Ma - I'm a STAR! (Part 1)

I FINALLY got to go to Hollywood and I'm sold. It's awesome. By now, you should now that we went to a taping of The Price is Right, but in preparation for my TV debut, we decided to live it up - Hollywood style. 

I 'Hotwire'd a sweet hotel - The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel - that was smack dab in the center of Hollywood. Literally across the street from the Hollywood and Highland Center.

Our room was great! A nice mix of modern and vintage. 

We settled in and then headed out to find some stars! On the way, we took some pictures of the famous 'Hollywood' sign.

 And then we were off on a search - our destination: Lucille Ball. I was a little disappointed that her star was in front of a shop for ::questionable:: ladies, but since those shops make up 90% of Hollywood Blvd, I shouldn't have been too surprised.

 Of course, I HAD to get a picture in front of the Dolby Theater, aka The Home of the Oscars. If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with the Oscars, so this was a big deal.

 That night we opted to see Frankenweenie at the famous El Capitan Theater, which has been the location for several movie premieres and offered a rather unique experience. Prior to the start of the show, they hold an organ concert with an original Wurlitzer organ and then before the movie, they had a laser show. It was a very cool!

We ended the night at the Disney Soda Fountain with an amazing hot fudge (and marshmallow cream) sundae! Did I forget to mention that the El Capitan Theater is owned by Disney? Next door, which you can kind of see on the right (above), is the home of Jimmy Kimmel Live - also owned by Disney. 

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Disney for FREE.

Every other week, I get together with the other wives (and their kids) for a park day on Coronado.A friend of ours was down here with her husband for only a few weeks, but in that time they had gone to Disneyland with friends. They ended up getting three-day passes, but only used two of the days. Instead of having them go to waste, she gave me the tickets! With two extra passes to Disneyland and only a week to use them, I asked my friend C if she wanted to join me. She had a guest visiting, E, so it worked out perfectly!

We started out touring the new Cars Land. I thought that we got there early enough for FastPasses to the Radiator Springs Racers, but they were closing up right as we got there. Bummer.

We followed that up with some roller coasters and the swinging ferris wheel.

It turns out I didn't explain the rides very well and we were all gripping the side of our seats on the ferris wheel. Me, because I don't like them and I don't like heights; Them, because the swinging is pretty unexpected.

After that we went on the swings, which was actually the very first time I had ever been on this type of ride.

Disneyland is currently decked out in Halloween splendor. It's awesome.

 We went over to the classic Big Thunder Railroad, where C screamed "I just don't know about this!" from the last car the entire time. :-)

 And then we hit up the Tea Cups and went to wait in line for the Matterhorn. When we went to get into the final waiting area for the Matterhorn, I realized I was missing my Minnie Mouse card holder. Why is this a big deal? Well, it was holding my annual pass, an almost empty gift card, and our FastPasses. But honestly, I wasn't that concerned about those things - I was more upset about the card holder! Tim and I had gotten those at Tokyo Disney and have a matching pair.

So I got out of line and started searching the ground. I asked people in line. I asked the ride operator. C and E had also gotten out of line by this point, so we searched the ground between the Matterhorn and the Tea Cups and then asked the T.C. operators. No one had seen it. Ugh.

At this point, I'm trying to keep a good attitude, because I'm basically hosting for my friends and don't want to be a big stick-in-the-mud, but I was pretty bummed. The operators all suggested we go down to City Hall and ask at the Lost & Found. Knowing that I had just lost it, I figured the best I could do would be to report it missing and hope someone would find it and turn it in.

We walked down the L&F and I gave a description of the holder and what was in it. The lady was so nice and said they don't usually worry about lost Annual Passes, because they can be replaced (it is linked to my picture and my fingerprint), but if it's with something, they'll call the owner. This meant my Minnie Mouse card holder, which made me feel better. And then - and this is why Disney ROCKS - the lady asked me "Is there anything else I can do to make your day better?" I said, "Well, yeah, I lost two sets of FastPasses too." So she filled out two "Skip to the Front" passes for us. Amazing.

After all this turmoil, I needed to blow off some steam, so we walked across the park to Splash Mountain and used our first "Skip to the Front" pass.

Somehow I convinced my two guests to go in the front...

They got a bit wet. 

Then it was back to the Matterhorn to actually ride it and ask the operators AGAIN if they had anyone turn in my card holder. And...

SOMEONE DID! 

The operator was so nice about it and even commented that she always loves the souvenirs people bring and then she finds out they're from one of the International Disney parks and not available here in the US. We were all jumping up and down with excitement. It was awesome. 

