Amelia's Disneyland Senior Trip

Amelia’s Senior Trip, that’s not to imply that Amelia is old and frail and tripped, it actually means that Amelia went on a trip to celebrate finishing 13 years of school. It was an epic trip. Amelia spent several months planning and coordinating Disney bounds with Lia. They got to thrift shop together, crafted accessories, and spent hours on the phone dreaming up possibilities. They are so cute. Packing was very nerve wracking for Amelia, she had to fit regular outfits plus her fancy outfits and all the make-up and shoes. She managed to fit it all into her carry-on! That is talent. I crammed stuff into a suitcase the morning we left, hoping that I would at least have enough undies and toothpaste. We left Nampa around noon on Saturday the 24th. Our drive was blessedly free of natural disasters and horrific weather. Amelia drove for an hour so I could close my eyes for a moment. We were both dead-dog tired after graduation week. The Lances home was so quiet with no little kids running around making noise, although even my big kids are noisy. Justin has the TV on almost non-stop when he is not working, so that is always background noise. We enjoyed a quiet Sunday sleeping in, watching documentaries, church at 1, and dinner with the Lances. It was so chill. Amelia caught my cold, she was almost miserable so the relaxed day helped her recover. 

Monday morning we drove to Heber for a Crook Memorial Day celebration starting at the cemetery. Aunt Alice and my Dad kicked off the celebration with some information about those resting in the cemetery. We had a chance to wander about finding our family members marked with blue balloons. While we explored it was fun to chat with living Crook relatives. Aunt Alice arranged a tour of Fredrick and Minnie Crook’s historic home on 512 S. Main St. The kitchen was tiny! I can’t imagine cooking for a family of 13, Minnie probably lived in the kitchen. The home is now a retreat home quilters can reserve for vacations. After walking around the home we headed to Aunt Alice’s home for a late lunch. I quite loved seeing some of the family heirloom’s Alice inherited like the spool bookcase and the Crook girl’s cupboard (Jean, Mary, Alice, Margaret’s dollhouse?). 

We made our goal to leave at the BCoD for Disneyland! Mary and Jo arrived just as we finished packing up the van. James stayed up super late replacing the van brakes and troubleshooting the van’s air conditioning system. I hear he pumped at least two cans of freon into the AC system. We were very grateful for the cool air traveling through Nevada. I crocheted on my flower bouquet blanket, I finished the blanket portion so worked on making the rosettes. Miekka was an absolute trooper driving the entire 10 hours. We checked into the same hotel we stayed at exactly 3 years before on our MCO tour! We visited Huntington Beach for an hour or so. Amelia and Lia swam in the waves for a bit. I brought my Ariel Nuimo, returned her to the sea for a hot minute. She was very happy. That beach vibe fills the soul! We grabbed Costco hotdogs for dinner. Our goal was to be at the park by rope drop at 8 am. 

Lia woke up feeling like crap, poor girl probably caught our cold. The girls spent a chunk of time putting on their Stitch and Angel outfits, complete with hair sparkles and cute face jewels. Miekka and I wore our matchey shirts. Hooray! We snatched breakfast then headed to the park. Miekka is an absolute wizard (witch?) with all things Disney. She parked at the Toy Story lot where we saved time going through security before boarding a bus. Wham! We were soon in line and moving toward the park entrance. I became Amelia and Amelia was Jennifer, I scanned the wrong ticket. Miekka kept track of our must-dos doing her best to plan out a strategy. We all headed to Fantasyland first. I was thrilled to ride Small World, even more thrilled to buy all the merch I could at the end off the ride. Disneyland somehow managed to steal my good sense by having the cutest Small World backpacks, water bottles, water bottle carriers, AND Mickey ears. I spent $250 within the first hour, my smile was about as grand as the total. Amelia got to see toon town this time. The last time we were at Disney toon town, Indiana, Pirates, Nemo, Treehouse, Mansion, and Cars land were all closed. We quickly learned how to order food using the app to avoid standing in long lines. Miekka recommended the Birria Grilled Cheese at Jolly Holiday Cafe. Um, yes please! It was absolutely divine. We ate all the yummy things over the next two days. My favorite is still the Tigger Tail and the White Chocolate apple pie candy apples. Can’t top perfection. Lia was feeling even worse, Miekka took her, Mary, and Jo back to hotel for an afternoon rest. We rode the tram to Downtown Disney just to take a few photos of Amelia and Lia by the Stitch and Angel sign. Amelia and I did a spot of shopping at the Star Wars store and the Disney store. We headed back in to ride Star Tours and Toy Story. I got spotted a Jawa Sipper, he came along with me to join my collection of containers. Stitch was dancing at the food court , so we HAD to grab some dinner and watch the show. We met back up with our group around 6 pm Galaxy’s Edge for Amelia’s lightsaber build at Savi’s workshop. Oh my goodness, she was over the moon excited. My feet were about to fall off, I wore Birkenstocks (not fully broken in). The sandals felt fine on my feet except for my skin, the sandals were creating blisters on the bottom of my feet. Yeouch. Lia looked a bit more chipper than that morning. Mary and Jo went off to find dinner while the rest of us went with Mia to build her lightsaber. She first chose the handle then paid for the experience. We waited for a while until everyone was accounted for in the group. Miekka planned to wait outside but was allowed to join us! That was exciting for us all. Basically, the gist is those who are building the saber are Padawans going through a rite of passage. Amelia chose a purple kyber crystal like Mace Windu and Ahsoka Tano. It was a very immersive and fun experience! I spotted a Taun Tan popcorn bucket, he immediately joined my collection of containers with the Jawa and Small World prizes. I was toting at least 5 containers by the end of the day. We rode Rise of the Resistance because the wait was on the short side. Tanta Jo is a beast! She kept up with us younglings like a champ, riding all the cool rides. It was very busy Disney day, crowded with tons of folks. It was a grad night plus the last night for local level 1 season pass holders. Disney’s 70th anniversary celebration meant different parades, shows, and of course special things to eat. We grabbed a spot to watch the fireworks show, had a chance to sit and rest our feet. I loved the show we watched! Instead of Tinkerbell flying around the castle, Baymax took a spin around it instead. We hobbled back to the van ready to put our feet up. My collection of containers jingled and jangled music as I wore them all out of the park. Amelia soaked her hip in the hot tub, hoping to ease some of the pain out. 

