Some Days

Today is kind of a "grab that pig and hold on tight" kind of day. Not sure what I mean? Here you go:

Bubbles texted, though, and said a friend mentioned to her that she'd been really helped by a scripture shared during our Sunday School lesson yesterday. It's nice to know we're making a difference.

8 Years Old

Spawn's a very special rather wonderful girl. I'm biased, but we received some independent confirmation yesterday.

She turned 8 on November 17th and that Friday had her birthday party at a local gymnastics place. She had tremendous fun with about a dozen close friends.

Queen of the Birthday Table:

The Parachute Game with Friends:

Yesterday was a different sort of fun. Spawn had been looking forward to it for a long time. She was baptized. The morning before she told us why she was excited. "All of my sins will be washed away, I'll be an actual member of the church, and Heavenly Father will take my prayers more seriously." I reminded her that Heavenly Father has always taken her prayers seriously. She'd also expressed how she was a bit humbled that Heavenly Father trusted her so much. We'd been discussing the baptismal covenant, and she liked what she heard.

Spawn's aunt Jean had made her an absolutely stunning dress for the baptism.

Each snowflake in that front panel is different from the others.

No ornate dress is complete without a proper belt.

Needless to say, Spawn was thrilled to put the dress on. She said it made her feel like a princess. It is the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given her.

Now, I'm old school. I hadn't planned on anything but the normal baptismal service. Bubbles had other ideas. "Everybody's done cake or cookies. We need to do that," she said. Okay, I can deal with cookies. We got cookies. "We have family coming in from Chico, and wonderful friends we haven't seen in far too long coming from the Bay Area and Antelope. They will need some refreshments before heading home again." Okay, very reasonable. Soon she'd turned our intimate get together into a Candace Party, though. Don't get the reference? The below video will help.

Okay, so it didn't really turn into a party. It was still a few close friends. And of course it was wonderful, just like everything Bubbles convinces me to do. The leftovers are also wonderful. Bubbles is wise.

The actual baptismal service was incredible. They always are, but it was especially so for me since it's my only child, and very likely the last time I'll perform a saving ordinance for family. I had a conversation with Heavenly Father thanking him for letting me take care of one of his daughters and acknowledging she was first and foremost His. I asked that it would be a great day for her and that He'd speak very clearly to her in the blessing following her baptism.

We relied quite heavily on our family from Chico, and they were amazing. Aunt Jean gave the opening prayer. Cousin Katie gave a lovely talk on Baptism. I am not sure there could have been a better source for that talk. Katie understands the topic well, and she conveyed the things Spawn needed to understand very clearly. Naturally, the message coming from her well-beloved cousin held Spawn's attention very well.

The baptism went really well. You have to understand, I'm a complete sap. When the Spirit is strong, that's magnified. It's no shock my voice cracked a bit as I said the baptismal prayer. I was grateful I didn't lose it altogether and have to try again.

Yes, this picture made me recommit to losing weight, but she's adorable:

How about one more with mommy in it this time? Okay.

And there were our behind the scenes helpers, too. Our good friends Tate and Angela made sure there was water on hand. Considering the number of cookies consumed, this turned out to be vital (it helped us avoid turning the gathering afterward into a "Got Milk?" commercial. Complete digression: we went to the adult dinner dance with them and some other friends. Friday night. Bubbles should write about that soon.

Spawn and I went to our respective changing areas after the baptism and I was delighted to find Spawn's soccer coach, who is a member of our faith, changing from soccer gear to church attire. He was sad to have missed the baptism itself, but I mentioned it was far more important to have him in the circle when she was blessed.

Once we changed, Uncle Mark gave a talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. He was great. Ellie sat paying attention, and Mark's talk was very well done. I have to write my talks out fully. He was able to do a beautiful job from notes only. I was impressed. Most importantly, Ellie got a lot out of it.

Coach Jared did make it to the circle for the confirmation. In fact, I felt strongly that everyone who cared about Spawn enough to come to her baptism and who was eligible to participate should, so I invited all Melchizedek priesthood holders to come forward and be part of her confirmation blessing.

