Disney Parks Part 1

Recently, I’ve had a couple of co-workers and family members plan a trip to Disneyland, and they’ve turned to me with their questions. I don’t know if they really know what they’re getting into when they do that. In fact, I’ve started warning people when the subject first comes up that they’re going to have to tell me to shut up when they’re done listening to me, because I never get tired of talking about Disney.

So, I decided to blog about it. This way, no one can tell me to shut up. You can just stop reading when you get bored (if you’ve even made it this far).

Having grown up with four brothers and a sister, Disneyland was never a financial possibility for my family. Therefore, the first time I went, I was 22 years old. The second time I was 23. I’ve tried counting the number of times I’ve been to a Disney park since then, and while my memory isn’t all that great, I’m pretty sure I’ve been between 15 and 20 times.

Of course, there are people out there who have been many more times than I have, and I’m not claiming to be an expert. I’m just sharing what I’ve learned and noticed through my many visits.
I’ve been to Disneyland/Disney World with kids of all ages (well, most ages – from 4 months to 16 years old), and I’ve been with just adults. I love doing both, but it’s true that the two experiences are very different.

I often get asked if it’s worth taking little children to the parks. I’d say that if they’re at least three years old, they’ll love it. I’ve been with a two-year old who loved it and talked about it constantly for two years (until she went again), but I’d say three is about the threshold. Disney apparently agrees with me, because that’s when they start charging for the child’s ticket. (Children two and under who are in the park without a ticket can still ride.)

In my opinion, there are different “experiences” to be had in the Disney parks. There’s the Young Child Experience, when you’re taking children from about three to about nine years old. There’s the Pre-Teen Experience, when you have kids with you who are about nine to about twelve years old. There’s the Teenager Experience, the Young Adult Experience and the Adult Experience, which have only subtle differences between them. I’m guessing there’s a Senior Experience as well, but I can’t really speak to that one…

The Young Child Experience:

I’ve spent most Young Child Experiences in Disneyland, and only a couple in Disney World, so I’m talking mostly about California on this one…

From it’s a Small World to meeting characters, young kids have a BLAST at Disney parks. There’s so much for them to do. Unlike many amusement parks that have very few rides that young children can go on, Disney has very few rides that young children CAN’T go on. Of course, there are certain rides that tend to be favorites. And most of those are in Fantasyland, which tends to be one of the busiest areas of the Park.

(Disclaimer: I have spent very little time in Mickey's Toon Town. Even when we go with small children, we’ve only gone to Toon Town to see Mickey and Minnie. There are relatively few rides there, and some of them are only for kids (you can’t ride with them). The rides throughout the rest of the park are ones that kids and adults can enjoy together.)

A few of the rides that I’ve noticed kids really enjoy in Disneyland: it’s a Small World, Mad Tea Party, King Arthur’s Carousel, Buzz Lightyear, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Winnie the Pooh. In Disney’s California Adventure: Little Mermaid, Francis’ Ladybug Boogie, Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train, King Triton’s Carousel, Toy Story Mania. That’s not to say that there aren’t other great rides that kids love, but those are the ones that have come up as “favorites” or that we’ve ridden more than once because someone wanted to go on it again.

I recommend meeting at least a few characters during the Young Child Experience. You can go to Mickey’s house to see him in Toon Town. The lines are generally the shortest when he first starts greeting guests (usually at 10:00am). If you can get there right around 10:00, you shouldn’t have to wait more than twenty minutes. Minnie’s house is just next door, and the same concept applies. If you’re going to both, definitely do Mickey’s house first, since his lines back up faster than Minnie’s. If you can’t get there at 10:00 and don’t want to stand in a long line, I recommend trying to catch him in Disney’s California Adventure. He has a spot where he often greets guests in on Paradise Pier, not far from Ariel’s Grotto.

If you have little princesses in your group, you’ll probably want to meet at least a couple of the Disney princesses. If you can afford it, I’d highly recommend getting a reservation at Ariel’s Grotto for lunch. It’s expensive – about $35-40/plate, but while you’re eating, four princesses come out and mingle with the diners. Each one will come to your table and talk with your kids, sign autographs and pose for pictures. While I wouldn’t say the food is worth that much money (it’s good, but not that good), the whole experience definitely is worth it. The other options for seeing princesses involve standing in some pretty long lines, unless you’re lucky enough to get there at the right time. If you don’t want to do either, the girls in your party can still see the princesses in the parades, and they won’t even know that they’re missing anything (unless you tell them).

While the little ones can go on most of the rides with you, there are a few that they’re not going to be able to ride. The height restrictions are anywhere from 32 to 48 inches, depending on the ride.

