PLUM STREET SAMPLERS

Spring Break

For Sophie's spring break this year, she begged Mike to take her to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, Missouri, so he took a couple of days off work and we loaded up the car and headed out. And since no Stewart trip would be complete without Mike longing to climb every single hill we passed, we had to pull over on the side of the road and let him get it out of his system.

Needless to say, our road trips to Colorado are a nightmare for me.

Although Sophie has been to Great Wolf Lodge several times, she never tires of it...

It's full of spouting fountains and spray guns and lounge pools and water slides - some of which you can see behind the hill-climbing duo below...

Soph just about lost her bathing suit bottom here... and in case you miss him, Mike is the tall kid with his arms up (most likely hoping to lose his bathing suit bottom)...

And here is Mike again, making up for all those childhood days of having only a bathtub to splash in...

The next day was spent at Great Wolf Lodge's MagiQuest, which is a wizardry game in which participants complete various tasks given to them by wise owls and talking trees, in an effort to conquer a mighty dragon in the end. It's sort of like an interactive video game, but instead of a controller, you choose a wand...

And once you've chosen (purchased) your wand, you can opt to add a topper to it that gives you extra powers...

Yes, Mike, we know you've always wanted one of these..

After consulting her Ancient Book of Wisdom, Sophie was off on her adventure...

Here she receives instructions from a knight:

The average length of the game is 4 hours, but after about an hour and a half, I decided to take my leave and get a coffee and settle in with Dutch Beauty in the lobby. Every once in a while, I'd hear Mike and Sophie run by (along with lots of other kids and an occasional parent), exclaiming how they needed "more gold!" or "The Whispering Woods are this way!" or something like that.

When it was just about time to defeat the evil dragon, they came to get me so I could take Mike's picture witness their mastery of the challenge...

The game took them just under 3 hours, but that was just one of three quests. The others will be completed at a future visit to Great Wolf Lodge, and I know the two are looking forward to it... although Mike expects to get to hold the wand next time.

Spring break was an enjoyable one, but as with every Stewart trip, it's all fun and games until someone gets their eye poked out. And usually that eye belongs to Mike.

P.S. For those of you who know Mike, you know exactly what I mean by that last sentence. ;)

The Attic, Part II

Yesterday I shared with you some shop photos of The Attic, and I have just a few left.. I also took some pictures during the actual Symposium, which was held at Hyatt Place (a fabulous hotel, with the nicest staff!)...

I loved this collection of beaded scissors fobs...

My mother's two loves: red and chocolate...

I'm sad I couldn't get a better angle of this red ornament; the reindeer at the bottom were so sweet!

Friday evening the Symposium began, with Vickie from Needlework Press presenting a history of Arizona samplers...

Then Darlene Andersen showed us some of her gorgeous Christmas ornaments...

And she even handed out 10 prizes to 10 lucky ladies. All 10 prizes were Adam & Eve smalls that Darlene had stitched!

After Darlene had spoken about her ornament collection, I presented my Lady's Trimkeep workshop. Earlier that day I had spent a couple of hours in my room kitting everything up and listening to Justin Bieber on my iPad (which made me work faster)...

The next day Darlene presented a powerpoint presentation on her Adam & Eve sampler collection...

And my dear friend Tracy Riffle brought the most beautiful Amish boxes to be painted, along with a tutorial on how to make a darling little teacup from cardboard and strips of paper, and a Symposium Snowdrop chart with the supplies for stitching...

Finally, Catherine Theron presented her stitcher's envelope project, which was accompanied by a stunning collection of other workshops...

Back at the shop that night, Jean had lots of delicious desserts for us...

And this is the room where we gathered after our shopping to pull our purchases out and start stitching (and eating). The sweet man in the foreground is Jean's husband, John, who made us the most amazing party favors (which I'll share soon, along with my stash acquisition)... I've met John before at a past needlework market, and he is a soft-spoken, charming man with a clever wit. When he first entered the Gathering Room, all of us looked up at him at the same time. He answered our stares with a calm, "If you look very very closely at the pattern on my shirt, you'll find an American flag."

