Jonathan's First Disneyland Visit!

On Wednesday, April 24th, I got to take my sweet two year old nephew to Disneyland for the first time!  I love taking my nephews on "Auntie Rach Adventures" and had been lamenting that I hadn't had the opportunity to take him on very many...and not really any on his own.  So, on the day I bought my Disneyland pass, I took him with me and it was such an awesome day!  It started off very differently than I had planned since we left about an hour later than planned and then were delayed another hour due to bad traffic.  Also, it was supposed to be nice weather, but as we got closer to Disneyland it got more and more cloudy and the sky grew darker and darker.  We even caught some sprinkles on the windshield...and Jonathan was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, dressed for a beautiful day at the park.  Luckily, I had brought jackets for the two of us that we could wear in case it got cool in the evening.  So, we wore our jackets all day and the bright orange blanket I always keep in my car came in extra handy!

Here's sweet Jonathan all bundled up:

and here's the precious face he made when he realized we were at Disneyland:

I honestly don't believe he could be any more adorable!

Before we went, he was so excited to see Mickey, so we went to Toon Town and it worked out that Mickey was actually in his house!  So we got in line and waited for about 35 minutes to meet Mickey.  As soon as we got to the front of the line, however, Jonathan decided that Mickey was terrifying and didn't want to be anywhere near him unless I was holding him.  I had expected that this could be the case, so we both took a picture with Mickey!

We went on Snow White, Small World, King Arthur's Carousel, the Little Mermaid, and visited Big Thunder Mountain Ranch.  Jonathan LOVED seeing the animals.  He had fun petting the goats and meeting Jesse from Toy Story.  

Isn't he adorable?

On Winnie the Pooh

I know it's blurry, but I love how it shows how excited he was!

In the evening, we met up with Scott, 2 of his adorable nieces, and his awesome mom for dinner and the parade.  It was a pretty cool parade, with all of the Disney princesses and, of course, Peter Pan, which Jonathan loved!

Scott and Jonathan

At the end of the night, Scott was kind enough to take a picture for us and, since Jonathan loves his buddy Scott, he attempted a smile for this picture, rather than the stoneface he'd been giving all day!

We attempted a Cars Land ride, but when we got there, Jonathan was fading fast and the line was long, so we called it a night.  We had such a fun day and I'm so happy that I got to take Jonathan on his very first Disneyland adventure!

The Reagan Library

Some of my family and I visited the Reagan Library last Saturday!  I'd been there twice before, but this time we were going to see a special exhibit called "Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives".  It had lots of cool Disney memorabilia, including costumes from some of the movies, the filming model of the submarine used in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and of the ship used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, etc.  It was a really awesome exhibit!  We also looked around the actual museum and, of course, toured the former Air Force One that Reagan, and several others before him, flew on.  Afterwards, we went to Denny's for dinner and then drove home.  It was a really fun day!

What Happens in Vegas...

...is, of course, documented on my blog!  The week before Spring Break, I was feeling super down and ultra stressed.   I came to the conclusion that I did not want to spend a week at home doing nothing and stewing about all of things going on, so I randomly started looking up plane tickets.  I haven't been to Washington DC and Virginia in awhile, but plane tickets were about $1,200.  Ummm...yeah right!  I looked up several other places and because I would be leaving in less than a week, ticket prices to pretty much anywhere were astronomical.  So, I decided to look up flights to Vegas and ended up booking!  I promised my sister I would house/dog-sit for her from Monday through Wednesday, so I decided to fly out early Thursday morning and fly home on Saturday night.  When my parents saw what I was planning, they asked if they could join me and, of course, I said yes.  They drove to Vegas Wednesday afternoon and picked me up from the airport the next morning.  We went to the hotel so that I could drop off my stuff and change into presentable clothes (I fly in the comfiest/most ghetto clothes ever...don't judge me!  haha) and then we went to the Luxor to get tickets for the Titanic exhibit and decided to get lunch at the buffet there.  Then, we went to Hoover Dam, which was awesome!  I had never been there before and it was definitely a bucket list item.

That evening, my mom and I took a walk down the Strip, specifically to see the fountains at the Bellagio and the Volcano at the Mirage.  Since our hotel, The Excalibur, and the Bellagio and Mirage are at opposite ends of the Strip, we took quite a walk, but it was fun to spend time together and see Vegas.  Here are some pics from our evening:

In front of the hotel we stayed in!

Just a shot of me and my mama!

I finally got to see the fountains in front of The Bellagio!

 In front of The Mirage before the volcano show!

 The Volcano was awesome!  Now I can check it off my bucket list!

At the end of the night, we took a taxi back to the hotel and got some much needed rest!

The next day, we went back to The Luxor to see the Titanic exhibit.  I saw it last year when Nancy and I went to Vegas for my birthday on a sister trip, but it was so good, I definitely didn't mind seeing it again and I was really excited for my parents to see it.

