2018: The Year of the Pass

Ok, so I have another pass...in addition to my Movie Pass. I have an annual Disney Pass and I've had so much fun with it so far. The year has just begun.

Allie and I went to Disneyland in early January. Allie had a pass that she bought in October. On the way to the park she said "mom, you're gonna get a pass." I was pretty sure I'd give in and buy one. After all, my girl has one and Jenny my sister has one and Derek can get in anytime. Why not? It could be a really fun year.

Allie and I had a great day at the park and Jenny and I made plans to return to the park. Jenny and I went back in February. We left Sunday after church, stayed in Primm, Nevada, and got to the park around noon on Monday. We had so much fun just hanging out. At one point, Jen grabbed my arm and said "hey, let's go on the Walking in Walt's Disneyland Footsteps tour tomorrow. My treat!" What? I was shocked. We headed over to the tour garden, which I'd never noticed before, and inquired about Tuesday's tour. They said it was sold out, but to come back in the morning because they often agree to sell a couple more tickets. Ok. No big deal. We'll just wait and see. We continued to enjoy our day, had a sandwich at the Earl of Sandwich, and generally soaked in the magic. We stayed at my friend Jenny Hebdon's house, about 15 minutes from the park. Good sleep, even though I got the love seat. I insisted since Jen's taller than I am.

Road Trippin'

Jenny Hebdon, former TA, with her 3 kiddos

Got up and left in time to be at the tour garden early. Walked right into the park. They did sell us the tickets. Wahoo!!!!!! So we just had to kill 30 minutes until our tour. We just walked up and down main street. The tour was excellent. We learned so many fun facts about Walt Disney and about Disneyland. I hadn't really stopped to realize that Disneyland is the ONLY park Walt actually walked in. He really loved that place. Once when his grandchildren were spending the night, the looked out the window onto main street and his grandchild commented that the place was really magical. Walt said that the magic really started when the people started coming. The people were the magic. The tour included lunch and a visit to Walt Disney's apartment above the firehouse on main street. We learned that his grandkids would sneak out at night and go behind the apartment to the jungle cruise ride and jump out of the bushes to scare people on the ride. What?! Can you imagine having Walt Disney as a grandparent?

Jen and I met some very interesting friends named Mark on the tour. Here's the deal on the Marks. They have been friends for about 30 years. They met across the work table in LA, working in film. Shorter and bald Mark was from Minnesota. He graduated from college in the early 70's in theater and took the opportunity to go to clown college with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. He learned makeup and prosthetics from a man who had just finished working on the original Planet of the Apes. He worked and travelled on the train with the circus for a year. Then he got a chance to go to LA with his makeup teacher and work in the film industry. He worked on special effects and makeup. Then he got hired by George Lucas' business in the Bay Area. He moved there and learned digital technology and retired from Disney. What an interesting life. He "made" the Darth Vader you see in Star Tours and the tom toms on planet Hoth on the same ride.

me and Jen in Walt's apartment

With our Mark friends

We got special pins to wear and a commemorative pin

Taller Mark with hair is a puppeteer. He was interested in puppets since childhood. He was Slimer in "Ghostbusters." He also auditioned for Jim Henson and got the job. It was to work on a 3-D Muppets film that played in California Adventure for a while. I told him the bit I knew about Jim Henson, that he had a degree in Home Economics. I said I often imagine what his parents would have thought. He said that they were probably thrilled because they were puppeteers and very supportive of their son's career. This Mark had once met Henson's parents and brother at a conference. He said they were excellent mentors of others in the business.

At the end of the tour, we were fed lunch. I had selected a salad and the Matterhorn macaroon. Both were delicious. We were coincidently seated with the Marks for lunch so we got to keep talking. After the tour, Mickey happened to be outside of the Emporium for pictures, so we got a picture. We then sat down on a bench to people watch at the hub. That's the center part of Disneyland, where the Walt and Mickey statue stand. We decided it had been such a magical day that nothing would top it. We thought about heading home then I suggested we go to Derek's house. YES!!!!! So we went to Jenny's and got our stuff. We found a place with Thrifty Ice Cream to get a taste of our childhood and got to Derek's with Little Caesar's pizza around 7:00 pm. As moms, we knew we needed to let Rachel know we were coming with dinner. Nothing worse than making dinner only to have someone show up WITH dinner. We had a great visit. Slept well, and got on the road Wednesday morning after going on a walk with the dogs they were sitting.

Rose with her girl scout stuff. Yes, we bought cookies from her.

Milo is getting so big

I introduced Jen to Cane's. We won a free piece of toast

You can say it was a great trip.

Allie and I went back the weekend after her 28th birthday. I invited my Chick fil-A friends to come along. I thought it would be fun. That they'd hit it off. Well....it didn't quite turn out that way. First of all, I had an epic mom fail that Friday morning. I wouldn't have blamed Allie if she had decided to not come. She did come, though, but things were a bit strained at first.

That didn't happen. The drive through Vegas was small talk with Allie texting in the front passenger seat texting like mad. I assumed she was texting everyone about my bad behavior earlier in the day. I wouldn't blame her for it. We get to Baker, California, and she texted me "Look at my finsta," meaning look at my funny instagram account. Ok. Wow. Turns out the guy Jessica had been telling us about. The jerk that she was dating, but kinda didn't trust, the guy she decided to not date anymore was the guy in Allie's English class that she liked. She had gone out with him and she had no idea he was dating someone else. Allie texted Drew. Drew texted Jessica, but nobody talked about it all weekend. I just made sure Allie wasn't stuck on a ride alone with Jessica. It was awful. I'm glad that weekend is over. It was so awkward. Jessica didn't know I knew. I didn't know if Laura knew. It was like a giant elephant in the park.

Allie and I are doing a re-do this weekend with mom. Allie, mom and I are flying out to California on Thursday, meeting Derek at the park and playing. Allie and I will stay at an Airbnb and mom will go back to Derek's on Thursday night. Allie and I will do the park on Friday again then spend Saturday with the Hunter gang.

The ONLY picture I got of Allie on her 22nd birthday. She wanted me to bring donuts to work.

New shirt for my Disney year

Me and my girl

She's 22

Learned about portrait setting on my phone

Me, Jessica, and Laura

Can you believe I got to ride the carousel right next to Mary Poppins?

Jenny got me this great jacket for my Disney trips. It's lightweight, but warm.

horrible pic taken by me, but we found Minnie

We just read this book for our book club