We just spent a wonderful weekend with Dave, Nancy and Amelia. What a great time we had!
They came down to drop Amelia off at CalArts for a 4 week art program. They arrived Wednesday evening. We did a little hanging out at our house and then went to dinner at BJ's. Then they checked in at the fabulous Turn Of The Trick Hotel on University. Oh dear. Nancy said the action went on all night long. She was pretty tired the next day. We went to breakfast at Simple Simon's and then Nancy and I hiked up Mt. Rubidoux. It was soooo hot. Still, it was a good walk and Nancy got to have a Mt. Rubidoux experience.
They checked out of Hotel Hell and got a very nice room at the Marriott. Jim and I joined them there in the afternoon for a swim. Ahhhh..... That night I fixed a big dinner. Paige was at Yamato practice so I sent Lindsay and Kyle to pick her up. I was trying to work out the timing so they'd all be home in time for dinner but it turned out that Paige had to stay late to help load equipment. They showed up at around 10. Lindsay and Kyle looked pissed. Um, ok, let's go to Disneyland!
So, that's what we did yesterday. It was a great day! First we went to the new and improved Pirates of the Caribbean. They added a Jack Sparrow puppet. It's pretty good, it moves just like Johnny Depp. Just before we got to the first waterfall the boat snagged. We were stuck just under the chattering skull, the one who says stuff like, "Avast ye mateys, there be danger ahead, dead men tell no tales...", stuff like that in a piratey voice. Then, with the skull still chattering the voice changed to a somewhat high-pitched, kinda gay male voice that said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please keep you hands inside the boat and we'll be getting underway shortly." It was hilarious. Then a guy came out and gave the boat a push and off we went. THEN we got stuck at the second waterfall! Everybody in the boat started shifting and scooting around trying to dislodge the boat. It was funny as hell seeing everyone bobbing around all at once. We got it loose and went down the waterfall. I love it when things go wonky at Disneyland.
Later we went on Splash Mountain. We didn't get a Fast Pass so we waited a very long time in line. Dave, Nancy, Amelia and Paige were in one boat, Lindsay, Kyle, Jim and I were in another. Maybe the boat was weird, maybe there were just too many fatties in it, but where most people just got splashed, we got DRENCHED. I got the worst of it. Lindsay and Kyle were pretty wet, too. I looked like I had actually fallen out of the boat. It was pretty funny. My shoes were squishy. We were dripping wet. Not so bad on a hot day.
But then we went to the Tiki Room. The air-conditioned Tiki Room.
All day we had fun together. When we went on Space Mountain they sent our car into a maintenence bay and then had to bring a ladder to get us out. They said that car had a problem with going too fast. Hmmm, maybe bs. Then they put us in a special car on a part of the track that moves sideways to get it back on the regular track. Another cool, wonky Disneyland moment.
Later we split up for a little while. Lindsay and Kyle wanted to go to Toon Town, the Lorenz's and Jim went on the Matterhorn ride, Paige went off on her own and later met up with them and I got myself a frozen yogurt and sat on a bench and had a good rest. After that we went to California Adventure.
The Tower of Terror was first. I love, love, LOVE the Tower of Terror. We all screamed our heads off. It wasn't crowded so we went again right away. Then Dave, Nancy and I went on Soaring California. Very nice ride. Nancy loved it. We got off that ride just in time for the Electrical Parade. The Lorenz's had been to Disneyland a couple times before but they had never seen that parade. They really enjoyed it.
After that we were going to ride California Screamin' but it was shut down. The only disappointment of the day. We watched the fireworks and then went out to the front of California Adventure to wait for Paige. She had gone back into Disneyland to buy some trinkets and got stuck in the crowd. I think we were there about 45 minutes. Well, we got a good rest. We were pretty well wiped out by then.
This morning we all slept in. They got here around noon. We played the Kyle songs for them and then we all had a nice little uke jam on The Hawaiian War Chant. Nancy was on soprano, Amelia played her bari and I played my tenor. Dave was on dumbek, Jim played softly on keyboard. Sweet sound!
And then they left. They had a big day ahead of them at CalArts. They'll start back this evening. It was such a nice visit. The biggest bummer about moving away from Santa Rosa was leaving our friends. Dave and Nancy and Amelia are so special to us and we miss them very much. It was great seeing them again.
9 comments:
Thanks you two, we had a really nice time being with you and your family. REALLY nice.
Our trip to Valencia was uneventful (thankfully). That bad cement truck accident even made it into the Press Democrat - as did the fire we drove through earlier. We cut it a little close on timing. Amelia was one of the last ones to be registered and they were wondering what was going on.
She's got two really nice dorm mates, one in the animation program and the other in visual arts I think. It's a pretty campus with hills and trees and a swimming pool. She's got a cool view from her window.
After the big BBQ on campus, we decided to hit the road about 6:30. Besides, Amelia immediately found a group of animation students and ate with them instead of us. "See YA M&D!".
Nancy put some big miles on and I watched a movie on my laptop (Good Night and Good Luck). So, the time flew and after I did some more driving we were home by about 1 pm.
I think when we go pick her up we'll buzz down the day before to catch the exhibition and then stay the night and head home the next day. Six point Five hours seems manageable.
You guys are wonderful!
It was all just wonderful. Well, except for the hooker hotel. But the rest, fabulous!
I'm glad Amelia settled in easily. Our babies don't need us anymore! (sniff!)
Next visit we can do some mosaics. You can do a nice piece in one afternoon. I'll be ready next time.
Glad you made it home ok.
This was a wonderful visit for us too! Thanks for coming down and spending time with us! I'm glad that the rest of the trip was uneventful, and Amelia sounds like she's gonna have a great time!
I'll be reminiscing about your visit and the Disney day (we got to go SIDEWAYS!) for a long time.
You guys are wonderful too! Be sure and let us know if there's anything we can do for Amelia, or if there's a show to attend or something!
Hope to see y'all relatively soon again,
- Jim
SMITHS!!
I had a blast with you guys last week! thanks soo much. I loved each minute of it. Your music was awesome, really catchy-easily the next big hit. It was great hanging with Lindsay and Paige again and meeting Kyle was great too. Hanging out in the animation place at Disneyland with Kyle and Lindsay was reeeally fun!! And Paige and I need to split another one of those cookie deserts at that restaurant we ate at the first night... :)
Maybe I could get together with you guys one of these weekends; Lindsay and Kyle said they'd be up for it too...if I get any time off from here at CalArts!
Thanks again for the great stay. Hope to see you soon!
a
Amelia!
Thanks for taking time out of your busy, jet-setting schedule to write! You kids are so beyond us now. (And that's a GOOD thing.)
Any time you want to take a break from CalArts just give us a call. Paige and I won't be around much but the remaining Smiths and Mr. Carrozza will be happy to steal you away.
(sigh!) I want us all to go live in a big commune so we won't have to ever be apart. We could create art and music to our heart's content. But first one of us needs to get reeeally rich.
Workin' on it!!!
Hey, I'm sure you're going to be coming up with the next Sponge Bob (if you haven't already). Click on Amelia's name and check out her blog. I think she's onto something with Tiki Cat.
Damn! You guys sound like you had a fab time! I wish we would have been around just so we could have met ya'll!
:-)
That would have been cool. You and Nancy are both hula dancers. I think the Lorenz's and the Odiens would enjoy hanging out.
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