It's uh... it's been a while. Yeah. It's been a while.
I wish I had a great excuse for my absence. Unfortunately I have none except that I am an exhausted pigeon with no time on my hands.
Heh.
I had thought of doing a LIFE UPDATE, but that would take way too much time tonight. So instead I'll do a quick post on the big important thing that happened all June! My fabulous sister Laura, and her family came to visit at the beginning of this month. I hadn't see any of them in years so it was great to visit with them even though it was only for a few days.
My poor sister always chooses the coldest weekend of the month to come visit my family. I don't think she's every come out when it was actually warm. She has the worst luck. It had been in the 70's for the last few weeks, but Laura managed to come up the one weekend in June that dropped into the 30/40's. With a chance of snow. Despite the random winter weather, we had a lovely time, with lots of visiting and laughter.
All Laura's kids talk sloooowly. Not as slowly as they used to, granted, but they're still slower than my sisters and I (But we talk like the conversation is a race and the first one to the finish line gets ice-cream. So....)
We were up late every night they were here, taking pictures and catching up.
Le me with adorable nephew, Charlie:
Le Tall Bro. (And and a niece Jane.)
"Auntie Bellaaaaa, whaaat are you dooooin?"
"Memories, Lilly. Precious, Precious Memories!!"
Ah yis, my fabulous family.
HEY LOOK THIS SEFLIE IS ACTUALLY GOOD! Cause Treskie took it....
Justin told us about Kentucky, where people apparently still believe the world is flat. For real. It's not a joke. And there's the whole North/South divide still. And they probably still think asbestos is rad.
It was funny to hear him talk about it. 8-D
Le Mom be like, "THE EARTH IS ROUND!"
Nieces kept asking me to take pictures with them, even though my selfies look like a walrus got a hold of my camera.
Love you, Emily <3
Baby Peter loved his little brother, So much. It was adorable. If you could smother someone with love, Peter would smother. (And Peter is ADORABLE. FYI)
WE ACTUALLY GOT A FAMILY PICTURE. I'm prolly going to print this out for meeeeeee.
Yet another disgusting Selfie. How does Treskie do it? (Love you, my nieces. Who cares if it's a bad picture? At least it's a picture. Right? Right.)
BEBE CHARLES IS SO CUTE.
LONG GAVIE HOLDING BEBE CHARLES IS ALSO SO CUTE. D'AAAAW.
Gavie interacting with kids in general is adorable. ( all the nieces and nephews got into his nature talks. It was adorable.)
(We had this nature walk down to this river, and Jane found these massive leaves, and she finally tore one off and did a full-on victory cry, and went charging off with it. Like, YAS, I AM CONQUEROR.)
Oooooooooh. Fish! (The one is the left. Do you see her? Do you see that girl? Do you see her? She's not mine. Not even related.)
Daddy Justin. <3
Cute Gavie. (AAAAACK.)
More selfies. Geeze.
FAMILY TREE PHOTO. BLESS.
So, that's my big story! This is a short post. SORRY!!! I'll try to do an "Update" post as soon as I have some down time. Many apologies to all my followers who watched me drop from the planet.
Two days ago it was warm enough outside to hang around in the sun without a sweater. A couple times last week I even wanted to take off my shoes.
Now there's snow on the rooftops and frosted trees on the street.
Snow No.
Snow YES.
Oh Well. Such are the Spring times in Tahoe. Fufu! It looks pretty anyway. This was my view as I went up to get my nieces from school so they could stay the weekend. More on that in a mo.
I'm poor. Why am I poor? Well A.) my job isn't the best, and B.) I am a full on Anime freak and I can't get enough of it. My shopping spree last week went something like this: Me on the Computer. Me on Amazon. Me on Barnes & Noble Website. Me seeing a manga/anime that I love. Me.... I'll just take that. It's really bad. I bought Three Manga last week, two anime soundtracks, and added an anime series to my basket so I could buy it when I got my next pay check.
