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Disneyland for Joon
This past May, Joon turned 14. She’s at that age where it’s hard to get her to come out of her shell. She’s quiet and reserved. Basically, she prefers her own company to ours. It’s annoying but not unusual for teenagers her age. You could say that we miss the old talkative, lively June who was bubbling with activity. We haven’t seen her in a while… But she came back in FULL FORCE when we took her to DISNEYLAND this last month! Who knew!
Joon is just a Disney kid!
Me, not so much. In fact, I consider Disneyland one of the layers of Dante’s Inferno.
Exhibit A:
Covid anyone? I’m kidding. But it is a little hard to take being in small spaces with other people after being in a pandemic for a year. If I didn’t have fear of crowds before, I do have it now. Thankfully, Disneyland does a really good job of piping in fresh-smelling air to these small spaces and on a hot day, it was a bit of a respite from the burning sun. I can’t really speak to the germ factor but it didn’t *feel* as awful as I expected it to.
The best part was that there were no long lines like there used to be. I remember going to Disneyland back in the day and being okay with only riding three rides for the whole day. I mean, I wasn’t really okay with it but what could you do. Lines could be two and three hours long! Ugh. But not anymore! We went on July 2 and they were still using the reservation system so lines were short! I think the longest line we encountered was 45 minutes for Space Mountain. And as anyone knows, Space Mountain is worth the wait.
Space Mountain is my favorite. Payam and Joon went on it multiple times!
Joon was so happy. She babbled and sang along to the piped-in music the whole day. It was so good to have her back. Me on the other hand, kind of fizzled out as the day wore on. There’s only so much upbeat jazz music I can handle before I’m dreaming of a pause button and some good zen-out time. So when they rode Pirates of the Caribbean for the 2nd and 3rd time I chose to sit by the lake and imagine it peaceful if only I could turn the music off.
It was a long hot exhausting day. But it was a good day.
I hardly took any pictures. I’m not sure why. Maybe the magic just isn’t there for me. But I did find the lockers strangely photogenic!
Until next time, big guy!
Funny story: they don’t have trams anymore to pick you up from the parking lot and drop you off at the park entrance. Instead, you have to hoof it through the hot sun for what seems like miles. Payam and I were joking about it with one of the staff members we found along the way and he told us that “The Mouse is taking a break to earn revenue before bringing back the trams.” We thought it was funny how he referred to Disneyland as The Mouse. So we’ll see you next time, Mouse, keep earning that revenue!
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Beach Bucket List: Woods Cove
I was thinking. I don’t really need to say anything about this post. I can just put the pictures up and that pretty much says it all. :)
We didn’t intend to go to Woods Cove. It wasn’t on our white board list that I have scrawled about eight beach names on in black marker in the kitchen. We just ended up there. We drove south, found a neighborhood, found parking (a total lucky break) near some stairs to the beach and we went!
Joon and I parked it on the sand and I set up shop painting.
Poor Joon wished she had brought her swimsuit but it was an impromptu trip and we gave her no time to even think about it. At the time it seemed like it would be cold at the beach but you just never can predict how warm the sun will feel when you actually get there. Sixty-five degrees in the house can feel chilly but sixty-five degrees in the sun at the beach can feel perfect for sunbathing and then catching some waves after you’ve properly heated up.
The waves were big at Woods Cove. I’m not sure if that’s because of the shape of the land and how the waves hit the sand or if it was just big wave weather that day. But it was really fun for Bug and her boyfriend to do a little bodysurfing. What was really cool was that there are really big rocks out in the surf that some braver swimmers swim out to and then jump off. Sometimes they are submerged completely in the water and it looks like they are Jesus walking on the water. I don’t know if I’d have the guts to play around rocks and waves but it was fun to watch.
All in all it was a pretty good day. I really like this new bucket list tradition we’re up to. The kids and I agree that we don’t need to travel much this summer since we already live in a travel destination.
I take pictures and paint postcards. They play in the waves and sand. It’s not a bad way to while away the days.
Afterwards I took them to Rubys and they ate their weight in hamburgers and milkshakes. Teenagers CAN EAT!!!
When we got back home the kids disappeared, each to their own world in their bedrooms and on their phones but they left behind the evidence of a good day. When I saw the towels and damp cut-offs draped over the chairs in our front patio I had to snap a picture because it felt so much like a good old clichéd summer snapshot. After the long pandemic winter I am so happy for summer, even though it technically isn’t here yet.
