Happy Birthday From Mickey

Some of you may already know this, but Disneyland is starting a promotion for a free ticket to one of their parks on your birthday in 2009. If you already have a pass, you will be able to choose from other options. Here is a link with the details.

Fishing Results

It ended up only being 4 of us, but it was a successful trip. We hit the water around 7 a.m. We fished for a little over 3 hours and caught 25 fish. Everyone caught at least one, and many more were hooked. Our fish didn't challenge any size records, but it was a very good time. I was worried that I was going to spend most of my time curing loopus and getting lures out of trees, but I was very impressed by how good the young men did. Here are some photos:

I wouldn't mind going fishing again in the very near future. If anyone wants to go, let me know.

Free Fishing Day

I'm sure it is already marked on you calendar, but I thought I would remind you anyway. Tomorrow is California's second (and last) free fishing day for 2008. So pack up your gear and plan on catching a few fish. I will be headed to the San Gabriel River with a few of the young men, so don't go there. If you still aren't taking advantage of free fishing days, then you should renounce your citizenship and move to a deserted island.

Catch ya later!

Put Me in Coach

Geronimo and Skyler have each started playing T-ball for the first time. Geronimo is on The Astros and Skyler is on The White Sox. They had their first "games" this week. Here are some lovely highlights.

Here is Geronimo at bat and then running the bases:





Here is Skyler giving it a try:



Here are a couple of Jackson playing pitcher:





And here is Jack playing some 1st base:

Geronimo is 5!

Today was Geronimo's 5th birthday. Before I get to the summary of how the day went, here is a recent video of him to enjoy:

Sara likes to give the kids donuts with candles in them for part of their birthday breakfast.

After breakfast he got ready for school and opened his presents. He got some pirate things, some Cars, some Power Ranger things and some other stuff. He was pretty bummed to leave them behind and head off to school.

After he got done with school we headed out to Anaheim. When it's your birthday the first thing you do at California Adventure is get a birthday button at Guest Relations.Then you get a special birthday phone call from Goofy (No, I was not on the other end of this phone call. If it were Dopey, then maybe.)Then you go to the tortilla factory and score your free pack of birthday tortillas.

Geronimo ran into a couple of his homies, but they were pretty stone-faced.

So, he decided to hang out with his brother and sisters instead.

How old are you? (We went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a.k.a. "Turtles and Snakes", 3 times in a row.)
Sara's future is so bright she had to wear shades.Geronimo braved The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror for the first time.And then Jack Skellington was waiting for him at the exit.
If you are having hemorrhoid problems at Disneyland, I found a place you might want to go.The Internet said that The Haunted Mansion was closed, but it turns out that not everything you see on the Internet is true. Jack Skellington has already taken over the park for the holidays.If you have some hoes to trade, this is the place for you. (A little gardening humor.)It was an honor just to be nominated, but to actually win was very exciting.All in all, the day went really well. Sara was trying to fight off a cold, but she was a trooper and all of the kids were worn out by the end of the day. We went on a lot of rides and didn't have to wait long for anything.

Tagged

I don't normally seek out these things to fill out, but somebody specifically mentioned me in their's. I must qualify this first by stating that my high school years are quite hazy.

High School Tag

1. Did you date someone from your school?
Define date. I'm sure I did, but don't press me for a name.

2. What kind of car did you drive?
The invisible one that made it look like I was walking.

3. What was the most embarrassing moment of HS?
Being a class clown, I didn't really get embarrassed. However, I will entertain you with a story that had the potential to be embarrassing. It was my senior year, and I think it was our last home football game. Just before the game started we(the players) were on one side of the field and a group of our parents were on the other side. The p.a. announcer would yell out a player's name, the crowd would cheer, and the player would run out to midfield and be met by their parent. I didn't know about this until it was happening, but some of the other players obviously did because they had elaborate hand shakes or some other staged routine they did with their parent. I heard my name, ran out to midfield to be met by nobody. Mike was running late, and didn't make it there in time.

4. Were you a party animal?
I made it out to a few. Is there an animal that doesn't get drunk and do stupid things at parties? Or one that took advantage of other animals' drunkenness, and made them do stupid things? If there is, I was that animal. I remember getting a bunch of drunk guys to try and see who could run into a garage door the fastest. Maybe I was a party sloth.

5. Were you considered a flirt?
Probably not.

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
For everyone's sake, no.

7. Were you a nerd?
Don't nerds have to get really good grades? I do like Star Wars though, so maybe I was.

8. Were you on any varsity teams?
Football, Horseshoes, Bocce Ball, Curling, and Pinball.

9. Did you ever get suspended/expelled?
No, but I did spend a lot of time outside of the classroom due to my behavior. I remember that one of my friend's dad was a counselor there and he would see me outside of class and ask why. I would always tell him that there was a test and I missed yesterday's class. He must have thought that we had a lot of tests and that I missed a lot of class, because it happened about twice a week.

10. Can you still sing the fight song?
For everyone's sake, no.

11. Who were your favorite teachers?
I honestly can't remember many of my teachers' names. I think my favorite class may have been Teacher's Aide for girl's P.E. I even got to hang out in the office in the girl's locker room. I think Mr. Hayes was a good teacher and I remember Mr. Ludlam, so he must have been good.

12. Where did you sit during lunch?
On my butt. From what I remember, usually in the ASB room.

13. School mascot?
Nobles.

14. Did you go to homecoming, and with who?
I don't think so. I wasn't a big school dance fan.

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
Sure. Why, do you have a time machine?

16. What do you remember most about graduation?
I didn't want to walk in the graduation ceremony, but did. Then, I got the pleasure of being called "Joseph"while I was receiving my fake diploma.

