Carsland at California Adventure

Our little boy has been anxiously waiting to explore Carsland.   We waited until my husband could join us and we headed out this weekend to Disneyland.   Our first stop was California Adventure, Sunday afternoon.   The new main street is wonderful.   While it is not as expansive as big brother, Main Street Disneyland, it is cute and wonderful all on its own.   We headed straight for Carsland.   We got a sneak peek last Spring of the main drag of Carsland. 

 



We got to walk the street Sunday and it was a treat.   It was crazy crowded and hot, but so worth it.   You feel like you are walking through the movie.   Everything was as it was pictured in the movie down to the blinking stoplight and statue of Stanley.   We just looked and appreciated everything.   The premiere ride, Radiator Springs Racers had a two hour wait.   The fast passes were gone for the day as well.   We decided to wait for Luigi's Flying Tires.   This was a unique twist on bumper cars because each tire is a hovercraft.   You lean to make them go the direction you want to go.   There was a 40 minute wait for this ride, but we were entertained by just standing in line.   The details that Disney went to recreate Luigi's tire shop was amazing.   It gives a nod to both Cars movies.   There was so much to look at.   We enjoyed our flying tires.  I didn't adjust my camera phone for bright sunlight, so the color is off in the picture.   You can see another tire over my son's shoulder and the silver things on the ground were blowing up the air.  

 

 

We next headed off to Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.   This is a pretty cute ride too.   You are towed around in a cart by a little tractor, except the tractors make quick turns and you are swung around.   It mixes a ride with almost square dancing.   The other three new things in Carsland are dining places.   Filmore's taste-in sells snacks, such as chips and apples.   The cozy cone motel has 5 different cones serving various foods and drinks.   We enjoyed the pretzel bites.   Another patron we met while sharing a picnic table, tried the chili cone queso and raved about how good it was.  We left Carsland for other attractions, but came back before we left the park for the night to see the neon lights.   There was a lot of neon!  The picture is really blurred, but you can see the neon lights.

 



 

Monday morning we returned to Disney to ride Radiator Springs Racers.   We were in the park by 10:15 and the fast passes for Radiator Springs Racers were already gone for the day.   We really wanted to try this ride out, so we opted to stand in line for an hour and 40 minutes.   The line was really long, but seemed to move quickly.   Starting somewhere around the middle of the line, Disney had people stationed at intervals selling ice cream, Italian ice, water, and sodas at $4 each.  They were selling quickly.   We got up to the ride and sat down in a car for six people.   You put on your seat belt and get ready.   The ride was pure Disney, top quality entertainment.   There were speakers behind our heads to play music or characters talking to us.   There was a replica of Ornament Valley, complete with waterfall.   Then we moved through various scenes from the movie, and it felt like I was in the movie.   We tractor tipped, ran from Frank, got advice from Doc., and more.   Finally, we got to race another car through Ornament Valley.   That was a bit like a roller coaster, and so much fun!   It was totally worth the long line.   I overhead someone telling someone else there were 10 different experiences you could have on the ride.   My one critique for Disney would be to provide more shade where the line first started snaking.   Most people were moving from one shady spot to another.   As you got closer to the front of the line, the shade improved.  

 

Sunday night, we convinced my son to try Symphony Swings.   He was sure it wouldn't like it, but ended up riding it twice.   We also rode Goofy's Sky School, one of his favorites as well. 

 

Monday, my daughter and I rode California Screamin.   I was reminded riding The Texas Cyclone at Astroworld as a teenager with my friend Tara Wikoff.   We also rode the Toy Story Midway, Goofy's Sky School again, and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree again.   We were out of time and had to leave after those rides.   The kids had a blast this weekend at California Adventure. 

Blowing the Dust Off

I am picking up the blog today and blowing the dust off.   This past month has been very busy.   We left Texas a couple of weeks ago to head out to L.A. for another season.   My daughter had a workshop with a casting director last weekend.   Due to the workshop, we arrived a couple of weeks earlier than last year.   We got to enjoy L.A.'s heat.   While Houston has L.A. beat on heat any day of the week, 95 degrees is still hot.   I know...in Houston its the humidity, not the heat, but take it from me, 95 sans humidity is still hot!

Enough about the weather, we spent the last week in July and first week in August starting our school year.   My daughter started 3rd grade and my son started Kinder.   I took pictures of their first day out on our front porch like I do every year.   Unfortunately, I don' t have a copy of the pictures because they are downloaded on our home computer and not my laptop.   My daughter's first comment while taking the pictures was, "I don't have a uniform in this year's school picture!"  School is going well.   The kids are back at it with few complaints.   Last year was the first year of homeschooling and there was push back from my daughter.   This year, so far are cruising along.  

