Epcot

Let me start out by saying that Epcot is HUGE! More than twice as big as Disneyland and California Adventure combined. So to get from one end to the other takes awhile. There is a lot to see and do. Here were some of our favorites:

1. Test track was great, especially when you get to drive really fast at the end.

2. Spaceship America is the ride inside of the big ball. It takes you on a little journey through history, which was great for a history nerd like me. If I could only get my students to learn/remember all that was on this ride.

3. I loved walking around the countries. My favorites were Germany and Italy. Germany looked just like a miniature Rothenburg and Italy was like a miniature Venice. I also got to try Morrocan food, which is the same kind of food they eat in the Middle East. It reminded me of my days in Jerusalem…and of why I’m glad I don’t have to eat that kind of food all the time.

Canada (Brandy--Aaron wanted to take this picture for you!)

England

Germany (doesn't it look like Rothenburg?)

China

Japan

Morocco (country in North Africa where majority of people are Arabic)

This picture below was taken for my Jerusalem friends. Doesn't it remind you of all the cheesy t-shirts we would see shopping in the old city? And to top it off, it has one of our favorite Arabic words.

4. We went to dinner at a German Buffet called the Biergarten. I wasn’t too excited because I didn’t really love German food when I was in Germany, but this was much better. And I even got to try real schnitzel and black forest cake (which I wasn’t able to find in Germany despite much searching and walking through the real black forest). There was some lively entertainment including a rendition of Edelweiss played on cowbells and the chicken dance.

Animal Kingdom

I was a big fan of this place. It is so different from the other parks and was a great place to spend Thanksgiving day. The symbol for the park is the giant "tree of life" in the middle of the park that has lots of animals carved into the trunk.

1. We saw the Lion King and Finding Nemo shows. Both were really good and much better than I was expecting. The costumes and way that they performed Finding Nemo on a stage was especially impressive.

2. The Safari ride was awesome. We saw lots of animals and even had to stop our van for an ostrich to cross the road.

3. Expedition Everest is a pretty great roller coaster. Very tall, fast, dark and backwards.

4. Dinosaur was a great ride too. Similar to Indiana Jones, but with Dinosaurs. It was actually pretty scary and I have to admit that I flinched a few times.

Our Last Day

Our last day was a catch up day to do all the things we had put off to do later including some rides, buying souvenirs, eating lots of snacks, and going to the water park. We started out our morning at Blizzard Beach. There were very few people in the park and there were lifeguards wearing coats…so I think they thought we were a bit strange. But we adjusted to the cold and got to walk right on to all of the slides we wanted to. We even got to ride a chair lift to the top of the mountain where all the slides come off.

This was my favorite slide. You ride down the mouintain in a 4-5 person tube that looks like a little kiddie blow up pool.

We headed back to the Magic Kingdom for our final afternoon. Aaron finally got Kylee to like him enough to let him hold her without screaming...maybe all the candy and soda and merry-go-round ride helped.

We finished off the day with a meal with the characters from Winnie-the-Pooh and fireworks over the castle and one last ride on Buzz Lightyear.

Thank you Barth family for a fabulous trip! We had a great time are so grateful that we got to go!

October Highlights

October has been a busy and fun month for us. Aaron coached his girls varsity soccer team to the state semi-finals! He has been really busy with practice and games, and now that the season is over he may even get home before me on some days. We still love BYU football, and have enjoyed some exciting wins the last couple of weeks.

Julia came into town for one last Utah visit before she has her baby, so we threw her a baby shower. I made this blanket with sock monkey flannel prints. It wasn't super complicated, but I did use a sewing machine (which isn't a common occurrence) and searched extensively to find just the right fabric. I thought it turned out pretty cute...mostly because of the fabric, not my amazing sewing skills.

After Julia's visit and remembering how much we loved Disneyland in October, we decided to make a spontaneous three day weekend trip to California because Aaron had Friday off. We drove down Thursday night to spend Friday at Disneyland. After a few hours of sleep, we headed to Disneyland around 7:30 and started off the day on Dumbo. Then I suggested Thunder Mountain, but Aaron said he wanted to ride Pinocchio (a bit strange, I know, but he must have been inspired). So we went to Pinocchio and as we get off the ride, there is the Disney dream team handing out fastpasses to people as they exit the ride. The Year of Million Dreams blesses us again! We have won Dream Fastpasses 6 times! Since Disney's annual attendance numbers are above 14 million...I figure you have about 1 in 14 chance of winning one of the million dreams...so Mickey Mouse is definitely rewarding us for being some of his biggest fans.

I love Disneyland around Halloweentime. It's actually a toss up between Halloween and Christmas, I can't decide which I like more. But the Halloween decorations are fabulous! California adventure has an area called Candy Corn Acres that is really cute.

And, of course, we love the giant Mickey pumpkin head!

We spent Saturday in Torrance visiting Julia and Stephen's home. There are a few things I have come to love about this town...and most of them involve food. They have a great beach bike store, a huge Forever XXI, and best of all two of my most favorite restaurants--The Original Pancake House and The Lazy Dog. The Original Pancake house is definitely the best breakfast restaurant I have ever been to, and I'm a big breakfast fan. This place is seriously good. Now Ruby's may have it beat in the ambience category. But if you just want great breakfast food, this place is the best! The omelets are huge (see Julia's plate) and the apple Dutch pancake is huge and delicious (Aaron's plate) and the strawberry pancakes are my favorite! And don't worry, if you don't live in California, they have one in Salt Lake!

I know, I'm probably a bit too old to enjoy these movies, but I'll admit that I've enjoyed High School Musical 1 & 2. So, we decided to go to High School Musical 3 last weekend. I guess I should clarify that "we" doesn't include Aaron. He had absolutely no interest in the movie. Here is my quick movie review. As the sequels increased, so did the cheesiness. There were a few moments in this movie that were just over the top, even for a musical. I could appreciate them for what they were and get a good laugh, but I think Aaron would have walked out before the movie was over. The storyline was a bit lacking because they were trying to cram so many songs in...but there were some great dance numbers as always and we had a good time.

My mom has a great tradition of having a Halloween chili and cornbread dinner. This year we actually did it the Sunday before Halloween as our monthly cousin dinner. I think this year was her best year ever! She used my aunt Jimae's chili recipe, but instead of ground beef we used slow roasted shredded pork. It was fabulous! And I made the cute halloween tablecloth (the second use of my sewing machine in a month).

Aaron decided to be Gregory House from "House" for Halloween. He had gray hair, a scruffy face, walked with a cane, and was sarcastic all day.

I opted for the easier, more traditional route of being a witch. The coolest part was my purple hair and striped tights, which you can't see very well in the pictures.

Now the Halloween decorations are put away, and the pilgrims and turkey are out. We are looking forward to a busy November including my first trip to Disney World! And hopefully more frequent blogging so I don't have one really long one at the end of the month.