Muppets... Yes I wrote a post about Muppets!

When we went to Disneyland at California Adventure we saw the Muppets in 3D and the kids loved it. So when I saw this on YouTube I had to share it. The Muppets performing Bohemian Rhapsody. They put their own spin on it too!

My kids love the John Denver and the Muppets version of the 12 Days of Christmas. I think it is their favorite version. When I was growing up my Aunt Sandra used to spend Christmas with us and she was a big John Denver fan and brought this LP with her every year. So we listened to it quite a bit. So much so that when I got older it was one of the first Christmas CDs I bought. If you haven't heard it or seen the Christmas special it's worth it.

One year ago...

It is hard to believe that one year ago we were in CA. In fact on Nov 30, 2008 we loaded up from Dylan and Karen's house in Sacramento and hit Highway 50 to I-5 and down to Anaheim. It was a long drive. But we knew that our Disneyland adventure would begin. That was such a fun trip. The kids had a great time. It was a vacation that my kids still talk about. (You can read about it here).

Little did we know that we'd have four kids only one year later. And that Cort & Emily would be expecting number 3, their first daughter. And that Dad would be married to a great woman (Denise you're awesome!) . A lot can change, if you don't pay attention it can be easy to miss.

Are you keeping track? Are you journaling? Scrap-booking? Blogging, even? You have to do something.

One month left in 2009, make it a goal to document your life. Not for you, you lived it. But for the rest of us. For those who care about you and want to know you.

Heading home..

Day Eight (12/06/08)
Night in Provo Marriott

We booked rooms on Priceline for a night in Provo so we wouldn’t have to drive all the way through in one day. We had a nice dinner at a gas station in Vegas. We arrived about 10:30 PM –ish. We got three rooms for the same great rate.

Day Nine (12/07/08)
Finally Home

Got up. Took the kids swimming in the heated indoor pool. Checked out of the hotel. Had breakfast at Denny’s in Provo. Headed home. After a slight delay at IKEA we were on the road and headed north. Landed back in Nampa about 6:30 PM. What a great trip we had. Memories to last a lifetime.

Thoughts on the Trip

It was a great time had by all. The driving is never fun, but worth it in the end. Seeing Dylan and Karen was great. They have a lovely home. The stop there brought back many memories of Tammy and me hanging out with them in Nampa and when we lived in Boise State housing. Playing games together and staying up until all hours of the night. That didn’t happen this time, but just as fun. I even noticed that they were listening to the Christmas music CD that Tammy and I gave to our friends and Family when we were a smaller family of three in 2001.

Once when we were in Disneyland I almost shed tears. Gabe and I were waiting in line for a ride and he said “Dad, this is the best day of my life”. I know that he had many experiences there and will have many more in his life, but it meant a lot to me that this family vacation will be one that he (and all of us) remembers forever.

From California & Disneyland Dec 2008

“When you wish upon a star…your dreams come true.” -Jiminy Cricket

Welcome to the Magic kingdom

We spent four days in the Magic Kingdom and California Adventure. It was lot of fun. Here is a slide show with some highlights.

Stompin' Grounds

Day Three (12/01/08)
Free Day

Monday was our “free day”. Our tickets for Disneyland were not valid until Tuesday so it was a free for all, at least for us to go our own directions. There three families in our group, but only two cars. So Cort, Emily, O’Dell and the boys went to Carpentaria, CA to visit Cort’s friend Burdean and Tammy, Chris, Clark, Carley, Gabe, Selah, and Reece went down to Oceanside, CA to see the ocean and where I served my mission. Then we were to meet in Simi Valley, CA at the home of Dad’s cousin Rita at 6:00 PM.

We first went to the Disney Character Warehouse in Fullerton, CA. Where you can get Disney resort items for a large discount over what they charge in the park. They had all kinds of stuff; Mickey ears, cups, mugs, toys lots of shirts and other clothes. Some of the pricing was crazy for example; “buy 1 get 9 free”. It was an interesting store to see all the over-ordered Disneyland merchandise. There were plenty of toys for the kids to play with while we browsed in the store.

Then we headed south to Oceanside. To get there we took the scenic route down PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). This was the way we traveled from Mission Viejo to Carlsbad on my last day in the mission. It was a fun drive. It had been more than thirteen years since I had taken that drive. We saw some cool houses and shops, but the best part was the ocean. I had forgotten how much I loved the smell of the Pacific. Now it being December, there was fog.

So it was not as clear as it would have been in the warmer times of the year.

The drive takes a little longer on PCH than the freeway, but it was worth it.

