Spring Breakin

So,
    This past week T had spring break. Crazy early compared to other school districts but we worked it to our advantage by going to Disneyland and enjoying a relatively uncrowded wednesday. We set out early, sat through a ton of traffic and arrived a bit after opening. Parking was $15 then we sat in a traffic jam to park. We parked and the kids were so excited that Z pushed a in the stroller through the enormous garage.

The first thing we headed to was the Nemo submarine ride because the lines get crazy long. Here we are waiting in line some more.

Nemo was completely lame. It's slow, tiny, cramped and uncomfortable. Next we headed for an open air ride. Autopia! We waited in line some more.

Almost our turn!

Then we were off. A  took the wheel and a commanding lead!

LOSING!

We finished in first but all had a really good time on that one.

Next we went to Buzz Lightyears blasters. We waited in line.

A took Buzzs warnings and directives very seriously. We murdered Zurgs forces with passion and fanatical devotion.

Z wanted to see the princesses, her favorite is Aurora who was going to be sitting in a house greeting children with some other princesses so we made our way over to the location only to find that the wait to get into the house and have your pictures with a princess was 1 hour. Z was a bit disappointed but she got her picture in front of the castle.

We tried a few other things and waited in more lines. The merry go round, dumbo, and the circus train.

We ate a pretty tasteless expensive lunch and waited in more lines for; pinochio (scary and features a curse word) and small world (I don't even have to say it)

We went to see Mickey Mouse in Toon town.

We got both kids on the fastest roller coaster they were big enough for. They both liked the trashing and wind in their faces.
    It was about 3:30pm by then and we figured that would be about the kids limit. We were 1/2 right. Z was raring to go still but A was losing it. The cure? Ice Cream!!

A slept right through it, Z ate almost all of it and we watched a Mad Hatter, Alice tea party thing. With sugar coursing through our veins we set out for the jungle cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean  the kids enjoyed those but everyone was starting to get tired and tired of lines, crowds and junk food. We went on the Winnie the Pooh ride for A.

More waiting in line.

A heartfelt discussion about Poohs struggles with addiction.

We made our way over to the Alice in Wonderland ride, then we thought to try and book it out of the park before the parade began. At the last minute we decided to stay and watch it. It was a good decision. The kids were really happy, it was loud and featured a lot of cool dancing.

The begining of the parade.

The parade featured a lot of the disney characters so Z finally got to see all of the princesses. She waved at all of them and was really happy that some of them looked right at her and waved back.

We drove home and everyone crashed into their beds. We took it easy the next day. On friday we went down to LA again to pick up a Hertz rent to Buy car. We were test driving a Mazda 5 all weekend until yesterday when we had had a mechanic look it over and spent enough time in it to know that we wanted to buy it. So we cleaned up the Mitsu, and took some pictures.

I posted those on craigslist with a description that clearly stated that the A/C doesn't work, it leaks a bit of oil and the radio dial is super touchy. Within 2 minutes I had 4 replies wanting to buy. I printed some forms off the DMV website and checked the email again, 15 replies, I rushed out to buy a counterfeit pen (walmart only sells 3 packs? $9? That makes no sense!?) By the time I got home we were up to 35 emails. A woman showed up looked it over, asked a few question, took me for a ride around the block, signed the papers handed us the cash and drove off. So long Mitsu you served us well and won't be forgo...

Well Hello there Handsome!

Till next time-

RTSZA

New Bed

So I took the opportunity this weekend to finish and move in the bed. It was super comfortable last night and I think it looks alright.

Here is the old one just to make the new one look even better by comparison. Lets hope some fool wants a free 10 year old mattress off of craigslist with bed rails and a busted boxspring!!

Sam has already made it his morning spot.

The rest of the weekend was mostly uneventful.

RTSZA

A Post Circuitously Related to Sleeping

Hola,

    I've been building a bed so that T and I can finally step up to something other than a 10 year old mattress and metal rails.

Happy Fam, Janky bed.

Here is what it all started as.

Pile of wood.

 A few hours later.

Underside of the frame.

Then a few hours later.

I know it doesn't look square, it is, the camera is zoomed out wide angle.

After a bit of research we bought a king sized memory foam mattress. That meant that I had to add more slats and we had to pick a stain color. Since it is hard to find time to work during the week I waited until this weekend to do that.

One coat of stain. There will be more and a clear coat.

I'm also going to build a headboard for it based on this.

I managed to take the kids out for a little California history adventure this week. Gold was first discovered under an Oak Tree in Santa Clarita, 6 years before it was discovered in Sutters Mill. The place is called the oak of the golden dream (more info here, and here).  Apparently some guy fell asleep under an oak tree in 1842 and dreamed about gold, he woke up hungry pulled up some wild onions and there was gold on the roots. Now you look at the tree but not touch it.

A fine place for a nap.

There are a bunch of short little "hikes" so me and the kids went on a few walks.

My kids can't pass up a bench without wanting to sit on it so I used the opportunity to photograph them.

We walked around a bunch more, steered clear of the poison oak, and didn't see any rattle snakes. I took a few more pictures.

We made a stop at In n Out on the way home and finished the adventure with a chocolate shake.

Stay tuned for more adventures and super exciting bed updates!!!!

RTSZA

stuff and STUFF

So,
    We've been laying low for a pretty long time. Aiden rides a tricycle when the weather is co-operating.

We took a trip down to paramount ranch again just for kicks.

T had two 3 day weekends in a row so the next weekend I loaded up a pack with a whole bunch of extra weight and went for a hike.

White strip on Left is Edwards AFB about 50 miles away.

360 degree panorama of the destination

A smaller panorama from the edge of the Devils Chair

To give you an idea of scale and how high I ended up this is cropped from the previous image and that tiny speck is my shadow.

It was 7 miles round trip and super nice. I wrapped it up just as the masses were heading out and complaining.

Then last night it snowed pretty much all around where we live but not AT where we live so I told the kids I'd take them to the snow.

The kids got all bundled up, and out of the car.

Then they started to freak out. It was cold and they didn't like it.

Sam hated it too so everyone sat in the warm car while I went shooting.

I've been working on a photographic series about the expanding presence of green energy companies in the Antelope Valley for my website . While we were out on the west side I headed over to a huge solar plant under construction.

As far as I could tell these power lines run only to each other??

That's pretty much the highlights of what we've been up to. I'm teaching, T is teaching, the kids are learning and mostly happy and stuff.

TaTa,

RTSZA