RAIN

Woke up to everything wet.

Cute Disney gear under raincoats. We naively thought the sky might clear as we waited for our uber.  

We made it for rope drop and then had to figure out Genie+.  It was misting.

Game plan was to race to Guardians and Genie+ Slingers. This part worked.  My thoughts on Genie+ are mixed.  I'm not at all sure it's worth the upcharge.

My favorite part/scene at the end of Toy Story Mania.

Jack Jack Num Nums!  

While in line for the Big Sun Wheel there was a slight break in the sky and we actually thought things might improve. Nope. The four minutes of warmth were nice though.

We had a non swinging gondola.  It was nice even though it was windy.

When it rains a lot of things close and just don't happen.  I was surprised to see a cavalade while Lili was on the silly swings. I no longer do rides that go around and around ;)

She's busy loading her visa card to the app so she could order lunch.

Towmator.  We didn't line up for any characters. We saw Bo Peep posing and Goofy on the run.  It was bleak for characters in the rain. Oh ya, we did see the Spider-Man show.

Got my cone.  It was good but honestly nothing tastes as good when you feel damp and are worrying about getting cold.  Surprisingly I didn't get cold until 5 as it was getting dark.  

I was parked on a bench enjoying the people watching. Lili was attempting to get on the Incredicoaster again.  I think she tried 5 times.  They close it every time it rains a bit harder. 6th time there she finally got on.

I love the details everywhere.  Heading into a biffy and I could here a spider bot and looked up to see one stuck in a web.  Hillarious.

On biffys...I found and used a bathroom I've never been in before.  I know.  I was shocked too.  Haha.

The Spider-Man show.

Lili got a high five.

A bit of fun with a Disney photographer.

He was moving pretty fast. Loved his outfit. Very dapper.

It poured for a bit so the show was canceled and it got scarce.  Haha.

Ant-Man props.

We found the Marvel Supercenter.

She bought a hat.

The tree is up early.  Bits of Halloween around and some bits of Christmas showing up.  At one point we saw the tires at Luigis were Halloween on the bottom and Christmas at the top.  I didn't take a picture.  We were on a mission.  Trying to get to Radiator Springs Racers before the next down pour and shut down.  The wait was 140 mins so we did single rider and waited 17. Genie+ doesn't work on lots of things.

Once back we went to the bother of a hot tub. So nice!  We stayed until we were good and boiled.  Quick showers, jammies and ubered dinner.

Disneyland tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be significantly worse and much wetter.  Arg.  So many people say the parks are great in the rain.  I disagree.  Not loving that part at all.  Loving this time with my girl though!

We're Here

Travel went smoothly. We arrived to beautiful weather.  Our room is great. It's been a very relaxed day.  However...none of you will be surprised by this.  Lili sailed through security.  I had to be scanned twice, then a FULL pat down front and back. Then swabbed on my hands and clothes and ending with a back pack search. I'm definitely flagged.  Or I have metal parts in me that I don't know about. I clearly look like a threat.  

View out our room. That's the parakade for the Garden Walk.

So grand.

Lunch at The Cheesecake Factory.  We split a meal and couldn't finish it so we got our cheesecake to go.  I'm excited about snack tonight.  The menu was insane. An actual book.  Picking a cheesecake was really hard. I did lemon meringue and Lili did coconut cream.

Then we walked around the Garden Walk and poked in some stores. Lili was entranced by all the crown bling.

We lounged at the pool and used the hot tub.  After showers we put on our jammies and then ordered uber dinners and groceries and water for the room.  It will be an early morning for us tomorrow.  California Adventure Park.  It's hard to fathom based on how nice today was but they're calling for rain for the next three days and flash flooding.  Yikes.

The only night for fireworks while we're here was tonight.

Lili wanted to see them.

The hotel staff told her the upper deck was a good place to view them.

I slept through them.  Lili stayed up and enjoyed them from the deck.  

Travel Day.

This cute kid wanted to match with me. So fun.  Smooth travels. The power outages all over the island had us concerned during the night.  Ferry was good.  Drive was easy.  Border crossing was 20 mins, no issues.  

We went straight to Target to get the new Taylor Swift Lavender edition but they were sold out. The Lavender edition has an extra song on it. We bought snacks and breakfast for the room.  Olive Garden for dinner.  It was yummy. Settled in jammies in our room at 7:00.  Haha.  Early start tomorrow, up at 5.  Our flight leaves at 7:15.  

Eric and the kids went to celebrate Dagen's Birthday. They look happy.

The men folk looked bored.  Haha.

One More Sleep

Lili and I leave tomorrow.  EEK.  So exciting. The weather report is calling for rain there too.  So I've packed shorts and a rain coat :) 

While we're away the boys are going to Dagen's Bday party.  I had them make cards together.  So cute.  Such concentration.

Jis only eats homemade chocolate chip or sugar cookies from the Chemainus bakery.  I've tried a few sugar cookie recipes and they aren't to her liking.  The cheap meals group put in the 'best' recipe and lots of people agreed it was the best so we tried it. She is eating them!  The boys and Eric like them too.  I'm not excited about the oil/butter flavor, however, they were easy, no rolling or cutters involved and they have the best crunch and flake.  

I haven't had luck finding sewing lessons for Jia and today she was offered 8 hours of sewing lessons through her school.  So exciting.  She is happy but stuck on being less than thrilled about a class that starts at 9:30.  Haha.  Spoiled homeschooler.  We also were notified that she's in the music festival for dance in February.  She's freaked about that.  Also her guitar music teacher inquired about her recital coming up.  She is not impressed.  She feels she's not ready.  Seems soon to us too, however, she has learned a LOT in a short time. She practices every day.

Finn and Coco almost touching!  Wee miracle.  Finn is having issues.  He is leaking pee while he sleeps and pees his bed now and then.  His bed is my couch.  We are on mattress protectors and have two sets now. Also his meds changed and we can now see the sides of his head where skull isn't formed.  I'm feeling like now we've removed too much fluid.  So we're dialing his dose back.  Hopefully the peeing is connected and we can reverse this. ?  So much unknown. I'm worried. He is still the cuddliest baby in the world, he certainly doesn't know there are issues.  

I made travel snack packs for Dec from the Halloween pile.  We get daily emails from Carnival about the cruise.  We leave in six weeks. It's starting to feel like we might actually get on a cruise again.

Lili has some tentative good news.  She is likely going to study abroad.  A trip to Taiwan for 16 days where she will take business courses in marketing and will earn 9 credits.  Typically it's 3 credits per course.  This isn't quite a done deal yet. So exciting though.

Lili is home tonight.  Doing laundry and packing.  I'm packed. I realized today that our Universal tickets didn't show up in the app so I went upstairs to print then so I could scan them into the app. Turned on my computer and realized I had work to do so did a crazy mad woman scurry to get it done before I leave.  Haha.  Figures.  Basically nothing all week.  The tickets did scan right into the app no problem.  The whole trip is paperless!