Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Shannen's Visit

In the middle of April (or so, I don't remember just when it was!!) Shannen came down for a (almost) two week vacation. This was the longest she has been able to stay with us since she went off to BYU so we were thrilled!!
We did lots of things but mainly we were just together. Shannen did a lot of reading and relaxing which I'm sure seemed very good to her after a busy school year.
One of the main things that she wanted to do while she was here was to go to Disneyland. It think it had been around 15 years since Paul had been there and I figured out it had been around 26 years since I braved it.
I will have to say I was very pleasantly surprised with how the day went. The weather was perfect, it had been hot the few days before, the crowds were few and the rides were fun.
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(Okay, just a side note to really gross out Shannen and all you others that hate spiders. As I was just writing the last line a tiny little spider started waking across my glasses!! I'm writing about Shannen and the spiders show up!! They just love her!!)
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Okay, back to Disneyland. We went there on a weekday and before school got out for the summer. Perfect timing! We didn't have to wait in any line for any of the rides!!! We didn't use the fast pass once as there we never a reason for it. How perfect is that!! That is the way to go and really enjoy the park!!

Shannen and her Dad

Maggie and Paul


Happy Campers!!

Calling to see where Jack Sparrow was. That was one of the main things that Shannen wanted to see and we looked and looked but he never came out while we were there! Sad, Sad Shannen.

My "StrongMan"

This is a picture taken from the TV screen after Space Mountain. I wanted this picture to prove that I really did go on the ride!! I can't say it is something I want to do all the time but I did have fun on it. That really surprised me. It surprised both Paul and Shannen that I went on all the rides as I had told them I wasn't going on any!! I figured I would be brave!!!

I did a little bird watching while we were there.

I was very impressed with all the displays in the park. Everything was well done and beautiful. I would love to do a walking Garden Tour before hours when no one is there. Some of the plantings were fantastic.

I loved this old truck.
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Another day was spent at the beach.
This is about as far in as they got into the water. The water was COLD!!
The last time we went to the beach with Shannen it was cold and so windy we were getting sandblasted. It wasn't as cold or windy this time thank goodness. I can't say it was warm though!! I didn't take off my jacket the whole time. Think this is how I spent most of the day we were there!!!

We drove up to the Ventura Pier afterwards for lunch at Eric Ericsons on the Pier. Had a good meal and fun time.
Walked the Pier.
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Shannen wanted to play baseball.
They played some in the backyard but of course that is hard to do in a small yard. They then made a date for the next day and went down to the park to play. I don't know why she wanted to play. I think I missed that conversation.


Shannen never does things half way. She made up this shirt with the name of a favorite person in one of the books she was reading. I think it was the Twilight set but I'm not sure. I haven't read them so don't know for sure. It might have been from the Uglies set.
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We had so much fun with Shannen here!! Thanks Shannen for coming down and spending time with the Old Folks!! We love you.

2 comments:

Lisa said...

You should check out this article about being Jack Sparrow at Disneyland. Interesting stuff. Perhaps he's been 'Tarzan'-ed.

http://lamag.com/featuredarticle.aspx?id=7016

Shannen said...

That trip was honestly the most fun I've had in a long long time! I'm still talking about it :) Thanks so much for letting me stay with you guys. And Maddie you were definitely very brave at disneyland. I was VERY impressed!