Afterwards, Mom and I went to the Vegas Temple to do a session.  Dad's back was killing him, so he didn't end up going with us, which was a major bummer, but we still had a really nice evening.

The next morning, we checked out of the hotel, went to Denny's for breakfast, and then headed back down the Strip to go to the M&Ms store and the Coca-Cola store.

Our favorite part of the Coke store was that you could get a soda float with any type of Coke brand soda and they had red cream!  Soooo delish!  My parents shared a float and I got my own!

After we were done with the Vegas scene, we drove back to the temple so that we could get pictures of it in the daylight; then, we went to grab some dinner at Long John Silver's, where my I forced my parents to wear magical pirate hats!  Don't let their faces fool you, they were so excited to wear those things and couldn't wait to put them on!  ;)

After that, my parents dropped me off at the airport and they headed home.  As it turned out, we boarded the plane and then sat on the runway for an hour an forty minutes.  It was awesome!  haha NOT!  My parents actually beat me home eventhough they were driving and I was flying.  Oh well!  I had a great weekend and really can't complain about the little airline snafu at the very last minute.  I'm really glad that a  Spring Break that was going to be super lame turned out to be such a great adventure!

Lakes, Cherry Blossoms, and Gigantic Birds. Oh My!

I was watching the news the other night and, as a backdrop behind the weather report, they showed a picture of a lake with a bunch of beautiful cherry blossom trees around it.  Then, the weatherman said that it was a shot of the lake in Van Nuys and that all of the cherry blossom trees had been donated awhile back and that they were in bloom.  

The next day, I was feeling bored, so I decided to google "Van Nuys", "cherry blossoms", "lake" and it popped right up!  It's called Lake Balboa and it is gorgeous.  I decided to go there, so I threw the address in  my GPS and off I went!  Seriously, I think that the GPS was sent straight from Heaven.  If you know me, you know I get lost, pretty much, everywhere I go.  It's the rule, not the exception.  BUT now, I can go wherever I want with pretty solid confidence that I won't get lost forever and be found in fetal position in a ditch in the middle of nowhere.  Yes.  Anyhow, I headed out to Van Nuys and drove on a whole bunch of fancy freeways and made it there safely!  It really wasn't actually that hard to find; it's just that I feel a huge sense of accomplishment when I find a new location without getting lost :).  

I made it!!!

I had never heard of it, but apparently EVERYONE else had.  There were SO many people there, but the park is so large that it didn't feel crowded at all.  If you have children, this is the place to be.  There's a huge (and pretty deluxe) play area just a safe distance away from the lake.  There are walking/bike paths and, just as was shown on the news, there were beautiful cherry blossoms in bloom all around the lake!

As you can see, there are lots of birds there, and big scary swans...

Seriously.  That man was insane for standing so close to it.  May I also add that this photo was taken right before that big ol' bird started to bite him. Repeatedly...On. The. Shoulder.  Ummm Hmmm...that's what he gets for invading it's space.  When I see a large bird, I give it all the space in the world.  Nuff said!  :)

I walked around the lake and just took in the beauty of it.  The lake was man-made, but was still pretty and peaceful.  As usual, on my solo outings, I relied on the kindness of strangers to snap some pics so I could be in a few.  I always feel so grateful that people are willing to indulge me in my obsession with relentless picture-taking.  :)

It made for a nice little outing and a fun, spontaneous Spring Break diversion!

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens...

On March 2nd, I had the opportunity to see "The Sound of Music" at the Candlelight Pavilion in Claremont.  If you've ever been, you know that they put on amazing shows and, since it's dinner theater, have quite delicious food!  Scott celebrated his birthday on February 28th and so this was basically part of the birthday fun!  We had a great time and the show was phenomenal!  It was also cool that we got to sit in one of the boxes on the terrace; we got the Emerald Room because we both agree that being Irish is super awesome!  :)  Anyhow, it was just a really fun night and I always enjoy being in the company of someone that makes me laugh, and with whom I can be my goofy self with!  Here are a couple of pictures from our evening:

Julian!

