Halloween at Disneyland Part 3

We spent the next two days playing in the parks.

I LOVED all of the Halloween/Fall decorations.

I also loved Space Mountain with the added Ghost Galaxy effects.

Julie was a good sport and sat in the front on Splash Mountain, you can barely see me hiding behind her. Thanks for taking one for the team sister!

Every time we went to Disneyland with Lauren she would run to see if the canoes were open, and they were always closed, so she was THRILLED that they were open on this trip.

We spent an afternoon in California Adventures. ..

And took a break to have a treat and watch the Pixar Parade.

We got a wheelchair for Dan because his ankle was still pretty sore. He especially enjoyed being able to sit and nap while we waited in-line. We decided it was worth it to push him around since it meant shorter lines for a lot of the rides.

It also got us front row seats for the new World of Color show. Great view, but you get splashed!

We had to go back over to Disneyland after the show to take more pictures with all the Halloween decorations.

I decided it was Dan's turn to push me.

Our first stop our second morning was the ice cream shop so Dan could get his ice cream fix. Lauren had to work that day, so it was just the three of us. We decided to mimic Lauren's infamous interpretive dance moves to show her just how much we missed her.

"You can see" that we missed her.

I love the teacups, but everyone else gets sick on them. Julie made the supreme sacrifice and went on the teacups with me. She stared straight at me the entire time and happily didn't get sick. What a fabulous sister!

One of my favorites things on the Indiana Jones ride is the movie they play while you waiting in line. The lady makes the most ridiculous face that we were trying to imitate on Splash Mountain.

Since there was absolutely no line, Julie and I finally got to go on the Winnie the Pooh ride.

We stopped for dinner and had Mickey Mouse shaped gingerbread beignets - Delicious!

After dinner, we started seeing people wandering around in costume (can you believe this was not a Disney cast member!) so we decided it was time to go change into our costumes for Mickey's Halloween Party.

Halloween at Disneyland Part 2 or Club 33

Our next adventure was a trip to Club 33. Club 33 is a private club in Disneyland. Lauren's former roommate's sister's friends/coworkers (did you get that lovely connection?) that worked at the Matterhorn made friends with Richard Nixon's nephew, who is a HUGE fan of the Matterhorn and just happens to be a member of Club 33. They would always let him stay on the ride as long as he wanted, so he offered to get them into Club 33 as a thank you. My sister and her roommate invited themselves along and met him and he gave them his email and told them to email if they ever wanted to go back to Club 33. Of course, we had to take advantage of our oh so close connection and hobnob with the elite at least once during our year of Disneyland. Lauren's friend Hannah, her sister Mary, and Hannah's boyfriend Alex came with us.

All dressed up and ready to go, on the tram from the Parking Lot.

At our table, in Walt Disney's private dining room.

While we waited for our food we HAD to check out the swanky bathrooms, and of course, take some pictures to prove we had been there.

You had the choice of creating your own meal, or going with the pre-planned five course meal. Most of us went with the five course meal. We had to take a picture of the menu, and of each course so we could remember what we had. My favorite was the second course (the lobster was FABULOUS!) Alex created his own meal, and got the delicious pastry dessert. Julie had to get a picture of of the water we were served, tap water is just too common, we drank only Evian.

Our waiter kept us entertained all evening telling us stories about celebrities who have been to Club 33 and giving us all the inside scoop about Disneyland and Club 33.

One of our favorite movies growing up was "The Happiest Millionaire" so we were thrilled to see the telephone booth from the movie right outside the dining room, we were even more thrilled that we could actually use the phone!

They also have Walt Disney's piano, which numerous stars have played, including Michael Jackson.

And a table that was in the entry way on Mary Poppins. Mary was a nanny in England, and her kids called her Mary Poppins, so she had to get a picture by that.

Then our waiter led us around a bunch of other tables and out onto the balcony overlooking New Orleans Square. When we got outside he just left us, which we thought was a little strange, but enjoyed wandering around the balcony on our own, then about two minutes later, the firework show started. Our sweet waiter took us out to the balcony just in time for the show and then let us hang out there until it was over. There were a lot of trees blocking the fireworks, so it wasn't the best view, but it was still fun.

We stopped to have some group photos as we were leaving, realizing afterwords that they looked a lot like prom pictures.

It was a FABULOUS evening!

Halloween at Disneyland Part 1

I have always wanted to go to Disneyland when it is all decorated for Halloween. So, our next trip to Disneyland was in October.

Dan ended up having surgery on his ankle about two weeks before we left, so most of the drive to California was spent with his leg propped up between Julie and me.

We were all crazy busy the week before we left, so we were exhausted by the time we finally got to Lauren's house. We spent almost the entire day on Saturday in bed, watching movies and being lazy. We were pretty impressed that we could push Lauren's twin bed and her trundle together and all fit on it!

I think Dan got the most sleep out of any of us (pain meds couldn't have anything to do with that).

When we finally got out of bed we went to Wal-Mart to pick up some last minute things for our Halloween costumes. I thought this sign was hilarious - anyone know what "Swat Pantes" are?

Dan enjoyed being the one to get a ride in the cart. After a day of resting and relaxing, we were ready to head off on our next adventure... Club 33.

A Work in Progess

My big summer project this year was my kitchen. Lauren came home for a visit and needed some money, and Dan has been bugging me for months about redoing my kitchen, so after the family reunion, I decided it was time. I wasn't going to blog about this until it was all done. But, I have decided to put the renovation on hold for a bit so I can see the pyramids (fingers crossed) so, here is my work in progress. The kitchen wasn't that bad before, just a little boring. I wanted to do something different.Dan and I removed the tile backsplash so we could mud and sand all the walls to get them smooth like the living and dining room. It was SO LOUD! We had to wrap paper towels around the crowbar to try to muffle some of the noise! I was a little lazy and didn't want to take everything out of my cupboards, so we just taped plastic over them to try to keep some of the dust out. It got SO hot in there when we were sanding and had it all sealed off. After our fun process of mudding and sanding and mudding and sanding and mudding and sanding, we primed all the walls. Then came the really fun job. Removing all the cabinet doors and cleaning and sanding all the cabinets. Lauren and Dan were really good about trying to keep things numbered so we knew how to put them back. We primed the drawers and the cabinet fronts and then it was on to the next big project. I decided I wanted beadboard in the doors. My Dad was so wonderful and had it all measured out so we only had to buy two sheets of beadboard. Then he and Lauren piled all the doors in the car and over to my parents so we could work on them in their garage.We glued the beadboard in place and then set cinderblocks on them to dry overnight.

Then it was time to cart them all back to my house so Lauren could prime and paint. My house was a disaster for about 10 days, it was an obstacle course to get from the front door to the bedrooms. We woul paint one side and prop it up on a couple of videos and then flip it the next day and do the backside, it was a time consuming process, but we finally got them all finished, thanks to some late nights and early mornings on Lauren's part. We got all the doors put back up and then it was time to decide what color to paint the walls. The first green shade I chose ended up too green and my kitchen looked like camoflauge, so we had to paint a lighter shade over everything. And here is the semi-finished product. At some point I am getting new countertops, new backsplash, new appliances, new floors, and new lighting. But, I love how much brighter the kitchen is thanks to the cabinets! I think we did a pretty good job. Thanks Laur and Dan for all your hard work! What room should we do next?