I'm not even ashamed. I needed Manga comfort. Grimm betrayed me. N/dalind is a retarded ship that should never have been give sails let alone wind to blow it, and that's all I'll say about the matter.
I also barely slept last night on account of my nieces being very talkative and having a weird dream about flying a Rose-Truck in London. With an alien that had huge eyes and no mouth, filling up the screen of the ship and repeatably telling me to scoot over. (Courtesy of Sammi Toink.)
It was a weird dream.
My little nieces are up for the weekend and I spent a couple minutes trying to take terrible selfies: As seen here. I want to post more pictures on my blog but I take bad pictures! 8-( Sorry, faithful followers. I did try.
Someone Photo-bombed my left hand picture. Sisters. *sigh*
It's been fun seeing Chloe and Sammi again. We spent most of today singing "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes - WHAT ARE THOSE???" and "Pop-see-Ko."
This is Pop-See-Ko
You're welcome. Now that will be stuck in your head the rest of the day. Like a child I participate in this nonsense. Tonight at teatime we even got Mahri and Gavin doing it! And Kat, and Treskie, and Amy.... it was great mayhem.
Then I sent Tiny a chat (cause she's visiting my sister Gina and her family) and I was like HEY TINY.
Tiny participated like a child too.
This is going to be a thing. Maybe I'll teach all the Day-Care kids to do it to.
HEY KIDS! HEY WHAT?? ARE YOU READY? FOR WHAT?? TO POP!
POP WHAT? POP SE KO!!!!!!!!
Fufufu! Drive everyone I work with crazy.
I'm working on a longer blog post, and since I'm about to pass out I'll leave you now.
I'm like, three days behind. I'm sorry guys. You all know you can post before me, right? Okay.
Today we're going to cover the importance of love. In all forms. Love at its simplest, love at its greatest.
We're going to cover books with the love that exists between families and friendships. Mention some things you'd like to see in these stories, and which stories you would personally like to see in books today.
I am going to update this post when I'm finished, but please feel free to start yours. I feel so bad. Things go insane, and now I'm very behind. 8-( Apologies all around! I'll need to play catch-up.
I am so sorry. This post is shorter than my other ones. My computer shut down and I lost a whole post, and I was sad. I tried my best though. 8-D Today we're going to cover books with the love that exists between families and friendships. Mention some things you'd like to see in these stories, and which stories you would find very rare.
For me, The Ascendants Trilogy is one of those books that catch your interest almost instantly, and you're hooked until you finish. It has great character development. I really liked how a bunch of different friendships evolved throughout the series, constantly growing, changing, and getting better.
Franz and Japhet are precious human beings and must be protected at all costs!!!!
Brothers-in-Arms
Raven's Gate Series: Anthony Horwitz
This series does have a lot of good friendships, and there are some twins that are introduced in book three that I kind of really love. However, it can be incredibly dark, grim, and bleak. It has a very apocalyptic feel, something that has made me struggle with reading them. I have yet to finish the last book. It's just so sad. I have a couple sisters who have read it, and they all say the ending is good, but very sad. And I know why it's sad and I just can't.
However, the writing is good and the story is good, even if it is serious and war-like.
Inkworld: Cornelia Funke
Farid and Dustfinger. Black Prince. Mo. These books!!!! I love these books so much!!! 8-D
BBC Merlin
Merlin and Arthur encompass what it means to be best friends. I love that they make fun of each other all time, but they know if necessary. they would die to keep the other safe. It makes me feel warm and happy inside. This friendship is perfect. (I also ignore everything the writers say on this subject, as well as most of the cast. They're annoying.)
Gallager Girls: Ally Carter
Yas!! A Girl's school for the gifted... especially those gifted in the art of secrecy. These books are basically about a spy/special agent school for girls. They're excellent. And they have lots of female friendship. This makes me very happy, because those are very, very rare.
The Penderwicks: Jean Birdsall
I cannot say enough good about these books. They family is perfect. The relationship between the sisters is perfect. The fact that they adopt friends into their family is perfect. Their Daddy is perfect. Everything about this series is perfect. Just read them.