And I wasn't going to post these next photos, but since Katrina did, then I will too. Each morning we made a Starbucks run (I believe I've met my caffeine soul sister in Miss Katrina, btw) and brought our goods back with us.

I found myself being spellbound by that iconic green mermaid being flashed at me on the paper cups, and could barely focus on the samplers in the room (think Death Star Tractor Beam, pulling me in)...

And here's Natalia (who made me wish I was a hot Spanish stitcher)...

Some of my favorite memories from the weekend will always be the time I spent with some very dear friends of mine. Each of them is like a sister to me, and I truly hope that I'm able to spend time with them again some day very soon. As I was telling sweet Jen and Tanya, needlework is a joy on its own, but so much more pleasurable when one is able to find a friend who enjoys it also.

Thank you again to Jean for inviting me to the Symposium, and also for her warm hospitality and desire to make sure everyone - designers and attendees alike - is more than satisfied and happy with their experience in the desert. ;)

The Attic, Part I

What a wonderfully perfect time I had at The Attic's 2012 Sampler Symposium! It has always been a dream of mine to visit this sampler oasis in the desert, so when Jean invited me to present a workshop there, I couldn't email my RSPV fast enough.

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of being there in person, here is a glimpse of what the shop looks like...

Tracy Riffle  of Hands to Work fell in love with this one, by Midsummer Night's Designs...

Everywhere you look, you can find samplers with their Attic silk conversions next to them...

I love the details around the shop...

This is My Handworke, stitched by Jean on 45 count!

Half of The Scarlett House's Hannah Tingey, up close (one of my favorites)...

More samplers...

This one is by Threads of Gold...

This was the shop's gorgeous collection of sampler books, right behind a rack of Scarlet Letter charts...

And there was the most beautiful collection of fibers, everywhere one looked! To the east...

To the west...

The the south...

And to the north...

Another sweet design by The Scarlett House (this is Maddie Button)...

Here's another look at Sarah Munday, pictured above...

And still more samplers...

Here's a very small fraction of The Attic's gorgeous moulding selection...

I'll close with a photo of a sweet little bird, but I'll be back tomorrow with more photos from the shop and the Symposium. I hope you enjoyed this virtual tour so far!

I'm off to stitch my guts out now. ;)

Lady Luck

Mike has told Breanna for years that when she turns 21 he would take her to Vegas. So when they invited me to go along, I packed my stitching and went with them.

Yes, my stitching. Moving on.

We were there for 3 days, and although I dragged my camera everywhere, I didn't actually take very many photos. Here are a few I did take, though, along with a couple of highlights from our trip...

We stayed at Caesar's Palace, and every time we walked the halls to and from our hotel room, Mike would say, "We should check out the pool," and "Look, I can see the pool from here, " and "Maybe one of these days while we're here we can go swimming in the pool."

So Bre and I took him to see the pool, which was really very pretty. These fountains were in the middle of it...

Here's Bre in front of it, wearing her Vegas pants, as they came to be known...

This is the view of part of the hotel, towering over the pool (you can see the reflection of the opposing tower in the windows)...

And here are some of the beautiful statues that were around us...

While we were there taking photos, two security guards started chatting with us. They were there to make sure people didn't go inside certain restricted areas, but after a while, one of them said to the other, "Should I them to the place?" And the other said, "Yes, take them to the place."

When in Vegas, one should not follow a perfect stranger blindly into a place called the place, but since we were in Vegas, we decided to follow.

I realize that was an odd statement.

So our security guard, named Seth, led us past the restricted area, around a corner, along the hidden length of the pool, and up a long flight of stairs. When we got to the top, he told us that this was the place: the place where celebrities go to enjoy outdoor parties like the one Celine Dion just had here to celebrate her baby's christening...

(That's Bre and Seth, walking farther ahead)

Inside those archways are lounging areas with large flat-screen televisions...

Even though I personally wouldn't plunk down a million bucks to reserve the area, it was a lot of fun to see. It was like our own private tour, and Seth was as pleasant as could be. He took this photo of the three of us up there...

