Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Hope you’re all celebrating! We paid tribute to Mexican heritage and pride by having English muffin pizzas for dinner!!!
The biggest news here at the Peterson home is that Madison got glasses! Last Sunday (a week ago—we skipped church yesterday…) we were in sacrament meeting, 2nd or 3rd row from the front, and Maddy couldn’t read the hymn numbers up on the stand. So Amanda took her to America’s Best on Monday and got her eyes checked. Yep, she inherited the rotten, nearsighted (which describes our vision as well as our approach to life) Peterson eyes. But she just looks so darn cute:
These are her Scooby-Doo frames, which she got to look like Velma, I guess:
This past week was also the premiere of the Maverik Kick Start TV Show, which I do a lot of the motion graphics for. Here’s a trailer:
(I did the text graphics on that ad).
There was a premiere on Wednesday night at a movie theatre in Sandy, UT. It airs Saturday nights at 10:30pm on a Utah station (KJZZ14) as well as airing in Idaho. Episodes will also be available on http://www.maverik-kickstart.com
We’re also getting excited for the newest Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Each weekend this month, we’re watching an Indiana Jones movie, leading up to the newest movie, which we’re going to go see opening weekend. This past Sunday, we watched Raiders of the Lost Ark. As a treat during the movie, we made” no-bake boulders” (no-bake cookies in the shape of boulders, obviously referencing the famous “giant boulder scene” in the movie):
Abe and the kids miss Disneyland. Here’s Abe in their makeshift Pirate of the Caribbean ride:
Here are some other miscellaneous tidbits:
One of Amanda’s co-workers had a bed she didn’t need anymore, and gave it to us for Abe. Here are the kids enjoying it:
We’ve been potty training Abe. While I’m sure we’ll still have some mistakes, he had no accidents at all today, after only 5 days of training! Here he learns the most important aspect of using the bathroom—finding something good to read:
We also painted a bunch of pictures with fluorescent paint, which we hung up in my room.
They look awesome under the black light!
Well, I think that’s about it for now. Be sure to check out the 10 Years of Magic blog, too, for more shenanigans and whatnot!
I know you were all distraught to not see a new post for Tuesday. Sorry, I was busy with family-related stuff. So here's the Tuesday and Wednesday re-cap, then I'm taking a blogging break for a couple days. I've got 4 movies here at home waiting to be watched ("Guess who's Coming to Dinner?" from Netflix, "Officer and a Gentleman" and "Clash of the Titans" from the library, and I just bought the "Cloverfield" DVD--sorry, Jana, you can't borrow it!)
Our last day at Disneyland. It was also the coldest. In fact, the kids had sweaters with them most of the day, although they didn’t necessarily wear them. It was our second Magic Morning/Early Entry day, but instead of going to see Nemo again, we visited some of the Fantasyland attractions we hadn’t seen yet. We rode Peter Pan’s Flight first, since that tends to have the longest line of all the Fantasyland dark rides. Then Dumbo, of course (another long-line ride):
Next it was the best/worst double punch of the Alice in Wonderland ride (my favorite of the dark rides) and Mr. Toad (my LEAST favorite). While Alice is full of detail, creativity, and is a thoroughly unique Disney ride, Mr. Toad is flat, obnoxious, and disjointed, and the only thing memorable about the ride is the trip to Hell—rather appropriate, in my opinion. We had a bathroom break, then took another ride on Autopia. Then it was time for the Jedi Training Academy. We sat down in the seating area at 10:00, ½ hour before the show started. (I took a bathroom break during the wait). We sat up close (you sit on the ground in front of the training area) and when they got ready to pick people, I gave Joel the sign he and Maddy had made before the trip. I wish I’d gotten a photo of the sign beforehand. It was a big, neon-green posterboard with Star Wars Coloring Book pictures taped to it (which the kids colored). I wrote “The Force is strong with me!” on it, and Maddy and Joel wrote some other things on it, such as the names of several characters, “Pick me you must!” “Skywalker rules; Grievous drools,” etc. Joel was the 2nd person picked, and not long after, a Disney employee asked me if she could have the sign because the Jedi Master collects them, or something. Here’s a highlights video of his experience:
As we headed out of Tomorrowland, Amanda spotted a familiar face: Joel’s Kindergarten teacher! We talked to her for a minute, and she mentioned that she saw another teacher from their school earlier that day. If I didn’t mention it before, we saw a LOT of people wearing BYU/ Utah shirts on Monday and Tuesday…and people dressed a lot more modestly too (which I’m sure is partially due to the slightly cooler weather those days). We rode Pirates of the Caribbean again (in preparation for our lunch at the Blue Bayou), took ANOTHER bathroom break (I should’ve pointed out earlier that we didn’t ALL go at each bathroom break. Sometimes it was just one or two of us that needed to go). At 11:40 we got in a few minutes early for our reservation at the Blue Bayou. We got a nice table, pretty close to the water and we could see the boats going by really well. Joel and Maddy noticed that this restaurant was a lot quieter than Goofy’s Kitchen. The service was excellent. They were really nice, even by Disney standards, and our waitress somehow knew I’d dropped my fork on the floor and suddenly appeared and replaced it for me. The food was really good. Amanda and I got gumbo with our meal as an appetizer:
SOOOOO good. The kids got carrots and celery, which they didn’t enjoy much. We also got some rolls to eat. For the main course, the kids each got a plate of chicken legs and noodles, which they didn’t eat much of:
By the way, Abe's trying to blow out the candle in the picture above.