Day two we visited California Adventure. Lia was feeling better than the previous day, phew. The girls dressed up as Hiro (Lia) and Baymax (Mia). The park was very quiet when we entered it. Turns out the grad party the previous night was over the top because all the good rides were out of commission, including The Little Mermaid. We rode the Little Mermaid once it opened at least 3 times. I was excited to check out Cars Land, or Radiator Springs. We rode the Spiderman ride first and then Toy Story Mania because it was actually open and then Little Mermaid. Amelia and Lia really wanted to meet Hiro and Baymax in San Fransokyo. We barely missed meeting Baymax, a cast member let us know that both Hiro and Baymax would be out together around 11:30. Everyone was grateful to sit and rest our leggies. Amelia and Lia looked so cute with Hiro and Baymax! Baymax trying to hug was hilarious, he can’t bend his arms! Amelia and I went to explore Radiator Springs and try out the Racers ride. We went on as single riders and got on in about 20 minutes. That was sweet. I suggested we try Soaring next as we didn’t get to experience that ride three years ago. I loved that it is a different experience each time I ride it, this time it was 70th anniversary themed. Miekka, Lia, Mary, and Jo went to the animator’s workshop while we were separated. Miekka lugged around 6 loaves of sourdough bread until she rented a locker! I had to buy a Baymax AND MegaBot sipper, by that time I was locked in to get each child their own sipper. Those went into the locker with the sourdough bread. Amelia and I went back to Downtown Disney so she could buy a shirt she found at the Star Wars shop. I found a Lego Wall-e and Eve at the Lego store. Perfection for our cute puppies. Speaking of puppies, my dogs were barking for a rest. Amelia and I found a bench to crash on, we both fell asleep for a short nap. Our group connected at the Earl of Sandwich for dinner. Amelia is still drooling over the Caprese sandwich she had. I enjoyed mispronouncing Caprese and several other words just to watch Lia cringe. I was very sad that the wait for Avengers and Incredicoaster was over 2 hours (once the rides opened). Boo hoo. Miekka suggested we watch the water show on the “pier” in the splash zone. That was quite enjoyable. I was sitting on the wood part of the pier when a cast member asked us to scoot out of the way. Well, I literally scooted, immediately felt dozens of wood slivers poke me bum. After the show I pulled about 20 wood slivers out of my bum and undies. That was quite a chip on my behind. The show was so fun, I love how colorful the lights were. Plus, the opening by the Muppets was hilarious. We went back to the hotel a bit early. Miekka and Lia made a special trip to Target for sunglasses. I went along to check out cheaper souvenirs and get some snacks.

