So Cal pt 4 Disneyland

Disneyland was the reason we made the trip to SoCal in the first place. Rachel, my sister Kelly, and my mom had all participated in the "Give a Day, Get a Day" program where you did some sort of service project (they made quilts) and you got a free pass for Disneyland. So on July 8th we made our way to the allegedly "happiest place on earth." 

One day in Disneyland isn't enough to do everything (even I will concede that point, although 2 days is plenty for me), but I think we did a pretty good job packing it all in.

Here are the highlights:

One of Meghan's favorite things about Disneyland is the Winnie the Pooh ride, and her kind-hearted aunt Kelly took her there while the rest of us were waiting in line for Splash Mountain.

Meghan and Jace and a churro

Pooh and Tigger! Jackpot! or should I say Honeypot?--heh heh heh

The biggest highlight for me had to be basking in the presence of and learning wisdom from some Theme park Masters. Let me set the stage: Anyone who knows me knows I am cheap. Anyone who knows anything about Disneyland knows it is a financial black hole that sucks money out of people's pockets and into some other dimension. You should be able to recognize the conflict. How do we come to resolution, you may ask? It's simple. Disneyland sucks away most of my money, but to keep a little spare change, I carry a backpack with snacks and drinks with me. And I thought that I was pretty smart for figuring out this way to keep at least a small percentage of my money away from the grubby paws of Mickey and his empire, but while waiting in line for Splash Mountain, I was a witness to true genius. Pay attention to the following group of photos, or as the cliche goes, observe and be instructed:

Note the cheese and crackers that Abby is holding. This is typical of Green family trip snackage. Now, allow your eyes to travel to the space above Abby's head. Notice the girl in the green shirt and the guy in the white shirt further back and to the left. Now look at the same photo cropped and enlarged:

In case you can't tell, those real men [and women] of genius (the girl in the white shirt and the guy whose face you can just make out above Rachel's head are in on it too) pulled out a huge roast beef sandwich from one of their backpacks and divided it up amongst themselves. Seriously, when I saw that, I felt as if I had been in the presence of enlightened beings. My Austin snack assortment was nothing in comparison. The whole experience opened up my eyes to the possibilities. . . And then . . .  I saw the apex of self reliant snacking when one of the guy's reached in his backpack and pulled out a full size bottle of French's Mustard. See photo below.

If I drank Budweiser (which I don't), I would raise my glass in salute to Mr. I carry a fully stocked deli in my back - pack.
The trip continued:

It's A Small World was a ride we missed on our first Disneyland trip.

See my button? We all got one for being part of the Give one, get one program

The requisite Disneyland photo

My favorite part of the Disneyland trip was the last ride of the night. My parents watched our kids, and Rachel and I rode the Matterhorn together. It was very fun. Unfortunately, I have no photographic proof of the event, not even to verify that there is such a ride as the Matterhorn. (Allusion to previous post and reader comment--see Joshua Tree)

The next day we were all up and getting ready to go back home, except Meghan who is our late sleeper. I was messing around taking pictures, as I tend to do, when I just serendipitously captured one of the cutest and funniest wake ups ever. The following collage gives you a quick taste, but the stop motion video captures it better.

On the way home we made a side trip to the beach and pier at Santa Monica, and drove past the LA temple, and then 6 hours or so later, made it back home where the next item on the agenda was painting the exterior of the house, which just illustrates that it's not all fun and games with the Greens--just mostly fun and games.