no more bedhead

Today was a crazy day as far as the kids were concerned. Three kids needed to be at three events in three different parts of the county - at the same time.

Keke had a Math Team competition, and we were able to drop her off after arranging for a ride home with one of her friends. She competed in word problems, and she did all right.

Stewie had a regional Pinewood Derby event. As the overall winner of the Pack Derby, he got to compete at the regionals. He also did well. They only showed the results for the top three finishers in each class, and his name wasn't displayed, but his time was only .01 seconds off the third place finisher, so I figure he was right up there, too.

Beenie had his second Regional Spelling Bee competition. The winner of this competition goes to Washington DC, for the national competition. Ellen took Beenie to this round. The bee started off as last years did, with a number of people being knocked out, and the competition was quickly down to ten spellers. After that, the eliminations slowed, and several rounds passed before the winner was determined.

The words that was given to spell were:

predicate (practice word)
hydraulic
impetuous
(10 spellers left)
epiphany
patel
angstrom
(5 spellers left)
eureka
(4 spellers left)
bureaucracy
tachometer
(3 spellers left)
bezoar

Unfortunately, Beenie spelled the last word beezoar, and was eliminated. But, he did come in third in the region, and that is something to be very, very proud of! The kid who won was the kid who has won the regional bee in three out of the four years he's been involved, so the competition was tough.

Way to go Beenie, and Stewie, and Keke!!

It's the last year for Beenie to compete in the spelling bee.  Last year he followed up 2 years worth of second place by coming in first and moving on to the regional spelling bee. In a way that created less pressure as he's already been there. In a way it created more pressure - the pressure to repeat.

So, we were a little on edge last night as we sat down to watch the Middle School Spelling Bee.  26 entrants from grades 5-8 sat on stage, under the lights, and had to spell in front of an audience of parents and siblings. In each of the first five rounds, only a handful of kids got eliminated each time.

In the sixth round, all that changed, instantly.  The round started with five kids standing, and the first three each spelled their word incorrectly.  Then it was Beenie's turn.  He got "monstrosity" and spelled it correctly.  One kid followed, and he missed his word.  That left Beenie to spell one final "championship" word to win the whole thing.

The announcer said "herringbone", and Beenie got a sly little smile on his face. I could tell as he started h-e-r that he knew he had it, and he was just trying to slow himself down so as not to make a silly mistake.  r-r-i-n-g-b-o-n-e, and bam - he's the champion for the second year in a row!!!

I swore I was not going to get all worked up this year.  Since he did this last year, I was good with however he did.  I was wrong. When the kids started missing in round 6, my heart was pounding.  When I hit the stage, I wrapped him in a big bear hug (much to his chagrin, I'm sure).  So much for the cool, collected, dad.

Again, we're on to the regional bee, where the words are exponentially harder. We'll see what happens.

The (correctly spelled) words from this bee:

I tend to stress out at the thought of the Pinewood Derby.  I am not a woodworker, so I figure the chances of me messing something up permanently are pretty high. This is made worse with the knowledge that I'm messing up something that my kid is making.  That was the situation I found myself in earlier this week, as Stewie and I started working on his first Pinewood Derby car.

We talked about some simple designs he could use (that wouldn't require too much finesse on my part), and he told me exactly what he wanted. He wanted a car with a steep incline in the front, then a gradual slope from the top to the back of the car. Okay, I can do that. A little bit of sawing and Stewie doing some sanding, and we've got the basic shape.

Next comes the paint. Stewie wanted a red car with a pair of racing stripes down the middle.  So, we busted out the art kit and he got busy with the painting.  We ultimately decided on a silver racing stripe, and Stewie put it on as one full stripe, then I painted the thin red line down the middle that would separate it into two.  Came out looking pretty nice, I must say.

Car is lookin' good!

The day of the derby we got there, got signed in and inspected and decided to add some weight to the car. Six nickels seemed to bring it to the right weight, and Stewie set off for his den heat. He finished second, losing by a hair to one of the other boys, but it was enough to get him to the finals.

The finals featured a number of really fast cars, and they were winning every race. When it came time for Stewie to go up against them I was surprised when he beat every car except one.  Pretty amazing!!  When the race was over, the Pinewood Derby Committee gathered behind closed doors and emerged a few minutes later, declaring the one car that Stewie lost to disqualified (they moved the axles to the ends of the car - a no-no).  That meant that Stewie won the first Pinewood Derby he ever was in!!!  The best part - using a design that he created.