There is something very special about confirmation blessings. They begin by confirming a person a member of the Church, hence the name. This is also the blessing in which the Gift of the Holy Ghost is conferred. No one but the Savior can actually give the Gift of the Holy Ghost, so the words used in the blessing are, "receive the Holy Ghost." I have never participated in a confirmation, or given a confirmation where the Holy Ghost did not become amazingly strong at that point of the blessing, and yesterday was no exception. It was poured out on the circle and Spawn. It was wonderful. The blessing was full of Heavenly Father's love for her and she was promised many wonderful things, including plenty of help navigating a difficult world. I couldn't have been more pleased. For those who haven't given a blessing of this sort, it might sound a bit funny to say it that way, but the person acting as the voice in the blessing really hasn't any say in what is pronounced on the person being blessed. The impressions and often actual words of the blessing come by the Spirit. I wouldn't have it any other way.

After we'd finished, and Spawn shook the hands of all the gentlemen in the circle (a baker's dozen or so), the bishop welcomed her to the ward family. Our bishop is a really nice man with 5 kids of his own. His demeanor with children is sweet, patient and seasoned with plenty of good humor. Spawn took complete advantage of this. He asked her questions, and she responded with her normal frankness, drawing quite a few chuckles from the crowd. I promptly dubbed the performance the Spawn and Bishop show.

The Primary presidency next welcomed Spawn to the ward. They were very sweet. Angela gave the closing prayer.

We couldn't have asked for a nicer service. Spawn was delighted with all of it. It more than met her expectations for the event. When we asked how she'd felt after being baptized, she told us it felt like a warm blanket was wrapped around her heart. She later decided it had to be a flannel blanket because it was so warm. We reminded her those feelings come from the Spirit. Since today was fast and testimony meeting, she happily went and bore her testimony about it in Sacrament meeting. I went with her, and of course my child expressing herself so well and spiritually caused me to lose my composure completely. I'm sure everyone understood.

It's been a wonderful weekend. I'm very happy for my little one, and more importantly, she's very happy.

Home Again (but with an awesome stop at Dreamworks yesterday)

Yesterday was a travel day, but we had a stop scheduled, and it was awesome.

Bubbles has a friend Rachel who works for Dreamworks. She invited us by for a visit. It was amazingly kind of her. When she first planned to have us come, she anticipated a major meeting on Friday which would be done by our Monday visit. The meeting got bumped to Monday. She fit us in anyway.



She treated us to an incredible meal (Dreamworks has top chefs handling food services on their campus, and the food is amazing). Spawn was her normal "selective" self and opted for a hot dog from the outdoor grill. She didn't finish the bun and while the adults chatted, she worked to attract a blue jay and pigeon to the crumbs she was tossing down. She succeeded brilliantly.

We then got a tour of the campus. Rachel showed us storyboards from movies, an incredible conference room where the executives can preview movies in 3D and a communications room where you can hold a meeting with two more locations as though the people were in the same facility with you (they had one going at the time, and it was cool). Ellie was more impressed with the picture of a dragon outside the room. She was pretty sure it was the Green Death from the "How to Train your Dragon" books.





We found out Dreamworks has a couple of physicians present on Campus, so you can visit one if you're not feeling well at work.

The tour culminated with a visit to Nico Marlet. If you're not into the art of Dreamworks films, you might not know the name. He designed all the creatures for several of the films using his unique style. Nico is the most pleasant, unassuming and completely humble fellow you'll ever meet. He was quite content to show Spawn page after page of original art for the How to Train your Dragon movies and Kung Fu Panda movies. (Each full page of character drawings takes him about a day.) Poor Rachel had to get on to another meeting or I think Nico would have just shared art work with us all afternoon and he'd have had our rapt attention. The man's art is incredible. We have some ideas about what's coming in How to Train your Dragon 2 based on the art, but Rachel mentioned no one has seen those drawings yet. From that I took that we probably shouldn't share details on the internet. I may be wrong, but after such a treat, I'll play it safe here. The new dragons look amazing. We also saw the original Baby Po drawings for Kung Fu Panda 2. Adorable!