If you’d like to go on some/all of those rides, and if it’s possible, I recommend taking more than two adults on your trip (the favorite aunt is always an option…). Disney has what’s called a “Rider Switch Pass” for many of the rides that have a height requirement. This allows your group to go on, say, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while one adult stays back with the kiddies. When the first group is done, the person who stayed back can then get into the Fast Pass line (which is significantly shorter than the standby line). The Switch Pass allows up to three people onto the ride, so if you have more than two adults, the one who stayed back doesn’t have to ride alone (it also gives one or two people the chance to ride twice).

NOTE: the Switch pass needs to be obtained before the main group gets on the ride. You need to talk to the Cast Member at the front of the line, and they’ll usually need to see the child that’s staying behind.

If you have really young children, I recommend taking a stroller to the park. You’ll be doing a lot of walking, and if you wear out the kids too much, they just get ornery. You can rent a stroller at the park, but they’re $15.00 a day, so it’ll save a lot of money if you can take your own. There are “Stroller Parking” areas all around the park, where you can leave your stroller when you go on rides. While I wouldn’t leave anything valuable on the stroller, it’s always nice to have a place to leave behind sweatshirts, water bottles, etc. so that you don’t have to carry them on the ride. In fact, when I go without children, I always miss having a place to stash the stuff I always end up carrying around.

The Disney parks are always the busiest in the afternoons. I recommend getting to the gates before the park even opens (even as early as 30 minutes before opening) and spending the first part of your morning in Fantasyland (though, if you’re going on some of the ‘bigger’ rides, you’ll want to send someone out to get Fast Passes for later). You'll be able to ride many more rides and stand in a lot fewer lines if you can do that.

If you do make it to the Park right around the time it opens and you want to take in the evening entertainment (which I’ll talk about later), I’d recommend heading back to your hotel for the afternoon to rest, nap, etc, and then coming back to the park around 5:00 or 6:00pm. That way, you’ll be refreshed when other families are flagging and heading home because they can’t handle any more. If you decide to stay in the Park during the afternoon, you may want to take that time to shop or get some ice cream and find a relatively quiet place to sit for a while. Otherwise, you'll be standing in some pretty horrendous lines

Anyone still reading at this point? Cause I'm just getting started!

Boundaries

Having grown up in an active Christian family, I have always been familiar with rules and boundaries. I've even come to believe that rules are generally a good thing; that we can actually be more free when we have boundaries to guide us. A favorite analogy is flying a kite. As long as you hold onto the string, the kite can soar to incredible heights. But the minute you let go of the thing that's "holding it back," it plummets to the ground. Boundaries are the same way - they tether us to the world so that we can soar to unbelievable heights.

Having learned and believed all of this, you'd think I'd be pretty good at following rules. Yeah...not so much. I was a senior in college before I realized that budgets work the same way. As restricting as a budget always sounded to me, I finally figured out that it was actually freeing to stick to one. I suddenly didn't have to worry about whether or not I had money to cover a certain expense or pay overdraft fees. What a concept!

So, I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that it's taken me this long to figure out that the same thing works with eating and exercise. Huh. Go figure.

Turns out, if you keep tabs on what you're eating and get exercise in, you actually start to feel better. Your cholesterol goes down, your metabolism goes up, you start sleeping better, and you can play with nieces and nephews without passing out from lack of oxygen. Weird, right?

I just can't wait to figure out what my next revelation is going to be. Maybe that if you get to work on time, you can actually leave on time. Or if you practice an instrument, you might get better on it.

Then again, could just be pipe dreams...

I did it!!

Okay, it was nearly two months ago, but I'm finally reporting on the triathlon. I did it! I completed the mini-tri in just short of an hour. Literally. As in, 59 minutes and 40 seconds. Go me!

My sister, Emily, and I headed down to St. George on Friday and stayed with our college roommate and her family. It was a blast to see them, and we stayed up way too late chatting, considering I was planning to kill myself the next day, but it was definitely worth it! Thanks again Sue & Marshall - you guys are awesome!

On the morning of the race, Emily and I went to the competition area and met up with Olga, who was responsible for getting me into this whole thing in the first place. We got signed in and set up. I was pretty nervous, especially for the swim. (Though my sister-in-law, Lori, had shown me how to get started and make better turns, I hadn't had a lot of practice in doing it.)

We lined up next to the pool where the race would start and tried not to look at the guys who decided to come in tiny speedos. Yick.

Finally, it was time to start. We wore anklets that would start the timing the minute we crossed over a certain spot, and keep track of our times for each portion of the race. When it was my turn, I made my way as quickly as possible down to the lane I was assigned to and jumped in.

It was about then that I realized I hadn't put my goggles on.