Next stop - the district Pinewood Derby.  (Which actually had Stewie a little upset because all he wanted to do was to go home and play with his car.)

Wow!!!! That was totally amazing!!!

When I was working right after college I was able to head to New York City on several (borderline many) occasions.  I would always pick up a copy of the Village Voice while I was there, just to get a feel for what was going on in the city and maybe find something fun to do.  One thing that I saw often was advertisements for Blue Man Group. Unfortunately, whenever I was there I didn't have the time or the means to go see the show.  Except for one time, when everything fell into place - that time, naturally, Blue Man Group wasn't performing.

The upshot is - I've never seen them, despite having had the means, motive, and opportunity.

Fast forward, ahem, 20 years or so, to last night.  As a birthday present to Beenie (who is as into the Blue Men as I am, and also hasn't seen them live) we went to see Blue Man Group in Cleveland.  It was, as I mentioned above, totally amazing!!!  The sights, the sounds, music, action, humor, and social commentary. I couldn't have asked for anything more.  Probably the two things that I first saw the BMG perform on tv/video was the Drumbbone and the Paint Drums. To give you an idea of the show, I'm adding a video that shows both of those pieces. The other thing you will notice in the video, that I was unaware of, is that they are accompanied by a live band. The band is behind what appears to be a metal scrim so you can't really see them unless they are lit properly.  However, they perform under blacklight, and their costumes and instruments are covered in fluorescent paint, so that they look like cartoon/stick figures.


But...the best part of the evening was after the show was over. Beenie and I had already left the theatre, when he informed me that he had to make a pit stop before the hour long drive home. We turned around and headed back to the theatre, and were able to re-enter.What did we discover but the Blue Men milling about in the lobby, greeting patrons.  Beenie was able to get in and have his picture taken with a Blue Man, who then wiped some greasepaint off his head, and made a thumbprint on Beenie's cheek.  Way too cool!

I saw Neil deGrasse Tyson last night. His lecture didn't have a title (that I know of) but he said that by the end of the evening we would understand that this was The End of America as we know it.  He actually talked about how the failure to focus on science leads to the downfall of the society as a world/intellectuall power.

It was a fascinating lecture, where he talked about the importance of science in the cultures/countries around the world.  He pointed out that the "golden age of Islam" was from 800-1100 AD, and Baghdad was the scientific center of the world, where people of varied religions (including atheists) could come and discuss scientific and mathematical concepts.  From this came huge advances in science and math, while at the same time in Europe, they were killing witches.

 Here is a good video of Dr. Tyson talking.  It's not the subject of the lecture I saw, although there is a lot of it that was the same. Like all his stuff, it's really good.  It's an hour long (and there are a couple of commercials) but it's well worth your time.





After the presentation, it was announced that Dr. Tyson would be autographing copies of his book(s) in the lobby.  I didn't have any of my copies with me (didn't think this one through), but decided to get in line anyway.  When Beenie found out that I would be going, he asked me to ask Dr. Tyson a question for him. I told him that I didn't think I would get that chance, but had him write it down anyway. Here was that chance.

I got in the (huge!!!) line, and waited patiently.  When I got to the table, I asked him Beenie's question - "If you were to send uranium into a black hole, would it spaghettify and cause a nuclear explosion?"  Dr. Tyson told me that it would spaghettify, but it wouldn't cause a nuclear explosion.  I then asked if he would autograph the question for me to give to Beenie. He said of course, and to make sure that I continued to encourage him in his scientific curiosity. He even volunteered to answer the question in writing on the paper for Beenie.

The thing I found the most interesting is what Dr. Tyson did next - he felt the paper. Determining the texture of the paper, he then selected the appropriate pen from the several he had on the table and signed the question.  Very cool.

I've had a passing interest in archery for a while.  I even was shooting with a club in Cleveland for a couple of years.  I'm not very good, but I have fun, and maybe my techniques are improving a little bit over time.  So, when the local Rec Center sent flyers out to the schools announcing that they would be offering an archery class, I was very excited.  So were Beenie and Keke.  Beenie had shot before - up at the club in Cleveland for a while, but Keke was very excited to learn to shoot.

