Yesterday, a very large plastic jug of orange juice fell on my toe while I was wearing flip flops. Today, it is dark purple. Did I break it? I dunno. Will I have to sub out my step class this week? I dunno.
Should I put up a link to a pic?
101 degree weather, Chinese acrobats, magic tricks, roller coasters, vendor halls, arts and crafts, lots of food and a kid's maze. Mix that all together, and you get the Orange County Fair. We went with my mom and had a blast. We forgot our camera unfortunately, but here are the moments when I *would* have taken a picture:
Playing checkers with an OC sheriff, riding on the dragon roller coaster and the outback jeep track, Cameron's eyes at the magician's booth, Megan on a ski-doo kid ride all by herself (big smiles!), Yoshi and the kids going down the enormous slide, my mom, Yoshi and I schmoozing with the wine-tasting guru, and the kids running through the outdoor maze.
The OC Fair is the right size; doesn't take all that long to walk from one side to the other, and you don't see the same vendors repeatedly, like you do at the LA County Fair. Normally, Costa Mesa isn't nearly as hot as Pomona, but yesterday, it was hot everywhere. Not only hot, but humid. We were entertained by a lightening storm on the way home.
We're definitely planning on going back again next year. Hopefully, not during a heat wave.
I sold another article. There are two very cool things about this article. 1) It's not for a homeschooling magazine, and it's not about homeschooling. 2) I was hired to write this based on a query, which I had never done before.
I will give more details when the article is published, and link to it if it's up on the website version of the magazine.
On that note, I'm working on splitting this website into 3. I'm going to keep this one as my personal blog. I'm making a professional website where I will keep information on my publications, projects and whatnot. And the third one will be for all my homeschooling blabberings. They will be linked to one another, and they will all have RSS feeds, if you don't want to miss out on all the exciting happenings!
It might take a while, but that's where I'm going. Small steps. No rush. Enjoying the process, right?
A big birthday hug to my son Cameron who is 8 today. I love you Cam!
Pirates and Pirates 2 are now two of my favorite movies of all time. If you haven't seen them, do it. Don't wait for the DVD. See them in the theatres.
The movies: We saw Dead Man's Chest on Saturday. PoTC2 had the highest opening day gross tickets sales ever, and it is already close to breaking some more records, including highest gross internet ticket sales on opening day.
Disney did a great job marketing this movie. The movie is fantastic. It's no surprise how well it's doing at the box office. Jack Sparrow is quickly turning into a new Disney icon. The movie's quirky personality makes it stand apart from all the others. Crazy and just over the top enough to get lost in, but not so corny that you groan (well, I didn't anyway).
The Park: Disneyland was FILLED with Pirates stuff. Pirates merchandise, pirate shows, pirate references, all over. We went to the park Friday night after dinner, and Saturday morning before the movie. With all that going on, we were SO ready to see the movie Sat afternoon.
It's clear by Disney's application of Pirates marketing that they intend Jack Sparrow to be the next big Disney icon. It's interesting to see the commercial build-up from the beginning of the process.
The Ride: Friday night we went on the new Pirates ride. I was concerned that they would make it cheesy by sticking Jack Sparrow everywhere. Well, I was pretty close. The ride in its totality is not made too cheesy by Jack's appearance. And, the Jack figures they put in the ride are actually damn good. Too good. They are way better than the other pirates that are in the ride. So it's a little incongruous. The other pirates got an extensive makeover as well, including new clothes and new makeup. Some of the pirates were totally replaced. There were a few more elements added to the overall decor, including an awesome waterfall effect that I cannot possibly explain. You have to feel it for yourself.
Oh Jack Sparrow...he's just a bit overused. Once would have been perfect, twice would have been OK, but he appears three times. All three times seem forced and out of place. But, if you're willing to let that slide and just enjoy the silliness of it, the rest of the updates are very good indeed.
We go on Pirates every time we go to the park with the kids, so eventually I will get used to Jack's existence in the pirate's cove. Soon, we'll hardly remember how it was before he was there.
