Ok, so how sad is it that the Doman's, the Grover's and Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Jeff went to Disneyland in October and none of us have posted any pictures or information about the trip? So, here goes...
Grandma and Grandpa took us all to Disneyland in October. It was a WONDERFUL trip! We had a great time together. I tell you, I was never so blessed than to have married into such a wonderful family! I wish everyone could be as blessed as I am to have such wonderful people in their lives.
We arrived on Thursday, October 1st around 10:00 in the morning and went straight into the park. Heather suggested we get a fast pass for one of the rides >and then we went to ride the cars. While we were in line, Grandpa and Grandma called and told us they had arrived, too. They took pictures of us riding in the cars. The kids drove while the parents sat in the passenger seats. It was a taste of
things to come for the Grover family, I think. Kyle is getting his driver's license soon. (Yikes!)We ate lunch in Tomorrowland and watched the Star Wars show. The Jedi trained the little Padawan Apprentices pulled from the audience and Evan plotted how he could get chosen. We spent the rest of the day in the park bouncing around from one ride to the next and having fun. At the end of the day, we went back to the hotel and the kids jumped into the pool. (I know I fell asleep! I was exhausted!) We had dinner at the restaurant located in the driveway in front of the hotel; it was supposed to be like Mimi's Cafe, but not. Live and learn.
The next day, Friday, the Grover family went to McDonald's for breakfast and then made a dash into the park for Indiana Jones Adventure, which we rode, and rode, and rode until the line got too long. Then, we cut over to Frontier Land and rode the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad where we met up with the Domans and Grandma and Grandpa, which is Morgan's favorite. They had picked up Family Reunion badges for everyone and we wore them for the rest of the visit. The only time they worked for us was at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. They scooted us to the front of the line.
I believe we also ended up at the Matterhorn, but that could have been another morning. It all seems kind-of a blur. By lunchtime, we were ready to split up and decided to meet up in California Adventure for the afternoon, I think. We rode the Tower of Terror, which was a whole lot of fun. Heather filmed it for her kids and convinced Kaelin to go on a ride. Evan never did. Oh well. The Grover family started mugging for the camera at the top and got a couple of really good pictures. One of them got printed up:
I heard a guy comment after the ride, "Look at that guy's guns on the back row! That's AWESOME!" I thought it was pretty funny.
We rode Soarin' Over California, the rollercoaster at the back of the park, and then we tried to get Kaelin to ride the other free fall ride but she chickened-out at the last second. Cutie! I guess it was actually seeing how high she was actually falling that made her nervous. She went on a lower ride with Morgan and was ok with that. The kids rode the Wild Mouse and then Liz and Tom got headaches. (Too much low bloodpressure!)
We watched a Pixar Parade after that. The costumes were amazing! The kids were ready to swim so we went back to the hotel and I manned the pool, this time. Heather and I searched the internet for Disney trivia we could use in the park on Saturday. We had pizza for dinner in the hotel commons area and played games. One of them was a game Grandma made; Flinch. Morgan has been begging to play that one ever since.
The next morning, which was Saturday, the Grover's jumped up really early and jetted over to Space Mountain and rode it a couple of times. It was really cool! Heather joined us and we got tickets for later in the day. Then, we ran over to Indiana Jones and rode that for a while before we met up with Grandma, Grandpa and Tom and the Doman kids. We rode the Indiana Jones ride again and then went for more park stuff. (It all seems to blur together!) We met-up again out in front of the Pirates of the Carribbean ride and take a picture on the famous steps with everyone between New Orleans Square and the Haunted Mansion after splitting up for awhile. The park employee was really nice about it. I know at one point, we had lunch in California Adventure. There was a joke about taking a picture in the "A" hole of the big "CALIFORNIA" sign out in front. That must have been when we all walked over to the park when it opened so we could ride the Tower of Terror some more.
We spent some more time in this park but I think we must have ended up in Disneyland at the end of the day. It must be noted, this day was the beginning of Gay Days Anaheim '09 and the park was absolutely flooded with people wearing red shirts for the rest of the weekend. The Grover's tried to stay in the evening but the park was so full that it was a mad-house and we ended up going home.
One night, I think it was Saturday night, The Grover Family had dinner in a yummy italian restaurant in Downtown Disney. It was good pizza! The Doman's had dinner in a take-out place (?) not too far from there and I think Grandma and Grandpa ate with them.
On Sunday morning, Heather and the Grover's ran into the park again for another break-neck day of ride-hopping, starting at Indiana Jones. It broke down so we decided to go for Space Mountain, which also broke down. We were two for two so we wandered around, rode a few rides in-between before hooking up with everyone else, and then waited in line for California Adventure. We hotfooted it to the back of the park and got in line for the Toy Story ride, which was really cool! It was a ride where you shot at different shooting galleries, like the kind at a carnival, but you wore 3-D glasses and all the things you were shooting at were animated. No wonder the line was so long!
We shuffled around CA for the rest of the day until it got cold. Shawn didn't want to go back to the hotel for warm clothes so he sprung for all of us to get sweatshirts in Downtown Disney. After that, we went out for dinner. (Thanks Grandpa!) It was yummy food and we all got warm inside. On the way back to the hotel, the Grover family stopped for bread pudding and beignets from a New Orleans Jazz restaurant. Shawn had been wanting to eat some for a while. They were warm and tasted good! We drank hot chocolate on the way home and realized there was a winter storm to go back to in Idaho. :-(
On Monday, we got up, packed and stored our suitcases for the rest of the day before checking out of our hotel rooms. After that, we went to McDonald's and had a nice, leisurely breakfast before going into the park. We rode the Matterhorn again, wandered around, rode a few rides and had a good time together. The last ride we rode before Grandma and Grandpa had to leave was the Pirates of the Caribbean. We went to the statue of Walt, took pictures and hugged good-bye.
The Grover's and the Doman's ate a yummy lunch of gumbo in New Orleans Square and then went back toward the castle in Fantasyland to pick up some stuff Shawn and Liz had bought. Evan wanted a big pickle and Kyle wanted a pretzel with cream cheese so we split up and then planned to meet back at Walt so we could hoof it back to the hotel. It's a good thing we did because the driver of the limo service was early!
We all loaded up into the van and drove to the airport footsore and tired after five days in Disneyland. As the driver dropped us off in front of the airport, who should we see standing out in front of it but... Grandma and Grandpa!
Yes, the teary good-bye in front of Walt was all for nothing! We are such drama queens!
So, we sat in the airport for a few hours waiting, and waiting, and waiting until they announced our flight. Woo-hoo! We got on, took off, and went home.
(Can you see us waiting and waiting and waiting?)So, Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa for a memorable trip! It was such a pleasant way to reconnect and spend time together. I sure enjoyed the time with my whole family! You are such a wonderful group of people to be related to! I am so glad to call you mine!
-Liz Grover
P.S. I didn't have pictures on the computer to download so if you have them, please download them!
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