So, we've been doing this since the fall, in a series of classes that run for about five or six weeks at a time.  For this past session John, our instructor, decided that the kids would be shooting for the prize of a gold, silver, or bronze arrow.  (As I am the only adult in the class regularly, John lets me just shoot, but works with me on my technique when I ask him.  The focus of the class really is the kids.)

The idea was this, John would keep track each week of how many arrows each kid shot into the gold circle(s) in the target.  Each kid would get one point per gold, and he would make a note if the shot landed in the middle 'x' ring.  The person with the most golds would get the gold arrow, the second most would get the silver, and the third most the bronze.

Long story short: at the end of the course session John totaled up the scores and Keke came in third!!  She actually tied with someone, but she had more 'x' shots which John used as the tiebreaker.  She won an actual arrow (bronze in color) that hangs from a signed framed certificate she can hang in her room.  She is very excited!!


Nice job, Keke!

Tonight was the Regional Spelling Bee.  This bee covered the four counties in our neck of the woods, and the participants were the winners of the school spelling bees from the area.  As I mentioned earlier, Beenie was one of those participants.

Sixty-nine spellers started the tournament, and Beenie was number 45, so we had to wait a while for him to spell.  In the first round, he spelled:

• metagnomy

which was pretty funny, as none of us had ever heard of that word before.  He did a fantastic job of asking for pronunciation, origin of word, sentence use, etc., and actually used those clues to determine how to spell the word.  I was impressed.

At the end of the first round, 48 spellers had been eliminated, so they started round two with 21 spellers.

Beenie's word was:

• liquefacient

another word I had never heard of.  Again, he used his questions wisely and figured out the ending correctly.  However, he didn't quite get the beginning of the word, substituting an 'i' for the 'e'.  In both the school bee and tonight, I was writing down the words as he was asked them, and I wrote down this one exactly the way he spelled it, so I would have been out, too.  It was a tricky one - do you go with "liquid" or "liquefy"?  Oh, well.

He said before the bee that his goals were to have fun, and to get through round one.  He succeeded on both counts!

So, after the second round, there were seven spellers left.  The first one spelled her word correctly, then all six others missed.  When she went to spell her "championship" word, she missed, too, so all seven spellers were brought back and the round done again.

Again, six spellers missed, and one got it correct.  When he tried the championship word, he missed.
In the next round, six spellers missed, and one got it correct.  Then he missed the championship word.
Once again, six spellers missed their words, and one got it correct.  This time, he spelled the championship word correctly and was named the winner.  The other six were declared co-runners up.

So, I say that Beenie made it to the penultimate round of the tournament, because everyone else left standing at the end of the round in which he was eliminated were named winners.

It was a great experience for Beenie, and for us.  It was a lot of fun to see it in action, and the difference in difficulty of words between the school level and regional level was noticeable.

Edit 3/7: Beenie just pointed out that I spelled a word incorrectly in this blog post.  Good start for next year!  (I fixed it.)

After coming in second two years in a row (link), Beenie finally won the middle school spelling bee!!!!  I'm so excited and happy for him - especially because this means that he gets to compete in the Regional Spelling Bee, the winner of which gets to go to Washington, DC, for the big Scripps Spelling Bee finals!!!

However, that doesn't mean that I didn't have heart failure along the way.  Here's what happened:

The words he spelled:

• calibration
• examine
• consonant
• denominator
• scruple
• oblige
• patience
• palatable

At this point, it was down to a final group of three.  The other two spellers missed their words, and Beenie spelled (correctly):

• enfranchise

Now, by the rules of the spelling bee, he had to spell one more "championship" word to win.  His word was:

•  circuitous

and, he missed it. So, what that means is that all the spellers from the previous round come back, and we do it again.  The two others missed their words, and Beenie spelled (correctly):

•  omniscient

Then, for the championship word:

• analgesia

And, he missed it again. So, we did it one more time. The other two missed their words, and Beenie spelled (correctly):

• vengeance

Then for the championship word:

• photosynthesis

And, he got it!!!  I was an absolute nervous wreck during the championship word rounds.  I'm sure I was more nervous than he was - or at least than he appeared to be.

So, he got a big honkin' trophy, and he's on his way to the regionals in a month!