What amazes me beyond Nico's art is how the modelers are able to transfer the drawings with such fidelity to the original art to the screen. Hiccup, the dragons, Po, and every other character and creature looks on screen exactly as he/she/it appears in Nico's drawings. It's incredible.

Nico also did a poster for Spawn's cousin Mason last year, who had cancer at the time. Mason's 5 now and doing great. Nico asked us to say hello to Mason and wish him well. It was very thoughtful of him.

We hustled back to the main building after the visit leaving Rachel with only 20 minutes until her meeting. She brought us some gifts from her office despite the time crunch. Spawn got new dragon figurines and a water bottle along with a notebook. Bubbles and I got some very comfy Shreck hats. Spawn had made Rachel a drawing of a Nightmare, but next time we'll have to plan a more thoughtful gift.

Then we hit the road. The drive was fairly uneventful, though if you're planning a trip in the near future that includes highway 99 Northbound near Chowchilla, detour some other way. They closed a lane and that part wasn't so awesome.

We made it home around 9:00 PM with some fantastic memories from this trip. The visit with Rachel was the perfect way to finish it off!

Recovery and Reunion

After our exciting day at Disneyland, you might guess we were ready to rest. You'd be right. That's how I had time to write a post yesterday. We'd intended to go to the Long Beach Aquarium. That just didn't happen. The family reunion group went to Catalina Island for the day, but Spawn was more interested in the aquarium, and Bubbles and I were pretty sure we wouldn't be up for an early start on Saturday. We were right.

We woke up slowly on Saturday and just took our time getting breakfast. By the time we were ready to do anything, it was past 1:00 P.M. We ended up heading down to the hotel pool and swimming for a while. It was great. I haven't gone swimming in some time and had no idea what a little dolphin Spawn had become.

After that we showered, got dressed and went to dinner at Red Robin. They make a mean burger. Read "mean" as "really yummy." Then we were off to Target to pick up some better shampoo for Bubbles, and while we were at it we grabbed Spawn some drawing pads at Office Depot. Yes, we live on the edge.

Spawn and I then watched "Kung Fu Panda" together while Bubbles read. It was awesome. There is no charge for awesomeness. Or attractiveness.

Before we knew it (because we were asleep when it happened), it was Sunday. We had another slow start, which was fine because Aunt Nancy's ward does their block meetings in reverse. Sacrament meeting started at 10:50 A.M. Perfect! We got up, had breakfast, showered up and headed out.

Sacrament meeting was really good. The talks were great. The last speaker actually read a large portion of the Declaration of Independence as part of his talk. I love talks like that. And the Declaration of Independence.

Aunt Nancy gave us directions to Cousin Collette's house, and we were told we should be there by 2:00 P.M.

We headed back to the hotel, changed, ate a snack and once again hit the road.

Collette's was simply amazing. We'd seen the family on Thursday night at the restaurant, and that was great. Sitting and talking to them in a relaxed, household setting was incredible. I'd forgotten what a great bunch of people they are, and how welcoming they are. It's everything I want extended family to be, and rarely get except in Chico with my brother and his family.

Spawn found the cousin she'd hit it off with on Thursday night and they played while the adults talked. We had a taco bar Collette put together. It was incredible. There were babies to hold, new and fun conversations with every group, and a feeling of peace and comfort the whole time. 7 hours passed before we even realized it. People kept trying to leave but ended up staying another hour to chat. I loved it.

Tomorrow it's back home with a stop at Dreamworks. That should be fun.

Disneyland

It's family vacation time! The maternal side of my family is having a reunion in Southern California and we saved and decided not only to go see lots of awesome relatives, but to take Spawn to Disneyland for the first time. We figured 7 is old enough to enjoy it and remember it. Turns out, we were right.

Bubbles did the research and planning, for which I'm very grateful. I don't like doing those things, and she seems to enjoy it.

