A Date with Deb & Fam at Disneyland

Two weeks ago, in between Kylie concerts, I met my sister and her family at Disneyland for the day. I only get up to Washington State a couple of times a year, so if they are coming close to me, I make the effort to meet them where they are. I am an expert guide at all things Disneyland.

We started our day at Disney's California Adventure.

Rob & Sam went on Grizzly Falls, Deb & I did not.

Please note my sister's fingers giving me the "bunny ears". This seems to run in my family.

Rob & I really wanted to go on the Roller Coaster "California Screamin'." My sister was very certain she was not going. My nephew Sam was in the middle. It's big. It's fast. It goes upside down.
In the end, the eternal power of peer pressure and the phrase, "Don't be a wuss" won out and we were off!

We wandered all over Disney's California Adventure. We had a "fast pass" to go on Soarin' Over California for later in the day and we wanted to stay in the same park until we accomplished that.

"It's Tough To Be A Bug" is a good show inside a cool theater, where you get to sit down.

How'd those bunny ears get in there?

And then it was time. Time for our "flight" on Soarin' Over California. We lined up and we were very excited. And by "we" I mean Sam and I. The family had already gone on the ride in the morning. I hadn't gone yet today. Sam thought it was totally cool but instead of riding on the bottom row of seats, this time he wanted to ride on the top. I told him how the last time I went on this ride with his grandfather, he wouldn't let me go on the top row of seats. We looked at his mom and said, "Please!?!" and she said, "(sigh) Okay."

There are three rows of seats. The front row goes to the top. At each of the three entrances, we said, "We want to be on the top row. Each time they sent us to the next door so we could do that. We waited our turn, went inside, we got on and we buckled up.

Each ride vehicle within consists of three rows of seats under a wing-like canopy. After guests have been safely restrained in the vehicle using standard lap belts, the canopy descends slightly and a cantilever system lifts the chairs forward and into the air with the guests' feet dangling freely. The vehicle is lifted forward so that guests look into a large, concave movie screen onto which aerial views of California are projected. The scenes were shot with an IMAX HD frame rate - 48 frames per second, twice the conventional output for regular films. Since the vehicle is moved forward toward the center of the dome, guests can only see the images projected on the screen and experience the sensation of flight. The ride structure contains about one million pounds of steel, and 37 tons are lifted during each ride cycle.

And here is a video of what the ride is like:

Now imagine as the lights go dark, the ride swiftly ascends and the music swells... that you feel a bump. A bump followed by the music being cut, and you can sense a rush of wind as the set of seats next to you return to the ground, but your seat, in the top row, does a slight "bounce" and stops.

"Please remain seated while we contact the control tower." and then the lights came on.

We were the only section stuck, and we were in the top row.

"Nobody move." said my sister.
"I'm gonna get my camera out!" said me.
"Don't. MOVE." said me sister with a forced calm.
and that's when I realized she was freaking out.

As only a mother can, she remained in a controlled calm so as to not freak her son out. Everyone else was talking and most everyone had their cell phones or cameras out. My brother-in-law began to play "Angry Birds".

I did take my camera out and discovered that my sister was keeping her eyes tightly shut.
I think this is probably how she looks when she is at the dentist.

Being the youngest and used to tormenting her, I asked her if she wanted me to tell her what was going on.
"NO." she told me tightly.
So, you don't want me to tell you how high up we are?
"NO."
You know it's an IMAX theater, right?
"NO."
Oh look, there's a man under the screen. Look!
"NO."
You want me to sing?
"NO."
You wanna play a video game?
"NO."

Finally the engineering department fixed the rise and we were let down. My sister's greatest fear was that they would announce the ride was ready and force us to go right back up. But they didn't. She then wondered if the paramedic was there was for her because she thought maybe they knew she wanted to pass out.

When we left, the staff gave each group a "fast pass" good for ANY RIDE in the either theme park that was good for your entire party. We left California Adventure, and per Sam's request, we used our group fast pass for "Thunder Mountain Railroad" (without his mom).

Disneyland has re-tooled "Star Tours" and was having a sneak peek that weekend. You know, it's better than the old one, but I kinda still missed the old one anyway.

About this point, my sister says, "Can we talk about that other ride? The one we got stuck on?"
Ok.
"How long were we up there? Half an hour?"
Uh, 5 minutes?
"No way. It was forever. At least 20."
No, 10 minutes tops. More like 7.
"Uh-uh. They had to call all those people in and they had to arrive. 15."
They have plans for stuff like that. And they have back entrances to be quick. Let's compromise and say 12.
"Okay, I'm telling everyone were stuck. In the sky. For TWELVE MINUTES."