And then we passed the camera around and behaved like regular tourists...

We also visited the New York, New York casino, where Mike and Bre rode this crazy roller coaster that you can see tangled in the facade...

And somehow Mike managed to talk Bre into helping him fool all passers-by into thinking that they were actually going to consume the Statue-of-Liberty-made-entirely-out-of jelly-beans...

Nobody really paid much attention though, bc we were in Vegas, and people do that sort of thing there, I suppose.

On our first night there, we decided to see David Copperfield's show. Breanna has always been a huge fan of magic, and loves to try to figure out how things are done. (I, on the other hand, become incensed when I can't figure out an illusion, and I always want to storm out, screaming something unpleasant.) So up to the ticket window we went, only to be told that there were no tickets left, but we could check back later to see if Mr. Copperfield had returned any to the theater. (He keeps some tickets back for friends or family, but if they don't get used, then he returns them for the theater to sell.)

So back we went at 9 p.m. to see if luck was on our side. And yes, it was! We got front-and-center seats, and we were thrilled! (Even me, the magic-hater!) At the beginning of the show, David told everyone to find him on Twitter and send him a tweet, and one person would be chosen via direct-message on twitter to meet him after the show. So Bre took out her phone and sent him a text that said something like this: "It's my 21st birthday, and it would be an awesome gift to be able to meet you!"

And this is how the story ended:

(Btw, when she got the DM in the middle of the show, we all just about squealed with excitement. We couldn't believe it! The guy who led us backstage to meet him told us that during the show, David takes a break and runs to read all of the tweets, and then he chooses one person.)

And btw, his show was so amazing, I am now a convert. It was truly mind-boggling, and he has quite a sense of humor, which I didn't expect. :)

The next night, we went to see Cirque du Soleil's Ka and then watched the fountain and lights show in front of the Paris casino, which was fascinating...

It was a fun trip, but since there were no quiet stitching corners to be found on the Strip, I'm very happy to be home. :) Plus, these two clowns took the whole "what-happens-in-Vegas-stays-in-Vegas" thing a little too seriously...

Happy 21st, Bre!

Myrtle Beach

What a nice time I had at the Pals Convention this past week! Although I'm happy to be home, I truly miss each person I met there, and came away with new friendships and aching sides from laughing so hard.

Shortly after arriving, I met up with Tanya Brockmeyer from The Scarlett House and we headed straight down to the beach...

We stood in the ocean until the jellyfish started washing up, so we decided it would be better to chat further up on the sand. ;)  (Besides, Tanya was better able to photograph cute surfer boys that way.)

Would you believe I barely got any pictures while I was at the retreat? I had decided ahead of time that I wasn't going to barge up to people and ask them if I could take their photos, so I only took a few random shots and some of the grab bags. Now I wish I'd imposed myself on people, bc I'm bummed that I don't have fun photos!

Here's one though. This is Amy of Down Sunshine Lane - the founder of the Pals Convention. :)

I do have a "real" photo of her, but it was taken on my iPad. Hi, Amy!

This is her husband and right-hand-man, Ray, trying to get a group photo...

Hi, Ray!

The days were spent stitching and chatting and eating and shopping, but the highlight of the week was the annual Grab Bag Exchange. Each person brought a container filled with stitching goodies, and they were lined up on a table. Then everyone received a ticket...

When your ticket number wascalled, you could either approach the table and choose whichever container you fancied (the objects inside were a mystery), or "steal" a container that someone else had taken. Once the last container had been received, everyone opened their grab bags at the same time, finding out what was inside and who brought it. It was such a fun event, and I still laugh when I think about Fiona-from-Scotland whispering to me, "She's a baracoota, that one!" when one of the attendees started scanning the tables for something to steal.

This is Fiona, trolling the room, looking for the container she most desired...

Here are some of the grab bags that were on display...

This one got stolen the most... Amy made the bag, and it was gorgeous!

There were 3 ornament exchanges: fall, Halloween, and Christmas. Here are the ladies, checking out all the Christmas ornaments on display before getting to exchange them.