Hooray for Day 3! I was feeling a bit stronger even with a gimpy knee and swollen feet. My new fancy running shoes really helped my feet from getting worse. We actually made it to rope drop on day 3! We made a beeline for Space Mountain, my number one. Gosh, that ride is epic. It was not a very busy day but we decided to get Lightening Lane passes just to ensure we got to squeeze in all the rides on our must-do list. Thanks to Miekka’s speedy thumbs we got to ride Indiana Jones 4 times, she kept getting special passes because the ride would go down and we’d get a free ride. The highlight for the girls was meeting Tiana, we waited for the Princess to come out by eating beignets and sipping on juleps. Amelia dressed up as Lottie and Lia was Tiana. Lia got the cutest Ray straw clip character that Miekka found. SO FREAKING CUTE, it even light up! It was also the hottest day of our Disneyland stay, time for Tiana’s adventure! Somehow I ended up riding in the front of the log, the heaviest person in the front? Crapola. I was drenched. Even my undies squelched for hours, there was one dry spot on my side and part of my back was dry. Felt pretty awesome. Do you know what was even more awesome? Eating my Tigger Tail AND caramel apple with wet undies. Sigh, pinch me now. Amelia LOVED Indiana Jones. So happy we could ride it multiple times. We lunched on Mexican food at some restaurant in Frontierland. Miekka had a few slices of red pepper that looked suspiciously like a mini red bell pepper. Whelp, you know me…I popped an entire slice into my boca. Fire. I felt flames spewing out of my mouth for about 30 minutes. Wowza, I hope even James would consider that pepper hot. Burn, baby burn. Miekka and I snuggled on Big Thunder Mountain, that was nice to smash thighs together. Love you girl. I wore the Small World shirt Miekka helped me make that day. Of course, we had to ride the ride again with the shirt, backpack, water bottle, water bottle holder, Mickey ears, and keychain. I was sorely tempted to buy the $90 sweatshirt but felt that *might* be excessive. I loved that last day. The first day we only rode 7-8 rides, compare that to over 25 rides the 3rd day. Mary and Jo lost their steam around dinner time. They found a nice step to relax away from the crowds while we rode Indiana (again). The cure was, of course, Dole Whips. I can’t think of a better way to end our Disney fun. We left right around the time fireworks went off, got out of the park before the crush. Mary needed to be at the airport very early the next morning. Sounded like the best choice was to be ready to leave for Utah after dropping Mary off. 

You might think that the drive home was horribly long, alas you are incorrect. I did get a turn at the wheel on the drive home. I put on a book, Twin Crowns, that I started listening to driving from Nampa to Utah. The first half of the book was intriguing and G-Rated. Well, the book from G-rated to spicy. At one point, Miekka just took a sip of her Diet Coke, I was skipping a very spicy part and happened to start the narrative at exactly the right moment, “and they stood in a puddle of history.” Miekka spit out her drink, we were all laughing so hard it was a miracle no one died. The romance(s) were so drawn out and obvious. It was the way the author used her adjectives that made the book very entertaining. There were hairy dogs, bananas, and all kinds of other sketchy descriptors. It’s been a long while that I’ve laughed so hard. Therapeutic. I finished crocheting the flower bouquet blanket. I just need to weave in some ends and tidy it up a bit. Sleeping at the Lances that night was heaven. I did not want to get up and drive home, but my kids were literally calling me. It was time to return to reality, I had to return to school on Monday. Dude. Amelia and I dished out hugs and left for home. I stopped at Mom and Dad’s for an hour to give my Mom the blanket and a vintage cheese grater. Vintage makes everything better. I worked on my delivery phrase, “I know this might be cheesy, but I’m grateful you’re my mom!” Thanks to Mia and Miekka for helping perfect the phrase. It was perfectly cheesy.  We listened to several General Conference talks until it was making me too drowsy to drive.  Amelia and I giggled over the cheesy book Twin Crowns. We made good time and made it back home by 5:30 pm. I was excited to share my collection of sippers and other gifts I found for the kids. I found leather bracelets in Tomorrowland and had their names engraved in Aurebesh (Star Wars language). I got Justin a Darth Vader shirt. Evelyn and Josie got cute tiaras from the Princess store. I also grabbed some Disney treats like lollipops and gummy frogs. Miekka gave me a thrifted Ewok stuffy, Josie almost immediately named it “Chad.” Chad now sports a tattoo with his name on it and Josie’s initials. Hilarious. It was nice to be home. Justin whipped up pancakes and eggs, like seriously delicious. Thank you to Justin and my kids for giving me time away to make memories with Amelia, Miekka, Lia, Mary, and Jo. 

Some of Amelia’s favorite memories:

Getting son cones near Lia’s house and at the Italian Ice place

Random people thought Lia and Mia were sisters. Miekka and I had the same experience many years ago too!

Listening to the horrible book

Standing in the ocean with Lia pretending to be Dads looking over their lawn

Meeting characters dressed up as the characters, having Baymax sign my sling bag and Belle my water bottle

All the yummy treats

Building my lightsaber

Trying green milk (a Star Wars treat)

Going on the Ariel ride

World of Color experienced right at the fence

Spending time with all my girlies

Hanging out with my amazing mother, I’m going to be just like her one day (ha ha ha)