Our day ended back at California Adventure, where we took in Tower of Terror. E even took out a chunk of C's leg on one of the descents. Guess I didn't explain this one very well either...

And we stuck around for the World of Color show - which we spent singing along to the songs and dancing.

In all, it was probably one of my most memorable days at the parks. It's a good thing we have annual passes, because I have definitely made mine worth it!

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Beautiful Days.

To avoid posting another set of Disneyland pictures, here are a few random activities we've been up to down here:

Supporting our Seahawks one Sunday afternoon at a "The Local."

Some of our friends down here have a pool at the complex (well, three pools) and I just had to test out our new underwater 'Tough' camera! 

Taking in one of the last Padres games of the season. It's nice not to have the traffic outside our windows anymore, but I miss the fireworks. 

Tim and I were inspired to buy a kite a few weekends back. It was a great day and we actually had a lot of fun. Plus people kept asking us where they could buy a kite, so we must have looked like we were having a good time.

A Mexican sunset. I was shopping down in Chula Vista and could see the border (so strange) but this picture really doesn't do the sky justice.

To answer my sister's question "Do I do more than go to the beach and Disneyland?" Yes, I go to the pool, fly kites, shop, hang out with friends at bars and sporting events AND go to the beach and Disneyland. It's a tough life, but someone has to do it. :-)

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Too much...

FUN. :-)

Have you ever gotten to the point, where there's almost too much to update on and so it never happens...

I feel like that's the relationship I have with this blog after every trip or adventure. There's too much. So I'm going to try and blitz blog over the next few days to catch up...bear with me!

I'm going to take you back to early September. It was a beautiful Saturday morning...

The boys had to haul our supplies (food, beer, clothes, beer, soda, beer...the best part, Tim and I don't drink beer!) with help from our resident kid.

We were going sailing!

The view from below the Coronado Bridge - very daunting.

Our destination was Glorietta Bay. Our mission - swimming and lounging. 

There was some posing - can you see The Hotel Del Coronado?

And some showing off - they were in sync almost perfectly.

I tried to partake, but bombed. (Pun intended.)

Food was brought and had by all...

And after four hours of hilarity and relaxation, it was time to head back to the marina. Here's Captain J.

And a mandatory skyline picture...

We ended the day by waving to friends who had to work on the weekend - see those white boxes/trailers, that's where Tim spends his days.

Not a bad view, eh?

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Another day at the Parks.

I promise, Tim and I do more than just go to Disneyland...

 Waiting for World of Color 

 Big Thunder Railroad - IN ACTION!

 Traditional Castle Picture

 New Minnie ears at the NEW Cars Land 

(Thanks to my sister and family for the gift card!)

Radiator Springs Racers 

The only story I'll tell is about the Radiator Springs Racer ride...we waited 40 minutes for our FASTPASS (not the ride!) when the park opened. This was so we could avoid standing in the 180 minute stand-by line! The last time I saw lines like that was when my family visited the parks right after Indiana Jones opened - and we waited in that line!

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How did you spend your weekend?

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The Parents come to visit.

Less than 48 hours after Laurie left us, Tim and Patti flew down for a long weekend. Unfortunately Tim had to work the entire time, but we were able to take in a few local sights. Pacific Beach was hosting a large car show!

Here we are with "General Lee."

 They also had the "Green Hornet," the Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am and "The Mystery Machine" from Scooby Doo. The big celebrity guest and car enthusiast was Christopher Knight from The Brady Bunch. We didn't feel like paying for his autograph.

And since Tim could join us, here are the photos we took for him...

 An impala even larger than his and a 60's Chevy (his favorite).

The next day was a shopping and beach day. I didn't take any pictures, because we were having too much fun in the waves! 

After Tim's parents left, it was my parents' turn to visit for a long weekend. After picking them up from the airport, we headed north to Temecula to visit the wineries. It was beautiful and HOT and I didn't take any pictures. Fail. 

Tim was able to join us on Sunday for the U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge.

 The sculptures were amazing! This is the backside of a piece:

And it was fun to talk to the artists about their work.

Fun Fact: Because of the sand they used for these sculptures, these could last 10+ years! They were demolished the next evening.

This sculpture was hollow on the other side and each of those little sheets had a name on it:

And this was our favorite of the day (and everyone else's too!) It won 1st place and the People's Choice award.

The rest of our trip involved more shopping than I think I've ever done with my parents...ever. I'm still in a bit of shock. :-) But my Mom has a wonderful new wardrobe for the school year! And I got my birthday present - new shoes! (They know me so well.)

That's it for visitors for the next month or so...

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