The drive down was surprisingly easy. At one point Bubbles really cracked me up. A favorite book of Spawn's when she was younger was, "The Loudest Roar." The protagonist, Clovis, is a tiger who likes to sneak up on and roar at other animals. Whenever he did, the line was, "Suddenly-there was Clovis!" As we passed Clovis, CA, Bubbles said, "There's Clovis." I lost it. It really cracked me up. We didn't hit any nasty traffic until (predictably) Los Angeles. I5 in Los Angeles is not your friend. Or anyone's friend. But it did get us here.

We got to hang out with family Thursday night and eat at a restaurant called "Sweetee Thai." The family was fun and the food was magnificent. Even the notoriously picky Spawn was happy with the non-spicy orange chicken, but she was even more happy running around the restaurant with her cousin and playing silly games. I'm sure the staff was thrilled.

Friday was Disneyland! For the second day in a row I was up at 5:00 A.M. It was well worth it. On the tips of family and friends, we got in early, parked just after 7:00 A.M. and made it to the gates for opening. We hung out on Main Street with the rest of the crowds until the park actually opened at 8:00 A.M. Then away we went.



According to a friend, people seem to tend to go to the right from main street and start with those rides. So, we went left. It was a good call. I don't think we waited in line for more than a half hour anywhere. It did help that Spawn and I don't like rides that qualify as roller coasters, so we weren't going to bother with Space Mountain.



We hit Pirates of the Caribbean first. This immediately confirmed to Spawn that she doesn't like rides with drops. She spent the rest of the day asking if the ride we were about to go on had drops, even though we reassured her we weren't going to any more rides with drops. Pirates is great. The displays are fantastic, and Disney has made great use of projection on the back of translucent media. On the ride at one point there's a curtain of dry ice fog falling over the ride and a pirate's head is projected onto it from the rear. It's a great effect. Spawn loved everything but the drops.

After Pirates, we headed for Indiana Jones, which we were informed was having technical difficulties. Turns out, it did all day every time we checked back. We didn't end up riding it, which was okay because Spawn had decided it would be too scary. I reminded her that she's been on more action-packed rides, but because we were going to do it right after Pirates, she decided the two were somehow linked and Indiana Jones would be the death of her.

We paused at Tarzan's Treehouse and let Spawn run around a bit to clear her mind of the scary dark and death-defying drops of Pirates. She says baby Tarzan was cute.



Next, we went off to Autopia to continue our new-found theme of Completely Non-Threatening and Drop-Free Adventure. That was pure fun. Spawn drove, but she couldn't work the pedals, so I covered that. We ended up relying on the guide rails a lot. I think Spawn's first drive was awesome, but probably more jerky than Indiana Jones would have been. Which we won't find out for sure on this trip due to technical difficulties. I spent my time aiming the camera sideways and taking pictures of Spawn. I'll insert some later. I can't now. Technical difficulties and all that.



As we walked from Autopia toward our next planned ride, "Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters," we came to the Nemo ride. Who can resist a submarine ride? Down into the metal tubes we went and watched attentively out the portholes. It's a great show. It's also lovely and cool under all that water.

The day was warming up by then. As far as weather goes, we'd probably have been better off hitting the park today, but Friday was the plan and Fridays even during Summer vacation are better than Saturdays. We were prepared. We had hats and sunglasses on. We had slathered our faces with sunblock. I declined to do my arms, figuring they had had enough exposure to handle it. I have pretty red arms today to prove my melanin-challenged skin should always be covered in sunblock pretty much head to toe.

Once we'd reemerged from the water depths, we headed to Astro Blasters. The ride rocks. You shoot targets with "optically safe" laser pointer pistols. Lasers are and always will be cool. I linked the Wikipedia article so you can see how cool they are by reading a dry, technical article about them. If you really want to know how great they are, though, grab a laser pointer and a cat. You can entertain both yourself and the cat for hours. Avoid hitting kitty in the eyes. But I digress.

Spawn and I rode in one car and Bubbles was in the next. I worked the car rotation control while both Spawn and I blasted away. We took out lots of Emperor Zerg's minions, because we rock with laser pistols. And laser pointers with cats.