Towards the end of the evening, we started to get tired, and tired of lines, and tired of people, but you know, you pay a billion dollars to get in, you can't just leave when you want. You have to stay all night!
So we went on the Matterhorn.
My sister: "I don't mean to belabor the point, but can we talk about that ride again?"
Me: Ok.
"So what would they have done if they ride hadn't come down? Get a ladder?"
Do you have any idea how high up we were?
"That's what I was most worried about. How would I get on the ladder."
Fist off, there isn't a ladder that tall. They would have had to use a scissor lift.
"Do they go tall enough?"
Yes, but we were over the curved screen. there was no solid floor under us.
"I'm so glad I kept my eyes closed."

As we left the Matterhorn, we were trying to decide on the "last ride" of the night.

What you need to know now, is a family legend.

Mr. Toad's wild ride consists of Mr Toad driving all over town and crashing into people and things, then being sent to court and then sentenced to jail. As he leaves for jail he winds up on the train tracks the train comes and kills him and then he goes to burn in hell. You know, standard Disney Kid stuff.

When we my sister was about 10, we went to Disneyland. We went on Mr Toad's Wild Ride. And when the "train" (which is a bight light suspended above) came at her and my dad's car, my sister screamed and hit the floor of the car, certain she was about to be killed.

We have tortured her about this ever since. Her son knows this legend as well. And so I say, What do you want to go on for the last ride of the night? And he says, "MISTER TOAD! MISTER TOAD! MISTER TOAD!"

My sister says, "Okay, have fun. I'll wait outside." And Sam says, "C'mon mom, don't be such a wuss!" Kids learn so quickly.

Moley

Toady

Ratty

Someone seems frightened...

Watch for the train at about 1:20:

THE TRAIN! THE TRAIN!

As we are finally leaving the theme park, Sam says he really wants something sweet. Oddly, my sister says ok, and he purchases the world's largest sucker. I think we all know how this is going to end up...

Sugar high, sugar low.

The family went off to their hotel and I drove home. The next day I drove to Las Vegas to see Kylie Minogue in concert. As I walked away from the family, I could hear my sister say, "Okay, about that ride earlier..."

For my cousin Julie

Julie and I both love shoes.

Julie and I both love Kylie.

Julie and I both love Kylie's shoes.

Of course my favorite pair of shoes was too hard to catch on stage as Kylie was dancing around way to fast for me to take a good photo. Hopefully this video gives you a good idea.

KYLIE!

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Kylie Minogue, not once, but twice in the same weekend!

First, at the Hollywood Bowl
With my friend Ellys.

Second at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas
With friends Zoel and Glen.

For blog purposes, I just took photos from both and mixed them together.

It was called the Aphrodite Tour and Kylie emerged as a Greek Goddess. with a Goddess theme flowing throughout the show.




Cupid Boy was a yummy number to watch. I wonder why?...

She had a great set with fantastic video dropped into the screen between the columns.


The finale was done to an Esther Williams water theme. In Europe (where she plays to much larger crowds) she had fountains and a pool as part of her stage set. Not in North America.

So busy!

I have been so busy, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

In the last two weeks I have loaded up my plate and eaten every life experience I could find.

I saw Kylie in Concert twice. Once at the Hollywood Bowl and two days later at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. In between I met my sister and her family at Disneyland for a day. I managed to fit in a haircut, lunch with friends, dinner with friends, and then we had out of town guests arrive.

We all made our way out to Palm Springs for the long Memorial Day weekend and when we came back, additional guests arrived from out of town. Bidding farewell to the first group, I made my way back out to Palm Springs with friends from Chicago, Houston and more locals from the LA area.

While I was out of town, my phone crashed and I spent a weekend without Facebook, Twitter, email or photos. So strange to be focused on things actually happening in the present.

We had a great time together and it all concluded on Sunday, which lands me here at my computer with no voice. Zero. So clearly a great time was had.

I've got some Kylie photos just itching to be shown, stayed tuned...

Ladies & Gentlemen, Cher!

Even though I am totally peeing my pants to see Kylie not once, but TWICE this weekend, I have to pause and give credit to another diva:

CHER TURNS 65 TODAY.

It's a dog's life

We've been going out to Palm Springs a fair bit. Cooper seems to be really getting in to the spirit of the place.
Now if you've met Mr Cooper, you'd be asking yourself, "How on Earth did they get him so relaxed? And on a pool float?!"

The answer is multifaceted. Lyle takes him roller-blading and wears him out. Cooper loves the sun and wants to be in it. He also loves to be spoiled and will only lie on a soft surface. So it was pretty easy to get him tired and laying on a pool float. As for getting him on the water.... uh, that took photoshop.

COOPER WOULD NEVER GO IN THE WATER. So I just cut him out and placed him there.

Summer is coming...