So, it turns out that all the practice with jumping in and getting a good start wasn't really applicable because, well, I had to pause to adjust my goggles...

The swim actually went much more quickly than I had expected (once I got started). Emily stood at one end of my lane and cheered for me when I got to the turns, which gave me a boost for each lap. And then, I was done. I got out and tried to catch my breath while running for the transition area.

It took me a while to transition to the bike. (Most of that time went to finding where I had set up my things. Yeah. Got a little disoriented there...) Once I found it, I had to dry off (an impossible feat, really), get my biking shorts and t-shirt on over my swimsuit, put my shoes and socks on, put my helmet on, and then take my bike off the rack and head to the start of the bike race.

The biking portion was hard. I thought I was going to die on some of the hills, and I was certain that I would never reach the turn-around point, but I kept going, and, believe it or not, I did reach it. I was determined to not get off and push my bike, and I made it without doing so. (I won't mention the fact that someone pushing her bike actually passed me...)

When I got back to the transition area, I met up with a friend, and we started the running portion together. It wasn't long before I told her to go ahead and leave me behind. I was pretty sure that a turtle could have passed me at that point... I had to walk several times on the way out, but once I reached the turn-around point, I was determined to run all the way back. (The word running here may be a misnomer... At that point, a dead cow could have moved faster than I was moving.)

When I was nearing the finish line, Olga and her husband met up with me - they had come back to run the end with me. It was quite a boost, and I was able to put on a burst of speed at the last moment.

And I did it!!

...I'm still pretty impressed with myself.

Triathlon Update

I made a couple of significant milestones this week, training for my mini-tri. First, on Wednesday, for the first time ever, I swam 4 laps without stopping. That's the full 200 meters that I need for the tri. Exactly one month before the race. Hallelujah!

Then, today, I did my own little mini-tri at the gym. 200-meter swim, 5-mile bike (on a stationary bike), and 1.5-mile run. It was very hard, but I did it! I was very proud of myself, and it's given me hope that I may actually be able to finish this race. :)

So, I have four weeks from today to prepare for my race, and I have a few goals in mind for the month...

First, I need to work on my start and turns in swimming. Although I did pretty well with my turns on Wednesday, I paused a bit too long each time this morning.

Second, I need to start training outside. As the weather is now nice for at least part of the time, I think that should actually work. I drove around today to see exactly how far I need to go to get in the 5-mile biking and 1.5-mile running.

Third, I need to work on my breathing in all three sports. This is more of a continuation of a goal, as I've been working on that since I started. In fact, I've really been working on my breathing since I was born, if I remember right...

Anyway, one month to go, and I'm starting to get excited for it! Now, we'll just see how sore I am tomorrow...

Snowed In

I spent last week staying with my nieces and nephews in Wisconsin while their parents went to Cancun. While I expected it to be cold (it is, after all, February... in Wisconsin...), I wasn't exactly expecting the biggest storm in who-knows-how-long.

The snow started on Tuesday. By the time I picked up my niece from school, it was hard to see more than a few feet ahead, and people were sliding off everywhere. The school district announced that Wednesday would be a snow day.

By that evening, the house was shaking with wind and the snow was getting into the vents and then melting into the basement. My oldest nephew went outside and nearly got frostbite trying to fix that little problem. Every time we opened the door, snow would blow all the way across the kitchen. He tried duct tape at first, but it froze the minute he pulled a piece out. Using my dad's all time favorite "old-lady-elastics," we were able to stop the leak eventually.

Then we noticed that there was actual snow coming into the basement from the wall. Weirdest thing I've ever seen.

By Wednesday, the storm was starting to peter out. And this is what we were left with.

It took until Thursday to dig out enough that we could actually get the car out of the garage.

We celebrated by leaving the minute the way was clear. We had lunch at Taco Bell, and quite enjoyed the sight of their drive through. Or the lack thereof...

Not exactly what I was expecting from last week, but all in all, it was quite an adventure!!

Tag-Team Clean

So, on Saturday, Emily texted me and asked if I'd want to tag-team our cleaning responsibilities. She came over and helped me clean my apartment, and then (after a lunchbreak), we went to her house and cleaned there. It was an excellent idea, for a couple of reasons.

First, my house is cleaner than it's been in....well, a long time. Christina and I own two vacuums, but neither of them work. (Though it's apparently important that we keep them around and try them again every once in a while - just in case they suddenly decide to start working.) So, in order to vacuum our floors, we have to borrow. It was nice that not only did Emily bring her vacuum, but she also brought a few other supplies we were low on.

B - Cleaning is always better with more people. It gets done faster, and it's more fun.

3) Cleaning someone else's house is easier than cleaning your own. Emily did most of the work at my house (thanks again!), and I like to think I put in quite a bit of work at hers.

