Broadway Rocks

The week after Disneyland was pretty normal: Ben made a quick trip to NYC, the kids had school and piano and activities and doctor's appointments, I went to choir.  But on Saturday, Things started Happening.

Andy and Amy arrived for a pre-Thanksgiving visit (en route to spend Thanksgiving in Utah with Amy's family).  They were able to see Cat in her first musical theater performance, "Broadway Rocks," a road show-type revue where any and all students at her 7-12 school are welcome to participate, and many of them do (about 1/3 of the student body).  They began prepping the weekend we were on our Disneyland trip but the bulk of the work was accomplished through about 9 hours of rehearsal on Friday and another 9 or so on Saturday.  The entire cast participated in the opening and closing numbers, and the rest of the show consisted of small groups that were largely student-directed and choeographed.  Cat's small group song was "Play" from Finding Neverland, and they did a wonderful job.  Unfortunately for A&A, the show was quite long and their kids weren't interested in sitting in a crowded gymnasium after driving from California that day and the day before, so they didn't get to see as much as they would have liked, but we loved that they wanted to attend in the first place.

Opening Number: Oh the Thinks You Can Think

Cat's Group: Play

Closing Number: You Can't Stop the Beat

Cat had SO much fun and is planning to participate again next year, and I don't think it will take too much convincing for Jack to join in as well.

Disneyland Day 3

Highlights on Day 3 included riding on The Matterhorn, It's a Small World (so cool with the Christmas decorations, music, and scents), Splash Mountain, the Steamboat, the train, the Tea Cups, Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and the Carousel (getting on just before the park closed at midnight).  We also enjoyed the Tiki Room and the girls and I LOVED World of Color in California Adventure (the boys were done by that point in the day).  We rode on some rides for the second/third/fourth time, including Hyperspace Mountain, Millennium Falcon, Indiana Jones, and Soarin', and Cars was extra cool at night seeing the lights of the park as we zoomed around.

The girls and I also rode on a swinging gondola on the Ferris Wheel at Pixar Pier, which was not as scary as we expected it to be.  We were the very last riders allowed on before they closed the ride to prepare for World of Color, and we chatted a bit with another family who, as it happens, are inactive members of the LDS Church and have been talking to the missionaries about returning to church - they were very nice but unfortunately didn't get to ride on the Ferris Wheel before it closed because they had to get out of line so their daughter could use the bathroom.

Another experience that stood out was that we picked up beignets to share with Andy and Amy, and tried to meet them near the entrance with the goods so that we could all take a picture together by the big Christmas tree but we timed it..... right at the beginning of the big Christmas parade, and it took forever to meet up and we were forced to watch the parade, which of course was wonderful, and the beignets were quite cold by the time we got them to A&A.  But we were at the beginning of the line for pictures once the parade was over, so that was good.

The girls and I closed down the park with Andy and Sawyer, which was fun, but our feet were killing us.  Really.  We were all so done, even though we took naps on days 2 and 3, and Eliza and I had had an early night the night before.  Disneyland is hard work!  But it was so fun, and we loved sharing it with Andy's family, since their such fans, and they're always so fun to hang out with.  It was a great trip.

8:16am

12:05am

Disneyland Day 2

We opened the park again on Day 2, this time heading to Disneyland.  It was so fun to finally see the iconic sites!  We rushed past all of them in order to be first in line on Hyperspace Mountain, then rushed to Galaxy's Edge, which opened an hour later than the rest of the park.  So our next ride was Millenium Falcon, then a yummy "breakfast hot dog" before exploring the rest of the park.  Other highlights that day were Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, and Jack and Luke building their own light sabers.  We took a break and went back to the hotel for naps in the afternoon, then hit the park again in the evening.  Eliza started feeling sick after a little while, though, so she and I had an early night.  The rest of the group stayed out riding rides, including Nemo, for a few more hours.

(6:44 am)