If you've never been to a stitching retreat like Pals, I highly suggest you give one a try! What a great way to meet new stitching friends and get really motivated to finish up the projects you've started. I'm so happy I went!

I leave you with a shot of Miss (The) Scarlett House herself, taking a photo of me; I'm sure, though, that there must have been some surfer dudes in the background. ;)

If any of you who were at the retreat are reading this, I sure enjoyed meeting you all!

*************************************************************************************

Carol: We will go snorkel-drowning together one day.

Toni: Niiiice.

Amy: Mike says it's perfectly fine if you have a crush on him, as long as Ray doesn't mind.

Chris: Sure wish I had a stocking ornament. I wonder if anyone will make one for me?

Fiona: I have one Scottish product left, and I'm thinking of saving it to remind me of you. teehee.

Ray: I think you need to give those collard greens a chance.

Susan: You buy all the fabric you want - I won't tell a soul.

Lorrie: I still want your hair color.

Karen: Where WERE you sitting on that flight?

Faye: Now that's a calling card! You sneaky thing, you... ;)

Diane: Mike says he does those all the time. ???

Michelle: That pink feather just cracks me up!

Nicole: You should have been the one stitching Angry Bird. It would have been done in about 2 hours, no doubt.

Finale

I know I'm backtracking, but I thought I'd go ahead and post the last couple of days we spent on our family vacation to California. :)

When I last posted about it, we had been visiting Mike's relatives in Salinas, which is a 7-hour drive from where we had been staying in San Diego...which means we had to drive 7 hours back. I do believe that for most of that drive, it was the worst traffic I've ever seen in my life. Those 7 hours turned into 10 hours, and made Dallas traffic look more like what you'd see in Mayberry. I'm told it's always like that.

This was one of the more boring stretches of the trip, with hardly any traffic...

I kept myself busy with Dainty Housewren by Carriage House Samplings...

...And the girls tried their best to entertain themselves...

I armed myself with this, in case there was any bickering amongst the rival siblings... one must stay awake and energized in these cases, ready to threaten them with the handy green eye-poker that comes with these drinks...

We found a lovely neighborhood to stop and stretch our legs...

With all of the tragedies at Yellowstone this year, I wasn't very happy with Mike being a rule-breaker...

These birds were so graceful, but the way their feet dangled behind them struck me as funny...

Bre...

I love this vest she's wearing. It looked so pretty to me, the way it moved in the breeze...

Here's Mike at the bottom of that hill he was standing on...

I was so hoping he'd go for a swim...

But instead, he (and Sophie) climbed back up the hill, and away we went, all the way back to San Diego...

The next morning we decided to go to the historical Gaslamp Quarter. Here's Bean, waiting for everyone to be finished so we could get moving...

We ate here, after a local gave us rave reviews on it...

It's a mafia-themed restaurant, with lots of framed pictures of Al Capone, John Gotti, and others. There was even a Thompson submachine gun hanging on the wall called The Chicago Typewriter, which I thought was really interesting. Apparently, Mr. Capone used it a time or two.

Best of all, however, were the burgers. The best, hands down! If I ever end up in the trunk of a car, on the way to suddenly "disappearing," I wouldn't mind one of these being my last meal:

This is the Yuma Building, one of the first brick buildings in San Diego... Wyatt Earp used to hang out here, and eventually it became a brothel - the first one to be shut down in San Diego in 1912.

Just next to the Yuma Building is a hat shop...

I could have stayed much longer in there, as it sort of felt like stepping back in time...

Next stop:

This is where the San Diego Padres play...

Our plane was going to leave in a few short hours, so we decided it was time to go. It was such an enjoyable trip, and we packed as much into it as we could. Which is why the last photo taken was one of 2 of us looking awfully exhausted..

Thank you for a fun trip, Big Papa. ;)

Days 5 and 6 - and a vote, if you please?

