Intermission 2

Another intermission for your enjoyment. This summer I enrolled the kids in swim lessons. I can't believe I haven't done it sooner - sometimes I feel like a bad mother. They loved every minute and learned so much. I was more surprised with Savanna because she was doing some things I never thought she would do. Parents were not allowed to stay during lessons but on the last day they had a show off day in which the parents could watch.

This is one of things that I never thought Savanna would do - jump into a pool by herself. - below

I was so proud of both of them!

Summer Vacation - Part 2

Since we were all going to be at Disneyland on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, then Monday was going to be an open day for each family to do what they wanted. But we all decided we would travel on up to LA and go on a bus tour. On this tour you started at the Chinese Theatre and then you could stop off at different places along the way. You would have about 30 minutes at each stop or you could wait until the next bus arrived. Anyway, we stopped at the tar pits (very interesting), the farmer's market (the neatest place ever - wish we could have stayed longer but pressed for time) and finally stopped at the famous Pinks Hot Dog stand to eat their famous hot dogs. Dummy me forgot to charge my battery on the camera so I didn't get as many shots as I would have liked. Just think, I could have had 550 vacation pictures, dang. Ha.





The traffic getting there was awful. I've heard that it's normal.

We were in a rush to get our bus tour tickets so these were some of the stars around that area.

Hugh Jackman - he's hot.

Chinese Theatre - below

I just had to snap a picture of Stanley Street along the tour. - below

House of Blues - above



Shoot! Camera went DEAD! Crap.

Monday night after we got back from LA, we walked down to Disneyland to go ahead and pick up our tickets with my voucher so I wouldn't have to worry about doing it the next morning. Our rooms were about an 8 minute walk from the park but by the 4th day, it felt like an 800 minute walk. No tellin how many miles we walked. Man, I wish I was in better shape.

Across from Disneyland there is another park called Disney's California Adventure. If you buy a hopper ticket then you are able to go back and forth between the two parks. Being the planner that I am I purchased my 3 day hopper tickets online way in advance. My sister, on the other hand, waited til closer to time and took advantage of buying 5 day hopper tickets for the price of a 3 day. Oh, was I mad, but not for long because the sweet, nice lady at the window upgraded me. Yeah! We weren't able to go all 5 days but we did go 4!

My sister, Pam, and her family had been to Disneyland before so we just simply listened to her and followed her lead which made it so nice. She had purchased a book that told all about Disneyland secrets - for example, they had done some kind of study that proved you could ride certain rides in certain order and you wouldn't have to wait in line so long. I was really sceptical, but it really works. We would be in a line for a ride and I would be thinking that it was pretty long but when we would get off the ride the line was sooo much longer. I don't know how they know but they do. Also, we would get there at 7:30, wait for the gates to open at 8:00, stay til around 1:00 and then go back to the room to swim or rest and then go back in the evening and watch the beautiful fireworks. We had a good routine.

The following pictures are from day one. The blurry picture (sorry) below shows all the kiddos running to get to Disneyland. They were so excited.

Waiting for the gates to open. Silly Shane. - below

Yeah! I couldn't believe that we were finally here. Everything was so beautiful.

Paw Paw - he's so funny! - below

I definitely recommend a stroller for the little ones. Randal and Pam have a Disney Visa card and with that we were able to get 2 strollers at no cost everyday. It made is so nice.

All the kids had their autograph books ready for all the Disney characters to sign. We saw Donald right when we came in.

On this first day, we scheduled a breakfast with Disney characters. The guys didn't really care to go so they all rode rides while the girls and the kids went. It was an all you can eat buffet that was out of this world good. And seeing all the characters was such a treat for the kiddos. It was a little pricey, but worth it.

The fairy godmother was my favorite. I loved the way she talked and she was so friendly. I have a video of her if I can get it to download later.

And I must say that the rides were so efficient. They moved the line along so fast with the way each one was set up. Nothing like Six Flags.

Hayden and Ashlyn trying on hats. - above

Intermission

I thought I would give a little intermission between the "parts" of our vacation. The star of this intermission is Shane and I am sure it will get a few laughs. I was in the kitchen one day and the kids were in their rooms playing. Shane appeared and had obviously been into Savanna's dressup or play clothes. I just had to grab my camera for the picture below. Jody would hate knowing that I have posted pictures of Shane not only wearing make-up but now wearing a girls dance suit. Oh, the joys!

Also, Jody recently took a business trip to Denver and brought back gifts for the kids, but I thought the gift for Savanna was so neat. It's a Breyer horse that you can paint any way you want.

Hope you have enjoyed this little break - I should be back soon with Part 2.

Summer Vacation - Part 1

At the end of June, we took our wonderful vacation with the Anderson family crew. Since that vacation, I have been struggling to stay ahead in all aspects of my life. Between catching up at work, another horse auction, swimming lessons, and all the everyday happenings between, it has been crazy at the Stanleys. I can definately do my share of complaining but over all we are having a great and fast summer.

I had mentioned in earlier posts that we were taking our extended family vacation to Disneyland this year and it definately did NOT disappoint. My kids are still talking about it and want to go back next summer. (ha ha) If only money grew on trees. The cast of characters that went on this trip are as follows:
Gran & Paw Paw - Joe & Pat Anderson
The Vosses - Randal, Pam, Anna, Avery, Ashlyn
The Daniels - Todd, Penni, Hayden, Elli Kate
The Stanleys - Jody, Amy, Savanna, Shane

We all decided that it would be easier to plan our own way there and meet up at Disneyland for 3 days. Of course, my mom does not fly so they drove all the way to California - yuck. But good for us because we were able to pack our clothes early and have them take them for us. Anyway, we decide to fly into San Diego - visit the San Diego zoo and then travel on up to Anaheim to meet up with the rest - visit Hollywood and then Disneyland. It was the best trip ever!!!

I took around 500 photos. My O My. For today or part 1, I have selected SOME from our flight into San Diego and our trip to the zoo.



On the plane - they did so well. I brought coloring books and my laptop to watch movies.

Jody sat next to a very friendly and nice man who was flying back home to San Diego so he gave us directions and told us about some great places to visit while we were there. But since we were staying over only one night, there wasn't enough time to do everything. With what we saw of San Diego it is the neatest town and we would love to go back one day. This was a seafood place that the airplane guy told us about and it was so good.

Outside of the resturant, there was this performer who was painted and looked like a statue and the kids got a kick out of him scaring people when he moved.

Below are pictures of our ZOO time on Father's Day.

The zoo had recently opened up a new part for their elephants and it was amazing.

We gave the kids disposable cameras to use and Shane took all of his pictures within the first 10 minutes that we were there and from then on he would continually wind it which drove me nuts.

In the park, they had a zip line that the kids loved riding and the views of the zoo were neat to see.

I always love getting pictures of them like this.

These flowers or plants below were in the reptile exhibits and I thought they were unusual but pretty.

While we waited for an animal and sea lion show, I was scoping out the next place we should go. There was so much to see - it would probably be better to see it in 2 days instead of one. We were so tired by the end of the day and we still had to drive another hour.

When we would ask the kids what their favorite animal was, Savanna said this one below was her favorite. She called it half zebra, half mule, but I have no idea the name of it.

We had to wait in line to see the pandas - they are so cute.

Our drive up the coast to Anaheim - we took the scenic route and stopped at a beach along the way.

To be continued ..... hopefully soon.