We spent the first two weeks of August squeezing in as many play dates as possible in before we left for L.A.   It was great to see so many good friends.   We made the trip out to L.A. over a weekend and Monday so that my hubby could drive with us.   It was so nice to have a 2nd driver.   I usually try to do the drive on my own to haul more stuff with me, but having a 2nd driver is REALLY nice.   We got a late start from Houston on Saturday afternoon because we really wanted to attend a birthday party.   Saturday night we stopped in Kerrville.   We got up early the next morning and hit the road and drove to Phoenix!   That was a haul.   My husband did most of the driving and I give him props for it.   We drove into L.A. on Monday, picked up the key to the apartment, unloaded the car and got my husband off to the airport.   The first week here we continued with school, made some new friends, swam, and went to church on Sunday.   My L.A. church is so good.   It was good to be back.  

The last two weeks have been slow as far as acting.   Last week was especially slow, with school starting here.   My daughter has done a couple of auditions and booked a student film to film in September.  

I signed my son up for XMA.   It is an extreme martial arts gym that does non-combat martial arts.   Several actors have trained here.  In fact, my son's tramp/acro instructor is a stunt man that has worked on several projects.   Everyone I met was wonderful.   My son tried two classes Tramp/Acro and XMA and really liked the Tramp/Acro.   I met with Mike Chat, the owner.   He meets with all the parents and explains philosophy and programming.   My son is so excited to start his class this week.   Since they work with actors, they understand how auditions can be unpredictable.   We will be able to make up classes he might miss due to sister's auditions.   Perfect!   That was the one thing holding me back from putting my son in a class.  

My daughter's acting class starts in a couple of weeks.  Until then, we're just doing school, violin, auditions, and swimming in the apartment pool as much as we can! 

I almost forgot one of the most exciting developments of the last two weeks!  My son is actually swimming.   He can jump in from the side and swim across the pool.   He has been resistant to swimming, prefering to hang on to things.   In the last week, he has practiced putting his head down and swimming.  He can do it.   He even pops his head up to take a breath and keeps swimming in water where he cannot touch.   We are so excited for him to reach this milestone.  

We went to Disney this weekend.   We explored the new Carsland, but that is a blog post all on its own.   Maybe tomorrow...we'll see how the week goes.  

Book Review: The Scent of Cherry Blossoms

I recently read The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall.  I have read several of her books based on Amish characters.   Many stories based on Amish characters by various authors all seem to have a similar storyline.   This book was quite different.   It follows a Mennonite woman and an Amish man who fall in love and have to overcome their differences in religion.   The story never seemed to drag and moved nicely.   I almost had a hard time putting it down.  

I enjoyed this book a lot.   It was engaging.   I never got bored with the storyline.   In fact, with thirty pages to the end, I wondered how the story would end due to a seemingly impossible situation.   I learned something new about the Amish.  They are not allowed to intermarry with Mennonites.  This book ended with a happy ending.   I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories about the Amish or romance novels.  

I received this book for the purposes of review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.

Solar System Lesson

This year for science we are studying astronomy.   I am using the Young Explorer Series, Exploring Creation with Astronomy curriculum by Apoilogia Educational Ministries.   The book goes through the introduction which covered a brief history of astronomy.   We also covered the planets, Copernicus, Galileo, and NASA.  The book suggested an activity in which you hang balloons of varying sizes from the ceiling to approximate the size and distance of each planet from the sun.   While browsing Michael's, I found a Jolee’s sticker sheet that had each of the planets and a title flag.  This sticker pack gave me an idea to take a roll of paper I already had and line the planet stickers up on it with scaled distances.   Here are my materials: a tape measure, a long roll of paper, the jolee's sticker set, and a calcuation of the scaled distances.  

My mother-in-law is a retired math teacher.  I asked her about the best way to calculate the distance from the sun to the individual planets down to something I could represent in my home.   I used the Usborne Complete Book of Astronomy & Science for the data.   My mother-in-law calculated the distance into a scale that would span twelve feet.  She started with a simple porportion that equated 6000 km to 10 feet, and solved for how many km to 1 foot.   She found x to be 600 km.   Then using ratios she found the scaled distances using the data provided by the Usborne book.  She did some rounding to simplify the calculations. 