I know it seems like I ask for your help a lot, but we are a houseful of girls (and a boy) that always has something going on.. whether it be fundraisers for the American Cancer Society or Facebook contests for Smashbox, it seems like every time you stop by, I'm asking for yet another favor! If this type of thing annoys you, then please know that I certainly don't want to irritate anyone; I just like to have a little fun with my girls when they enter these crazy contests, so I try my best to get a few extra votes in for them - even if the odds are sorely against them! :)

In this case, Sabrina has entered an American Eagle "Your Best Shot" contest, in which one must submit a photo that shows their true "AE spirit." I thought the photo Bean chose was appropriate, considering it's full of denim! And I think it's kind of all-American-looking, but that's just my opinion. :)

If you have the time to stop here and vote, it would make my girl very happy! I imagine any college student would be more than happy to win the grand prize ($3000) to put toward their tuition... or maybe toward a 4-year-supply of Ramen noodles.

Thank you so much!

Moving on to the next couple of days in California...

Thanks to a bad roller-coaster experience, this was the most harrowing day of our adventure:

There are lots of really good rides, but there is also one that I do NOT recommend (I won't name names, but it starts with The Green Lantern). Here's a quick shot of the family (sans me) getting ready to leave on one of the milder coasters that day; I had already ridden it once and didn't want to push my luck with getting a headache...

I didn't take many photos at all that day bc most of the time I was busy getting whipped around on mile-high tracks while screaming for all I was worth.

The next day we drove north, to Salinas. Mike's Aunt Helga (he mother's baby sister) lives there with her family, and since Mike hadn't seen them since his mom's funeral (and some of them he hadn't seen in many years), we decided to visit for a couple of days.

What a wonderful, warm bunch of family they are. We adore every one of them, and are so glad we were able to spend some time with them.

One of the things we got to do while visiting was to go whale-watching in Monterey...

This is part of Fisherman's Wharf:

There was a seafood place handing out samples of clam chowder, and we all agreed it was the very best we'd ever tried. Sabrina is NOT a seafood-lover, and even she thought it was good...

From left to right: Mike's cousin Randy (Hi, Randy!), Sabrina, Mike, Aunt Helga, Bre, Sophie, and Mike's cousins "Little" Helga and Cathy... there were lots of other family members too, but this was the group that went to Monterey with us.

Randy is such a sweetheart. When we stepped into the sign-up office, the owner let him choose any hat he wanted, which absolutely made his day!

Soon we boarded the ship (we called it a boat, but one of the workers told us that anything 100' or more is deemed a ship), and sweet Randy was petrified. It was the first time he'd ever been on a boat (fine, ship!), but as soon as he spotted some sea life, he forgot his fears and rather enjoyed himself...

As soon as the boat started picking up speed, it got very chilly and windy!

After about an hour or so, we saw our first whale! The director kept reminding us to look for one of the four "B words"... birds (hundreds of them in one area), bubbles, blows, or backs. Everyone got very excited when we spotted the first blow... I didn't have my zoom lens with me, so I didn't get any really good pictures, but here's one of a tail...

Btw, after you see the blow of air/seaspray and then the whale's back, the tail is the last thing you see. Once it's completely submerged, you probably won't see the whale come back to the surface again for another 30 minutes or so - and you never know where it will resurface. Every time a tail would break the water, the director would say over the loudspeaker, "...aaaaand, goodbye!" and then the tail would disappear.

Here's a distant view of a blow and a back, from a family of 3 whales...

"...Aaaaaand, goodbye!"

The wet cold got to be a bit much for everyone but Mike (you will never hear him complain that weather is too hot or too cold or too windy), so one by one we started heading inside...

...But some of us scurried back out on the deck when the director announced that she'd spotted a basking shark...

This particular shark had been injured on its fin, perhaps by another creature or a boat. Sabrina Googled "basking shark" on her phone, and when she showed the director, it was soon announced over the loudspeaker that "A CUTE GIRL HAS A PICTURE OF A BASKING SHARK ON HER PHONE, IF YOU'D LIKE TO SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" Sabrina wasn't sure if she should be flattered or embarrassed, but lots of people approached her to look at her phone.

Here is a photo of a basking shark that is similar to what Sabrina had pulled up:

(Can you believe the size of that thing? They don't eat people, btw.)

