Fun Bus: Disneyland 8:39 PM

So, one morning I was bored at work (not unusual) and I sent an email to Bodie saying that I wanted to go to Disneyland and didn't want to wait until October for the vacation we've been planning. How do we get to the park for one day? He responded by reminding me of conversations we had had years before. The Fun Bus idea was reborn in that moment. Could it be done? Would we find enough lunatics to fill a bus? On August 21st at 6:30 pm, we found ourselves standing in a parking with 54 said lunatics. Nearly six weeks of phone calls to bus charters, Disneyland, and everyone we have ever known in our lives came together in one beautiful, glorious weekend. We met at my work's parking lot and all was running smoothly until the bus was late and people were missing. With luck however, our plan came together quickly as the bus finally arrived (and the last few people) and everyone lined up to allow us to check them in one at a time and board the bus in an organized manner. Actually, now that I think about it, we boarded Southwest airline style: Like a herd of wild animals. If you look closely, you can see me running to the bus to try and manage the loading of Disney-crazed individuals. You can also see when I give up trying.
We told everyone that the bus would be like a hotel. We could sleep, in grand comfort, on the way down and arrive at the park totally rested and prepared for a wonderful, magical day. Just because we told everyone that doesn't mean it actually happened. Most of the night was a blurry mess of confusing stops and frightening truck stop bathrooms. Ahh, overnight bus travel.
Upon arrival, we instructed everyone to run as quickly as possible to their favorite rides. This was to help everyone make the most of their day. As a plus, it allowed Misha, my parents, and myself to enjoy a quiet breakfast of cinnamon rolls, cinnamon twists, parfait, and orange creme drinks in an empty Main Street Cafe.
You would think that with 54 passengers we would run into everyone multiple times. You would be wrong. It turns out that Disneyland is a big place. It has a lot of stuff, you see. We first saw Danielle and Timothy in line for the Jungle Cruise. They were already laughing. Note the smiles. It was still early morning adrenaline rush.
Misha, my parents, and I boarded Splash Mountain early in the morning. There's nothing like soggy jeans to lend a feeling of magic to Disneyland. It's like you're in Splash Mountain all day long!
We ran into half of the Hurst party midday. I'm still not sure where the other half is. I imagine that they're still in line for Finding Nemo.
The Bailey party understood that the quickest way to happiness comes in the form of mouse ears. They discovered another happiness booster later...
We saw three members of the Donkin family in line at Buzz Lightyear (the third runs too fast to catch on film). They were a little easier to spot, thanks to their awesome custom made t-shirts. Jealous. That's all I can say.
The Smith family was found in the old west at Big Thunder Mountain. This was the first time that McKinnen, their oldest, was in charge of the ride selection. Well done McKinnen, well done.
The Bowler group had two (I believe) members who had never been to Disneyland. We found them in the afternoon in Fantasyland, still running strong. They reported afterwords that they had been on every ride on their list. Very impressive.
A few members of the Wilson party chilled out with Churros near the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Mmm, Churros. It's the Pixie Dust that makes them taste waaay better than any other Churro on the planet.
The other half of the Bailey plan for Magical Disneyland Memories: Mickey Mouse Balloons. Unfortunately the photo doesn't show it, but the white Mickey balloon had colored lights inside. Awesome! We continued to enjoy it's glowing wonder on the ride home.
More members of the Donkin pary were still shopping hard near 11 pm. I understand that Fish (on the left) had been working all summer to get to Disneyland with her friend. Glad you two could come!
I chose to end my day admiring the beautiful gardens and floral arrangements on Main Street. Disneyland does such a fantastic job maintaining their park and grounds. I am really amazed at how well attende.....snghhhh.....snghhhh....snghhhh....
I don't think that any of us remember much of the ride home. Oddly, it was even blurry when we were asleep. Frankly, I'm still not sure that we ever actually went to the park. I guess it could have been a sleep deprived hallucination...
I can't thank everyone who came enough for all their help in getting us to Disneyland, especially Le Bus for their great drivers. It was a wild, crazy, exhausting, and fantastic trip that I will not soon forget. I hope that everyone else had as much fun as I did. Maybe someday in the future we can do it again. By future, I mean two weeks from today. Who's in?

Summer: I'm not saying you can't go outside, I'm just saying that you don't have to. 6:54 PM

Misha and I were walking Saturday night (I guess we don't have much of a life) and the weather was wonderful. It seems to me that Summer is dying. Thank you. As you know, I can't stand the heat. If the sun didn't sustain life, I would vote to blow it up. So, here's a look back at some of the cooler moments in my stinking hot summer (and an excuse to catch up on months of blogging).

Misha and I started our summer in Seattle. The Space Needle is tall. And you can walk around the top of it. We saw (and I ate) fish, avoided Starbucks at every turn in the city (until Misha needed a glass of milk), and had the greatest donuts ever. Misha was even able to shop. I stood on the sidewalk. That store was waaay too pink for a guy to set foot in.

When we got back from Seattle, we decided that we were bored with the apartment. So we moved into a townhouse in North Salt Lake. It's only a 20 min drive from where we used to live, work, and basically do everything. In theory, anyway. If you would like to visit, you head down Construction Freeway, over Construction Overpass and then take the Construction Exit. From there you take a left at the light on Construction Street. At the stop sign turn right on Finally Out of Construction Road before turning left into our complex, "Don't Park on the Street Neighborhood." We really like it here. (Honestly, we do.)

After living here for a month we're still not sure where to place the living room furniture. I'm pretty sure we're comfortable with where the garbage can is, so that's a start.

To escape unpacking in the house, we distracted ourselves on the 4th of July at Curt and Charity's annual celebration. Once again, Dan and Steve taught their children the importance of combing legal fireworks to create a more dangerous environment than illegal fireworks do. God bless America.

To continue avoiding unpacking, Misha and I also attended the 24th of July Parade. It was just like every other year that we have ever attended with two major highlights:

To end the hottest part of the summer, Jake and Andrea took their family camping and asked Misha and I to come up for dinner one night. That way I could make the peach cobbler for them. And they could enjoy our company, of course. They discovered that Boston really likes dirt, their tent is big enough to include their dog, Mom and Dad have fun encouraging Boston to like the dirt (thus the smiles), and Misha isn't the biggest camper (thus the lack of smile).

All in all it's been a good summer. I bid it fair well.
Who want's to go to Disneyland?