The Ascendants Trilogy: Jennifer Neilson
Oh, lala! Yaaaaaaas! The friendships in this book are golden! There is so much development and change that occurs. I love them.
The Lord of the Rings: J.R.R. Tolkien
We all know Tolkien is King of friendship stories. "I CAN CARRY YOU." *dies of feels*
What do I think we need in books today? First, more sister stories. Good sister stories, sister stories about two girls who will protect each other, tease each other, die for each other. Second, more brother stories. More friendships. I want friendship where the boys meet when they're little, grow up together, and love each other with all they have. I want friendship where they meet later in life but still grow close and dependent on each other. I want friendship where one person will tear apart time for another. I want friendships where everything falls apart and the only thing left is each other. I want friendships where friends hold hands as everything freaking implodes on itself. I want friendships with love and laughter, friendships with hugs, friendships with shared morning coffee, emotional connections, dinners together, funny car rides, insane deals and sacrifices, long walks, friends having each other for a flat mate... I just want friendships that defy everything society says and prove that you can love someone without it being romantic.
I always have the best intentions for blogging. I always have posts that I start and never finish. I visit blogger about three times a week and somehow I still have huge gaps between posts.
What is new in my little life? Not much, except that my sister and brother-in-law are coming!!!!! *SHRIEKS*
Gina and Dan are coming up for Joey's wedding, and since they will be up here anyway, they decided to stay the week so they could visit. I'm really excited! They have a brand new baby and I get to hold him! He'll only be three weeks old! It's' been too long since I held a baby that small!!
It will be such fun. Fun will be had by all. We'll have lots of yummy dinners and deserts, and maybe we'll make a giant special breakfast.
So much of my life revolves around food. What do I do to have fun? I plan for Good Food and a movie. Good Food foremost.
My best friend came over for the weekend, which was a blast! Unfortunately I always forget to take pictures unless someone prompts me. This means that Jim and I were having too much fun to stop and capture moments.
We basically spent three days relaxing and sleeping in. Jim had never seen Alice in Wonderland so I figured we ought to start our movie marathon off with that one. We had six movies to get through in three nights. This meant that sleep was for the weak and if we had to welcome the morning in while the moon was still up that was just fine.
Since movies were a must and late nights were very late, we lazed about in bed until about nine o'clock before rousing ourselves for breakfast. See? Apparently my definition of having a The best time ever is eating, having tea, and curling up on the couch doing absolutely nothing. Oh, and a nice movie or show after. It doesn't sound boring until I write it out; but I promise that having tea with me is an event. You get Reese's!!!
It was great because a lot of the cartoons we watched I haven't seen in a long time, and some I'd never seen. Like, I have always wanted to see American Tail but our VHS is so old that it wasn't watchable. It jumped and fizzled and turned black and white and sometimes the whole thing would just go black and buzz because the thing was so old. This was tragic for me. I wanted to see a cartoon with adorable little mice! On a whim I took American Tale to Jessie's house... AND IT PLAYED. I guess her VHS players was newer or something, because it played my 30+ year old tape with no glitch. Obviously those things have high integrity... they are so much better than DVD's. #BringBackVHS
I have a thing for Peter Pan. Both the cartoon and the movie are special to me in their own way. I just love the character of Peter. He is so sad and adorable! And he had swords and magic!! I wanted him to teach me to fight. I actually remember the cartoon being a bit sadder.... not that it still isn't a little sad. I think when you are little, Tinkerbell flying off with a bomb is a wee bit scarring. (The movie is brutal with that bit. In fact, that whole ending is brutal because Peter is so broken.) I honestly think they should bring back drawn animation. They don't have to make everything with it. They can still use the fancy new animation, there is a lot of good in that too, but I think at least 1/3 of all cartoons made should be drawn. It is fascinating and intricate and beautiful, and we shouldn't just let that raw amazing talent and art work go to waste. It is something that needs to be salvaged! Help me out with this guys. #bringbackdrawnanimation
What else has been going on? Let's see. I'm a little bit in love with Hawaii Five-O right now. When I first heard it was a cop show that takes place on Hawaii I naturally thought, "Oh. Yay. Another NCIS, but with a beach." Whohoooooa I was so wrong!! It's is so fabulous. Cops and crime-fighting ad guns, amazing characters and best of all, Friendships Stories! *happy dancing* H50 does a really good job balancing comedy and tension. It is a show with a lighter mood and theme, but when it wants to get dark and serious it can and I love that. It has the same feel as Leverage or Psych. It is mostly just fun and happy but it isn't afraid to do stressful, intense/emotional stuff either, and it has AMAZING character development and all that jazz. The best part of the show is of course, the friendship between the two main guys. Danny and Steve are hilarious. They constantly bicker and poke fun at each other, but it is obvious that they love each other. They have a "I can knock my best friend over, but don't you dare try it," relationship. Its brilliant!