We hit every ride in Adventureland. Tarzan's Treehouse is here. The kids went in it a couple of times and had a blast. Back in the day it used to be the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. Nobody knows the Swiss Family Robinson story anymore, so they updated it. Well, they updated the name anyway. Now it's tied into the Tarzan franchise.


The Jungle Cruise was a hoot, with the water animals spraying, splashing, and “attacking” the boat. The guide had to use his cap gun to scare them off. The resounding “pop” from the gun wouldn't have scared the fly on the elephant's butt, but still...


Beenie and I went on the Indiana Jones Adventure, where we were in a jeep-type car that careened around the forest and the ruins in an attempt to rescue Indy (I think that was the premise). It was a lot of fun hanging on to the car to keep from falling out! Another cool part was the line itself. It weaved (“snaked”?) its way through ruins with idols carved into the walls, and flickering bare light bulbs. It was the best “themed” wait in the park.

But the highlight of Adventureland was the Enchanted Tiki Room. It was always a favorite of Ellen's when she was little, and it hasn't changed at all. The thunderstorm at the end had the little ones somewhat concerned, but they loved watching the birds and the fountain, and listening to the songs. Which they have been singing ever since. Great. (Everybody - “In the tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room, oh, the tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room.”)

We never actually did anything in Frontierland. Sadly, there was a roller coaster there – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – and we never got on it. Beenie, Keke, Stewie, and I passed through there on the way to Splash Mountain, but that's as close as we got.

On an unrelated note, it seems that the designated “smoker's corner” for Disneyland is in Frontierland. On a back path. Behind a rock.

Critter Country is the area of the park where, if I remember correctly, the Country Bear Jamboree used to be located. It's not there anymore. Nor is it anywhere, it's just gone. That is too bad, as I bet the kids would have really liked it. Now, in Critter Country, is The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It is another one of those rides like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride where you are in a car and you go through a twisty, turny ride while looking at Day-Glo cutouts that illustrate the stories from Winnie the Pooh. Particularly fun was the psychedelic “Heffalumps and Woozles” section. Crazy, man!


Also in this area are Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger characters. We naturally got in line to see both. When visiting with Pooh, Stewie was so excited that he wouldn't turn around for a photo op. Ellen yelled, “Turn around!” Stewie didn't move, but Pooh turned around so his back was to us. Ellen had to clarify, “Not you, Pooh!”, at which Pooh turned around again and if it's possible for a character to have a sheepish look, he had one. It was classic!


In the meantime, Tigger was bounce-bounce-bounce-bounce-bouncing all over the place. He would even leave the area when kids were visiting, bounce over to Pooh, and then bounce back to the kids who were waiting for him. They (and the crowd) loved it!


Critter Country also has a restaurant where we ate lunch a couple of days. I expected the food and other amenities inside the park to be outrageously expensive, but I was pleasantly surprised. We ate at the Hungry Bear Restaurant for about $50 for a family of six. That's about right. We spent that much at the IHOP outside the park, and that was with 3 kids meals for free. And, the ambience! We sat on the patio, overlooking the “lagoon” where the boat rides were. As we ate, we were passed by the Mark Twain Riverboat, the Sailing Ship Columbia, and the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes. Also, the guys in flak jackets who were setting up the evening spectacular laser light show.

After lunch, the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes looked like so much fun that we decided to give it a try. We all climbed into these large canoes, and we had to paddle ourselves around the “river”, staying ahead of the riverboats, of course. I shared a seat with Munchkin, who was not so adept at paddling. Ahead of me was Stewie, and we kept getting our paddles tangled. Behind me was a kid not much older that Munchkin, who couldn't seem to get his paddle in the water without soaking me! I didn't mind so much, but as I was holding the paddle with both hands, and then when Munchkin gave up (about 4/5 of the way through) I was holding two paddles, I really couldn't protect the camera. Fortunately, it didn't get too wet, and we all had a lot of fun.

Critter Country also has what I believe is the newest ride – Splash Mountain. It was the one with the longest line every day we were there. On the good days, the line was 45 minutes. On the bad day it was 90. Again, FastPass to the rescue. I got a FastPass for it and Beenie, Keke, Stewie, and I got to jump the line and go on the ride. It was fun, but I don't get why it is so popular. The ride is a boat that floats through a flume, and all around is the Song of the South story. It's calm and tranquil, except for a couple of short hills that the boat slides down. Right near the end of the ride there is a huge drop down toward the Briar Patch, that culminates in a big splashdown where everyone gets soaked. And then it's over. The ride was fun, everyone had a blast, but I don't get the appeal – definitely not worth an hour and a half wait.

