The ticket you get when you go to Disneyland on your birthday is a two-fer, which means you can go back and go to California Adventure for free within 30 days. Amanda said she'd go with me if we went on a day her pass wasn't blocked out before she started her internship, which was today.
I caught the train in Solana Beach just befor e9 and met Amanda in Fullerton a little after 10. We drove down to Anaheim and made our way to the park. It was a beautiful SoCal day for us, and not too crowded. I snagged an exit pass and a "Just Graduated" button. I don't know if I can go back to not walking around Disneyland wearing a button that merits a "congratulations" haha
We went on Soaring over California and California Screaming right away. I hadn't been on CA Screaming before, it was a lot of fun. It has great drops, and a loop that was actually enjoyable. We went through the bakery and tortilla factories there and got samples of sourdough bread and flour and corn tortillas. I ate the sandwich I had brought for lunch and we shared a delicious chocolate shake.
Since it was getting quite warm out, we thought going on the rapids ride would be a good idea. We shared our "raft" with this cute family from Davis whose son was very excited about everything. Upon leaving the ride sufficiently wet, we went on the Monsters Inc ride, very cute. We squeezed in one last ride on the orange spinning swings and took a few pictures.
Now comes the added adventure. We forgot to account in the time it takes to walk from the park to the parking lot, so we ended up leaving about 10 minutes before my train was to leave. Needless to say, I missed my train.
Well that's fabulous.
The next train wasn't for 2 hours, and I needed to be home before then so I could get ready for community band, hmm. time to be creative.
I then remembered that Dave was going to be in Orange County that day doing stuff for the fall. Time to swallow some pride and pull out the cell phone.
"Hey Dave, where are you?"
I was in luck, he was still in Orange County. I ran into the nearby convenience store and got him a large diet pepsi as a thank you, and Amanda drove me down to Anaheim to meet him. He drove me the rest of the way home and it was actually quite an enjoyable ride home. We talked about a lot of different things and discovered some mutual music tastes.
I made it home about the same time I would have had I caught my train. Band was quite sleepy for me, but I made it. And oddly enough Dave picked me up from band too. (He had been on his way to the video store and mom asked if he would stop by to get me on his way home).
Another delightfully fun Disney day.
Speaking of Disney, I saw Up last week with Raelene and absolutely loved it. It may now be in the runnings to be tied with Nemo for my favorite Pixar movie. Pretty sure I cried as much as I laughed in it, but it has some great messages. I was also able to use my Coldstone birthday coupon, which makes anything even better :)
Showing posts with label Disneyland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disneyland. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Pause for an Update on Life Now
It has been my experience that I take forever to finish my trip updates. This fact is frustrating, but the journals are important enough to me to keep doing them anyway. However, I'd also like to keep up with my life journal now, considering I've been home from Romania nealry a month. So here goes.
It took me a good week to adjust back to life in the states. No amount of debriefing could have made me understand reverse culture shock like actually experiencing it. I don't think I'll ever feel quite the same about my country and culture. I still love America, and will undoubtedly be overly patriotic for the rest of my life, but I better understand now some of the things that frustrate people from elsewhere about here. I mean, I'm a total "J" personality on teh Myers-Briggs, and I was about ready to chuck my planner out the window, things are much too fast paced here.
It definitely did not help my adjustment that straight away we dove into apartment hunting for next year. That was a nightmare and a half, let me tell you. Everything by SDSU falls into one or more of the following categories: too expensive, too unsafe, too dirty, too far away from campus and/or public transportation, does not accomodate pet dogs. Fortunately Valencia is exempt from pet laws, but one of my future roommates Ana has an 8 pound Bischon.
Eventually, after much searching and about 8 trips down there in 10 days, we found the perfect condo. The complex is in Mission Valley in between two trolley stops, which are about a 10 minute ride from campus. It's absolutely gorgeous: 2 bedroom 2 bath, great sized living room and kitchen, patio balcony. The complex is secure and has a pool/jacuzzi and fitness center. I'm uber excited. I'll be moving in the beginning of August, but our landlord is giving us the keys in a couple weeks so we can start moving furniture.