Ah yas, I love the smell of Vidding inspiration in the morning.
Platonic friendship is my passion. GIVE ME MORE!!!
I have lots of story ideas rattling about in my brain so I should probably sign off. I have words to scribble down. Characters to love. A family story to think about. Do you ever have so many stories that you are literally overwhelmed with the thrill of writing them and you get stuck in a whirlpool of inspiration that spins you around and around without getting you anywhere, because you can't focus on one thing since everything is so cool and has to be worked on right freaking now??? THAT IS WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME.
Oh yeah, I watched the first Lilo and Stitch last week for the first time. I was like, 'Why have I never seen this??' It's a sweet movie! Sure it's a bit annoying at first, but by the time we reached the middle I liked it. It also got unexpectedly sad! Lil' Stitch alone in the forest - you don't realize how much you like him until suddenly he is sad and alone and.... UGLY DUCKLING. *dies* (Plus, a good sister story guys! Better than Ana and Elsa. So much better.)
Okay, I'm actually signing off now. Stuff to do! Peace out y'all!!!
In case you didn't know, about a year ago my big bro started talking about the family going to Disneyland, and that all of us were supposed to save up for it. Of course we were excited and promptly obeyed... And then, at Christmas time, my epic big bro presented Disneyland tickets as a Christmas present to the WHOLE FAMILY, and informed us we would use our money for souvenirs and food.
My big bro is awesome. His fiance helped him with the epic Christmas gift, so she is awesome too.
This was Big.
Here's the thing. Most of my family had never been to Disneyland before. Joey had gone before, and so had Tiny, Treskie and I. (We three all went in Middle School at one point, because the music band would perform in Anaheim.) But other than that, no one had been. This means that for my parents and practically all my sisters, Disneyland was a fresh new experience, and we were about to plunge in head first. Not only that, we had friends that were joining us who were first-timers too!!!
We started the first day off with a bang. Once we got into the park everyone was super pumped and excited, and we decided to head over to California Adventure and take Tower of Terror. The wait was only twenty minutes. What could be better? Those of us who had been to this park before couldn't wait to try it out again, and we wanted to see how the others reacted.
Basically Tower of Terror is a giant elevator that takes you the the highest story of this super tall hotel building and just drops you. Then it raises you up again, and drops you a second time, then again and again, each time rising and falling at intervals so you are never quite sure how long you are going to fall for. It does this about six times. As if this isn't terrifying enough, while you wait in line you are shown a story on an old television screen that tell you how this elevator came to be "cursed" or "doomed," in such a way. It shows you these old movie stars who climbed into the elevator one fateful, stormy night. They were struck by lightening and fell to their death. After this disturbing tale, the narrator on the screen walks up and says, "Tonight, this elevator is opening again... only this time your the stars."
*cue creepy music*
THAT ISN'T EVEN THE END OF THE BUILD UP! After you get into the elevator and strap into your seats, you feel yourself back up, and everything goes dark. This is the point when you get you enter "the twilight zone." *shivers in delight* I don't want to spoil those of you who haven't been to Disneyland, but let's just say the Twilight Zone is creeeepy!!!!
Then - YOU DROP.
AND DROP.
AND DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!