I think one of the reasons behind this is that it's not so easy to get distracted. You know, the whole take-someting-into-another-room-and-forget-what-you're-doing syndrome. (Otherwise known as TSIARAFWYDS).

Probably another reason is that tasks in your own house start to overwhelm you until they're too daunting to consider, and then you get used to them looming over you in your subconscious mind until they just become a part of who you are. At that point, you know that actually doing the cleaning would destroy the character that you've built for yourself, so you avoid it completely. Until someone else comes along and reminds you that it only takes ten minutes to mop your bathroom floor.

IV: Cleaning is exercise, therefore, more is better. I didn't make it to the gym on Saturday, and yet I was sore that night. Booyah!

**The numbering in this blog is dedicated to Staci.

Walt Disney World in a Wheelchair

Every other year, my brother takes his family to Orlando for a week of Mickey Magic. And because I'm such an awesome aunt, they invite me to come along. About two weeks ago was our fourth time going, and, as usual, it was an absolute blast.

However, this time was a little different than usual. The first two days we were there, we were in the parks for half a day. I walked both days. By the second night, my ankle was the size of a small melon and my knee was protesting loudly. So, on the third day - our first full day in the park - I swallowed my pride and rented a wheelchair. I was hoping that one day in the chair would help my knee to feel better. I had the same hope on the second day in the chair. And the third. Finally, I figured I was in it for good. After all, my ankle was the size of a watermelon. I couldn't resist pictures...

Normal ankle:

Not-so-normal ankle (the bump that looks like my ankle bone? Not bone):

Yuck.

Anyway, it turns out Disney World is a somewhat different experience in a wheelchair. I learned a few things, which I've decided to list here...

1. An occupied wheelchair with its brakes on will slide backwards on an inclined moving walkway. And if the moving walkway isn't moving? Well, my nephew can attest to the fact that the incline is a bit too steep at the end of the Space Mountain exit.

2. A wheelchair will get you onto some rides faster than a Fast Pass. Most notably: Splash Mountain.

3. Kids can recover from having their feet run over by a wheelchair very quickly.

4. Surprisingly, Disney World can be exhausting even when you're sitting all day.

5. A wheelchair makes it take much longer to get onto some rides than a normal line. Most notably: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

6. People have no concern for the health of their ankles. This is obvious, because they will often step directly in front of a moving wheelchair and stop abruptly.

7. The best time to have a wheelchair in Disney World? When waiting for the fireworks. No sitting on the ground for an hour. Booyah.

8. Most rides have lines that are big enough for wheelchairs, which means you're not going to get through any faster or slower than you would if you didn't have a wheelchair.

9. Lowering your line of sight to a lower level makes it obvious that very few people look good in short shorts. Ew.

10. Baxter is the best 16-year old nephew in the world. Thanks for pushing me around!!

Triathlon, Part Two

Yep, I fell down the stairs. Cause I'm a big klutz. My right foot slipped out from underneath me, leaving my left foot behind. Because of how I landed, I hurt my knee. After a visit to the doctor, I found that I had torn my Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL). It's the muscle that runs along the inside of your knee to stabilize it. And, in case you're wondering - tearing a muscle hurts.

At any rate, after icing and nursing my injury for a week and a half, I saw a knee specialist, who told me that I shouldn't exercise or do any sports until I had no pain, which generally takes 2 to 4 weeks. Since that would take me up to about 2 weeks before the tri, I knew I wouldn't be able to do it.

I won't go into the frustration I felt about injuring myself just when I'd started to enjoy working out or about not being able to reach the goal I had set for myself. I will say, though, that it's been a lot harder not to exercise than I would have ever thought it could be. For someone who hadn't exercised in months before this whole thing, that's saying something! And, now that I've caught the tri-bug, I wasn't satisfied with just giving up.

I hit the four-week mark last night, and I am still experiencing some pain. I see the doctor on Thursday, and I'll hopefully find out if/when I can start exercising again. I suppose I should tell him that I started swimming again about a week ago...

So, once I get the all-clear from the doc, I will start training again. I've already researched other triathlons in my area, and I've decided to sign up for one in April. It's the same as the Turkey Tri, only it's not called the Turkey Tri, cause, well, a Turkey reference in April would just be weird.

Now I just have to decide if I'm going to try the mini or go for the sprint (which is double all the lengths). Hmm... I do have four months to train this time...

Triathlon, Part One

Staci informed me the other day that it’s been far too long since I’ve blogged, and, well...she’s right. So, here we go!

About two months ago, my friend convinced me to start training for a mini-triathlon.

And now that any of you who know me have picked yourself up from the floor where you’ve fallen in surprise, I will continue.