The thing that I noticed first about New Orleans Square was how crowded it was. That was my first impression on a day that wasn't the “I can't believe how many people are in this park” day. It must've been a combination of the layout of this part of the park, or all the people trying to squeeze around the lagoon between Frontierland and Critter Country, where the newest, most popular attraction, Splash Mountain, is located. My first thought was that it was jam packed because NOS is where my favorite ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, is located. However, the line for PoC wasn't very long. Even on the “bad day” the wait was only 25 minutes. (The other days it was 15.)

One of the best parts of this ride is that it is cool. And I mean temperature-wise. So on these really hot days, it was nice to be able to climb into a boat, and meander through the pirate's lair. The only changes to the ride that I noticed was at the beginning where there is a creepy, disembodied voice intoning “Dead men tell no tales” over and over again. I don't know if that is new, or if I just noticed it as I was trying to look at things as the kids would.


The other new thing was the inclusion of Capt. Jack Sparrow. Now, maybe he was in it before, but this time the story being told was based around him, and there was a new animatronic character, that looked just like Johnny Depp. Creepily life-like. As a matter of fact, it was interesting to see how lifelike it looked compared to the other pirates, who had the old-fashioned jerky movements, and mechanical feel. I had to look a couple of times to see that it wasn't an actor playing the part.

One interesting thing is that as you embark on the ride, you pass through the “old bayou” on the left (with working fireflies, which was cool), but on the right was a restaurant. A real restaurant, where you could actually go eat. I so want to do that! Eating lunch INSIDE the Pirates of the Caribbean ride – how cool would that be!

The other big attraction in New Orleans Square is the Haunted House. That's always a hoot! The little ones didn't get as freaked out as I thought they would, which was good. Munchkin said that she didn't want to go on it again, but she did a good job on the way through. We packed her, Beenie, and me in one eggshell car, so there wasn't a lot of room for the “hitchhiking” spectre at the end of the ride, but it was still a lot of fun. (And the ghosts pretty much squeeze themselves in whether there's enough room or not!)

I almost lost my sunglasses in the Haunted House. In the first room, where the walls extend up (or we go down, whichever), I was looking up at the paintings getting longer while holding Munchkin. My glasses were perched on the top of my head. Near the end, all the lights go off and I felt my glasses start sliding backward. Then, pop, they were gone. Now, I'm standing in a room filled with other guests, in the dark, and my sunglasses are somewhere on the floor behind me. I can't bend over and start feeling for them, as I'm holding my daughter. I just had to hold my breath and wait for the lights to come on. Fortunately no one stepped on them. That would have been bad.

Toontown wasn't there when I was a kid, nor was it there when I was 20. I guess that's because Who Framed Roger Rabbit still had about 2 years before it came out.

Toontown is styled to look like the cartoon houses and buildings of cartoon history, in an homage to Roger Rabbit. Actually a large part of the “land” is taken up by the Roger Rabbit ride, and other attractions that are related to the movie.

Ellen and the kids went on the Roger Rabbit ride, while Keke and I wandered around. We got a chance to look at the fountain and climb on the firetruck, and detonate the TNT. A couple of days later, Stewie wanted to go on it again, so we got a FastPass (a great innovation – allows you to return within a set time frame and jump to the front of the line) to come back later. We got back about 10 minutes after our FastPass was set to expire, but we went into the FastPass lane, I acted like I was all out of breath, and said, “Are we too late?” The guy said, “You're just in time”, and ushered us in. Sweet.

Toontown is where the main characters live. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy all have houses there. (Although Donald's is a boat.) The nice thing is that Mickey and Minnie also make appearances at their houses, so after a time or two in line we got to see both of them. We went as a family to Mickey's house, and got to see him “on the set of his movie”. Beenie went back a couple days later by himself and got to see Mickey on the set of “Steamboat Willie”, so that was pretty cool.