*cue screaming and thunder and death*
Turns out we shouldn't have taken this particular ride first... lol.
Most of the big sisters enjoyed the ride. My dad enjoyed it, surprisingly. However, Annie and Cinta hated it. So did Jim. She was like. "No. I must hates it forever." My mom was like, "Why would you stick me on that??"
I felt bad! I had told them how fun it was, but they got off like, NEVER AGAIN. EVER. LIKE EVER.
Poor people. We probably gave them a one-minute heart attack.
On the upside, those of us who liked it were like, "Heeeeey let's do that again!!!"
Tower of Terror is really addicting. My relationship with that ride goes like this.
It is actually easier to take the ride at night. We did Tower of Terror again as one of our last rides, and I actually let go. I took the Terror ride with my hands raised guys! This was a great feat! And it was fun!
*look at that guy, smooching and everything.
After Tower of Terror we ran across to California Screaming, and those of us who thought it looked fun climbed aboard, while the others looked for a ride that was a little less exciting.
Most of us liked California Screaming. I was happy about that. Even Jim liked it.
We took things really easy the first day. In fact, we managed to spend almost all day in California Adventure without really doing too much besides looking around, peaking in shops and sneaking on a couple rides like Cars, and Ariel. Ariel was pretty, I really enjoyed that one.
*IIIIII DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAAAAAAAT THE WORDS REALLY AAAAAAAARE.
Ah yas, the King of the Forest.
Oh look, it's Tiana!
OOOOH HAHA PETER PAN!
He stopped to say hello to some little kids and my heart melted.
It's Mary Poppins!
Their floats and stuff were so big!
Here comes Aladin!
Aladin had way too much fun being Aladin. He was like, "Ah yaaaaas. I love this. This is great. See me? Look at how fabulous I am! See my gold? Oh, I have a gong! I'm gonna ring it because I can't hear you cheering. Where are my cheers??? LETS HEAR SOME CHEERS!!!"
We can't leave out Goofy.
Minnie Mouse!
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E... MICKEY MOUSE!!!
After the parade we decided to go on the Peter Pan ride. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of that one, but it was beautiful. You climbed into a ship and flew through the night sky and several scenes from Peter Pan. It was so, so enjoyable.
We ended up crashing at the house - Yes, my bro rented an actual house - and we watched Aladdin. We didn't finish because we were all so tired, lol.
The next two days we really got into the groove of things, we set out the next day to take on Disneyland for realz.
We ran around peaking in shops and oooing-and-aaaaawing at all the fabulous nick-knacks, jewelry and statues that were set up all over the place. We touched and poked and fondled like no one's business. We found an art shop which made me really emotional because hand-drawn cartoons are so incredible. I like them better than newer animation! #bringbackdrawnanimation
LOOK AT THIS ART! OH MY GOSH.
It is all so incredible! I couldn't even! We actually got to see someone drawing Tinkerbell, which was so freaking cool. Then we got to see a painter making slides for Sleeping Beauty, and I knew why he had scenery slide and a clear slide for the art work.... I seriously fangirled over drawn cartoons in there. Seriously. There is so much talent in that work.
We went on Pinnochio!
I love how all the old rides look like they were crafted with love. All the rides in Disneyland are amazing and in depth and intricate, but there is something special about the original rides.
I also saw Mary Poppins and Bert while waiting for a roller coaster. It is incredibly rare to find them, so I dragged the group that was with me away from the ride so we could get pictures.
The girl with the pixelated face is Jack. Every time I do that, it's Jack.
We had a lovely chat about tea and I think they were surprised to hear that we have tea time every night.... and that we haven't favorite types of tea. They seemed pleased.
Bert was hilarious. Mary Poppins even commented on how lovely Marhi's hair was.