As a kid and a teenager, I enjoyed playing sports. The kids in my neighborhood were constantly getting together for football games and an occasional baseball game. I played basketball and volleyball with the youth at church and, although I was never the best player on any team, I wasn’t too bad at it.

As I’ve gotten older, however, those sports fell by the wayside. I became an average American 20-something-year old, too busy to bother with playing games and too lazy to bother with exercise. While I’d play an occasional game of tag with the nieces and nephews or football with the siblings and sometimes even go to a gym, I was nowhere near what one would call “athletic.”

Now that I’m in my thirties and I’m not invincible anymore (as all 20-something-year olds are), I’ve been trying harder to go to the gym. And (probably like most 30-something-year olds) some weeks I do really well at fitting in exercise and some weeks I don’t.

So, when my friend talked to me about joining her in training for a mini-triathlon, I scoffed. I believe my response was something along the lines of “Yeah, that would be fun… So! How’s your new baby?”

But my friend persisted, insisting that I wasn’t too old or out of shape, that it was just a mini-tri and I could do it easily. She offered to make up a training schedule that I could follow and that would fit into my busy days. Finally, intrigued by the challenge that this training would be and knowing that I needed the exercise anyway, I agreed.

The race consists of a 200 meter swim (in a pool), a 5 mile bike ride and a 1.5 mile run. It’s in St. George, UT in November, and is called the Turkey Triathlon.

I had a few challenges to overcome in order to compete in this race. First, I’m out of shape. REALLY out of shape. I weigh more than I ever have in my life, I get winded walking up a flight of stairs, and I like to eat dessert way too much. Second, I don’t have a bike, and I haven’t ridden a bike for nearly ten years. Third, my swimsuit is falling apart and (possibly most important) I don’t know how to swim. I mean, I can get from one end of the pool to the other, but I'm not very good at it, and I know I don't do it "right."

But I accepted the challenge anyway. My friend made my training schedule, and I began to follow it, using the stationary bikes at the gym until I could borrow my brother-in-law’s mountain bike, walking on a treadmill for two minutes to every one minute run, and enlisting my sister-in-law to teach me how to swim correctly. I started researching triathlons on the internet, learning about the transitions and the overall challenge of the race. And I caught it... The “tri-bug,” as one website put it. I got excited about the prospect, and I began to actually look forward to working out, which is a completely new feeling for me. For three weeks, it was starting to look like I might actually be able to do it.

And then I fell down the stairs…

Summertime

When I was young, I was always surprised about my mom’s reasons for wishing summer was over. Of course, as a kid, summer was the best time ever. Months of absolutely nothing to do except play. Which, of course, we did consistently, and never, ever got bored…

Actually, the words, “I’m bored” were outlawed in my house when I was growing up. It was a transgression on par with throwing balls in the house. If we ever dared to say the illegal words, we would be given something to do. Which was generally cleaning our room, or helping with dinner, or some other activity that every kid LOVES doing. This, of course, was meant to teach us to use our imagination. To teach us that if we’re bored, we have to figure out something to do on our own. A lesson that we learned so well that it was at least another couple of hours before we were again complaining of boredom.

Which makes it all the more surprising that my mom looked forward to the end of summer, not because she was sick of us kids (though she was), or because of the heat (though she hates that), but because it meant things would slow down.

And as I child, I thought, “Slow down?! How could anything get slower than summertime?!”

But now I’m an adult. My weekends are booked until mid-August. I have something planned every night for the next two and a half weeks. I’m so tired from lack of sleep that I’m liable to doze off at any given moment. Summer means fireworks and barbeques and hiking and going to the park and swimming and playing in sprinklers and camping and yard work and road trips and babysitting kids for others going on vacation and outdoor birthday parties and so much more.

And even though all of those things are very fun, and I look forward to them, and summer is still my favorite season by far, I now understand what my mom was saying. Fall is something to look forward to, because it’s a time of recovery from all the fun we had during the summer. A time when my schedule once more settles down (and tends to revolve around the newest episode of whatever TV shows I happen to be addicted to). A time when I actually have days with nothing planned. A time when I can catch up on my reading and I have time to visit the bookstore.

Ah…the bookstore.

But for now, I have too much to do to think about that. Bring on the babysitting and the road trips and the campouts, cause summer is halfway over and I’m running out of time to cram it all in!

Days Four and Five

Well, my pictures don't seem to be loading, so here's a blog with no pics...

Yesterday, we went to Versailles, which was incredible. I can't believe how absolutely huge it is. And the "gardens" are even bigger. Crazy.