I got the Monte Cristo, of course. It came with a raspberry jam that actually tasted pretty good on the sandwich:
And Amanda got the Tesora Island Chicken: The potatoes that came with it were great, too. It was a great experience, but not something I’d do very often. First of all, it was pretty expensive, and I’d rather have had my kids actually eat the food we ordered for them. Plus, Amanda and I, being seafood-haters, don’t have much to choose from there. Another bathroom break, of course, then Amanda and Maddy rode Splash Mountain while the boys rode Pirates AGAIN (Joel decided he REALLY liked this ride partway through the trip, insisting that riding in the 2nd or 3rd row made the waterfall drops shorter…hmmm…) ANOTHER bathroom break, then we all rode Winnie the Pooh. By then it was 2:15, so we headed back to the hotel for a rest. During that time, I took a short nap, and for me I guess the combination of the greasy Monte Cristo and laying down for a nap didn’t mix, because I had an upset stomach for the rest of the night. This is something I’m actually used to: whenever I take an afternoon nap, I always wake up nauseated. At 4:30 we headed over to DCA, where Joel took a bathroom break. Then Maddy and I rode the Grizzly River Run, where we got SOAKED. I sat close to the opening on the raft, assuming I would be blocking some of the water from Maddy. As it turns out, there were a couple times when giant walls of water shot right over the top of Maddy onto us. At this point it was about time for the Pixar Play Parade to start, so Amanda and the boys picked a spot on the parade route to sit while Maddy and I rode Mulholland Madness. In line in front of us was a girl from our ward, along with her mother. After being tossed to and fro on that ride, we sat with Amanda and the boys to watch the parade. It was actually pretty fun and Abe especially loved it. But I’ll warn you that each parade float has several methods of squirting the viewers with water (and some of the performers have water guns, too). You WILL get wet if you watch the parade (I cracked up when I saw a guy taking a photo of a float, then the float suddenly got him—and his camera—with a spritz of water). Oh, and there’s bubbles. Joel, increasing his bravery, said that HE wanted to ride Mulholland Madness now, so he and Amanda and Maddy rode it while I watched (I videotaped it, too, but there’s not much to see of them on the ride). Another bathroom break. We rode the King Triton’s Carousel again, tried to peek into the Toy Story Midway Mania building, then Maddy and Amanda rode the Orange Stinger, which seems to be designed for people under 125 pounds. Then Amanda used the “Single-Ride Entrance” for California Screamin’ and rode that finally, although I’m sure she wished Maddy was with her. At 7:50 we headed over to Disneyland and Amanda and the kids bought some corn dogs: I was still not in the mood to eat anything. And the corn dogs ended up making Amanda sick all night. Yet another bathroom break, then we checked the line for Nemo—it was a half-hour wait, so we decided to skip it. Amanda and Maddy rode the Matterhorn, and the rest of us rode Buzz one more time. By then it was 9:05 and time to leave Disneyland for the last time this trip. Joel got teary-eyed. And so we said goodbye to Disneyland for another trip. Total Bathroom Breaks: 8
Wed. 4/16/2008
And let’s get caught up with the Wednesday highlights (or LOW-lights, since it was a lame day) (all times in the following are Mountain time) 9:45: Leave Anaheim: 61 degrees 2:15: Leave Henderson, NV(after having lunch at Burger King) 66 degrees- -bathroom break 5:30: Beaver, UT: treat at Dairy Queen (including a banana split for me…delicious!) bathroom break 5:50: Leave Beaver, UT 8:00: Orem, UT: trip to Dr. Office for Abe to get his ears checked and get a prescription for his infection.
Right before Henderson, Abe had been napping then woke up screaming and didn’t stop til we got out at Burger King. Then he had another fit or two during the last part of the trip. I’m sure the changes in elevation didn’t feel good on his stuffed-up ear.