We actually saw a lot of characters during our stay there. We found Cinderella, Eyore, Tigger, Cruella, The Fairy Godmother, The Shadow Man (yeah, that was a surprise...) Daisy Ducky, Mickey and Minnie, Goofy, Dopey.... we even found Hook! The only person we didn't find was Peter Pan. That was really sad for me, because I love Peter Pan. He was my favorite cartoon character when I was little, I absolutely loved him in the movie, and to this day he holds a special place in my heart. I actively looked for him all over the park, but I couldn't find him. I even asked some of the workers where he might be. They were like, "Oooooh. Peter Pan. Yeah. He's a lost boy, so we're never sure where he is. He should be at such-and-such a place around this time, but I couldn't say for sure. He floats around everywhere and he isn't always where he's supposed to be."
That is kind of cool actually. BUT I REALLY WANNA HUG PETER PAN.
Oh well. We got pictures with Minnie.
Mahri looks so cute in this picture. I found out that she actually danced with Mickey, and I missed it. I bet that would have been such fun to watch!
YAY MICKEY MOUSE!
By the way, the reason they are all wearing blue somewhere because this is 60th year Disneyland has been around. That means all of 2016 Disney will celebrate 60 years of being alive and sharing it's magic with others. I thought that was cool.
I'm pretty sure we only got a picture of Tigger because we were somewhere we weren't supposed to be... I saw this breakfast area with a bunch of character wandering around talking to guests, so I slipped inside and stole some photos. But I think technically you were supposed to have a breakfast appointment or something. Hook was there. I bet Peter was too, somewhere. Nope, not getting over that.
*for reference, the person who keeps getting her face blotted out is Jack. I swear I'm not planning an assassination, I'm just being nice and keeping her anonymous.
Cruella was such fun. She acted exactly as you expect her to, really bratty, but pretending to be nice and patient... I asked for a hug, and she was really reluctant but I gave her one anyway. And she was like, "Oh, alright... yes... let's do air kisses next time." (I gave all the characters I took pictures with a hug. It was a THING. I also got a lot of autographs.) The little girls were absolutely precious with the Fairy Godmother. It made me happy inside. And when we met Goofy, Sammi Toink kept giggling and saying his name over and over.
WE EVEN MET THOR. I actually don't like that Disney is buying out so many other companies, but since Disney owns Marvel now, they have a Marvel area, and we met Thor!
This was the geekiest thing I have ever done. We were shown into this special room by a bunch of SHIELD agents, who instructed us that in a few moments Thor would send for us through the Bifrost. At first I thought we'd see some sort of door open, we'd be taken on some sort of ride or something... but no. We actually travelled the Bifrost. Light began to swirl around us as Thor Odinson sent for us, and when the light cleared we stood in the throne room of Thor himself. It was so freakishly cool! I fangirled so hard. And I couldn't stop smiling. He was such a good Thor. He sounded and acted just like he should. And he was the only one who could lift the hammer from the floor! I liked that feature.
We got his autograph. Mahri was the first to ask, and all she had was this tiny fountain pen. It's about half the size of a normal pen. Thor used it anyway, and he joked about it the whole time. "My, this pen is quite the tricky thing, isn't it? Quite small. In fact, I don't believe I've ever seen one so small." Mahri was like, "I'm sorry, it's all I had..." and he was like, "Oh, don't worry! This is a challenge for me! My hands, they're not small you know. They're quite large... but this is good, I can do this." Mahri then asked if she could get an autograph for Cinta because Thor is Cinta's favorite. He flourished his tiny pen, and he was like, "Right. Of course."
As he wrote the second autograph, I rushed to my pack, saying that I was getting my notebook and pen too. And I could hear him behind me saying, "No, no, I can do this!" It was so funny! I pulled out my stuff and ran back, and just as I got there he finished off Cinta's and he was like, "DONE!" And he looked all proud and defiant, like, "I didn't need your pen!" I handed him my notebook, and I was like, "Here, I have a normal pen." But he wouldn't take it! He was like, "No! I'm going to do this! It's fine! I've got this." So he signed his name for me with the itty-bitty pen. Then Tiny held out her notebook, and he gave her this look of that just read Oh no. "You're not serious.... Right." and he started to sign. "I bet there's at least three more." We were like, "No, that's actually it." When he finished Tiny's autograph, he was like, "There! I've done it. There you are, my fine ladies! And now, a picture!" at which point we all promptly posed. I could hear one of the SHIELD agents commenting on how excited we all looked; "They're beaming!" and Thor was like, "I know. It has nothing to do with me." Then I hugged him really tightly, and he laughed. It was so fun. The singular most geeky thing that has ever happened to me.