17. Where did you go on senior skip day?
To school.

18. Were you in any clubs?
I don't remember. The 90210 fan club?

19. Have you gained some weight since then?
I was 150 in high school. After having 4 children I now tip the scales at over 200. Does that excuse work for men too?

20. Who was your prom date?
I didn't go to prom. I always thought it was a waste of money. I had a young lady offer to take me and pay for everything. I can only imagine how that would have went down.

21. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion?
Since you have that time machine, sure.

22. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself?
Streaking is only acceptable if you get other people to do it too.

Feel free to fill out you own version of this, or not.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Avast ye land lubbers! Next high tide' be International Talk like a Pirate Day. Make sure ye bilge rats talk like a swashbuckler or it be off t' Davy Jones wi' ye. Here an' here be two translators t' make talkin' like a pirate easier. Below be some links t' help ye enjoy what will surely soon be a national holiday. Enjoy th' festivities!
Pirate Jokes
Chat Like a Pirate
Pirate keyboard
More links

Learn how to draw at 5min.com

Lost States?

No wonder our economy is in the dumps. We have 10 hidden states to support that I didn't even know about.

Disneyland With Daddy

The day before Skyler and Geronimo started school again I took them to Disneyland. Madison didn't get to come. Since Tuesday was the day after the corporate tax return deadline, I decided to take the day off and even things out with Madison. I told her that we would do whatever she wanted the whole day. Here is a brief play-by-play of what went down.

She is the only one in our family that can actually stand on/by her initial outside of California Adventure. (As a side note, have you ever been able to take a picture in this area and not have somebody else in the picture?) Needless to say, Tuesdays are great days to avoid crowds. The first place she wanted to go was Monsters Inc.

We like that Uncle Knick encourages us to demonstrate teamwork.

But sometimes Uncle Knick can get into a panic.

She jumped in her car and we headed off to Bugs Land.

It looked like the candy corn was ready to come off of the husk.

The Lady Bugs were next(twice). I don't know what it is about this ride, but it always makes her happy.

Very happy.

I would never get away with this if there were another available hand to hold.

Next we jumped on the back of an overeating caterpillar.

There's something different about these rocks, but I just can't put my paw on it.

Next we went on the new Toy Story Ride. It was the shortest wait I have had on this ride.

You get to wear these cool glasses. Unfortunately, they all seem to be the same size. Throughout the ride I had to help her keep the glasses on. Maybe they should make some smaller versions for smaller kids. If you haven't been on this ride, it is a 4D experience. You try and accumulate points by hitting various targets along the way. If you are riding with somebody who is pretty good, your point potential is greater because when lower scoring targets are hit they are replaced by ones with higher points. With two people hitting a bunch of targets there are greater points to be had. Madison was really good at shooting straight up in the air, which meant our points weren't very high.

After Toy Story, surprisingly, Maddie wanted to ride Pirates. She gets pretty scared on the drops, but was wanting to brave them for some reason.

Then we hit Peter Pan, which was probably our longest wait of the day(close to 15 minutes).

Then Snow White

The Pinocchio

Here is my random photo of the day. I took this picture of people taking pictures of other people.

Next was the Dumbo ride.

Then we headed to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. It has been a long time since I have been on that ride.

I had forgotten the majority of it.

Especially the part at the end where you realize how hot it isn't outside.

This guy tried to ask me about next year's Mr. Sasquatch Competition.

It is a good thing that Disneyland put up that fence. Otherwise, that dude was going to be changing his name to Jonah.

Then we hit the teacups. The music at this ride might be my favorite while waiting in line.

Then we went on this ride. I have a tradition of giving the kids a Sasquatch toy after their first time going on this ride. I always worry that they will expect one each time they go. It was going to be Maddie's 2nd time, and she did mention while waiting in line that she got a toy last time. She didn't ask for anything when we exited (probably because she was too terrified to think).

If you can find this sign, you can avoid waiting in a long line to try and find Nemo.

This was my first time doing it this way. I'm more of a fan of actually getting into the sub, but it was nicely air-conditioned. Plus, it was just me, Maddie, and a breast-feeding mother and baby (actually, I don't know what is plus about that).

Next up was Buzz Lightyear. This isn't one of Madison's favorites, but she knows that Daddy likes it.

Then we hit the rockets. The wait time sign at this ride has got to be the most inaccurate of the whole park, but on this day we walked right on. We tried Buzz Lightyear one more time and then headed to Toon Town.

She started to doze a little bit on the stroller ride over to Toon Town, and before she realized it we were about to get on Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. This worked out pretty good, because she didn't really have time to process the fact that she was scared of this one last time.

She was also scared of the rollercoaster in Toon Town last time. This time she kept announcing that she wasn't scared any more. She was right. We were in the front car the first time, and she asked to go on it two more times. I think she has a new favorite ride.

A hidden Mickey.
As a side note, I thought that after going to Disneyland after many times, that I would get bored of it. That has not been the case. As a youth I wasn't all that into Disneyland and preferred the rides at Magic Mountain. But I love going with the kids and seeing how much they like it. There are always things to do, and the kids never complain about going. As an adult there are plenty of new things to see each time too. Hidden Mickeys are everywhere, and seeing something new each time keeps it entertaining.

Next up was the "dinosaur train".

And here are the dinosaurs.

Then we went to my favorite place to take a nap.

The last ride of the day was Winnie the Pooh.

These guys still hang out there, and remind me of the great show that used to occupy this space (I'm not a big Pooh fan).

There is a store with a door convieniently placed right at the exit of Pooh. We stopped in and got a couple of treats for the people that didn't get to go on the trip. It was one of my better trips to The Magic Kingdom. How can you complain about going on 24 rides in one trip?