June? Here and Gone

We got back from our California trip just in time to kick off our summer schedule.  NTA classes started back up.  The State Farm pool was open.  Cross country summer runs got underway.  There were dance team practices and Miracle Camp and time with friends.  Here's a quick look at our June...

Staley enjoyed a fun day of shopping with Uma and Papa and Lila for Lila's birthday.

Dance team had practice 4 days a week from 8:45-12:00 when Adelie was available...which wasn't really that often.  She did get to enjoy a day at a water park in Springfield with the MS and HS dancers.

The girls and I went to see some NTA friends in 'Mean Girls' at the Chillicothe Players.

Staley ran the Heart House 5K with Briggs to help pace him.  He finished in 26:35.

Adelie and Stella spent a week at Miracle Camp.  They had a great time!

They were so excited to have Olivia as their cabin leader and Katie as their assistance cabin leader.

Staley had a really big June.  She got her braces off...FINALLY!!!

She started her first official job at Uncle Bob's, scooping ice cream...

and got a bank account.  Lots of big changes around here!

We spent some time with cousins watching softball games...

baseball games...

swimming and play dates.  We always love time with cousins!

There have also been multiple play dates and birthday parties and pool dates with friends.

I don't always get pictures, but I do love the friends that my kids have.

Staley and I went to see NTA friends perform in 'Sweeney Todd.'  It wasn't my favorite show, btu it's always fun to spend time with NTA friends.

We celebrated Cade's graduation with a fun dinner and family bags' tournament.  It was a lot of fun!!  (Staley was working so she had to miss out.)

Because of vacations and camp and work and a rain out, we only went to one NTA performance in June.  But it was a good one as Singapella performed at the Tremont Community Center.

Staley had HS cross country open runs 2-3 days each week while we had MS cross country open runs 2 days each week in June.  It was fun to get a sneak peek at the team for this year.

We filled our June with running and camp and theater and friends and swimming and working and outdoor fun.  It went fast and, of course, finished off with our week in Pentwater.  Time continues to fly, and summer is no exception.  Good-bye, June!  July...here we come!

Summer Vacation: Disneyland

We spent a full park opening to park closing day at Disney California Adventure, so we enjoyed a relaxing rest day to reset before enjoying some time at Disneyland.  We used our rest day to sleep in, go for a nice run, and eat a big brunch at our condo.

One member of the family spent a long time building his new Lego set.

We then spent most of the afternoon swimming and hanging out at the community pool.  There were a few ducks hanging out there, but very few other people.

After swimming, we made a taco dinner at our condo, walked into Downtown Disney for some Salt & Straw ice cream, and then watched a movie before an early bedtime to rest up for an epic day at Disneyland.

I took way less pictures during our Disneyland day than our DCA day, so I have less photo evidence of the over 16 hours (7 am to 11:15 pm) of park time that we spent at Disneyland.  We were lined up and ready to rope drop Rise of the Resistance only to find it with a delayed opening, so we pivoted and spent the first hour of our morning touring Fantasyland.

We knocked out Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (to Hell), Snow White, Pinocchio, and It's a Small World within the first hour of the day.  Using Lighting Lanes, single rider lines, and short wait times, we rode SO many rides.  Gadget Coaster, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, Roger Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, Tiana's Bayou Adventure (single rider for the win X 2), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Storybook Canals, Space Mountain, Smuggler's Run, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise, Rise of the Resistance, and Matterhorn.

Although Zach didn't ride it, Space Mountain was a favorite for the rest of the family.  Other favorites included Tiana's Bayou Adventure, Indiana Jones (NOT for Briggs), and Rise of the Resistance.

It's a Small World is one of my favorites.  I like it even better at Disneyland than Disney World.  So, of course, we had to make sure to ride it twice.

Meeting characters is always fun, so we made sure to find time to meet Donald...

and Mickey again.

And while we were riding rides and meeting characters, we were also snacking it up.  We got frozen lemonade and apple juice as a morning snack, Lime Ice Block Drinks while watching the Bluey show, and Dole Whip for an afternoon snack.

We had a huge (and scrumptious) lunch at Tiana's Place, complete with beignets, cornbread, and sweet heat chicken sandwiches for the girls and Zach while I went with the andouille sausage po'boy.  It was all so good...and we all ate way too much.  Because we ate so much for lunch, we ended up snacking on some more churros and popcorn in the evening before a late night snack-y dinner of Hawaiian chicken tenders and fries at the Galactic Grill in Tomorrowland.

We filled in other parts of our day with shows...like the new Bluey show and the Storytellers show.  We also did some shopping.

And, of course, nighttime entertainment at Disney is always a must.