Afterwards, we went to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed the stairs to the top. I've gotten quite the workout every day this week. I've been sore every day too... It was great, though, and we followed it up by sauntering down the Champs-Elysees. We stayed out until 9 last night, which is the latest we've made it so far (I know, pretty sad), and we even got up early this morning. Now that we're used to French time, it's time to go back to Utah time. Joy for us.

Today, we went to Montmartre and La Basilica Sacre Coeur, and then we went to the Eiffel Tower. It was crazy busy, but with our pre-bought tickets, it only took us an hour or so to get up to the top. I would definitely recommend to anyone going to get their tickets online before going. Before we went up, we had about an hour to wait, and we just sat at the base of it, enjoying the sun's first showing since we've been here and watching people. It was relaxing and very fun.

Now it's time to get ready to leave tomorrow. We have to be outside our hotel at 8:15 in the morning for our shuttle to the airport. We'll see how that goes...

Another Exhausting but Fun Day

We started off the day with a trip to the Hotel des Invalides, which houses the Musee de l'Armee. It was really interesting. We only went to a part of it, which detailed the history of French warfare between 1643 and 1871. Here's the front of the Hotel des Invalides...


Afterwards, we took the metro over to the Conciergerie, which is (among other things) where prisoners were held before being hauled off and beheaded by "Madame la Guillotine." It was a very uplifting day, as you can tell...


Just around the corner from the Conciergerie is Notre Dame. We have tickets to go up the towers, but they closed just before we got there (literally, like 10 seconds before we got there). Bummer! But we went inside and it was beautiful and amazing, of course...

After that, we went to the Ile Saint Louis to find an ice cream shop that at least two people have mentioned to me. Here we are with our ice cream below. (Well, with Casey's anyway. Mine appears to be shy of cameras...) It was delicious. I had Salted Butter Caramel and Raspberry Rose (and it really did taste like roses mixed with raspberries!), and Casey had Raspberry Rose and Dark Chocolate. Tasty! Tasty!

When we got back to the hotel, it was to discover that tonight is daylight savings in France. Lovely. We love changing times so much, we're gonna do it again!!

Paris Day Two

Today we went to the Catacombs. It's an underground crypt where they've moved thousands of people's remains to empty out the graveyards around Paris (to make things healthier). It consisted of a million and one stairs (well, okay, it was more like 130 down and 83 up), a very long tunnel, and lots and lots of bones.

Then, we took the metro for the first time to head to the Musee d'Orsay. It started pouring rain when we got to the museum, so we didn't get pictures, and they don't allow them inside, so I just have one of the metro...

Still having a blast and getting tons of exercise (as sad as it is to admit, I'm actually sore from climbing those stairs, plus the ones up and down for the metro) and eating lots of nummy food!

We made it!

After two days of travelling, we finally made it to Paris! Our flight got in at about 10:30 last night, and we finally made it to our hotel at about midnight. We were exhausted and a little overwhelmed with everything, but a good night's sleep helped a lot, and we've had a blast today!

We spent a few hours walking around the Latin Quarter, where we're staying, and we went to the Louvre. It is so much fun being here, and my French has definitely come back to me, which is a huge relief. Granted, nearly everyone speaks English here, but I have carried on at least one full conversation in French, and was told that I speak well. (Granted, the guy was flirting, but I'll take a compliment if I can get it!)

Anyway, wanted to share a couple of pics we took today (of the four million that we took...).

Crossing the Seine, with Notre Dame behind us...

Outside the Louvre...

A couple of shots of the ceilings in the Louvre. They are just as amazing as the art!

More to come as we continue to be major American tourists!!

Dallas is definitely not Paris

My friend Casey and I left this morning from Salt Lake City to head to Paris! We've been SO excited for this excellent vacation that we've had planned since last November.

But now we're at the Wyndham in Dallas, Texas. In case you're wondering, Dallas is NOT Paris. Despite the airline employees' cheerful attitudes, this isn't where we want to be tonight. We were a bit ornery, but we've decided that we need a better attitude and come up with some positive things about this unfortunate experience.

First, we no longer have to try to sleep on the plane. Now we have to try to keep ourselves awake on the plane. Possibly not as bad.

Second, once we get to Paris, we can check into our hotel right away (since it will be 11:30pm) instead of waiting around because we go there at 8:30am and couldn't check in until 1pm.

And third, we got to eat dinner at Denny's in Dallas. I mean, seriously. who would pass that up?

Certainly not someone heading to boring old Paris!

Movies

For most of my adult life, I have been teased about my movie-going habits. I've always loved going to the movies. There's just nothing better than seeing something on a huge screen, with speakers set at the optimal level and surrounded by people who have to (are supposed to) shut up for two hours. I love seeing something on the opening weekend and cheering or laughing out loud with the rest of the audience. I love mindlessly munching on popcorn and/or candy while lost in another world. I love sitting in the theater before the show starts and chatting with my friends. I love seeing a movie more than once, picking up lines and images that I missed the first time (or the first four times).