The kids had no idea how far the project would stretch when we started.   We started with Mercury placed 1.2 inches from the sun.   Then, we went to Venus which was two inches.  Earth was three inches.  Mars 4 inches.  Jupiter was one foot, 2 inches, Saturn is 2 feet, 4 inches, Uranus is 4 feet, 9 inches, Neptune is 7 feet, 5 inches.   Pluto, the binary planet, is 10 feet.   We included Pluto just because the kids have heard of it.  This a close up of the whiteboard.

As we started the lesson, the kids were unimpressed with Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.   Things become interesting with the jump to Jupiter.   They were pretty excited as we placed the rest of the planets. 

We added the rest of the planets.  The kids were very excited by the size of the model.   They could lay down end to end and stretch to equal the span.  

We officially start back to school Monday, but did some science this week to connect to our trip last weekend to Space Center Houston.   Using the sticker to make this concrete representation of our solar system was fun and easy.   The activity took about 30 minutes due to the teaching time as well as the construction of the project.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Genesis 1:1

SWOC accomplished!

This week my kids particpated in SWOC which stands for Summer Week of Choir.  My daughter participated last year and had a blast!   We were still in L.A. when it was time to start signing up.   She begged her Daddy to make sure she was signed up.   My son less eager, but got signed up anyway.   He is not one to try new things.  After the first day of camp, he was sold.   He also loved the experience. 

What is Summer Week of Choir?   It is a dynamic, fun filled week of singing and fun.   The kids learn a musical in one week.   We get CDs ahead of time to start listening to the music, so it familiar.   They attend music classes to learn the songs, play games, and do stuff kids like to do.   Wednesday afternoon the kids plat at a carnival. Thursday afternoon, they do a Bible Quiz Off competeition where they  have to be able to quote scripture EXACTLY as it was written on the sheet handed out of the camp.   Friday afternoon, some of Houston's finest firefighters show up with a ladder truck and douse the kids. 

 Friday night, they sing their hearts out.   My daughter auditioned for a "special part." this year.   She got to do a small solo.   She was pretty excited.   She did a great job on her solo, as did all the kids.  

Our month is now winding down.   We have family in town visiting this week and then we are going to rest a couple more weeks before we return to L.A.

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs."

Psalm 100:1-2

Great Accountability

A friend of mine mentioned she was heading up a FB group called "Hello Mornings."   Basically, you get up, read your Bible, and workout before you start your day.   I signed up without much thought at the beginning of the summer.   It was a total God prompting.   It has been a great experience for me.   I post a "good morning"on our group FB page to tell the other members that I completed both tasks.   I enjoy the accountability of it and I somewhat reconnect with some friends from college.  I have also met new friends. 

"If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!"

Ecclesiastes 4:10

Book Review: To Heaven and Back

I recently had the opportunity to read To Heaven and Back by Mary C. Neal.   I found it a very interesting book.   The book basically details an accident that causes Mary to die and come back to life.  After her death experience, the book follows her life to the present.  

 I found that the first half of the book which describes her life up to and including the accident reads very quickly.  The second half of the book goes a bit slower.  She provides great detail of her experiences.   You can clearly see God working in her life.   She is unapologetic about seeing God at work in her life and recognizing it as such.  

I would recommend this to a friend.

I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers for the purposes of review.  

Still Here

I have successfully completed the great house clean out, .   I took a ton of stuff to Alabama with me.   My sister-in-law and I spent two days tagging stuff to consign while visiting my in-laws.  My sister-in-law is consigning stuff for me in Alabama since I am no longer in town for the big consignment sales here.  It was too much for my husband to do for me.   He did it for last year's fall sale, but it was added stress he didn't need.   I am so thankful for my sister-in-law's willingness to consign for me.   The bonus is that we each had help from the other tagging stuff.  

I did VBS at church two weeks ago.   It was a crazy week with two auditions, violin lessons, and packing to go out of town.   I had a blast helping in the preschool art room.   My kids loved VBS.   They are still singing the songs they learned in music.   At the end of VBS, my daughter and husband flew to L.A. for a day and then we headed to my in-laws house for eight days.  

We had a great time in Alabama.   We got to spend a day on the lake playing on the jet ski.   I did some knee boarding and am finally good enough to attempt some stunts.  I was helping my daughter get ready to knee board at one point.  The jet ski was turned off.  I stood up, lost my balance, and cart wheeled into the water.   I have a purdy bruise about 8 inches long and 6 inches wide on my right leg.  My daughter still laughs when I tell someone how I got my huge bruise.  I just wish I had gotten it doing some amazing stunt on the kneeboard, nope, just klutzy!