Then we arrived in Oceanside. We had lunch at Church’s Chicken, since the Alberto’s we were looking for had closed. It was interesting being there after all those years; especially with my wife and kids. I hope to return with them and have more time to spend in the areas I served in while a missionary in southern California. Back to the trip, we went to the beach. By the time we arrived and had lunch we had about an hour at the beach, and then we had to load up to go to Simi Valley. This was Reece’s first time at the ocean. Gabe and Selah had visited the coast when we went and saw Tammy’s brother in Portland. We all had fun walking along the shore looking for seashells and feeling the water under our feet as the tide came in. So much fun that Gabe, Selah, and Reece got more wet that we had planned for and rode in the car for a while with wet clothes.

With no time to spare we loaded up the van and headed north to Simi Valley. We left at about 2:45 PM thinking that we might be able to stop at the hotel in Anaheim and get the kids some dry clothes. Needless to say we did not have time to stop. Afternoon traffic though Los Angeles is a bear. From Oceanside to Anaheim it took a little over an hour (as it should have) but driving through LA north to Simi Valley was the longest part of the drive. We arrived in Simi Valley, CA with about ten minutes to spare. Now I need to take a minute to sing the praises of Google Maps mobile; this handy little tool on my Palm Centro made it very easy to find our way through the maze of freeways in LA. It actually helped many times to get us from one place to another in Southern CA. It also helped us to see where we were along out route and figure out the time to reaching our destination. Back to our trip, once at Rita’s we had a tour of her home and then went to dinner at Yolanda’s in Simi Valley. After dinner we headed back to our hotel in Anaheim to rest up for our big first day in Disneyland.



This was our route.

The Journey Continues...

Day Two (11/30/08)
Driving to Anaheim

The morning started with a great breakfast prepared by Karen and Dylan; pancakes, eggs and ham. Yummy! Then we took some time to read the Sunday paper and talked some more. The kids were getting antsy (and getting on our nerves) and so after everyone showered we packed the van and headed out about 10:30 AM.


We had spoken to our travel companions Cort, Emily, O’Dell, Carley, Gavin, and Noah and they had left Nampa about 6:00 AM and decided to take the same route that we had taken the day before. So as we departed we knew that we could keep in contact with them through the magic of cell phones. According to Google it was going to take us a little over six hours to get from Sacramento to Anaheim. We thought that we should arrive at our hotel by 5:00 PM. Well the folly in our logic and something that we never talked about while planning our trek was that this weekend that we planned on driving to California was Thanksgiving weekend. That meant that we were traveling on the most traveled weekend of the year. So we had not planned for all of the traffic that we encountered on our drive from Sacramento to Anaheim. It took us until almost 10:00 PM to arrive in Anaheim. Driving through the Central Valley with all the agriculture was great, but the two lanes on our side of the interstate did not accommodate all the traffic and travelers for the weekend. It was bumper to bumper once we got north of Los Angeles until we got into Orange County. Our weary travel companions did not arrive until 11:45 that night, a long day of driving indeed. But at least we were accident free on our drive; unlike others.

California Vacation...The Journey Begins...

California Vacation 2008
Day One (11/29/08)
The Drive to Sacramento

We intended to leave home at 6:00 AM, but really we pulled out of Nampa at about 6:30 AM. Not too bad for three adults and three kids under 7 and under. Tammy, Chris, Clark, Gabe, Selah, and Reece headed out bound for California. Our first destination was Sacramento, CA home of Dylan and Karen McDonald. The drive was pretty uneventful. There was the stop at a gas station in McDermitt that had fresh burritos in the deli case at 7:30 AM and very helpful cashiers. We stopped in Reno, NV (Sparks) for lunch at In & Out Burger. This was the first visit to In-N-Out Burger for everyone but me. They were crazy busy, but we were able to find a table outside and enjoy our fresh cut fries and burgers. This picture does not do it justice, the parking lot was packed. The kids were ready for a stop and so were the adults.

We continued on through Nevada over Donner Pass with perfect weather. I guess those chains that we got at Les Schwab were not needed after all. Better safe than sorry. According to Google Maps would take us about nine hours to get to Dylan and Karen’s home, so we thought that with stops and all we would arrive by 5:00 PM. Nope. We arrived about 3:15 PM Saturday afternoon, which was a little earlier than Dylan and Karen expected. I could tell from the tone of her voice when she called to check our ETA and I told her that we were thirty miles out of Sacramento (according to Highway signs).


We found their house with no problem thanks to Google Maps. They have a really nice house right in Sacramento. Close enough that Dylan even rides his bike to work when he can.


We walked across the street to a school and played a little catch with a couple footballs that Dylan had. It was a great chance to see the neighborhood. Then we moved the car closer to their home. We had a great pizza dinner and then played a rousing game of “Bones”, a spoons- like game created in Nampa. Then of course were the hours of conversation, while trying to keep the kids occupied (thanks to Karen’s “I Spy” books). Then as the night went on we all got drowsy and turned in. It had been a long day for us.

More to come...

Don't think I have forgot about the blog...
Just recovering from a trip to the Magic Kingdom...
Details to come...