Abe really enjoyed when I would pull up the armrest on my chair, sing into it, then start biting the end of the armrest. Unfortunately, one time I was a little too rough and injured my lip:
After the first two days, we felt like we’d already seen everything, but it turns out we still had plenty to do. On Monday, Disneyland didn’t open until 9, which meant we got to sleep in until 7:30 or so. Monday was also the day I’d arranged to meet one of the other Disney CMO contestants and her family at DCA. Here’s the link to her video/page: http://www.dreamcmo.com/amy She emailed me a couple weeks ago via a Disney forum, where she’d read that I was coming out to Disneyland. She and her husband had wanted to meet me and my family ever since seeing my CMO video. So we’d arranged to meet at the Animation Building in California Adventure on Monday at noon. That’s also the day I wore the awesome shirt Amanda made for me (it was quite a surprise). It was a shirt featuring my animated self-portrait. Here’s me wearing it—note the similarity to the Mickey banner above my head:
We still hadn’t seen any of the “big” rides at DCA yet, but that park didn’t open until 10. So from 9-10, we spent a little time at Disneyland. Joel went on Indiana Jones with Amanda while the rest of us climbed Tarzan’s Treehouse (let me mention here that I got REALLY tired of carrying Abe in the line for rides, and often had to take a break where he had to walk for a while). We rode Snow White and Pinocchio rides, and by then it was 10:00, time for California Adventure to open. While in line to enter DCA, I heard the lady right in front of me ask the ticket-taker lady, “Have you heard of the Chief Magic Official contest?” I looked up and said “I HAVE!” and pointed to my shirt. Amy Kate and her family were right in line in front of us! So we said hello and chatted for a minute. They were on their way over to Grizzly River Run and we were heading over to Soarin’. Maddy and Amanda went on Soarin’ (We got a Baby Switch Pass so Joel and I could go after they finished) and I headed over to Grizzly River Run to get Fastpasses. While there, I ran into Amy and her husband again, and he told me they’re not doing Fastpasses for that ride today cause it’s less-crowded and the park closes at 6 that day. After Joel and I rode Soarin’ (which he was really scared of, for some reason) we went on the Monsters Inc. ride again. At the end of the ride, Roz (a character from the movie/ride) talks to people in the ride vehicle. She told Maddy that if Joel was naughty, Maddy should come tell Roz. It was funny. Then it was time for a quick bathroom break, then we waited in line for the Playhouse Disney stage show, which we thought Abe would really like, but I guess his earache was making him grouchy, because he wasn’t that enthused. And our mature Madison thought the show was boring and childish. By then it was noon and we went over to the Animation Building. They have a fun zoetrope made of Toy Story characters. Here’s a video (not filmed by me):
It’s a turntable covered with sculptures in animation poses that spins around. A strobe light flashes, letting you see the animation come alive. Pretty cool. We met up with Amy Kate and her husband and daughter. We went through the Sorcerer’s Workshop and did the various activities in there (though our kids were too shy to talk/sing at the Ariel’s Grotto exhibit, where you add your voice to a Disney movie). After that, we took a couple pictures together:
Then Amy and family headed off for more adventures. We were going to head back to the hotel, but decided to get a turkey leg and a chimichanga for lunch:
The turkey leg was really huge and hard to eat (and tasted like ham) and the kids ate almost all of the chimichanga themselves! We took another bathroom break (mostly so I could clean the sticky turkey greases off my hands) then we let the kids go play in the water fountains in A Bug’s Land: We bought some fudge at the candy shop on the way out of DCA: And I got myself a chocolate-covered smore treat. Here it is half-eaten so you can see the innards:
At 1:50pm, we left DCA and headed home for a rest (and so the kids could change out of their totally-drenched clothes). While we were home for a rest Abe decided to bite Joel on the back:
For some reason, Abe really likes to bite things lately. Kind-of annoying.
At 4:00 we headed back to Disneyland. We went into the Innoventions building again, this time with Abe and Amanda. It was a little more crowded this time, but Joel got to play Guitar Hero and we got to go see the ASIMO show, which they were HEAVILY promoting to the point that they were walking around handing tickets to the show out to anyone who would take them. We decided to go ahead and see it, cause we didn’t have anything better to do at the time. It was actually a pretty cool show. ASIMO is a robot (designed by Honda) who is advanced enough to walk up stairs and do tasks around the house. After the show, the kids (and Amanda) played a cool video game that doesn’t use controllers; it’s projected on the floor and somehow responds to your movements. Here’s a video clip with a little of the ASIMO presentation, followed by some footage of the fam playing the game:
Then of course, we rode Buzz Lightyear AGAIN. Then Maddy and I rode Star Tours while the others rode Buzz yet another time.
We were getting hungry, but couldn’t decide where to eat. We weren’t really in the mood for Plaza Inn and we finally decided on rancho del Zocalo in Frontierland (next to Thunder Mountain). The food there is good, not great. Maddy didn’t want anything, but finally decided on a bowl of fruit. We got a seat right next to Thunder Mountain, and Joel kept waving at each train that came into the station. It was very cute—he was counting how many people waved back at him from each train.
We had a post-dinner bathroom break, then the girls rode Thunder Mountain. We watched them and took some video of them. While waiting for them, we watched the small pond across the way. Above the pond is a cave (which used to be part of the Mine Train through Nature’s Wonderland ride, before thunder Mt. came about). Next time you visit, if you watch the pond for a while, you’ll notice a “swish” in the water—a mysterious jumping fish.
We rode Pirates of the Caribbean again after that, took another bathroom break, then headed over to Fantasyland. We usually tackle Fantasyland first thing in the morning, so there was something extra special visiting it in the evening, when it was all lit up. We rode the King Arthur Carousel and the Tea Cups (where we BARELY fit into one cup and spun as fast as we could—yeah I wanted to puke). At 8:45 we headed home for the night to rest up before our last day at Disneyland.