There was also this cool Iron Man area....
"You chose the wrong side."
Marvel is the best!
OH MY GOSH, THOR'S HELMET!
When we weren't cornering Disney characters and getting pictures, and autographs, we were running around Disneyland sight-seeing and teaming up for the best rides. There were some that became favourites, such as The Matahorn and Thunder Mountain, which means we popped up quite a bit. We took up a whole row in the line, and I'll say that by the end of the second day we were getting noticed. People would say hi, or joke about us following them, or say, 'hey, we know you!' At one point, when we ran into line to get pictures with Daisy Duck, a little girl behind us said, "Why do they always get in line first?"
One of the days we were all standing in line, and I'm almost positive I heard someone say, "See that long line of people? Those are all DeLallo's." I looked around for the source of the voice, but I couldn't find it. Maybe I mis-heard, but if I didn't, that was weird!
Walking and sight-seeing. Yay Disneyland!
HI WE'RE GOING INTO INDIANA JONES *Crazed laughter*
"I have no idea where to look...."
This is a really weird picture.
Lalala....
This was amazing fun, guys! This was the day we all wore matching T-Shirts. Custom made "DeLallo" T-shirts. This was quite convient actually, because if you had to leave the line for some reason, or if people were holding your place and you had to join, you just said, "I'm with them..." and it was so obvious you were all a group, no one would think to question you on it.
I love the architecture in Disneyland. The whole park is frozen in a sort of 1920's period, yet it feels timeless. The music is from the early 1900's, which makes you feel even more frozen, or perhaps transported from your own time-frame into another. They never play modern music in Disneyland. Isn't that incredible? I think it is. 1910-40's music. It's awesome.
While we were wandering around sight-seeing, I found out that the Disney Castle was painted with real gold. Walt Disney wanted his castle to glimmer for real, so he told his brother that they should line the paint with gold flecks so it would sparkle all day, and even at night. He wanted it to feel as authentic as possible. Of course, his brother told him he was nutty and they couldn't possibly afford to paint with real gold. So Walt Disney sent him on a business trip and while he was gone, he painted it with gold anyway. So those sparkles you see? Those are actual gold flecks. Obviously it worked.
I think some of the silver and jewels on the castle might be at least half-real too. But on that I'm not entirely sure.
The gold is sure real though!
I love Walt Disney.
This is us waiting in line for Thunder Mountain. It's a roller coaster through a sort of giant mine shaft. It was a family favourite.
I love how all the rides have their own sets. It's so freakin' awesome!
Indiana Jones had the most brilliant set, but I couldn't get any pictures because we had a fast-pass, so our line went to quickly for me to stop and take pictures.
We're waiting in line for Haunted House!!! That ride is so cheesy and awesome!
There was a shop called The Mad Hatter where you could get Disney bands and hats. It was fun.
My Mommy and one of my many big sisters. Guess which!
Even Mahri had fun.
A bunch of us stood in a circle and snapped a picture of our shoes. I don't know why. It's kind of cool though.
The two awesome people responsible for this whole trip.
It's Sammi the Toink!
I don't know what I'm saying.
Sammi Bender!
.
We found Wonderland and Chloe and Sammie posed by the White Rabbit's door.
Chloe and Sammie had these adorable princess dresses on, and they loved those dresses.
Also, they are really good at posing for the camera.
Some of us grouped together and bought a coffee in Disneyland, because that is something that you should do. I was surprised at the price. It was only about five dollars. That's just a little more than a starbucks! I got a frappuncino because it was really warm in L.A. For realz.