We all LOVED the Paint the Night parade.  It was one of my favorite Disney parades ever!  And we ended our day of Disneyland fun with the 10:45 showing of Fantasmic.  Although the park stayed open until midnight, my family was ready to call it a day after the Fantasmic show ended.  It felt a little wrong to leave the park before it was actually closed, but we had definitely made a more-than-full day of it, so I couldn't complain.

It was another full day of Disney fun to cap off our California summer vacation.

Our final morning in California included packing up, eating a big breakfast to finish off some of our groceries, and then heading back into Disney Springs for some final shopping and snacking.  Churro toffee for the win!!

We then headed to LAX, grabbed some Chick Fil A for lunch, and then flew home.

National Parks.  Theme parks.  Flying.  Driving.  Hiking.  Riding.  Good food.  Family time.  We filled our summer vacation with many of our favorite things.  I always love spending time with the people I love in places I love.  Already looking forward to our next adventure!!

Summer Vacation: Disney California Adventure

After our tour of central California's National Parks, we headed south towards Anaheim to spend a few days at Disneyland.  After leaving Sequoia and Kings Canyon, we drove to Valencia, CA outside of LA to spend our last night on the road before settling into our Anaheim condo.

We were able to get an early check in for our Air Bnb, so we were able to check in to our AirBnb, get settled, and then I took the kids swimming at the complex pool while Zach went to grab some groceries.  We then cleaned up and walked into Downtown Disney for dinner and some shopping.

We enjoyed dinner at Black Tap Craft Burgers and Shakes.  The burgers were great...as were the shakes.

We then shopped in Downtown Disney.  The kids all had souvenir money from grandparents, so Briggs got a Star Wars Lego set while the girls both got some Disney-themed jewelry.

After dinner and shopping, we headed back to the condo for an early night of sleep so that we'd be ready for our full day of Disney fun the next day.

We were up and to the park early to get a jump start on our day at Disney California Adventure.  Although my family isn't always on board with early mornings and "standing in line to stand in line" (as my husband puts it), they humor me...sort of.

The girls and I rope dropped Guardians while the boys made their way to Toy Story Mania, which they were able to do twice in a row with no line.

By leveraging single rider lines, Lightning Lanes, rope drop, mobile order, and watching the app for short wait times, we were able to do (and eat) everything we wanted (most of them multiple times) throughout the day with minimal waits.

The park was not very crowded, especially early, so we were able to navigate the park easily.  Crowds picked up towards evening as DCA was hosting a grad night that night, but it never felt bad.

The girls and I all chose Guardians of the Galaxy as our favorite ride (which we did 3 times!!)  Briggs and Zach chose Toy Story Mania as their favorite, which Briggs did 5 times and Zach did 4.  The girls did it 3 times, and I did it twice.  It's always a family favorite.

Radiator Springs Racers was another family favorite.  We walked onto it twice in a row using the single rider line in the morning.  We should have kept riding it when the single rider line was that short because when we checked later in the day, the single rider line was at 45 minutes while the actual line was closer to 90 minutes.

Our longest wait of the day was probably for Webslingers as it broke down right before we were about to get on.  We waited quite awhile to see if would come back up, but they ended up closing it down so we got an extra Lightning Lane to come back at another time.

Throughout the course of our day, we also rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, Little Mermaid (X 2), Soarin' over California (X 2), Grizzly River Run (X 2), Incredicoaster, Jessie's Critter Carousel, Monster's Inc, and Webslingers.

Between our rides, various members of the family found time to meet Lightning McQueen, Black Panther, Edna Mode, Mickey, and Iron Man.

I think Iron Man was our favorite.  He was really funny!!

Although Lightning McQueen is Staley's favorite, so that was a highlight for her.

And, of course, no Disney trip is complete without lots of food.  We had lunch at Pym's Test Kitchen, which was a favorite from our last trip.  Most of the family went with the humungous taco salad.

We also shared the Choco Smash Bar for dessert.  A homemade candy bar this big deserves to be shared.

We circled back later in the day for the gigantic pretzel with beer cheese from Pym's Kitchen again, grabbed some yummy smoothies, and, of course, had to enjoy some of Disneyland's famous churros.  We rounded out eating our way around Disney with dinner at Cocina Cucamongo with an assortment of street tacos to share.  Scrumptious!!

Between all the rides and characters and eating, we also fit in a few shows.  We watched the Spiderman show and enjoyed Turtle Talk with Crush, which is always a family favorite.

While Briggs checked out the Redwood Challenge area, Staley, Adelie, and Zach took a little break.

We finished off our day by watching the World of Color nighttime show, which we all really enjoyed!

And even though the family was ready to call it a night, I wanted to wander back through Cars Land at night to see it all lit up.  So we did.

We had such a fun day at DCA.  We love this park.  So many fun rides, themed lands, good food, and great characters.  It was a full, fun, successful day!!