I think we checked back on Indiana Jones at that point. It was having technical difficulties.

We then headed onto the very non-threatening teacup ride. Bubbles couldn't do that, because spinning in a teacup would make her toss her crumpets. I controlled the spinning while Spawn told me when she was feeling sick and I should slow down. I kept from getting motion sick by ignoring the background and focusing on her pretty smile and blue eyes. I know ballerinas focus their eyes on a fixed object as they spin to avoid motion sickness (with quick turns of the head to reacquire their focus point). They don't have their beautiful daughter in a teacup with them. Beautiful daughter works just as well as a fixed object. Bubbles took pictures of that. I'll insert one here later. I can't right now, due to technical difficulties.*





After teacups we went to "It's a Small World." You have to do that at Disneyland. Spawn loved it. I enjoyed it, though I admit to wanting earplugs partway through. The topiaries outside the ride are great. Spawn got talked to on the loudspeaker twice about keeping her hands inside the ride since she really wanted to play in the water. When I realized they were talking to her, I let her know we like all of her fingers attached to her hands and it would be a good idea to keep them inside the ride. We took pictures outside of that ride, too. It's Spawn's maternal grandma's favorite ride, so Bubbles texted pictures to Grandma, too.

I'd post pictures now, but I'm like the Indiana Jones ride.





Bubbles and Spawn needed a break, so we stopped and ate Pirate's Booty and Bubbles had a Mountain Dew while Spawn had a V8 fusion.

Then it was off to Toon Town. This may have been Spawn's favorite area. She played in Goofy's house. Then we went to Donald's boat. Donald's boat was her favorite spot in Disneyland. Turns out, expensive trips to LA are fine for visiting family, but Disneyland is not at all necessary to entertain Spawn. She's perfectly content with fancy playgrounds. We took pictures, naturally.





Spawn next decided she needed to try cotton candy for the first time. I should have known it was a bad idea. She insisted on trying cotton candy ice cream a few weeks ago, and promptly told us she didn't like it. No one else did, either, so it went to help nourish rats at the dump. Turns out, cotton candy ice cream tastes exactly like cotton candy. She ate some and then tossed the rest. Bubbles and I are fine with cotton candy, but not in large amounts.

At that point, it was time to ride the train that goes around Disneyland. We met some new friends from Hawaii and Spawn chatted with the little boy of the family the whole time. The train is a nice relaxing jaunt around the park. The grand canyon exhibit (present and in the distant past with dinosaurs) is pretty entertaining, especially for a dinosaur-obsessed Spawn.

After a complete circuit around the park, we hopped off again at Toon Town and began the death march walk back to check again on Indiana Jones, with predictable results. While we were in the area, though, Bubbles rode Splash Mountain while Spawn and I sat in the shade. Spawn finished off the Pirate's Booty while I fought falling asleep.

We went back and did the jungle cruise which is still a fun ride. They keep pretending they're going to soak you but I noticed the deck of the boat had no trace of puddles, so I wasn't worried.

Having completed that ride, we realized that we had hit every ride we'd intended to. Also, we needed to eat something since it was past 1:00. We headed out to Downtown Disney. We stopped in at Napolini and had paninis and Poweraide. Bubbles did roast beef and gorgonzola, and I did turkey pesto. It cost more than this cheapskate normally spends on sandwiches, but they were amazing, validating their price. Bubbles, who is a connoisseur of roast beef sandwiches, says it's the best she's ever had.

Then it was time to go do a bit of shopping at the World of Disney store. We found the Polly Pockets Ariel set that Spawn has been wanting. We also got her a cute little Tinkerbell key chain with her name on it. She doesn't use keys yet, but it's a cute souvenir, which is probably what most of them are purchased for. We also saw awesome but overpriced Phineas and Ferb clothing. The "So not Busted" sweatshirt really entertained me (fans of the show will understand).

