Galactic Space Ranger

One of the coolest "new" rides in Disneyland (I haven't been there in 10 years) was this Buzz Lightyear ride where you get to shoot stuff. Here's the results:


The score on the left is Kirk. On the right is Adam. He's too short to see in the picture.
The left score is Alex (look closely to see his little head), and on the right is me.

And here's Dad & Mom Fife.

Shamu

A major highlight of SeaWorld was Shamu. The kids were so excited to see Shamu, and they were not disappointed. I went to the show early to get them good seats in the soak zone (after which, I retreated up to the dry zone because I hate being wet). Kirk and the boys sat on the 2nd row, right above the shallow part of the pool where Shamu slides up to pose. They thought it was pretty cool to see him up so close.

Then the splashing started.

Adam's reaction to the first splash: "Ha, ha, ha... I barely even got wet!"

2nd splash: "Ha, ha, ha... He got me that time!"

3rd splash: "Umm..."

4th splash: "I don't want to get wet anymore!"

I took a picture of them up on the big screen, but sadly it didn't turn out. I've pointed a big arrow to Alex. Kirk is behind him, because when Shamu started splashing, he used Alex as a shield!

40% OFF WEDDING BOOK SALE

I'm doing a HUGE wedding book sale through my business, PhotoFinish. Check out the details on my company blog here: http://www.photofinishmemories.com/

Please tell all your friends, because this is a great chance to get get a gorgeous, custom wedding book at a HUGE discount.

Animals!

In the Brother Bear section of California Adventure, there is a cave you can go through where you put your palm up to a reader, and it tells you what animal spirit you share. Getting Adam into the cave in the first place was pure torture (the kid hates tunnels), and getting him to put his hand on the reader was even worse. But it was fun to get the results, especially because they were so accurate. Adam's was pretty good. Alex's was PERFECT. Drum roll please....

Overheard...

Kaleb: "Hey, Adam, let's play Star Wars."

Adam: "Ok! I'll be Black Vader."

A Little Bit of Disneyland

Rather than bombard you all with a post way too long to read, I'll just post one or two favorite moments from our trip today and save more for another day. If you do want to check out all the pictures, though: http://picasaweb.google.com/andrea.fife/Disneyland.

Let's start today with the mishaps. Since our last name is Fife, I thought it would be fun to get a picture of everybody in front of the California "F" and use it as a title page when I scrapbook this trip. So we get all arranged, and I ask some stranger to take our picture. I would have thought I didn't need to specify to get the "F" in the picture. Guess I was wrong.

Later, on the way to Sea World, we got to see the San Diego temple from the freeway. I thought it was pretty, and I wanted to get a picture. Kirk rolled down the window for me, and I had my arms extended through the window to try to get a picture looking back at the temple. All the sudden, the window started rolling up and squishing my arms. I almost dropped the camera! Apparently, Kirk thought since we'd driven past, that I was done. I gave him crap about it for the rest of the trip. Ah, memories.

An Unexpected Adventure

Today, we set out for 8 fun filled days of Disneyland and Sea World Adventures, knowing more or less what to expect, and totally excited for every minute. This morning when we stopped for breakfast, though, we got an unexpected adventure. The entryway of the restaurant had this massively awesome train set up, and the largest train went all around the restaurant on a track system suspended from the ceiling. The boys were so wide-eyed they could barely eat, but it was a great way to start our trip. More to come, I'm sure.

Polar Opposites

My boys are polar opposites. See example below:

My First Experience with T-Ball

For those of you who've yet to experience it, t-ball is kind of weird. From what I can gather, there is no such thing as "out." Everyone gets to hit every inning, and everyone eventually gets to make it "home." I understand the theory of why, but it still makes it pretty boring.

The outfielders' job is to catch the ball - ok, who am I kidding. The outfielders' job is to scramble after the ball and use clumsy, mitted hands to pick it up. When reminded by the coach, the kid then throws it in the general direction of first base. Of course, no one really knows where that is, because it's a lot easier to identify the real bases than it is to find the ones put out there for the use of the 4 year olds.

The kid who bats seems to generally know he's supposed to run to 1st. When and where to throw the bat and whether or not to throw the helmet (does that thing have a specific name in baseball?) seem a little less clear. Once he gets to 1st, though, said kid generally stands there regardless of what is going on in the game. After most hits, the new runner gets to 1st only to find the previous runner still there. The kid on 1st eventually runs to 2nd, only to find the kid on 2nd still there. The kid on 2nd eventually runs to 3rd (which seems to be the hardest base to find), and finally the kid on 3rd makes it home.

After Adam's first game, I asked him if he likes t-ball or soccer better. Soccer. I think that makes two of us.

And on a slightly related tangent...

Do any of my photographically inclined friends know how to make my pictures NOT look like this one? When I zoom in to try to see Adam through the fence, my camera does a fabulous job of making the fence look crisp and clear while making Adam look like an amorphous blob. Suggestions? (Other than go stick my camera lense right up to the fence, which is how I got the first picture.)