For Lincoln's Birthday weekend (another random holiday we get off), my parents went to San Diego for the long weekend.  It was awesome because I got some much-needed time to myself and because they got some time away too.  As mentioned in earlier posts, I have been doing alot of things from my bucket list lately and my parents have kind of gotten into it too.  It's become a bit like their own bucket list and my dad, in particular, takes every chance he can get to help me check something else off of the list.  So, when he noticed that Julian, a little, old mining town near San Diego, was on the list, he decided to add that into their weekend, on Saturday, and invite me to drive down to join them for the day.  So, I went for it.  It turned out to be much more of an adventure than we had planned.  First, I had never been there before and had no idea where I was going.  Since I get lost pretty much everywhere I go, I decided to just do whatever my GPS told me to do.  Fool proof, right???  WRONG!!! My GPS told me to get off the freeway in Temecula and take highways the rest of the way.  Well, all of a sudden, I was not on a regular highway; I found myself on winding mountain roads with sharp turns and narrow passages on the edge of cliffs, without any type of railing.  I was supposed to be on this road for about an hour and a half and after awhile, I just thought...oh well, I'm just taking the scenic route and it's just part of the adventure.  Then, there was snow.  Yes.  Snow.  I had never driven in snow before and all of a sudden, it was everywhere.  Ummm...I didn't plan for snow, but I figured that I would come out of the mountains and the snow would be gone and it would be a bright, sunshine-y day.  My mistake was in thinking that Julian was going to be, roughly, the same climate as San Diego.  As I drove onward, the snow got thicker and thicker.  I was a little bit nervous about driving in it, but was in awe of how beautiful it was.  The white blankets of undisturbed snow were absolutely gorgeous.  

As I pulled into Julian to meet up with my parents, there was still snow everywhere and there were huge banks of snow down the middle of the street and on the sides of the road.  I called my mom and she told me where to meet them and, fortunately, they keep a bag of scarves, gloves, etc. in the back of their car, so I was able to use some of those.  I had a beanie and a jacket with me, but was happy to have a toasty neck  and hands.

The first thing we did was to walk down the main road and find the little bakery we had planned on for lunch.  We had to wait about 30 minutes, so we used the time to walk around a little and see what was there.  I found a little shop that sold accessories, like hats, scarves, sunglasses, etc. and bought a new hat there.  I was really surprised at how affordable things were there.  Usually, tourist attractions/towns jack up the prices of everything, so Julian was like a breath of fresh air.  After browsing for a bit, we went back to the restaurant for lunch.  We each ordered a caramel apple cider and were expecting a little Denny's size mug, but instead, they brought us these:

...and they were delish!

We also got some water to drink and they brought it in glass mugs shaped like cowboy boots!  SO cute!

I bought one from the restaurant as a souvenir for the day.

After lunch (which was so yummy), we walked around a little more and then called it a day, as far as Julian was concerned.  There are more things to do there, like a mine train, and some other tours, but we decided to save those for a day when we wouldn't have to walk around on ice and snow.  Here are a couple more pictures from our Julian adventure:

The place behind us is where we ate lunch.

The Town Hall has a little scavenger hunt you can do, but they were closed because of the snow, so maybe next time we'll do that.

My mom and I by this crazy-cool sign and a bunch of snow.

After leaving Julian, we went to the visitor's center for the Battle of Pascual, which I had never been to.  We also stopped at the San Diego Archaeological Center, but we missed it by a couple of hours.  I guess this just means we'll have to tackle it on ANOTHER adventure.  Shucks!  ;)

Here are some pics at the visitor's center:

We had a really great day together!

Because I had the day off...

One of the great things about being a teacher is that you get some of the smaller holidays off.  Mid-January, we had the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. day and I went on a little adventure.  Lately, I've been trying to work off of my bucket list for all of my grand (and not so grand) adventures.  Last time I went to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, I had to go for school, it was raining, and I couldn't just look around for my enjoyment; I had a checklist of stuff I had to see and do.  So, I'd been wanting to go back and do it at my own pace.  I mentioned that I was considering going to my mom and she mentioned it to my dad and all of a sudden, it was decided that we were all going to go!  I was excited to have the company, so it all worked out.  We took our time and saw some cool stuff, as well as some ridiculous stuff and had a great time.  We got to see the Burghers of Calais, which I love because of the awesome story behind it.  It was also pretty cool because we had also gotten to see it at the Met, in New York City, this past summer.

We also saw this piece of "art".  I know that the arts are somewhat subjective, but really???

I do, however, like that it's orange.

Heres's The Thinker:

Us in front of the museum:

Just a couple of days before we went on this adventure, my parents had been watching one of those "California's Gold" types of shows with Huell Howser and he went to this place, called Galco's, that sells all kinds of old drinks that you can't find anywhere anymore, and they're all sold in the glass bottles.  My mom looked it up and discovered that it was only a few minutes from the museum, so we went there too.  It was pretty cool!  My parents, especially my dad, were able to take a walk down memory lane and reacquaint themselves with sodas they hadn't had since they were kids.  As for me, I got to hear their old memories and become acquainted with some new flavors.  It was fun!  Plus, the guy (the owner), who was giving the tour on the TV show was actually there and he showed us around a bit.

After we left Galco's, we went to dinner at one of our very favorite restaurants, North Woods Inn, in Covina.  Yum!

Afterwards, we headed home, but decided to make one last stop, at Richie's Diner, by Victoria Gardens because I had never been there and my dad wanted to show me that they also sell some of the old time-y sodas in the glass bottles.  They don't have nearly the selection that we found at Galco's, but still had a few gems.  All in all, it was a very fun day!