The Future of Pirates: I'm looking forward to Pirates 3. I'm planning on buying the DVD for Pirates 2 as soon as it comes out (can't wait to see the DVD extras). And, I'm sure I'll slowly increase my pirate regalia collection, as more and more cool stuff is marketed out to us fans.
It's nice to be home again with the kids. They are fun, interesting and easy people to be around. We have an awesome family dynamic. It makes me smile to think about it. :)
It started out with a 2-hour, can't-go-over-30MPH drive from Burbank to Anaheim, but it was worth it. Our weekend at the Disneyland resort has been a great grown-up retreat. Here's some of the things we did.
Wine Tasting: After a mediocre meal at the Wine Country Trattoria in California adventure, I convinced Yoshi to do some wine tasting with me. After many years of enjoying red wines without knowing much about them, I expected a gentle introduction to oenology. Well, we got lucky and ended up with Greg, wine expert extraordinaire, as our host. We learned not only how to discern a wine's personality, but it's history as well. Greg's enthusiasm also rubbed off on us - how could it not? We were spinning from drinking three generous glasses of alcohol (very tasty alcohol I might add).
I chose the red wine selection and Yoshi chose the ports. With his port, he also got a nice plate of blue cheese. Greg told us a lot of things about the wine, inspiring us to want to know even more. One thing he told me was, "Deep red wines go great with dark chocolate." I was so excited! I love red wine and chocolate. It's my favorite dessert.
We tried to go back the second night at 9pm to talk some more with Greg. But when we arrived, the woman behind the counter said that wine tasting ends at 5pm. I guess we were lucky to have met Greg. It was 9 the night before when we did the tasting. He had opened the tasting just for us - hours after it was over.
Rides: I was finally able to go on a couple of rides that I had never been on before, even after all these years of going to Disneyland with family - Splash Mountain and Grizzy River Run. We also went on some rides together that we usually split shifts with the kids - Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, California Screamin' and Soaring Over California. We also saw the new Pirate's of the Carribean.
Pirate's of the Carribean: It's been a pirate weekend. The ride, the movie, the park activities...I'm going to have to devote an entire entry about these things. Let me just say - Yo ho!
Food: Eating took as long as we wanted to. Yesterday, we had a bowl of clam chowder on the California Adventure water front. We sat in a quiet corner for an hour, enjoying the cool breeze coming from the water. We didn't have to fight over any other noise to talk.
The best meal we had was at the Graneville's Steakhouse, located in the Disneyland Hotel. Great food, great company, timelessness, excellent wine, excellent service - it was well worth the expense. It's a perfect getaway restaurant for a couple on a mini-vacation.
The Hotel: We spent just enough time in the hotel room to sleep, shower and check email. One item of interest - the hotel room has the exact same bathroom fixtures as we do. Made me feel a weird sense of being at home, but not quite.
The Company: I was in the best company all weekend - my hubby! This was a chance for us to reconnect and to just be together. Even as laid back as we are as a family, we're always "on". It was nice to be off-duty for a while.
Well, must log out now and pack away the computer for our trip home, and back to the real world of kids, errands, house cleaning and driving around. It won't be long until we get to do this again though. Later this year, Yoshi and I are planning to take an entire week of vacation. Wine tasting is still high on my list of possible destinations. Whatever we do, it'll be great.
I'm taking some time for myself to write at the library tonight, sitting in this comfy chestnut brown chair, equipped with a swivel side-table for my mouse. There's a power outlet conveniently installed in the wall behind me, and I'm in a corner away from most of the foot traffic. I just finished a project, and as I was opening a blank MsWord editing window, I caught a whiff of... something.
OMG, it's B.O. And I think it's from this chair. Eeeeew. Someone had such bad B.O. that they left a lingering imprint on my cushion.
You know what, I refuse to move. Sorry, honey, if I come home from the library stinky. I'm just too comfortable to gather up all my crap and move to another chair. And who knows, maybe all the comfy furniture in here smells like this. I might as well accept my fate and try to concentrate on writing and listening to music to distract my olfactory senses. The library is only open another hour. I've probably already reached maximum stink transferance, so, really, what's another hour gonna do?
