Sunday, Fun Day

We'd hoped to make Sunday a three-fer - skating, water park and beach - but the girls were having so much fun at the first two venues that we never made it to the ocean.
 
Another 'must do' on Addy's list was having Auntie Mary teach her to roller skate. So we packed up the girls, including Leia's best buddy Kayiba, ditched the boys (they wanted to see a movie) and headed to the roller rink.
 
Addy and Leanne started out with a roller buddy, but both were able to skate without it by the end of 2 hours. 
 
Leanne stayed strictly on the carpet - the wood floor of the rink was just too slippery for her - and was very proud of her skating skills, 
 
which is a BIG improvement over last time, her first outing, when she was scared to tears. She's definitely not scared now! (Skating videos are at the end of this post.)
Watching the big kids race.

Mary told us about a Lake Casitas water park that charges just $5 per person for the last two hours of each day. We expected it to be super hot and super crowded, but it was great; very few people and the temp in the shade was comfortable. 
 
Leia and Kayiba had swim suits - thanks to Mary's foresight - 
  
but Addy and Leanne got to swim in their shirts and shorts. 
The water slide area was closed

but the girls loved swimming,
 
tubing down the lazy river,

and running "walking with enthusiasm" through the overhead sprinklers.
 
Did you notice in the tubing pics that Matt and Mary are doing most of the work . . .
 
while the little girls are doing the enjoying?
 
Yeah, the girls would happily have stayed here for days.
 

Water park video with Addy and Leanne:  

Video proof of skating:
Leanne - 

Addy - 

Leia -

Next Up - Sequoias!

When Addy's parents first started talking about a California vacation, the number one thing Addy wanted to do - even more than Disneyland - was visit the "tall trees", aka Sequoias.
 
So not-so-bright-nor-early the day after Disney, we headed out for Three Rivers and our cabin just outside of Sequoia National Park. I found the Buckeye Tree Lodge through TripAdvisor, which has never let me down recommendation-wise. 
See the top of the hill behind the tree on the right? That's the boundary for the national park. Can't get much closer!

The "roughing it" part of our "cabin" was the lack of cell service and inability to sign into the lodge's wifi signal - are you feeling sad for me yet?
  
The two-story, three bedroom, two bath, air-conditioned, full-kitchen cabin definitely made up for any perceived inconvenience (and none of us really missed the innernets, at least not after I was able to download a book using the ranger station's wifi.)
 
Friday we were up and out, headed up the mountain. The trees - and Addy's eyes - got progressively bigger the further we went.
The circle Addy's standing in is the same size and shape as the General Sherman tree; very impressive!

We spent most of our time in the area around the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree (by volume) in the world.
  
There were huge trees with burned out bases big enough for us to stand inside;
 
trees with one base and three gigantic trunks;
 
trees you could walk through, without ducking;
 
and more.
 
But the star of the show was definitely the General. 
 
You don't appreciate just how big the tree is until you realize that one of the branches, waaaaaay up in the air, is 13 FEET in diameter.  That's BIG!
 
One of the signs said the tree is no longer growing taller but is still growing in girth. 
  
It just keeps getting more impressive!
Addy getting sworn-in as a Junior Ranger. The ranger made a nice ceremony of it, putting on his hat and having Addy repeat the ranger oath. She was a bit embarrassed but the rest of us loved it!

We had plans to hike to a waterfall and Crystal Cave, but changed our minds when Mother Nature turned on the rain spigots. 
 
Addy doesn't like thunder and, at first, being outdoors in the storm upset her. 
 
But the rest of us treated it as no big deal - I love thunder storms - and she came around,
 
going so far as to hike with Pop and John halfway up Moro Rock
 
and posing in the rain at the Auto Log.
 
We finished the day with a barbecue on our patio, a dip in one of the two on-site pools, and a good night's sleep before heading back towards home and yet more adventures.

Day 1 - Disneyland!

Addy and her parents came to visit this past week. We picked them up at the airport on Tuesday and headed straight for Anaheim.

An overnight at a local hotel where Rachel luvs the tangerine/rum drinks -  
 
Addy got to admire the scenery - 
 
and I had time to relax by the pool with my current Heidi Bears project -
  
before we were up bright and early the next day for our big adventure. 
 

And adventure is how we started out - instead of heading into the usual parking structure, we were passed all around - over and under, hither and yon - to an out-of-park "overflow" parking structure on the far side of the park . . . overflow at 9 a.m.???? We should have been in California Adventure by 9:15, but with our driving "adventure" we finally got there about 10. And headed straight for Radiator Springs Racers -

 
where the line was "only" 50 minutes long . . . So what did we do to pass the time, you ask?
 
We played "how many pieces of washi tape can we put on mommy before she notices". Pop and Addy's giggling got her attention shortly after this or we might have gotten the entire roll on her by the time we reached the head of the line.
 
We had time for a few more rides 
 
before the surprise appointment we'd been teasing Addy about all morning -
 
a hair, make-up and nail session, 
 
complete with new dress and crown, 
 
at the Anna and Elsa Salon in Downtown Disney.
 
Doesn't she look glamorous!! It absolutely made her day when a couple of random women, waiting in line with us, asked Addy all about her "make-over".  
 
And even though she had at least a half-pound of gel in her hair, by late afternoon Addy's natural curl had won, refusing to stay where it belonged even a second longer.
 
Addy got autographs and photos with Anna and Elsa,
 
who were both extremely charming, asking Addy questions and talking to her like they were all girlfriends. Addy was beyond thrilled. 
  
We hit California Adventure and a major portion of Disneyland before my feet gave out and I begged off from Pirates in favor of a sit-down (and chocolate funnel cake).
 
By 10 pm, we were done, but Disney had one last surprise in store for us. We walked out of the Star Wars shop just as Mickey and Minnie arrived. Addy was first in line for autographs and photos -  she was so happy and excited. 
 
Even though this shot is grainy and dark, it remains one of the highlights of a fabulously fun day.