I'll be sharing the master bedroom and bath with Anja (she was in comm disorders with me at Biola and is starting the audiology program at state). Ana and her little doggy Brady will have their own room and bathroom on the other side of our condo.
Besides that craziness, I've been hanging out with Raelene quite a bit. We went to a college group at her church the first weekend I was home, and were the oldest ones there, hahaha. We hit up the Del Mar Fair. First time for both of us going without our families. I think we did quite well though, saw pretty flowers and farm animals and shared a deep fried smore and some deep fried cheese curds. yum!
I had a party to celebrate graduation and my birthday. My and I made fruit kabobs, my dad bbqed chicken skewers, and we had a variety of salads and desserts, plus mock margaritas, mmm. Krista, Becky, and Amanda came down from LA, which was amazing to get to see them again. Elizabeth brought Matthew, and Raelene and a number of neighbors and church friends stopped by.
For my birthday on Saturday I spent the day at Disneyland with Raelene and Becky. That was pretty awesome. They give you a button that says "Happy Birthday!" and your name, and everybody in the park wishes you happy birthday all day long. I counted about 19, plus I got sung to outside the ice cream shop on main street. Amanda met us for lunch in downtown Disney, and we met Krista at Red Robin for dinner. I had my family party Sunday evening, joint with our Father's Day celebration.
This morning I finished up an online scrapbook from shutterfly.com of my Romania trip. I may be able to post some of it on here. I'm pretty excited about it, mom had a special offer so we got it for free.
Other than that, I guess next on the list is 4th of July, summer sure goes by so fast!
It took me a good week to adjust back to life in the states. No amount of debriefing could have made me understand reverse culture shock like actually experiencing it. I don't think I'll ever feel quite the same about my country and culture. I still love America, and will undoubtedly be overly patriotic for the rest of my life, but I better understand now some of the things that frustrate people from elsewhere about here. I mean, I'm a total "J" personality on teh Myers-Briggs, and I was about ready to chuck my planner out the window, things are much too fast paced here.
It definitely did not help my adjustment that straight away we dove into apartment hunting for next year. That was a nightmare and a half, let me tell you. Everything by SDSU falls into one or more of the following categories: too expensive, too unsafe, too dirty, too far away from campus and/or public transportation, does not accomodate pet dogs. Fortunately Valencia is exempt from pet laws, but one of my future roommates Ana has an 8 pound Bischon.
Eventually, after much searching and about 8 trips down there in 10 days, we found the perfect condo. The complex is in Mission Valley in between two trolley stops, which are about a 10 minute ride from campus. It's absolutely gorgeous: 2 bedroom 2 bath, great sized living room and kitchen, patio balcony. The complex is secure and has a pool/jacuzzi and fitness center. I'm uber excited. I'll be moving in the beginning of August, but our landlord is giving us the keys in a couple weeks so we can start moving furniture.
I'll be sharing the master bedroom and bath with Anja (she was in comm disorders with me at Biola and is starting the audiology program at state). Ana and her little doggy Brady will have their own room and bathroom on the other side of our condo.
Besides that craziness, I've been hanging out with Raelene quite a bit. We went to a college group at her church the first weekend I was home, and were the oldest ones there, hahaha. We hit up the Del Mar Fair. First time for both of us going without our families. I think we did quite well though, saw pretty flowers and farm animals and shared a deep fried smore and some deep fried cheese curds. yum!
I had a party to celebrate graduation and my birthday. My and I made fruit kabobs, my dad bbqed chicken skewers, and we had a variety of salads and desserts, plus mock margaritas, mmm. Krista, Becky, and Amanda came down from LA, which was amazing to get to see them again. Elizabeth brought Matthew, and Raelene and a number of neighbors and church friends stopped by.
For my birthday on Saturday I spent the day at Disneyland with Raelene and Becky. That was pretty awesome. They give you a button that says "Happy Birthday!" and your name, and everybody in the park wishes you happy birthday all day long. I counted about 19, plus I got sung to outside the ice cream shop on main street. Amanda met us for lunch in downtown Disney, and we met Krista at Red Robin for dinner. I had my family party Sunday evening, joint with our Father's Day celebration.