Other than Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, the only other ride in Toontown is a roller coaster called “Gadget's Go Coaster”. It was a smallish coaster, but it moved pretty quickly. Beenie found out from someone that it travels at the same speed as the Matterhorn. It is a much smoother ride, though. Even Munchkin enjoyed it – going on a couple of times.

There is a stop for the Disneyland Railroad just outside of Toontown, and we picked up the train there. It circled back through It's a Small World, then into the tunnel where you could see the Grand Canyon and the dinosaurs. It passed around through the Main Street station at the front of the park, and the next stop was New Orleans Square, where we got off.

Fantasyland was probably the place where we spent the most time. The carousel, excuse me, the King Arthur Carousel, is there, and everyone enjoyed that ride. Also Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and the Matterhorn, both of which had mixed reviews depending on who you spoke with. But, the Mad Tea Party (the teacup ride) is there and that was enjoyed several times. Except by me. Spinning, you see.

The Storybook Land Canal Boats was surprisingly fun. It was a soft, gentle ride through the gardens that have been manicured to look like miniature replicas of various storybook places. We saw Geppetto's Workshop, the Three Little Pig's houses, Aladdin's castle, and the place where Prince Eric washed ashore when he met Ariel.

Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride seemed to be enjoyed by all. More spinning – not me. One time we got there and the ride was shut down, although there was still a line. Turns out that right below the elephants is water, and a duckling had decided that it would be a good place to go for a swim. The “pool net” was brought out, the duckling scooped, and carefully taken away toward Storybook Land.

We also went on the Alice in Wonderland ride, which was fun. I went with Munchkin, and she wasn't too sure about it until we popped out of the dark, fluorescent-lighted tunnel. That is, until she realized that we were about 10 feet in the air over the line of people waiting for the ride. Then we turned the corner and went back in the ride for the second half. It was because of things like that that we tried to alternate between “scary” rides and “not scary” rides. Still, everyone was a trouper, and tried different things.

The Bibbidi Bobiddy Boutique was one place that Keke really, really wanted to go. It seems that here you can get yourself made up in full princess regalia. Hair, makeup, dress, the whole nine yards. The downside – it cost something like $250 to do this. I don't think so. She did get to go in the shop, but didn't get the makeover.

I can't believe that I'm saying this, but, by far, the best bang for your Disney buck would have to be It's a Small World. While it may play the most annoying song ever, it also appeared to be the longest ride we went on, with the shortest line. The longest we stood in line for it was maybe 20 minutes. And the kids loved it!! Absolutely loved it, so that made it all worthwhile. However, one time, when I was taking Keke, Stewie, and Munchkin on the ride we got almost all the way through (I think we were in the second to last room), and the ride stopped. There was a big pileup of boats just sitting there. We were probably only stuck for about 5 minutes, but it seemed like much longer. But, we got out just as the clock was striking, so we got to watch all the characters in the facade do their little dances right from the exit line. It was like being in the front row!

Also technically in Fantasyland, but more nestled between Fantasyland and Toontown, is the Princess Fantasy Faire. What a racket! The only thing here is the Disney Princesses.When you get to the front of the line, you are taken in and get to visit with whichever three princesses are there at the time. That would be great, except they are all behind a big wall so if you are waiting in line you can't even see them. And the line is incredible. We waited for a half hour one day, and hardly moved at all. We bailed. The next time, we waited almost an hour before bailing. Finally, we decided that Ellen and Munchkin would wait in line while Beenie, Keke, Stewie, and I went to Splash Mountain. Naturally, at this time, the line moved very fast, and they got in in no time. Munchkin was thrilled!! She got to meet and talk with Ariel, Belle, and Jasmine.

After passing through Main Street, we veered right and went to Tomorrowland. There is a ride there called the Astro Orbiter that Munchkin was bound and determined to go on. It was a bunch of “rocket ships” that are lifted up in the air, then spin around. (It's like the Dumbo ride, but with rocket ships.) That was the first ride we went on. I say we, except Stewie and I just watched. If it spins, I'm not getting on it. It's better for everyone that way.

It was in Tomorrowland that we met Buzz Lightyear. He was the first character that we actually met, and Stewie was thrilled!! Beenie and I did Space Mountain. Although I had talked about riding it while wearing sunglasses, we didn't. Still, it was dark enough. Pitch black as a matter of fact.