Somewhat rested, we headed out and used our park hopper tickets to visit Disney's California Adventure park. We really weren't interested in too much there, but a relative at the family reunion was a cast member, so got us park hopper tickets for the usual price of admission just to Disneyland. That rocked. I like nice relatives. We visited The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel's Undersea Adventure ride, which Spawn loved. Were you aware that the seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake? You dream about going up there, but that is a big mistake.

Naturally after such a relaxing and fun ride we needed to shoot stuff. We hit Toy Story Mania! and found our favorite ride in either park. This was our longest line, but it was well worth it. The 3D in this ride is great and the shooting is fun. I'd prefer a trigger-style system but I see why they use a pull-string firing mechanism. Fortunately, I found a way to fire machine-gun style anyway (years of video gaming helped me with this).

After this ride, Spawn was showing some early signs of heat exhaustion, and Bubbles and I had sore legs and feet. Having hit everything we wanted to do, we headed home. We were disappointed we couldn't quite manage staying all day until the fireworks. Then we noticed that our parking pass was good all day, and we could simply come back for that. Off we drove in the glorious air conditioning of our car to the glorious air conditioning of the hotel where we hydrated and rested.

Back to the park we went, arriving at about 7:30. We found a cast member and were told fireworks would start at 9:30 P.M. We went back to Astro Blasters and gave Emperor Zerg another round of booty-kicking followed by some night time Autopia. This time Spawn did not want to drive, so she rode with Bubbles and taunted me (I was behind them) as we drove. Nothing says "I love you" like jeering from the automobile in front of you.

With only 20 minutes to go until fireworks, we hoofed it to a decent location to see the show over the castle. Main street and most of the great viewing areas were already packed. We stopped in a walkway. A cast member taking himself way too seriously let us know that if we stood there, everyone in Disneyland would immediately burst into flames and die and ordered us to move. Not wanting to cause so many deaths, we moved on to another area. At the beginning of the show, we adjusted a bit and found a great location behind the castle. The fireworks launching from near the castle and behind the castle were separate displays for us, but that was fine. It was awesome, and we got to see Tinkerbell emerge from near the top of the Matterhorn. She and Dumbo looked amazing. I at first thought Tinkerbell was a person, then maybe a projection with the medium for the projection being whatever slid along the wires. It turns out my first guess was right. Tinkerbell is a person wearing quite the harness and over-sized mask. Dumbo is a puppet controlled by a live puppeteer inside suspended 65 feet in the air.

This was Spawn's first live, close-up fireworks show and she was enthralled. It was adorable.

Immediately afterward, we were in great position to get on the Matterhorn. Spawn and I stayed on the ground, in keeping with our healthy senses of self-preservation, while Bubbles madly climbed aboard the machine designed to stimulate adrenaline flow by making you think you're about to die horribly. Because we were so close, we beat the rush of people from Main Street and Bubbles had a short wait for her wild ride. Spawn and I sat at a nearby table and snuggled. There is nothing sweeter in the world than your daughter hugging you and dozing on your shoulder.

We considered staying until Midnight, but Spawn was all done. We shuffled back to the tram and back to the car (for which Bubbles had found the best parking spot in the entire Daisy level of the structure) and promptly got lost leaving the park a way we hadn't been before. A u-turn and some driving later and we were back on course and back at the hotel, where we collapsed into bed.

Today has been about resting and recovering. Disney was amazing and fun, but this is what I call vacation. We wanted to go to an aquarium today, but that's not going to happen at this point. We're planning to swim, but the day is cool and we'll see if that happens. We're definitely going to play games with cousins tonight, though. Looking forward to that!

*My technical difficulties today are actually that I'm too lazy to pull the card from the camera and copy the pictures to my hard drive. Such is my dedication to blogging while on vacation.

Taco Bell

IMing

Monkey: Oh, wow. Taco Bell "ground beef" is less than 35 percent beef.

"The lawsuit says that Taco Bell’s “seasoned beef” contains other ingredients, including water, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent and modified corn starch."

Bubbles: no wonder it's so yummy

Crane

A crane is in our neighborhood putting a new HVAC on a house. I said, "That crane is awesome."
Monkey replied, "Thanks, I made it out of pop cans."