This morning I finished up an online scrapbook from shutterfly.com of my Romania trip. I may be able to post some of it on here. I'm pretty excited about it, mom had a special offer so we got it for free.
Other than that, I guess next on the list is 4th of July, summer sure goes by so fast!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
The Happiest Place on Earth
Any week that involves a trip to Disneyland has got to be a good week. I love Disneyland, and have some amazing memories there, but this is now one of my favorite D-land trips ever, all thanks to the people I went with.
Best Buddies was able to get less than half price tickets as a special "community involvement" deal from Disneyland. I think this is kind of the same deal as "Happy Hearts Days" when I was little. (If you presented a doctor's letter that mentioned a disability, you could get discounted tickets, this usually was in February) I was worried that the day might be a little hectic thanks to my Spanish class at 1:30, nice and in the middle of the day, but I really feel like I got a good, full D-land day.
My favorite part of the day was watching and interating with the buddies. Their excitement and happiness at being at Disneyland was one of those contagious, warm fuzzy feelings inside, like when you watch babies smile and laugh or see kitties playing. A couple favorite Kathleen moments from the day: as we passed the Blue Bayou "Oh, that looks like such a nice evening atmosphere" and while waiting to go on Nemo she was entirely overjoyed to see a pink autopia car.
I also got to interact a lot more with some of the other buddies than I have at other events. Valerie is very outgoing and friendly with everyone. She's met Valencia before and made it a point on Thursday to keep an eye out to help me, knowing that I don't see well. Upon thanking her at one point she responded with a comment to the effect of "People have to look out for each other."
Michelle is Jessica's buddy, and I have talked with her at several of the last buddy events. She makes it a point to talk with everyone and is often quite persistent with questions. Later in the day when a few of the girls had to head back for class, Jessica went to transfer some things from their car to hers. In her absence Michelle adopted me as her buddy. We went on the Matterhorn and Alice in Wonderland together, and when she and Jessica were leaving she gave me a hug.
There's so much you can learn from the buddies about really loving people and finding joy in the little things in life. I feel so blessed to be able to get to know these people and feel so excited about continuing to work with people with disabilities. For me I don't know what could be more rewarding.
The end.
Best Buddies was able to get less than half price tickets as a special "community involvement" deal from Disneyland. I think this is kind of the same deal as "Happy Hearts Days" when I was little. (If you presented a doctor's letter that mentioned a disability, you could get discounted tickets, this usually was in February) I was worried that the day might be a little hectic thanks to my Spanish class at 1:30, nice and in the middle of the day, but I really feel like I got a good, full D-land day.
My favorite part of the day was watching and interating with the buddies. Their excitement and happiness at being at Disneyland was one of those contagious, warm fuzzy feelings inside, like when you watch babies smile and laugh or see kitties playing. A couple favorite Kathleen moments from the day: as we passed the Blue Bayou "Oh, that looks like such a nice evening atmosphere" and while waiting to go on Nemo she was entirely overjoyed to see a pink autopia car.
I also got to interact a lot more with some of the other buddies than I have at other events. Valerie is very outgoing and friendly with everyone. She's met Valencia before and made it a point on Thursday to keep an eye out to help me, knowing that I don't see well. Upon thanking her at one point she responded with a comment to the effect of "People have to look out for each other."
Michelle is Jessica's buddy, and I have talked with her at several of the last buddy events. She makes it a point to talk with everyone and is often quite persistent with questions. Later in the day when a few of the girls had to head back for class, Jessica went to transfer some things from their car to hers. In her absence Michelle adopted me as her buddy. We went on the Matterhorn and Alice in Wonderland together, and when she and Jessica were leaving she gave me a hug.
There's so much you can learn from the buddies about really loving people and finding joy in the little things in life. I feel so blessed to be able to get to know these people and feel so excited about continuing to work with people with disabilities. For me I don't know what could be more rewarding.
The end.
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