DISNEYLAND 2015

It was the last week of summer vacation and I’d been itching to go somewhere.  As our window of opportunity narrowed, I grasped at possibilities.  A rushed trip up the coast?  Our time was limited, so we decided on the only obvious choice - Disneyland!  

It had been a long time since we were there. Two significant memories: 

1. Waking our slumbering youngsters in an Anaheim hotel by shouting, "WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!  

Wait for it ... here comes the surprise...by the way, have you ever seen such adorable children??

2. Buying Kyle a small, clear bouncy ball with a Disney character inside.  As we walked through the Land of Enchantment, it bounced away from him and some bratty kid snatched it up.  We didn’t know about this until later when we noticed Kyle’s sad face.  Krista wanted to find the kid and punch him.

Of course, Disneyland is outrageously expensive now ($99/per).  Then there was the hotel.  In my universe, going to Disneyland requires a two night stay!! I was able to get a decent AAA rate at the Marriott Courtyard and the second night free using Marriott points.

We headed up the road around 4PM Wednesday with Kyle helpfully navigating the best traffic route from the back seat.  After getting settled in, we hoofed it to Downtown Disney and the Rainforest Cafe.  Kyle remembered it fondly and really wanted to go there.  

Have you ever seen such adorable young adults??

We had a great time, although the thunder storm wasn’t as dramatic as I remembered it. (Note to self: book a table upstairs next time where there is an animated gorilla and more thunder and lightening.)   We had a fun dinner and also enjoyed a little bit of shopping. Krista and I found a bouncy ball similar to the one that got away and presented it to my now 20 year old son with a flourish.  I'm sure he was thrilled to get it back.

This trip had health benefits too - lots of great aerobic exercise, not only in the park but walking back and forth to our hotel, 15 minutes each way.  Krista and I fantasized that we would be stick figures after all this walking.

Back in our room, the kids wanted to go to the pool but it was closed.  Damn budget hotel.

Thursday Morning

Everyone slept in really late.  By the time we got downstairs, the Bistro was closed and we had to walk to the other bigger nicer Marriott where they have a Starbucks and where I now wish we had stayed.  Pool is a lot nicer too.  Bet it doesn't close at 10 either.  

Walked through waves of summer heat and got to Disneyland at 12:30.  By the way, it was really hot.  And crowded.  Luckily we had bought our tickets at the hotel so that was one less line we had to wait in.

As you can see, my daughter is a professional selfie photographer

Here’s the lineup:  

• Jungle cruise
• Get a Fastpass ticket for Indiana Jones at 4:45
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Haunted House
• Look for Fastpass ticket to Splash Mountain and discover you can’t have more than one Fastpass at a time. Drat.
• Thunder Mountain which makes me nauseous.   
• Sit in front of Matterhorn waiting for kids because I still don't feel great.  Watch paramedics attend to a man who is passed out on the ground, probably from the heat.  Did I mention it was really HOT?
• Get in line for Star Tours only to find out after waiting almost an hour, that we are in line for Space Mountain which I really do NOT want to go on.
• Get out of line and try not to look embarrassed as my wonderful children laugh and point at me.
• Report to Indiana Jones for our scheduled time. Worth it.  Fun ride.  
• Take the little train from Tomorrowland back to Main Street, through the Grand Canyon, then back in time to when dinosaurs ruled the earth.  Oh, the places you can go in the Land of Enchantment!
• Get hungry and go to House of Blues in Downtown Disney for dinner.  Sit outside and enjoy a nice dinner with strong drinks (orange and grapefruit martini).  

Enjoying a much needed break from the crowds

If you're happy and you know it, say cheese

• Back to Tomorrowland to get in the CORRECT line for Star Tours.  (They changed the video instructing you how to get on the ride.  Now they use a robot instead of an actor.  Budget concerns?? Also the ride has changed too, different scenario, but still fun.) 
• Walk through the back of Fantasyland as the fireworks start.  They are loud, popping, sparkling, brilliant, beautiful, magnificent.  Unfortunately we can't see the corresponding light show but hear the music and enjoy a good view of the rockets bursting in air (Wait. Is that a song?). 

Rockets bursting

in air

Reminds me of something...

Everyone started to leave the park after the display and now would have been a good time to get on another ride, but the kids were tired of standing in lines, so we swelled through the wave of crowds and out into the street, walking back to our hotel along with half of Anaheim.  The kids went downstairs to got snacks and munched in front of the TV while I crashed.  I'm not old, I'm not old, I'm not old, just tired.  Really tired.

Friday morning

Got up in time to get food at the Bistro.  Yay!  French toast, muffins, coffee.  Packed up and left before noon.  Lots of traffic on the freeway.  Got home a little after 1:30.  

Another successful, fun mini trip for my adorable kids and me. 

Secretly, I still see them as my sweet babies hiding inside 20 year old bodies.  They are adults now and I enjoy their company so much, but can't help missing my little angels.  

Has anybody seen my sweet babies??

Ah yes, those were the days...

Marthe Cohn

I had the great pleasure of listening to a beautiful and fascinating lady speak about her life as a spy during World War II. 

What!  Hold the phone!  Did you hear me?  A SPY!!!   

This tiny blond, blue eyed French woman, 95 years young, had the most amazing and hair raising adventures you can imagine.  She is only 4’11” and time has shrunk and hunched over her small frame, but she was and is a powerful woman. She speaks with a heavy French accent but her voice is strong and precise.  Her husband sat beside her, helping her when she couldn’t think of the right word in English and translating questions for her.  

This event was held at the Chabad Jewish Center Oceanside/Vista this past June.  The mayors of Oceanside and Vista were there to honor her at this sold out event.  Her book, Behind Enemy Lines, describes a beautiful life before the war, transformations they all went through and her courageous efforts to help the Allies win the war.  I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II and in stories of facing devastating hardships with pride and dignity.  It's fascinating to read what she went through during and even after the war.

It's also important to hear these survivors speak while they are still around.  Hearing the emotion in their voices as they remember what happened so long ago is an experience you will never forget.

Her story radiates family pride, strength and indignation at being treated so brutally by Hitler’s followers.  She came from a close knit family who were all entrepreneurs in their own ways.  After being forced to flee from their lovely home in Metz, France, they  started over in a new city, found a place to live and opened a new shop.  Just when they were feeling comfortable again, the new city was occupied and they were forced to escape again, risking their lives.  They were all involved with the Resistance, and sadly, her fiancé was caught, tortured and murdered, and her sister was dragged from their home in the middle of the night, never to be seen again.  She died in a concentration camp.  

Always a fighter, Marthe was determined to become a nurse but the school said absolutely no Jews allowed. When the head of the school heard of this injustice, she forced them to take her, but they treated her badly, refusing to reveal the homework assignments, and talking rudely to her, just because she was Jewish.  Nevertheless, she kept a smile on her face, worked harder than anyone else and soon became the patients’ favorite nurse.  

She was persistent and would not take no for an answer when the French army refused to let her join.  Then when the Intelligence Service discovered she could speak fluent German, they asked her to operate as a spy in Germany and send information back to the Allies.  She accepted right away, then wondered what in the world she had gotten herself into.  

It took her 13 attempts before she made it across the border into Germany.  One time, she was trying to sneak across on a brutally cold, snowy night, and fell into a canal, submerged in freezing cold water.  She tried vainly to climb out, but everything was frozen and her fingers couldn’t get a grip on the icy bank.  She recounted this incident during her speech and said she is not sure how she finally clawed her way up that bank.  Her clothing was heavy and kept pulling her back under water but she made it, and somehow survived, even though she was soaked to the bone in icy water on a bitterly cold winter's night.  

She told us another harrowing story of sneaking past two German soldiers patrolling a field, waiting for the exact right moment to crawl through the tall grass and hide in a bush.  At one point she was so terrified she couldn’t move, paralyzed by fear.  She lay there for an hour and the only reason she was able to keep going was because she was more afraid of being called a coward than of dying.

She was able to pose as a German and gather and send information to the Allies.  Her courageous efforts helped defeat the Nazis.  She was even a fierce interrogator of German POWs!

Marthe spoke candidly about having the same human emotions of fear and depression as anyone else.  She doesn't think of herself as courageous.  She just did what needed to be done at the time.  Her own children were unaware of her dangerous and heroic missions until, at the age of eighty, she was awarded France’s highest military honor, the Medaille Militaire.  

Her stories are inspiring for anyone.  She had so many cruelties and hardships heaped upon her, yet she never quit fighting, and always held her head high in the face of those who tried to treat her as an inferior being.  

At the end of her book she says she and her family can look back at their lives with pride.  “Despite all that we went through, the years of daily terrors, none of us ever really lost hope.”

Her numerous medals from France and other countries, were on display for us to see and her husband generously answered questions while she was busy autographing copies of her book and taking pictures with admirers (me included). 

I felt honored to meet such an amazing lady and will never forget her courage and will to survive in the face of human cruelty.

Mother's Day 2015

Everyone wants a perfect family.  I had always hoped to provide my kids with a happy, wholesome family life,

Typical American family?

but sadness and chaos have intruded into our lives these past few years.  Can anyone relate to this?  I'm not the only one, right??

I am a huge fan of The Pioneer Woman. I watch all her cooking shows and read her blogs.  I am green with envy over her idealic family life and am convinced she has the most wholesome, well adjusted kids on the planet.  I stare at her picture and try to absorb all the love, security and goodness of her perfect and organized life.

The Pioneer Woman - I want to be her

Maybe some of it rubbed off, because I had the most amazing Mothers Day this year. 

It started out as an ordinary Sunday morning - puttering through the house, making coffee, walking the dogs, wondering when I was going to hear from my kids.  I was sitting outside in the sunshine, reading the paper when Kyle called my cell phone but when I answered, “Hello?  Hello?”  there was no response.  I could hear him talking, and could hear Krista’s voice too but couldn’t hear what they were saying.  I realized Kyle had “butt dialed” me and shouted into the phone to get his attention but he couldn’t hear me.  I was glad they were doing something together and their voices sounded happy. 

Around 11 in the morning, they showed up with coffee and a box of donuts for me.  Not just any donuts, but my favorite – Peterson's!   

Feast your eyes on this display of yummy decadent goodness

 If you’re going to splurge on a donut, it has to be from Peterson's Donut Corner!!!    

Best donuts ever!

They also brought me gifts – Kyle found a set of glass meditation balls similar to the ones my German mom showed us during our trip to Europe last summer.   

He also bought me the latest CD from my favorite group,  Coldplay.  Krista gave me a DVD of Silver Linings Playbook, the movie she and I had seen together and loved.   

I was touched by their thoughtful gifts and that they would spend the day with me.  

Another surprise – Krista asked if we could ride bikes.  After long, frustrating years of trying to coax them into riding bikes with me, now they actually wanted to!  I went to the garage and began a frustrating search for parts to the bike rack.  Half an hour later I had the rack secured to the car and started pumping air in tires.  Sadly, I could only find two bikes with tires that worked.  Oh well, Kyle could ride the skate board.  I pumped and pumped until I realized that all my huffing and puffing wasn't making a difference in the flat tires. 

Doesn't resemble me or my bike but great picture, right?  Also, how wholesome does she look?!

I decided it would be easier to haul the bikes to the gas station and fill them with air.  I hefted the two good bikes to their places on the rack.  This is also no easy feat.  The bikes are heavy and clumsy and when I lift them up, the front wheel turns into my chest and the pedals scratch against my legs.  Then when they are finally on the rack, the pedals always seem to get stuck in the spokes of the adjacent bike.  

OK, why does everything have to be so hard??  It's Mother's Day and I just want to go on a relaxing bike ride with my kids!   Now my fingers were smudged black with bike grease and sweat was dripping into my eyes, making them burn and causing my mascara to smear.  

Krista packed a picnic basket while Kyle and I drove the bikes to the gas station.  On the way, someone pulled up beside us and indicated for Kyle to roll down the passenger window.  He told us something had fallen off one of our bikes and was lying in the middle of the road.  Of course - my brand new bike basket. I hoped we would find it on the way back and it wouldn't be ruined.  We inflated tires, picked up Krista and headed toward the lake.  Kyle shamed me for having so much junk in the back ("Your car looks like Dad's." - Yikes!), but seemed to enjoy trying on my stylish Western hat.

 

Que suave

On the way we saw the basket lying in the very busy street.  I couldn't just stop with all the cars behind me and fretted what to do.  At the stop light, Kyle, my hero, jumped out and picked it up.  He crossed the road and waited for us on the shoulder.  As we approached, he stuck out his thumb hitchhiker style which made Krista and I laugh so hard we snorted. 

My hero

We drove down to Lake Hodges

Krista and our gourmet lunch

and ate cheese and crackers on the picnic table by the tree Kyle and Mitchell had climbed years ago. 

tree worshiper

We  feasted, reminisced about the past, then walked back to the car to get the bikes. Kyle had the longboard and set off ahead of us.  When I took the bikes down, I realized my blue bike could not be ridden.  I had previously run over the kickstand with my car (as one often does), breaking it off, but now saw that I had also bent the pedal so that it couldn’t move around the wheel.  I told Krista to ride the one good bike and I would run along beside her.  She protested and I promised we could take turns.  Kyle started texting us:  where the heck were we?

I jogged and walked while Krista rode slowly next to me on the bike.  Kyle made it all the way to the end and half way back before we caught up to him.  It was sunny but not too warm, and the water in Lake Hodges sparkled with dots of sunlight.

After our ride, we went back to the house and Kyle sat on the sofa studying the cookbook we had brought back from Italy.   

Best Italian cooking ever!

We were both so impressed with Patrizia’s cooking and bought her recipe book.  I hoped it would inspire Kyle to cook, but he hadn’t been motivated until this day.  He wouldn't tell me what he was planning to make ("it's a secret"), only asking a few cryptic questions about food items.  Then he took Krista with him to Roma’s, our local Italian grocer, to get the ingredients.

 

I put my new Coldplay CD on while they got busy in the kitchen, marveling at how well they worked together. 

 

Five star chefs in the making

I had to resist the urge to hover a bit, worrying about a paper towel which was frighteningly close to the stove.  Krista shooed me out of the kitchen, saying I was not supposed to help.   

"Chill, Mom!"

So I sat on the bar stool and watched them work.  I tried not to seem anxious as I watched suspiciously for signs the house might burn down.

Watch out!

Kyle made spaghetti carbonara (our favorite!!), and Krista made garlic bread and salad.  They served it outside on the bar, our first outdoor dinner of the year.  It was a beautiful afternoon and I was incredibly impressed.  Kyle made just the right amount of pasta, with no leftovers.  I ate all of it and loved every bite.  All the heartache of the past few years seemed to melt magically away. I felt truly blessed.

Later on, we cozied up in front of the fireplace and watched Silver Linings Playbook.  Love that movie.  Love my kids.  Love this day.

House Affairs or Welcome to Hell Part Deux or Mein Leben Ist Die Hoelle

Please refer to my post from March 2014 to so you can shake your head in wonder.  Also, so you can understand the above title.

This month marks the 6 year anniversary of living in this house.   

Cue soothing music and birds singing

The house I bought for Krista, Kyle and me after the fire.  The house I bought because it was fairly new and should be free of problems.  The house that has sprung water leaks every year I have lived here.   

 Note to Universe:

I think there might be a slight communication breakdown.   

 

How does “please send help” translate into “please send multiple disasters”??  Can we just ixnay on the isastersday now?  

Perhaps you were thinking I still needed water to battle the 80 foot flames that changed our lives forever? 

  

 Here’s a news flash – the fire was SEVEN years ago.  This is not helping.  Just saying.   

I don't mean to complain so much, but geesh, can I get a break?  I'm ready for good stuff - lots and lots of good stuff.  I know everything happens for a reason, and the fire and all these challenges have taught me a lot about spiritual growth and inner strength, and actually, a lot of things have improved ... but could we just jump ahead to the happy ending??  I'm ready for outrageously GOOD things now, I promise!!

In case you are looking for what to send me next,  how about a dozen yellow roses?  (I’m from Texas, you know.) Oh!  Also, could you just tie a stash of Woodrow Wilsons to that bouquet?  It would be a nice touch and would come in real handy right now. Please and thank you in advance.

 Just to clarify, I would really prefer the above suggestion to a hazmat tent in my bedroom.   

WHY??

Welcome to my home.  What's left of it.