I consider going to the movies as one of my hobbies.

Now, as far as hobbies go, I don't see much of a problem with this one. It's cheaper than skiing. It's more outgoing than reading. It's more relaxing than hiking. Not that it's my only hobby. I love reading and I love hiking, and I have more hobbies as well. (Though skiing isn't one of them. Mostly because I hate winter and spending money to play in snow isn't going to make me happy. I'd much rather spend the day watching someone else's problems, and knowing that they will be resolved before the show is over. Two hours of buildup to a happy ending. Just what my brain needs.)

As for the types of movies I like, I'm pretty flexible. Romantic comedies, drama, action, sci-fi. I love scary-intense movies, but I'm not into horror. I also don't care for the artsy, preachy, that's-the-way-real-life-goes movies. Blech. I watch movies to escape life, not to be reminded about how horrible it can be.

My passion for going to the theater has made such an impression on certain people of my acquaintance that I couldn't convince them that I wasn't going as much as I used to. Last year, I don't think I saw anything between Harry Potter and New Moon. (That's July to November, for those that don't follow these things.) Did that lessen the sarcastic remarks from my brothers? Of course not. They didn't believe me.

So, I've decided to give up convincing them that I don't go to movies much anymore and just start going again. New Moon came out in November, which I saw several times. Since then, I've seen Sherlock Holmes (more than once), When in Rome, Leap Year (more than once) and Avatar.

Ahhhh... It's nice to be back.

Christmas Music

Here in Utah, we have two radio stations that play Christmas music exclusively at this time of year. They’re big competitors, and they’re always trying to get the jump on the other. When they started, FM100 was playing 100 hours of Christmas music (therefore starting about 4 days before Christmas). Then 106.5 decided to get in on the game and started earlier. As they continually try to “one-up” each other, the date continually moves up. This year, they started before Halloween. Next year, they’re going to start around Labor Day.

As I’ve listened to the holiday cheer, I’ve noticed that Christmas songs seem to fall into roughly four categories for me. Though some can be put in more than one category, there are a few clear lines.

First, there are the traditional, “classic” songs. You know, White Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Joy to the World, Deck the Halls, Oh Holy Night, etc. The good stuff. The ones that every artist has to sing. The ones that I can still imagine being played on a record player.

Second, there are the classic songs that have nothing to do with Christmas. Winter Wonderland, Sleigh Ride, Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, Let it Snow. They’re fun songs, but they’re actually songs about winter in general. So, why don’t we hear them in January? My January could use a little cheering up with “Winter Carols.” And while we’re talking about Christmas songs that aren’t really Christmas songs, what’s up with playing “Favorite Things” at Christmas? I mean, it came from the Sound of Music. Do they even have a winter scene in that show? Wikipedia notes the following: “The wintertime imagery of some of the lyrics has made ‘My Favorite Things’ a popular song during the Christmas season … although in the show and movie it is sung during a summer thunderstorm.” Uh-huh. A summer thunderstorm. Can’t think of anything more Christmas-y than that!

Third, there are the Santa songs. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Up on the Housetop, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Here Comes Santa Claus, Jolly Old St Nicholas, Santa Baby. Again, fun songs that deal only with the commercialization of Christmas, avoiding the “reason for the season.” These are the ones that kids are still allowed to sing in public schools.

Then there are the new songs. Ah the new songs. While there are some that I enjoy (generally the ones by BNL), most of them drive me crazy. Christmas Shoes; Do they Know it’s Christmas?; So This is Christmas; Grownup Christmas List; Last Christmas. I don’t know why, but these songs just grate on my nerves. Maybe it’s because they’re played all too often on the radio at this time of year. Maybe it’s because I have no memory linking them to wonderful Christmases in the past.

Or maybe it’s just because they’re stupid songs.

For example: “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” This is a song that focuses on those less fortunate than us, specifically those in Africa. While I appreciate the sentiment and the charge to “feed the world,” I find it humorous that the song points out that “there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas.” Well, duh! When was the last time they had snow in Africa? And why on earth is it a bad thing that they’re not getting any this year? I mean, really, have the writers of this song ever been in snow? Would you really want to wish it on a people who are in no way prepared to handle it?

Wanna know what’s on my Grownup Christmas List? An ITunes card, some clothes, jewelry, books.

And of course, World Peace.

Good Times

I've been thinking a lot lately about little memories I have from my childhood. Just random things that have nothing to do with anything, but that make me smile when I remember them. I thought I would share some of them here.