God actually watched out for us the days we were there. It was warm, but mostly overcast. I think the highest it got was somewhere in the 70's, and that didn't long. It rained one of the night's and most of the next morning, keeping everything pleasantly cool, warm enough to go on a water ride, but with a gentle breeze to make you feel a hint of spring in the air.
I love this picture! The photographer told us all to hold on to Joey like we were going to fly away.
This is us as we crowded together on Main street to watch the the Parade of Lights. We were at the front. 'Cause we planned ahead. Mwahahhahaha.
The Parade of Lights was the most magical, beautiful thing that happened during the whole trip. You felt so happy the whole time... It was like you were a giddy little kid again. I couldn't stop smiling.
I had filmed the parade, by the quality wasn't that great. I found the same parade on youtube in much better quality... though it still doesn't even began to capture the immense beauty, color and brilliance of what we saw that night. However, you can get an idea of how epic it would be in real life.
One of the best things that happened during the parade was when the Princess float came by. Chloe and Sammi were both wearing their Princess dresses still, and when Belle saw Chloe she smiled this big smile, pointing at her dress, and then at Chloe's, and we could see her say, "We have the same dress!" Chloe's face lit up and she waved excitedly.... It made her night. Then Rapunzel came by, and she saw Sammi, and she pointed and waved, and blew her a kiss, smiling. Sammi practically passed out, she was so thrilled. She was noticed and singled about by Rapunzel! And she got a kiss!!!
At the end of the parade, everyone crowded onto Main-street, as close to the middle of the road as you could get. In front of us, we saw the Disney castle lit up from the inside, and within a few moments, the Tinkerbell from the parade flew over the top. Yep. The had an actual person sailing over that sucker. Disneyland is awesome guys. So awesome. We heard the tinkle of a fairy's wing, and then the park started to shoot off fireworks above the Disney Castle. Songs from the different Disney cartoons played around us as each firework display took on it's own theme... and by this point I was super emotional. I heard Pooh singing about bees, and I sang along with him. I heard Sebastian convincing me that it was better under the sea, and I sang in agreement. I heard the Chimney Sweeps and practically passed out from excitement. The thing that shocked me the most though, was when Let it Go began to play, and the temperature around us seemed to drop. (Yes, I really think it dropped!) Sammi Toink was on her Dad's shoulders, and I heard her yell, "IT'S SNOWING!" AND GUYS SHE WAS SO RIGHT, IT WAS SNOWING. WE HAD WHITE FLAKES RAINING DOWN AROUND US! It was so incredibly magical. Frozen isn't even my favorite Disney movie, but I sang my heart out with Elsa that night, feeling very emotional and choked up inside. As the songs that hold our childhood echoed around us, the fireworks overheard seemed to be the work of fairies, and you are so caught up in the moment you can't stop cheering. Then, you hear Disney's voice coming on in the distance, as if on a radio, talking about his park and what he hopes it will bring to people all over the world. And another voice speaks out loud and clear - the voice of Peter Pan. "And just think... alf of this is all yours! Forever!" That is exactly when I started crying. Those fireworks showed me why people call Disneyland the most magical place on earth.
I didn't film this particular video, but it's much clearer than any of mine, so I'm gonna post it.
I had been to Disneyland before, but this was the first time I had actually experienced the true beauty and thrill of all of it. When I went in Middle school my group wasn't that fun, and all they wanted to do was cram in rides. They didn't care about pictures of sight-seeing, or fireworks or parades. This time I saw what so many people see in Disneyland. It's a kingdom that holds your childhood safe in it's gates, so that if you ever need to find that part of yourself you know just where to look. I think some of that same magic is in many of the Disney cartoons and movies. If you feel sad or anxious, all you have to do is pull out Robin Hood, or Aladin, Winnie the Pooh or Rapunzel, and suddenly you are a kid again. It's a very special thing to experience. I wish there was a way for everyone to journey to Disneyland at some point in their lives. I think it is a place where all your dreams are hidden, and you start to remember all the silly things you believed as a child - and you realized that you might actually still believe most of it. It's an incredibly feeling, and I think for many people it is an emotional journey, as well as a vacation. I know it was for me.
