on being a woodchuck

we are now a good month into baseball
and it has been a fun season

alex and the woodchucks are doing a GREAT job!



because of his july birthday
we weren't sure if we should keep alex where he should be at 5/6
or move him up to 7/8.
we opted for 7/8 and i am SO glad that we did.
he has some great team mates and
they are making some great plays!!
he's been a really consistent hitter as well ...

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you're a great woodchuck, alex!
keep up the great playing!

cars land * by night

as promised ...

cars land after dark

our first night in the parks we shut down california adventure

we were the last people out of cars land

and we took full advantage of the empty streets

to capture some fun shots

of what we felt is one of the best parts of the disneyland resort

  

 

 

 

 

 

cars land * by day

one of our favorite parts of disneyland and california adventure was cars land

unfortunately at this point
it is one thing that disney world does not have
so it was new to us
and we were anxious to see it



we spent a lot of time exploring it
during the day and night

 

a few of our favorite spots were

the cozy cone motel

not a real motel -
but a group of  cleverly placed food stands
that you will see in my next post ;)

flo's V8 cafe

and our absolute favorite

one of my favorite things of the entire trip

the radiator springs racers 

it is very similar to test track at epcot
but when you add in the cars theme
it makes it SO much better

you start out going through radiator springs

 

 

  

and end up out on route 66 -
racing another car with 6 riders

you go around tight curves

up and over some bumps in the road

which make this a more fun variation of test track

and past some beautiful scenery

all while racing to the finish

it is a BLAST!

unfortunately at any given point the line is about 100 minutes long

this is about 1/3 of the line

we only rode the racers once each day

and ONLY with a fastpass.

we found that getting there at open

we waited in line for about 30 minutes for a fastpass for the racers

and by an hour or so after opening

all of the fastpasses were gone for the entire day!

it was CRAZY!

on the plus side ... the racers fastpass was disconnected from the others

so we could hold that plus another.

if you are headed to cars land

i HIGHLY recommend figuring out a way to get fastpasses

or using the single rider line!!

we loved cars land AND the racers

if there was ONE reason i wanted the boys to be with us

this was it

it was fun

it was beautiful

it was different

AND

when the sun set

and the lights came on

it only got better ...

cars land * by night

coming soon ...

the 1

the day that we got to california
we went and checked in to our hotel
and then decided to drive up the coast on the 1
a.k.a. the pacific coast highway

we started our journey with a stop off at in-n-out burger

can i just say how much i wish they were around in minnesota!
i LOVE that when i asked for a grilled cheese
off their not so secret - super secret menu
they didn't look at me funny
AND
i loved that it had all the veggies and sauce!
AND THEN ...
to add cheese to our fries
AND
to see Bible verses all over their products

we LOVED it.
in n out burger alone might be reason to return to LA

from there we headed towards the beach
with the 1 being our destination

 

we stopped off at huntington beach and walked a bit



watched some surfers

met a friend

and then made our way up the coast towards santa monica

we got there just in time to catch the sun setting behind the hills

the sunset was hazy and smoky
due to the wildfires just north of LA

but that didn't change how beautiful it was
and how nice it felt to finally be somewhere warm!!

 

 

 

 

i wish we had made it a bit further up the coast before the sunset
AND
i wish that we would have made it to a few other beaches
and had more time to explore in the daylight
BUT
we did drive around a few rumored celebrity neighborhoods
AND
we explored hollywood and sunset boulevard

there's only so much time
and
disneyland was waiting

NOW
we just have more reason to go back
right?!

and we're off ...

MAY 20th

MSP to LAX

our plane was continuing on to honolulu

and we considered hiding out in the bathroom

and continuing on with it ...

BUT ...
even california's temps are better than what minnesota has goin on
so L.A. it is

unpause

slowly ...
i am getting through the over 1500 pictures that i have piled up for the past few weeks
AND
i am putting them into posts.
NO ...
i will not make you scroll through them all
and NO ...
they are not all of california
OR baseball.
you're welcome

* * *

i am officially back.
be excited.

pause

for those of you who might not have known ...
stacey had a conference in california
and i snuck away with him for all of last week

 

we had a GREAT time
BUT
catching up from being gone
along with the final week of school
and baseball going strong
has made me a very busy mama
SO ...
i have a lot of pictures and stories to share
BUT
they need to wait JUST a bit
hopefully i'll find time in the next few days to play catch up
but if not ...
we have FOUR more days of school!!!
then i promise to be back.
the countdown is on
and i can't wait!!