We didn't do much else in Tomorrowland, except for the cars. Autopia is one of those tracks where you are actually driving the car, and steering. (Except for the track in the center of the lane to keep you on course.) Stewie and I went in one car, following Ellen and Munchkin, and just ahead of Beenie and Keke. Stewie was excited for the ride, but at the last second he decided that I should drive. Didn't help much as I kept stalling the car. The only way to keep it going was to floor it. I wouldn't normally do that in a car. Nope. Not me. Really. Prior to the ride we all got our official “drivers license”s, and they didn't take them away when we were done, so we must have been okay.

Tomorrowland is also the place where we got on our last ride and departed the park for this vacation – the Monorail. While I recognize that it isn't technically a “ride”, it's really transportation, I do remember it being one of my favorite things when I was a kid, and our kids really wanted to do it. It was a one way trip from Tomorrowland to Downtown Disney, so we left the park and walked back to the hotel on Tuesday night, saying goodby to Disney and the fireworks at the same time.

Disneyland is the first amusement park I ever went to. At least I think it is. At the very least, it's the first amusement park that I remember going to. I went there first when I was seven, and again when I was eleven. Those trips are probably blog posts in themselves, although I'm sure in the dark recesses of my mind one trip has bled into the other, so I might be a little soft and loose with the facts.

I was there one more time, when I was 20. I was in college, and we went to California for the University of Arizona – UCLA football game. It wasn't a great weekend – UofA lost the game – but a couple of us went out on the town, as it were. We went to Disneyland and had a great time. That was 23 years ago.

This trip was totally different than any other one. This one I got to experience through the eyes of my children. Their fascination, awe, and wonder was just amazing to watch. I'm not really sure I can do it justice in words, but I'll try a tour through the park to see what happens.

Main Street USA

Walking in to Main Street USA is like walking into another world, another time. The most amazing thing about this area of the park was the characters. (I mean the Disney characters, not the other visitors.) Each day when we arrived, there were at least three characters in the town square signing autographs, posing for pictures, greeting people. It was cool. Beenie got an autograph book and started a collection. Munchkin was so excited for some of the characters that I thought her head was going to blow off. Stewie surprised me with that excited look on his face, but holding it together until he got to the character, then giving them a big hug. Keke was 9-year-old cool, until afterward when she was very excited in her retelling of the encounter. Even Ellen was excited as she got to meet Cruella DeVille! (I later had that excitement when I got to meet Sully from Monsters, Inc. - another park, another day, another post.)

Main Street hasn't changed much that I noticed in the years since I've been there. Shopping, mostly, and the arcade with the machine where you grab the two metal poles and see how much electrical current you can withstand. I forgot to go back and do it this trip, but 23 years ago I maxed it out. Of course, my left arm twitched the rest of the day. Ahh, good times!

We found the Magic Shop, which was in, or at, the castle when I was little. Beenie spent time chatting with the clerk and checking out the card tricks. He ended up buying a deck of cards that glow in the dark, and have pictures from the Haunted House on them. That night when we got to the hotel, he discovered that the 2 of clubs was missing from the deck. I went back to the shop to return them and told the clerk that they must truly be magical, as they are missing a card. She looked at me like I was an idiot. But, she exchanged the deck, and that was the goal.

We seemed to have pretty good (or bad) timing, in that almost every time we tried to go down Main Street, there was a parade going on. It was called “Celebrate – A Street Party.” Designed to celebrate all the reasons people were visiting (“First Time!” “Birthday!” “Colonoscopy! Yay!! Good for you!!”), it is a parade with singing, dancing, and characters, and these confetti canons that shot Mickey-head shaped pieces of paper all over the place. Thanks to Munchkin, I have a whole backpack pocket full of them (inexplicably crumpled up, though). We studiously avoided the parade until the day that Ellen took Beenie on the Matterhorn and I took the rest of the kids to It's a Small World. We couldn't get there because of the parade so we watched the parade. The kids did really enjoy it, though.

Doing the laundry. Checking pants pockets (already learned that lesson the hard way). What do I find in 6 year old Stewie's pants?

Duck sauce.

So, yeah, we got about 20" in our neighborhood due to this blizzard. Great.

At least the kids had fun:

We had already cleared 6" of snow off the driveway before this snow fell:


And, of course, the requisite "art" shot: