Oh Disneyland!

We recently took a wee family trip to Disneyland. A six day trip to Disneyland. Some may think this excessive. We do not. We adore Disney, as do our kids, and consequently have a wonderful time there.

The only glitch in this trip was that we drove. From Utah to Southern California is a 10 hour drive. On our way down, we wisely stopped in Vegas for the night and continued the next morning. On our way back, we did not. Hmmm. Still, it was nice not to have to be on a tight schedule dictated by the airlines and to be able to pack what we wanted due to the avoidance of airport security.

When we arrived, our hotel room wasn't ready (is it ever?) so we just headed over to the park (walking distance from the hotel, the only way to go!). We ended up spending 6 hours there the first day! Ha! It started out a bit rough as the kids were tired from the drive but it was a grand day out.

Will and Lizzy just as we arrived at the park. I thought we were in for it. As soon as they saw some of the rides, they rallied ;).

One of the things I do NOT adore about Disneyland is the existence of "stupid" rides, like the rockets below, that the kids love so very, very much. It has to be said that there are not many of these at Disneyland, a great deal more at Disney World. These rockets are one of Lizzy's favorite rides. I HATE them will all my heart. They allow a very few people on at a time and when you finally get on (after a minimum of 20 minutes wait) the rockets are tilted to the side to let you in. It is horribly painful for the parents whose kids are leaning up agains them and pressing their flesh into the hard sides of the rockets. Pain! Ah, the things we do for our kids. I got to go twice. Hooray!

Lizzy and I standing in line for the Rockets (I don't even know the real name of this ride).

One of the most hilarious/annoying things about this particular trip was that Lizzy flatly refused to walk. Or stand. We have a double stroller which she is pleased to sit in, like a princess, until we park it to get in line for a ride. If we did make her walk, she put on a limp. No joke. She would scream and say her legs hurt and start limping around like the Hunchback of Disneyland! Amazingly they stopped hurting whenever she saw her friends and wanted to run to them.

Here she is hitching a ride on Steve while we waited for Story Book boat ride.

We ended up splitting up from time to time because Will is big enough for rides like Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain... and Lizzy is not. It was very sad for her not to be able to go on those rides so one of us would take her by herself and go on the little kid rides while Will had his way with the "Mountains". She was big enough for the Madderhorn and thought she was the bees knees! So cute!

Here's Lizzy posing on the "L" in California as you go into California Adventure. She got very into posing and insisted on posing on or with every letter. Honestly.

Steve and the kids on Dumbo (after the endless line that ALWAYS precedes this ride).

The kids and I in Toad's car. I love Mr. Toad. His ride ain't bad either ;). I love Lizzy's face here!

While there, half our neighborhood was there as well. Honestly. It was great. We'd been planning on going and so had Steve's brother and our friends the Morgans so we sort of coordinated the dates and then my friend Liz's husband was going to be out of town, so she joined the group and before we left, we found out some other good friends of ours, the Bertolas, were going to be there too. It was fabbity fab.

Here are Liz and I in our matchy matchy jackets. Nerds? Not us.

Our fam with Mickey.

Will with his besties, Luke and Ellie (Liz's kids), on the Story book boat ride.

We spent a good deal of time with Steve's brother Dave, his wife Cinda and their little boys and also with Liz and her littles. We had a blast. One day we decided to get everyone together that we knew and have a little communal lunch at California Adventure. Good idea, huh?

Here is a small contingent from the Morgan Clan.

And the Bertolas...

And Dave and Andersen...

Steve and Will on Autopia. Huh? I think not. I let Lizzy drive and ended up in ridiculous amounts of pain from bopping about the car. Ah well, she thought it was grand fun.

On our last day we went on a few "last chance" rides that the kids wanted to go on... again, and bought their souvenirs. We decided this time to wait until the end of the trip to allow them to get anything because they want EVERYTHING and this way they had to choose one really cool thing. We let them get their faces painted as well. They thought this the most fabulous of all the things ;).

Here they are just after the face painting. Lizzy is doing her "beautiful face". What? And Will is being serious because that's how pirates are.

Here are the littles again doing different faces. Will's mad eye just cracks me up.

After the park we went to the beach. Duh. It was 65 degrees with hurricane force winds (not really, but almost) and the water was 58 degrees. It was NOT a blast. We spent about 10 seconds there and then went home and showered.

The day before we left, we met up with our friends Cory and Nicky and their littles, in Pasadena. We went to lunch at a place with the scariest bathroom known to man (in a very dark and possibly haunted basement). Then we went to The Gamble House which is one of our favorite places ever. It's a house designed by Green and Green (famous architects of the arts and crafts movement), designed for the owners of Proctor and Gamble in 1908, and is one of the most beautiful houses on earth. We'd been before but I had to leave the tour because Will (who was about 15 months at the time) couldn't hack it. This time I made it through. The house, and its furnishings, are unbelievable. I was so glad I could see it all. We then made our way to a little ice cream shop, ate like pigs, and said adieu. It was great to see them, as always.

Here's a picture of the house. Not a very good picture but a picture nonetheless.

And finally, Steve and the kids on the grounds of the Gamble House. The weather was so lovely.

Our final evening was spent with Steve's sister Sue and her family. We had dinner and shopped at some of the surf shops (always filled with a variety of oddities (people)). Sue and clan were just beginning their Disney adventure. Lucky.

All told, another successful trip to Disney. We love Uncle Walt ;). I also really love California. Why can't Utah be so warm and delightful (but without the drivers)?

Peace out,

Heidi

Pressies!!!

Since I'm a Noblog, I'm REALLY late on this post. I'm ever so sorry. I despise ingratitude and I am not showing much of it by posting this so late. I DO feel very, very and thrice very grateful for these pressies!

The first is from Marit (who I love with all my heart). I am participating in a "Pay it Forward" thingy from her blog and she sent us the most amazing things. Seriously, her generosity was very much above and beyond and so so delightful!

She sent me a bag (which I use for knitting projects) made out of jeans. How clever is that?! I'll tell you; very clever. It's so adorbs. It features Shaun the Sheep (whom we adore) and a kite with a caterpillar and everything!

Here's a close up of Shaun. Isn't he cute?

And the bum of the bag ;). Terribly handy pockets!

And that lining! Isn't it adorable?!

She also sent the most sniffy soap from Selje, an island very near her home and where some of her sheep live. Real sheep, I don't mean kids ;).

ALSO she sent the kids these darling wee stockings with their names and the year embroidered on them. WHAT?! How amazing. AND these ornaments filled with delicious chocolate which the kids loved. They kept saying, "mom, can we have some of that chocolate from Marit?" Hilares. Will went on and on about how nice Marit is and how amazing he thought it was that she sent chocolate ALL THE WAY FROM NORWAY! (I showed it to them on a map).

And, if that weren't enough, she sent this gorgey red yarn. Yes she did. Because with all the other gifts, she wasn't generous enough ;). THANK YOU SO MUCH MARIT!!! It was like opening a treasure chest!

Here's a picture of all of it. It's not a great picture. I'm kind of a crap photographer, but you get the idea.

Now, I just need to get on with my pay it forward project. I have one I'm doing but I'm wondering if there are any others who want to participate? Just let me know.

The next package that arrived, (just in time for London!!!) were these fabby mittens from Bea (who I also love with all my heart). I fell in love with these when I saw them on her blog and wanted to make a pair but then she started selling them so I decided to buy some instead (clever, huh?). Bea and I decided to do a trade instead.

Mind you, Bea also sent delicious chocolates and balloons for the kids as well! Kindness and generosity!

Again, crap picture. These mittens are gorgey! The turquoise is much softer in real life and the mittens aren't usually posing on a lap.

I was SOOOO excited to have these for London. They're photographer mittens, you see. You can pop your index finger out of a tiny hole and click away. Hmmm. Clever? Yes. They were so warm and cute AND convenient. How often do you find that in a mitten? LOVE.

When these mittens arrived, I nearly had a heart attack. I knew the second I saw them that I could not knit her something. I would die of shame. They were completely perfect. I decided to send her yarn. Anything I knit would have seemed so quaint. And also like a Kindergartener had done it. I'm very glad she let me off the hook. Thank you SOOO much Bea! I love them!

Here the are at Old Sarum (these mittens are SO well traveled). You can't see it but my finger is sticking out so I can record... sheep.

Now you can see my finger. It's showing everyone that I, and the mittens, are #1.

Isn't Blogland marvy? I've "met" so many wonderful people with so many amazing talents. I can't wait to see and learn more from all of you.

Peace out,

Heidi

Knitting for the Offspring.

I like knitting for kids. The knits are small and fast and look adorable on little heads/hands/feet etc. Better stated, I like knitting for SOME kids. The number of truly grateful people is astonishingly small. Honestly, when I first started knitting, I gave away so many knitted items. No more. Many of the people I have given knits to have never worn the thing they were given. What cheek! At least do me the courtesy of wearing it around me. Once.

So, now that I am a very old woman (I'm not actually, I'm only 33), I find that my friends tend to produce offspring. I cannot seem to keep up. With the knitting, I mean. I have plenty of offspring. It's such a common occurrence now that I can't be bothered knitting for them all ;).

Many years ago Steve and I became friends with Nate. We had a large group of friends who had ridiculous amounts of fun together. I don't think any of us ever got home before 3 am. Nate was not satisfied with us so he moved to Holland and met Claudia (she is Italian, not Dutch). I visited them in Holland in 1997 (that is mental) and took this adorable picture...

Claudia and Nate. Notice the safe distance between them. Perhaps this was still in the awkward we're-dating-but-I-don't-want-to-let-on-how-much-I-like-you phase.

Nate and Claudia ended up getting over the "safe distance" fandango and got married. Below is a picture of them in Italy last year (I think). No more of the awkward distance issues. Phew!

Claudia and Nate. Grown up and touching each other.

Well, as so often happens, the two of them produced a cute little bug. She is completely adorable. From what I hear, she is a spitfire who would get along swimmingly with my Lizzy. We met her (her parents now live in the UK) over Christmas and she refused to say so much as two words to us. Will and Lizzy were fighting (a common occurrence 'round these parts) and probably scared her to death. She has been an only child and is not yet used to the insanity a sibling can bring. This situation will be changed, as will this darling child's life, in just a few short weeks when her brother "Giotto" is born (her choice of names, not her parent's).

Um, hello. Adorbs. As I said, this little one lives in the UK and needs something to cover her poor head and ears from the arctic conditions there ;). She is, at the moment of this picture, picking off a dragon fly adornment. Yes, she and Lizzy should be fast friends if they were able to spend more than 1 hour together.

There are the girls in their matching hats. Cute as two bugs. The horrifying thing about this picture is that Lizzy's face and clothes are a MESS and I didn't even notice until I saw the picture. What have I become?

I have also knit something for "Giotto" but will refrain from posting a picture as his parents might read this and, therefore, have their surprise ruined. Wouldn't that be a tragedy?

On we go. You might remember a post I did last year about my time spent in England with BYU study abroad? Yes, I'm certain you do. Well, our next subject is the offspring of Emily. You'll recall that Emily was part of my group of friends who got along swimmingly and were apparently very intimidating (no, we weren't, we were only awesome) therefore making more than one enemy amongst the study abroad girls. Oh well. We have stayed friends for 11 years, even though she moved to NYC for a very large span of time. I shall forgive. Below is the greatest picture ever taken. It's the nine of us at Lake Windermere (the most beautiful lake in the world).

Emily is the little thing right in the dead center of the forcefield, wearing a gray sweatshirt and jeans. Seriously, best. picture. ever.

Here is a picture of Emily just last year (I think). She's in Australia, if you can believe that.

Well, Emily got hitched to Will and, as so often happens, they produced... RUBY! Ruby is the most hilarious child on earth. She has this little angelic face and when she smiles at you, she's all teeth! It's so great. She is also a savage, which I find delightful in little girls.

Here are Lizzy and Ruby playing with Lizzy's dress up stuff. They were both in heaven.

Ruby in her headband. We kind of had to fight her to get it on.

And a side shot of the flower. And Ruby's tongue.

Also, and edelweiss button. Could you die?

So Nate, Claudia and Emily have passed the test of gratitude and class. I have two other knits lying around my house that belong to the offspring of other old friends. However, I am missing either an old or a new picture of them and therefore could not post about them. Obvi. How lame would that have been? It would have totally messed up the theme.

I promise not to wait so long between posts from here on. I swear. This blog has gotten so dumb because of my noblog status. I will change. I can.

Peace out,

Heidi

Knitting (yes, I still do that)

I still knit. Can you believe it?! I know. I KNOW! I've been doing a lot of it, actually. Just not blogging about it. Again, I've been a bit of a Noblog. Sorry. Now that I have my journaling of London out of the way, I can regale you about my knitting. I know you've been waiting with baited breath. Right?

SO, these headbands have been THE thing here in Utah. If you don't have one you are, basically, a nerd. I'm a nerd (I once broke a speaker in my car by blasting opera), but not a fashion nerd. And, as far as I can control, my friends and family will not be fashion nerds. Therefore, I knit these headbands. A great number of them (because I am Heidi, and I am a Multiple Knitter).

For the longest time I could not find a pattern for this item. I finally found one that cost me $6. Fine. Later my sister found one for free. The one she found was acquired at my favorite yarn store and the owner had written it two years before. I thought I'd try it so I asked her for it. Turns out, it's the EXACT same pattern (literally not ONE difference). That's right, the yarn store I BOUGHT it from had ripped it off from the good yarn store that was giving it away. Horrid people!

The ones you see around town are made of acrylic and all look exactly the same. Acrylic? Seriously? Pfff. Acrylic has its place, that place is not on my head. The fun things about the ones you make yourself is that you have your pick of flowers, buttons, blah, blah, blah, that you can adorn them with. Also, they're made of wool. Obvi.

This one was made for my sister in law as a Christmas pressie. I have never seen her wear it. Perf. I have seen her wear her naff acrylic ones. That's fab.

This one was made for my niece. The flower turned out a bit big for a full grown human so she got it by default ;). She loves it and it looks adorbs on her.

Pattern: Rose's Hat by Verla Younker

Yarn: Cascade 220 held double

Time: About 3 hrs.

And now to switch gears entirely (because this post hasn't been higgeldy piggeldy enough), I shall tell you about my Bella Mittens. I love these. They were a quick knit and are very comfy. I took them to London with me and I wear them all the time. The only thing is that they are a bit on the flimsy side. I wasn't aware that I needed to double the yarn I used. Oops. Oh well, they work. Anyway, if I'm especially cold, I now have my special Vancouver 2010 mittens to do the job (oh yes I do).

Pattern: Bella's Mittens

Yarn: Elsabeth Lavold Silky Wool

So there you have it. I'm knitting and loving every minute of it (well, almost). I think I'm taking a socks-two-at-a-time-on-magic-loop this month (which will be great since I get second sock syndrome like nothing else) and I intend to learn some new skills since I haven't really pushed myself for a really long time. Like, since the first year I started knitting. That is all I have to say.

Peace out,

Heidi

Here is London... Part... Finis!!!

The sadness hit me hard when we woke up on our last full morning in the Motherland. We had a full day planned and I was sooooo excited but had a looming pit in my stomach that it would all be over very soon.

We headed over to get some breakfast from the barf cafe (yes, we braved it this day as we had no time for anything else) and got some fruit and cheese to go. We took the tube to Paddington Station to catch the express to Windsor (we changed trains in Slough! It really is kind of dumpy). It was very cold and rainy all day long. A good day to be inside. We were not. Inside. Ah well, no such thing as bad weather... ;).

Windsor is the most adorable wee town. The castle was closed when we got there because we were anxious jakes and arrived too early. What's a person to do with the time? The answer is obvious. Shop. We went to a lovely little shop called Edinburgh Woolen Mills and went a bit nuts buying souvies for our kids. Kilts. Adorbs. Then we went over to start out tour.

Well, wouldn't you know it? The Queen's stupid apartments were closed. Honestly. Had we known we would have stayed in London but alas, we did not. Windsor was still fun. It's a truly beautiful castle. I even saw things there that I had not seen nor even known were there until this visit (I am ashamed to admit this).

In St. George's Chapel, King George VI and his lovely wife (the Queen Mum) are buried. I love these two amazing people. Despite bombing raids and the advice to leave London, they decided to stay, thereby helping moral of the British people immensely. They were brave and hardworking little bees. King George had a stutter (believed to have been brought on by the severe abuse he received from his governess) and his wife would do much of his speaking for him because of that. How cute. I love them. Also, someone I don't love but with whom I am obsessed is buried there... Henry VIII!!! What the?! I actually kind of love him. He's just so fascinating. And evil. He was like a spoiled child that never learned how to grow up and his childish tantrums turned into head chopping as he aged. So vile. And cool.

So, our trip to Windsor was short, but fun. We then trotted back over to the train station and headed back to London. We ate a pasty on the way and it was fab. I really love a pasty. If you've never had one, find a recipe and make some. They're well worth it.

Windsor Castle. Isn't it pretty? Don't bother answering. It is.

Steve and I in front of Windsor Castle.

The old moat with a ginkgo tree. We have a few of these in our yard. Whaddya know, so does the Queen.

If I can ever afford it, I'm copying this building as my house. HELLO! Just look at that brick work. Amazing.

Once back in London, we headed over to the Tower. I cannot describe in words how I love this place. If I could be a Yeoman Warder, I would. But I can't. I'd really even just be the janitor there. Maybe. Something to give me special access to the insane history that lies within these walls! OH! I love it here. When you visit, you have to have a tour with a Beefeater. You just do. They're naff and silly but they really do give good information and if you pull them aside after the tour, they can answer ANY questions you ask them about the history of the place. Really, I tried.

I have a fixation with the Tudors, as you may have surmised, and this place is just brimming with Tudor history. In addition to Traitors Gate, (where Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, Catherine Howard and even Queen Elizabeth (before she was queen) were taken through on their way to imprisonment in the Tower), we saw Beauchamp Tower (where Guilford Dudley, Lady Jane Gray's husband, was kept before his execution), the White Tower (built in Norman times), and even the house where my girl, Lady Jane Gray, lived before she was executed. There was a special exhibition, entitled "Dressed to Kill", of Henry VIII's armor on display for the 5ooth anniversary of his death. It was amazing to see how he grew from a young, fit man to an obese old man in a relatively short period. His poor wives. Ugh.

We also saw the Crown Jewels but I'm not terribly fascinated by those. Is that odd? Anyway, it's a completely amazing place and a must see on anyone's list. Well, anyone's list who has a brain ;).

Traitors Gate. Can you imagine the fear of being led through this gate? The chances of getting released from the Tower after being led through this gate were about none.

The White Tower. It's completely amazing that it's still standing. It's under major construction right now.

Steve following our group up the hill toward a Tower (I forgot what it's called).

Just a pretty picture.

Me in front of Beauchamp Tower. This is the one you hear about with all the scrawlings in the stone from the prisoners. Also where Guilford Dudley was kept before his execution (I don't care much for him except that he was Jane Grey's husband).

A little monument in front of Tower Green in remembrance of those who got the chop. It was the lucky ones who got the chop here instead of up on Tower Hill. At least you might get a pillow.

Lady Jane Grey lived on the third floor (I think). How lucky for her that she had a really nice view of Tower Green from her room. She saw them building the scaffolding for her beheading.

This electronic poll was down in one of the prisons. It asked "How far would you go for your beliefs?" The answer options were: "They don't really matter" 172,250; "I'd go to prison for my beliefs" 110,000; and "I'd die for my beliefs" 150,308. Food for thought.

Happiness after the Tower.

After touring around, it was, again, time for shopping. These sights have amazing gift shops. Have I mentioned this? I went a bit crazy and bought Henry VIII and his wives as Christmas ornaments as well as in the form of matryoshka dolls. Adorable. We bought so much stuff that we had to go back to our hotel before we hit the town again. Shameful.

Later, we went to Harrods to get Lizzy her requested Princess stuff and then we went to a great Italian restaurant on Greek Street called Da Aldo. They thought we were German. Why always German? Seriously. It's odd. People never guess another country.

Anyway, after dinner it was time to walk home. With heavy hearts. This was our last night in my favorite city in the world. How very sad. We decided not to take the tube and to hoof it the whole way so we could get a last view of everything we wanted to. It was really fun. It was a cold night but it always feels good when you're walking fast and have a purpose. We didn't even feel the tiredness. We walked to Buckingham Palace via St. James's Park (such a lovely park) and walked through Admiralty Arch on the way. It was an amazing walk. Oddly peaceful in such a crazy city. We even saw a little fox in the park. See, peace. Then we got back to our hotel, packed up a bit and hit the sack. I wrote in my iphone "will now cry". SO sad!

Admiralty Arch.

Buckingham Palace. This is the only time we saw it! Oops.

Two streets merged into one another and led to our hotel. This is the first. Cute name, yes?

This is the second. Even cuter.

We found this construction sign on our last night and about died laughing. How fitting. And sad.

I had Steve take this pic while we were packing up. This is one of my favorite candy bars (not to be found in the US) and I ate them with reckless abandon while there. My bum grew. Honestly, it did. A bit funny.

My parting shot of London. Another of MY stations :). Love.

And now we reach our last day. Here's what I wrote in my iphone notes:"*so sad, *so tired, *miss kids, *got on train to Notting Hill Gate to get some Percy Pigs for family. I'm currently waiting in tubes for Steve. *want to cry when I think I'm leaving the best of all the cities but glad I'm doing it before weekend line closures ;). *made it to Heathrow after much stair climbing with our 22 kilo bags (wheelchair bound people simply cannot make it in London. No lifts). *bought some candy to spend our extra "poundage". *lived through flight thanks to knitting and good movies (Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and Shakespeare in Love).

This was one LONG day. We were in transit for darn near 24 hours. And I can't sleep on planes. Ugh. Oh well. All worth it for the time spent with Steve in the greatest of all the lands. It truly was the greatest trip of all time. I loved it so much. I cannot wait to go back. Soon.

Steve and I during our 5 hour layover in Houston. Barf! I do not love the Houston airport.

Thanks, Steve, for the wonderful time and for being such a delightful travel companion. You're my favorite and my best!

Peace out,

Heidi