Last fall we received a postcard from the restaurant Roy's. There are a dew of them around, and this one came from our local Los Angeles outpost. It had their recipe for Roy's Classic Hawaiian Martini. And sure enough, we started to salivate over the idea of having one.

We went to the Roy's in Palm Desert last weekend and finally scored a Hawaiian martini and we got to thinking, "Hey, we've got this recipe and we could be drinking these all summer..." Off to the store we went.

Lining up the supplies.

Roy's Classic Hawaiian Martini:
1 ripe pineapple
2 cups vodka (they suggested Sky, we used Grey Goose, because we had a Costco sized bottle of that)
1 cup Malibu Coconut Rum
1 cup Stoli Vanil vodka
2 oz simple syrup

Slice the top and bottom off of a fresh pineapple, slice off the outer peel, cut pineapple flesh into 1 inch (or so) squares. Place in one gallon container.

Blend vodkas, Malibu rum, leftover pineapple juice and simple syrup together.

Pour alcohol mixture over cut up pineapple. Let stand at room temperature for at least FIVE DAYS.

When you are ready to serve, pour 4 ounces of the martini mixture into a shaker, shake, then strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with fresh sliced pineapple.

We were worried that the recipe says it only makes drinks for 6.
So we tripled the recipe.

Can't wait for summer to begin!

Dog Gone

Mr Cooper says car rides are BORING. But he still wants to go.

Visitors from the North!

I know I've not been here very often. I am out leading a very full life. And by full life I mean keeping up with my recorded tv shows on Tivo and sleeping. I'm kidding. I've been busy working and after work, I just can't seem to sit down and write more on the computer. Maybe I need a new chair?

Well, a few weeks ago I did manage to stop working and have some fun. Lyle and I were honored to host five women with whom he went to high school, at our little castle in Los Angeles. I call it a little castle because though we were able to handle all five plus ourselves, I did have to break down and place one person on a pull out bed in the living room.

This group of friends gets together often and it is such a pleasure to see them all together. Like a general massing troops across the border, a well thought out plan of attack was hatched. One woman would fly in from Eastern BC via Spokane, arriving at 2:30 in terminal 2 at LAX. Three women from Alberta would converge in Calgary and fly together to LAX arriving at 3:00. I would drive to LAX and collect them all to bring them home. (One more would arrive the next day due to work constraints). It was all so simple. What could go wrong?

Well, It could snow in Alberta.

Suddenly all the plans flew out the door and everyone was sent scrambling to make new connections from old missed connections. One of our dear friends left her house at 7 am and didn't arrive at our until 10 pm.

But that was soon all smoothed over with cocktails and plenty of chatter. And the next day we woke up to sunny skies and big plans! We were going shopping! In the afternoon, we pretended to have culture and went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

At the entrance to the Museum in front of Chris Burden's "Urban Light" sculpture.

Everyone gets into the spirit of contemporary art.

As we wandered through the museum I was commenting on how I find Picasso's art to be very disturbing. I fell back to the "gut level" reaction to art. I just don't like Picasso's paintings in my gut. I don't think they're bad, they just make me feel icky. Then I turned and saw a painting a really liked. I snapped a photo of it and then went up to see who the painter is.

Of course it is a Matisse.

That night we headed out to Marix a local West Hollywood restaurant that serves Tex/Mex food and strong margaritas. As a bonus, the roof over Marix is retractable and on a nice night you are basically sitting outside. When you think about where these women just left (remember, it was SNOWING) sitting outside would be quite a treat.

We are just beginning margarita madness.

Lyle and his bevy of beauties.

Our friend Dan joined us and brought his brother, Kees, who was visiting from Holland.

The queso fundido was stringy and delicious.

Post dinner, post margarita madness, and we were all headed home to sleep for tomorrow's festivities.

The next morning.
Who wakes up looking this good?

And we were off to Santa Monica for more shopping!

After a grueling day, some are happy shoppers...

... some are just tired.

Saturday night arrived and we were ready to get our groove on. We got all dolled up and headed out to Cherry Pop in West Hollywood.

I know you won't believe it, but we were all in the mood to have a good time.

Note the "reserved" sign for our table. Lyle said it was the only way to get him out.

Our friend Tony joined us for the evening.

He likes to be entertaining as well.

The ladies on the dance floor.

And this is my FAVORITE picture of Angie!

All too soon the weekend was over. Three ladies packed up and left in shifts the next day. The following day our final two guests left. It was a let down. My house was TOO QUIET. But I reminded myself that one weekend with 5 gorgeous women is better than no weekend with 5 gorgeous women.

Lyle and I were talking that night after everyone had left, "You have such nice friends," I said to him. "WE have such nice friends," Lyle corrected me. And I felt all cozy inside.