Woods Cross Elementary, 2nd Grade

This is the Place Heritage Park

I had four tickets to This is the Place Heritage Park, but scheduling never quite worked out so that we could all go & it was just Isabel and I for the beautiful afternoon.

Isabel was a bit timid at first at the petting coral, but enjoyed seeing all the different animals.

 Miniature Train Ride

Panning for Gold

This is the Place Monument

California Adventure- Day 2- HOT

It reached 112 degrees today! To be honest, it felt hot, but I wouldn't have guessed that high. The kids looked like they were melting in the heat, but they never complained about it. We just made sure they had plenty to drink. Thanks Disney for the $4 per bottle of water! Sad.

We tried to enjoy California Adventure on our second day, but we just weren't feeling it. There were no Halloween decorations this year like there were last time. Maybe because of all the construction, but who knows. We spent about half a day here and didn't even go on the Hollywood Tower of Terror (our favorite in this park). Isabel is still too short for this ride and we didn't feel like splitting up to go on it, so we passed this year. Maybe next year. We had waited around for the Pixar Parade, too, but they ended up cancelling it probably because of the extreme heat. Bummer!

We did get to meet a few characters, though!

Outside the Monster's Inc ride.

A Bug's Land: Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. It's actually pretty boring, but as you ride through each piece of fruit or candy he's eaten, you can smell it (graham crackers, watermelon, etc).

Back to Disneyland! Our favorite ride, again. I'm not sure if this is the fourth or fifth time this trip :) I tried to take some pictures on the ride without the flash (since it's not allowed) and got these blurred images. Hey, better than nothing! You can sort of make out the snow peak with the pumpkin faces and then Jack Skellington dressed as "Sandy Claws".

More ears! This particular line is note worthy because it is for Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy. First time for both Isabel & I. The outside picture of the ride looks pretty scary & I'd have to say it was, but Isabel giggled the whole time and we ended up going on this ride a few times this trip! Wow, she is a brave kid! I rode with Lex a few times and he would hold my hand and pinch the back of it with the other. He said he likes the ride, too, though.

We met up with Kristin and my dad for dinner in Downtown Disney. This is what happens when you've been awake since 7am, walking all day in 100+ heat, and then head out for a 9pm dinner! Poor kid! We're so mean! :)

Disney's Halloween Time

Oh what wonderful fun it is to spend some time at the "Happiest Place on Earth" during Halloween Time!

My lovely sister, Kristin, who lives in L.A. joined us for the day. She hadn't been to Disneyland since she was 7 years old! How did that happen? Needless to say, she had a great time. We made sure to take her on all the best rides.

We used our "Magic Morning" pass to hit Fantasyland an hour before park opening and were able to go on most of the kiddie rides with very short lines. Peter Pan is still definitely my favorite in this area. I LOVE flying over the city and seeing all the stars.

Disney recently brought back Captain EO and so of course I had to share this childhood memory from my past with my own kids. Can we say 80's?? It definitely had more "aww" to it 20 years ago, but it was still fun to see again.

Gotta have the ears!

Giddy Up, Cowboy!

Lex absolutely loves Cafe Rio salads.  So, when determining what kind of party he wanted this year, it was based on this food. (We had the restaurant cater the food, but somehow I forgot to take pictures of that.) Mexican food lead to a western theme lead to a cowboys & indians them which lead to a shortened cowboy theme.

the details



suckers galore!

Rock Candy!

~party "thank you" favors~

*trail mix bar*
the guests also went home with a stick pony & sherriff badge

Andy our party pony & the birthday boy

the kids got to ride & feed him for about an hour before the party guests arrived. andy ate mostly the park grass, but we brought apples & carrots for him, too. shane thought it was a good idea to feed him a cookie, too!

games
*stick pony relay race
*rubber band shooting range
*tip the cow
*snake in my boot

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEX!

Antelope & Camping

Everyone who knows me is surprised when I say I went antelope hunting. I would be, too. But, the fact is, I only go for the company & the camping part of it all. I leave the hunting to Shane. Lex is all about the hunt as well and Isabel kind of just watches with curiosity. I don't know if she will ever be as into hunting as Lex seems to be which is fine with me!

On the lookout inside grandpa's truck. I was surprised last year to find out this was how the antelope were found. For some reason, I pictured in my head the need for hiding and hunkering down and such. Nope. The antelope kind of just stand there, mostly oblivious as to what is about to happen.



We spotted this guy during one of our hunting drives. That was pretty neat.

Shane's first antelope. He was allowed two and by the end of the trip, he did have his limit.

Lex & Isabel found these bones out in the field. They looked pretty clean & dry, but I'm still not too thrilled they are touching them. Oh well.

Lex's birthday landed on the last day of our trip, so we brought along a few presents to celebrate. We also went into "town" and had some pizza.

Isabel & I really enjoyed taking grandpa's ATV around camp. That's what she mostly wanted to do. She would laugh & giggle the entire drive. I want one of my own!

The drive to & from Wyoming through Weber canyon is amazing in how the mountains change so drastically from the trees at home to rock.

I often wonder why I don't see more of these being used for energy. I was just wondering why we don't see more of these when we spotted a train carrying the blades somewhere for new ones to be built.

And finally, our first glimpse of fall. Love it!