We spent the 4th of July at Jason's family reunion.  It was good to see family we only get to see once a year.  It was hot, hot, hot!   The kids got in the pool.   I stood a little look close to the pool and got a good splashing.   It was nice to be wet and cooled off!  Thursday sent us to Decatur to a water park.   It was crazy crowded,but the kids had a blast.   My son went down a tube slide for the first time.   He wanted to go again and again.   My daughter and I got haircuts Friday morning.   I also did a little antiquing in my in-laws small town.   I found a beautiful vase and dish.   Happy Birthday to me!   Friday evening, we enjoyed a fish fry with some of Jason's extended family.    Saturday brought a 50th anniversary party for Jason's aunt and uncle.   Sunday, Jason and I went to Huntsville, so Jason could look through some of his grandparent's things.   He found some old letters and pictures.   I found some cool vintage sheets that I loved.  

Monday we drove home.   This week we are doing Houston Project with our church.   We like our assigned site this year.   It is a neighborhood church with a really nice pastor.   The kids from the community are also pretty cute.   I really enjoy doing this "in town" mission project every summer.   It is always fun and rewarding.   We do a felt board presentation of God's plan to send Jesus so that we can have forgiveness of sins each night.   I taught on Jesus healing the paralytic Wednesday night.   Last night, I taught on Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection.   Each child got a New Testament to go home.   We helped them mark six foundational verses in it.   The kids were excited about their new Bibles.   We handed out some Bibles in English and some in Spanish according to the child's preference.  

Tuesday, we took a small tour of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.   They have two live owls and a hawk that live in their lobby.   It was very informative.   The kids had a great time learning something new.   We met Brooke's best friends from her old school.   After our tour, we went to Canyon Creek for lunch.   I'd been to one of the other "Creek" restaurants.   I enjoyed this one as much as the others.  

Thursday, we went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Sugarland.  I'll write a separate blog post about that trip. We've done some local side trips earlier in the summer.   I'll blog about them as I have time.   So far, summer has been action packed!

Summer Can Begin Now

We are almost finally well after about 10 days of sickness.   The kids and I had an awful respiratory virus which Jason never caught.   I am still fighting fatigue, runny nose, and a cough, but since I am not longer laid out on the couch, I feel like we can finally enjoy our summer.  

First thing we did Monday was drop by and see my Grandmother.  We visited a couple of hours and then came home and the kids did their school work for the day.   Monday afternoon, we had playdatepalozia here.   My son's friend came to play so his Mom could do something related to his sister's school.   My daughter was REALLY wanted to see her friend.  After a quick e-mail and some phone tag, my daughter's friend was able to come over and play as well.   My Mom came over and worked on the scrapbook from my parent's trip out West two years ago.   I attempted to find the floor in my studio space.   The kids played well upstairs.   Sometimes they played together, sometimes the girls played in one place and the boys in another.  Both of my kids were worn out by the end of the day.    Oh, and I found the floor! 

Tuesday brought errands and gymnastics lessons.   My son was so excited to be doing gymnastics again.   My daughter was so unhappy to NOT be doing gymnastics.   She is taking a one day gymnastics camp, some dance lessons and getting a one day pass to the Texas Rock Gym.   The errand running really wore me out because I HAD to take a nap Tuesday afternoon.  

Today brought violin lessons and a clean up of the playroom.   I slept in this morning trying to shake the fatigue and took it easy this evening.   I was waiting for Jason to finish a project.   Now we are both off to bed. 

Happy Summer. 

Book Review: Where Lilacs Still Bloom

I recently read Where Lilacs Still Bloom by Jane Kirkpatrick.  I found this book extremely interesting.   The author opened the book with various chapters dedicated to the various characters.  I found this odd at first that I was introduced to various and seemingly random people.    Ms. Kirkpatrick then started weaving the stories together and I found it came together nicely.  The characters were very believable and likable.   The protagonist of the story was humble woman who truly had a passion of what she did with plants.  

As the whole the book is unique.  The book introduced me to an aspect of gardening I do not have much experience with, the hybridizing of various plants.   I found this interesting.  The Christian themes were present, but not overwhelming.  Hulda had a quiet, unassuming faith.   The story follows Hulda's life as it ebbs and flows like the rivers that threaten to destroy her work.    

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting, well written book that fictionizes parts of a real person's life story.