R&M Cook Fam

We left Anaheim and Disneyland a little sad that it was over. We still had something to look forward to, though. We drove the hour or so to Reseda for a visit with Matt, Danielle, and Myra. The girls were so happy to see Myra. We visited Danielle at her salon and had burritos at some place that they love (can't remember the name). Ridge and Russ went outside with Matt to pick grapefruit off his trees. We watched Danielle work her magic with scary make-up. Luckily we saw these guys again in November so Ridge doesn't think Danielle looks like her Halloween self all the time. The kids got dressed up for trick or treating. It was a lot like Halloween in Hawaii. It was warm enough that people set up shop outside their houses to give away candy and there were lots of homemade spook alleys for the kids to walk through. This year we had an 80's girl, cheerleader, and Captain America and Myra was dressed up as Harry Potter. Matt was supposed to be Voldemort but I think our visit put a hinge in the makeup application. The evening was short but sweet. So glad we got to see them.
All that candy made for lots of treats on the drive home. By the time we made it back to Boise the garbage bag had ripped and the floor was literally covered with wrappers. But we did make it back and after all the fun we were so happy to be home!

No More "are we there yet?" Made a velcro car to travel the course with us.

Everyone knows Disneyland is magical. However, this particular trip was especially magical for us. The night before our first day at Disneyland we made the mistake of checking what time it opened without selecting the day we would be going. We didn't realize that the opening time is different depending on the day of the week. We planned on parking in the parking lot and thought it was a little strange that the parking lot wasn't opened yet. We went back to our hotel and decided to walk. It turned out that the walk wasn't half bad and we walked the rest of the week. Luckily, I am married to superman and he pushed all three kids in one stroller for many of those walks to and from the park. One kid in the seat, one sitting on the handlebars, and one sitting on the arm rest/drink thing. For whatever reason we didn't connect the dots that if the parking lot wasn't open the park probably wasn't open. We ended up sitting and waiting for almost two hours. When it was nearly time for the park to open a park employee approached us and asked where we were from. We told him and he asked if we would like to be the opening family. We jumped up excited, but having absolutely no idea what that meant. He let us into the park before anyone else. He took our tickets, took our picture, and explained to us that he would be introducing us to the crowd as the Cook family from Idaho. It was our job to yell "the magic starts now," and start the 10 second countdown for the gates to open. It was so fun. All day people would walk by us and say, "hey, that is the opening family." And to make it even better we got a family fast pass for any ride we wanted to use it on any time during the day. When the park opened we went straight for astro blasters, the toy story ride, because we knew Ridge would love it (which he did). We utilized the fast pass system, which means lots of walking but no one complained thanks to superman and the amazing stroller.

In the evening we walked back to our hotel and had a delicious hot dinner. I was prepared this trip and brought my crockpot, a list of crockpot recipes, and the spices for said recipes. We hit the grocery store first thing when we got to Anaheim and stocked up on everything we needed. Every evening we went back to our room to a dinner that was all ready for us. Our hotel had a little kitchen complete with table to eat at. Best idea ever. We spent way less money on food and it wasn't the food that makes us feel sick.

The next morning, not having learned our lesson, we were WAY early again. This time because we were going to California Adventures and it doesn't open the same time as Disneyland. We had checked the time for the correct date, not the correct park (thinking it would be the same). However, our once in a lifetime opening family opportunity became twice in a lifetime and we got to do the same thing at California Adventures. One lady stopped me and asked me how she could get that chance. She had seen us the day before and thought we had some sort of opening family secret. Nope, just lucky.

The magic continued on Star Tours. During the ride Darth Vader stops the transport you are in and says there is a rebel spy aboard. They then show a picture of the rebel spy and it is a picture of someone on the ride with you. Katelyn was the rebel spy one time when we went on the ride. She was so surprised and embarrassed that she cried. A few times later on that ride Katelyn was the rebel spy again. This time she was more prepared and excited that she got to be the rebel spy.

The first day we went to California Adventures we went on a ride called Goofy's Sky School. Ridge LOVED it. It was his favorite of all the rides. The next day we went back to CA we went straight to Goofy's Sky School for Ridge. He went once and there was no line at all so we all ran around again. After the second time and on his way for a third the attendant asked if he would like to be aviator of the day. Ridge said sure! The man gave him a special certificate with his name on it. It was an all day fast pass for that ride and the Symphony Swings for our whole family for the whole day. We used it once for the swings. By we I mean everyone but me because the swings just aren't worth it for me. Because there is no dedicated fast pass line for the swings Rusty and the kids had to go up the elevator. They then split the line just for them to get through, let them choose their swings, and helped them buckle before they let anyone else onto the ride. Rusty said it was a little embarrassing but kind of fun.

One more magical part of our trip- penny smashers! I read on some forum about someone who took a roll of quarters and some pennies. Each time they were in a store their kids were looking for penny smashers rather than begging for items. I got my quarters and pennies, and ordered each of the kids a lanyard with a change bag attached. It worked like a charm. The kids felt like they were buying something in every single store and it cost me a total of $21.00. I also had a few other surprises up my sleeve. Since we were there at Halloween I got some orange shirts at the craft store and sewed black felt Mickey Mouse heads to the shirts. They looked so cute in their Disney Halloween gear. Well worth the $2.50 each.

This trip we were also...
- so amazed by the parades
- got to enjoy one more Aladdin show before it shut down in January
- loved that it wasn't flooding in California so we stayed dry
-were super impressed with Cars Land (WOW)
-had fun watching Ridge chase after the characters (he was definitely not afraid)
-loved that Kyleigh and Katelyn wanted to ride every ride together.
-the addition of the Avenger characters to take pics with. Captain America was so sweet to Ridge.

On the way out of Anaheim (Halloween Day) we stopped at the beach for a walk down the Pier and set off for to see Matt, Danielle, and Myra for a visit and some trick or treating.