There was the time that I typed a paper on my brother's computer. It was the first time I'd ever used a computer, and I hit "return" at the end of every line, like you would with a typewriter (yes, I'm that old). Brian had to teach me that the computer wraps the words itself. Then he fixed my paper for me. I wonder how long it took him to go and backspace all of those "returns" out of there. Hey - thanks, Brian!

Once, when I was a teenager, we performed a tricky Chinese Fire Drill in Rose Park. (For those of you who don't know what that is, it involves getting out of a car, running around it, and getting back in before a red light turns green. The more people involved, the better. In a two-door car with five people, it can definitely be tricky.) During this particular drill, one of my brothers nearly lost his shoe as he got back in. Ever wonder how that one shoe got in the middle of the road?

When I was growing up, there was a spot in our side yard where our parents allowed us to dig and play in the mud all we wanted. There was a slight incline, and we would make rivers and roads and bridges and tunnels in the mud, and then we'd put the hose at the top of the hill and turn it on, so that the rivers would fill. We always loved it when one of the dams broke, because we could get away with "swearing." (Dam it! Dam it!)

I remember spending hours on our swingset out back, pumping as high as I could and singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite" at the top of my lungs. Bet the neighbors loved that one. That swingset was also the site of some major competitions (who could jump off and get the farthest without taking a trip to the hospital, for instance). The set had a slide on it, and I remember one time we put a kiddie pool at the bottom and a hose at the top to make our own waterslide. If I remember right, it didn't work out so well. (I know - shocker!)

I have memories of getting up out of bed for one reason or another and finding my parents sitting on the front porch, enjoying the cool evening air and chatting together. Depending on my reason for getting up, they would either tell me to get back to bed, or they would let me sit on one of their laps for a while. It was so peaceful.

...makes me want to be a kid again...

Driving

I got stuck driving behind a student driver the other night. Since I had plenty of time to think (going 20mph in a 45 zone), I began to consider all the things that we aren't taught in Driver's Ed.

For instance, everyone learns (eventually) that when you are at a red light, it's important to watch the car in front of you. If they roll a couple of inches forward, you must immediately follow suit. If you don't, you risk getting honked at by the person behind you, who saw the movement and can't figure out why you're not trying to get closer to the line. After all, that extra inch and a half may make the difference between making the green light and having to sit through another red one.

Try it sometime. Next time you're sitting at a red light, inch forward a little and then watch the cars behind you. Or better yet, try to stop yourself from moving when the car in front of you rolls. It's goes against all instinct.

Apparently there's an unwritten rule in some areas (I've noticed it in the Midwest) that you must stop at least one car-length behind the white line. I don't really understand this, but there must be a reason. Maybe the pedestrians there tend to break into dance halfway across the street and need the extra room...

My favorite unwritten rule about driving pertains to the "fast lane." This is, of course, the furthest left normal lane on a freeway. (In Driver's Ed, they call it the "Passing Lane," but once you're out of class, you immediately learn that's a misnomer). Because it is the Fast Lane, you automatically have the right to get upset with (and flash your lights, yell and make obscene gestures at) the person in front of you, who is only going 15 miles over the speed limit, when you wanted to do 20 over.

They teach you in class what to do if a stoplight goes out, or is flashing red. We all know that we're supposed to treat it like a four-way stop. What they don't tell you is that at least half the population doesn't know how to work a four-way stop. So good luck with that one.

We are also taught that a turn signal indicates that you'd like to get into a different lane. This only works in some states. Not in Utah. Here in Utah, a turn signal indicates that you would like the car in the next lane to speed up and then match your speed, thereby making it impossible for you to get into the lane in time to make your turn. We work on aggression here in Utah. You have to really want to get over. Forget the signal, and just start forcing your way in.

When they honk at you, they're really just telling you how much they admire your driving skills.

TV Geeks

A lot of roommates have fights over who gets the remote. Not my cousin and I. When I come in the room, she automatically gives me the remote. This is for two main reasons.

First, I’m deaf. I inevitably have to turn up the volume when I come in. Although I have to say, I’m not so sure it’s that I’m deaf. I think it’s just that Christina has the hearing of…well, something that has really good hearing. Or maybe she just isn’t as anal as I am about hearing every tiny detail. I don’t know.

The second reason is because I’m really good at skipping certain things on the DVR. For instance, on So You Think You Can Dance, I’m really good at fast forwarding through all of Mary Murphy’s comments. Holy cow, that woman’s got an annoying voice!

Luckily, we both enjoy the same types of shows and movies. We love having our DVR, so that we can fast forward through all the commercials on our favorite shows. We record at least one show every night. We’re also big fans of TV on DVD. We have an entire bookshelf dedicated to our collections.

We’re TV geeks.