baby picture you can see me kissing on Day 3 at the Oshkosh, tournament, but OMG, those two older girls…), and I’m afraid the next time I see them they won’t remember me! Though Ka says they talk about me and Johns quite often and with much fondness. The feeling is mutual, girls, believe me. We drove around, taking in a few sights and getting a good feeling of the beautiful, dirty city (although I’m afraid to say I don’t remember it nearly as well as I once did!), looking at the skyline from the North Avenue park, passing by Marquette University, seeing the Frank Lloyd Wright-esque art museum and checking out the lake, even passing by Dep’s Hall of Fades on 27th Street. We stopped by a couple of houses and places to find people not home (“Here’s your taste of missionary work,” I told Mom and Dad) and places closed (due to Labor Day—no Safe House or Sprecher root beer… tsk).


We stopped by Molly Moua’s house to say hello to her and her two daughters Emily and Brittany, both now much taller and getting ready to be in middle school together, and then made for one last visit to the Barretts and then the 1 ½ hour drive back to Chicago.


We didn’t have time to stop by the temple or do any sight-seeing there, but we were ready to get on the airplane and get home to recoup as much as possible before going to school the next day (EEP! Moving! Books! Classes! *dies*).


After a minor crisis involving security not letting me past due to my temporary license (even though it had been allowed at three checkpoints prior) and a detailed security check, we were boarded, and now here I sit. The adorable toddler boy in the row ahead of me spent several minutes expressing just how unhappy he was to be traveling, but his dad is now walking around the back of the cabin while the little one falls asleep. I’m sitting in on the aisle in between groups of people who don’t speak English and Mom and Dad are sitting behind me. My eyes are tired, but my heart is happy. It wasn’t too, too weird to go to Wisconsin as a non-missionary, and it was the perfect time. Any sooner and it would have seemed like I never left, and any later and I might have been forgotten already. It was just amazing to see the fruits of the work I did there, and even though I know that the work isn’t mine, it was nice to know that I might have made a difference in the lives of some of these children of God. Everyone said just the nicest things about me to Mom and Dad, but I tried not to hear. That’s not why I was doing it. Some of these people I want to be friends with forever. And now my laptop battery is about to die.

Sib ntsib dua.

Wisconsin Report Day 4: The Beautiful and Dirty City

Day 4:

Sunday morning Seethong made breakfast of scrambled eggs and french toast and I made ready for church, then went to pick up Mom and Dad. It had been a sort of struggle to decide if I was going to go to church in the Appleton Hmong branch or the Milwaukee city branch, but when it was made evident that Suying and Pang Kou were going to be confirmed, Seethong was going to be sustained and four elders were going to be in town, my answer was clear. It was great to see the small but solid branch, this time with a couple of babies that had been bumps in their mommies when I was last here. I was looking forward to just sitting back and relaxing while the elders took the weight of the responsibility I had felt for six months (especially since I knew they would make a big deal and gush about me visiting, since they always do when the elders return to visit), but they didn’t let me rest long. Seethong asked me to sing with him while his brother played guitar and one of the elders played violin to I Am A Child of God, and I was also put on the spot to translate the excellent talk of Sister Johnson from the Appleton 2nd ward. It was a pleasure, and I found that while I stumbled a couple of times, my Hmong was not too terribly rusty. We stayed for Sunday School but felt like we should take off after that. We said hello to a couple of Miskas families in the hall, including the exuberant Stephensons, who I loved so much when I was here, and who are also expecting.


Then after sampling the much-anticipated deep-fried cheese curds, butter burgers and frozen custard that Culver’s provides, made our way the 1 ¾ hour drive to Milwaukee!\


I had some serious indigestion on the way out of Appleton, and while Dad insists such a cause is unlikely, I maintain that a lot of it was psychological because I was so sad to leave. It’s a weird feeling, to be there as a “civilian” as it were, but not unpleasantly weird. It was just exciting to be able to see everyone again and look forward to when we would see each other again. We checked into our final motel and headed right back out, stopping by the old apartment (still with the barred windows and faded portrait of Jesus) and the beautiful European-looking church building in the city, and then stopping by various points of interest (the yard-art house on Cherry Street, the undeniable ghetto, the many day care centers and afro-hair salons, the Miller Park baseball stadium, etc.) until we finally made it to Yeng and Mao Lee’s house.


For those who don’t know them, these are basically the Seethong and Mai Chou of Milwaukee. Yeng was baptized as a kid, but Mao and her two kids from a previous marriage, Cindy and TJ, started taking the lessons officially when they moved out of Yeng’s parents’ house, having been to church many times already, and set a baptism date days later. I was also blessed to participate in their baptisms and confirmations the first time I was in Milwaukee, and even more blessed to attend the temple when Yeng and Mao were endowed a year later in Chicago.


Mao is serving on the Relief Society Presidency and they recently had their first baby together, Victoria, who is much bigger and absolutely, breathtakingly adorable. (See for yourself!:)



We had some barbecue, but didn’t stay long as to wear out our welcome. It was interesting to me that I felt so completely at home and comfortable lounging around their yard and house, lying in the hammock, watching TV with the kids (Cindy with her PhotoShop projects and TJ with his currently not-in-use bluetooth headset). We stopped at the “Mormon Cul-de-sac”, where live several young families going through dental or medical school, to see the Jolleys, fellow Disney and Harry Potter enthusiasts who always were so great to the elders, and who also recently had a baby (good heavens, Wisconsin is welcoming a new Baby Boomer generation!), who they named Harry (Harrison), and who they insist was not named after the Boy Who Lived.


We stopped, though it was late, at the legendary Ua “Tiffanie” Vue’s house for one of her famous haircuts, and I must confess it’s probably one of the best haircuts of my life (though Mom gets offended when I say so, and her haircuts are also awesome). It was hard to let go of my long hair, but like Ua said, "It's okay, it's only hair."


Ua’s life hasn’t been easy lately, as her husband left her some two years ago for dubious and devil-inspired reasons, but she’s holding strong, and she and her family can now go back to church and move on with their spiritual lives.


Everywhere I went I kept thinking of Johns and how jealous he would be, but I’m sure what goes around comes around, and I’ll be sufficiently jealous when he visits here, and with a wife, so as to avoid the constant questioning about dating I faced! It was late, and we had less than 24 hours left in Wisconsin, so we decided to get some rest and make the most of them the next day…