After almost 4 hours, we headed back to shore, and the skies finally cleared...

Bre and Bean grabbed a quick picture with Little Helga before getting off the boat...

We were all very hungry after our 4-hour-tour, so off to Bubba Gump's we went...

While waiting for our name to be called, hoola hoops were our entertainment... Randy's sister, Alicia, joined us for dinner too; she's in the blue top, next to Mike...

And a trip to Bubba Gump's is only complete once you've stepped into Forrest's shoes...

Not to be outdone...

What a memorable day that was! And with the sweetest bunch of people I've ever met!

But before I go, let me share just one last photo with you. It was taken just after we got off the boat in Fisherman's Wharf, and I do believe I'll use it if I ever need to blackmail either of these girls...

Only in California.

California, Days 3 and 4

Early on the third morning, we set off for Mission Beach, which was about 5 minutes from our hotel. It was very chilly and overcast out, so Bean and I absolutely refused to go into the water.

Nothing would stop Soph and Big Papaaaaa though...

Here's a view of the shops just off the sand... Bre had gone for a run, and we didn't see her for quite some time, so I figured she'd gotten distracted by seashell necklackes or something...

Bean and I walked to the shops and perused all the tie-dyed tee-shirts, longboards, skateboards, and cute California boys (not I, mind you. I've got my hands full enough with you-know-who).

Pelicans would fly by every few minutes, which I loved seeing.. what huge creatures they are!

Later in the day, the sun came out and warmed up my Joonie a bit...

...and Breanna finally got back to our beach towel! I was so relieved. I didn't like her being gone for so long, and I kept watching the beach for her, while Sabrina kept saying, "She's fine, Mom. You should stop worrying so much."

Turns out, she'd run for 9.2 miles, and never stopped to look at seashell necklaces. :)

Later that evening, we headed to the Fashion Valley mall to do some back-to-school shopping for the girls and eat at my new second-favorite place:

Oh my heavens, if you've never had a real fish taco on a corn tortilla, you're in for a treat. Oh my my my my my. I had one here in Omaha a few weeks ago, and I thought that was good. But that was nothing compared to this. (Btw, my new first favorite eatery is a little Mexican place called Roberto's on Mission Beach. We had fish tacos there as well, and they were about a half-star better than these, in my humble opinion.)

The next day we drove about an hour north to Disney Land/California Adventure...

I've never seen so many people in my life in one place. One year Bre and I headed to Disney World in Orlando during spring break (for a cheer competition) and it wasn't even as bad as this. The wait lines were sometimes 140 minutes for rides! We decided we had no choice, so we added ourselves to the Space Mountain line to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

It was at the 55-minute mark that we heard the Space Mountain loudspeaker announce, "We're sorry, but we've closed this ride for an indefinite amount of time due to ride issues. You may continue to wait, but we have no guarantee of when the ride will resume operating."

After a mass groan, many people left, but most of us stayed to brave it out. Thankfully, 10 minutes later the ride resumed, and everyone cheered.  In a brief 35 minutes or so, we were on one of our favorite rides. :)

Next up was the Buzz Lightyear ride, which is another one of our favorites. You have to shoot targets and steer your "ship," and we all like to see who scores the highest (Mike always does). Btw, in case you're wondering, my hair clearly did not survive Space Mountain...

The main reason the girls wanted to come to Disney Land was to collect Disney pins. Mike got them started on these pins when they (Bre and Bean) first visited Disney World back in 2001, and it proved to be quite an addiction. (Every Christmas, Mike gets them new ones from Ebay to add to their collections.)

If you've never collected pins at Disney, you start with a purchased "trader set." These are basic pins that you buy in sets, and you can go up to any park employee (called Cast Members) and ask them if they would like to trade. They're usually wearing lanyards full of them, and no matter which pin you ask to trade, they'll say yes. :) It's a ton of fun for those who are on the hunt for limited edition pins, or the fun "Hidden Mickey" pins that so many people love.

Here are the girls, purchasing their trader sets (they didn't think about bringing their collections from home) and getting ready to choose a free "mystery pin" from a bucket... (btw, the sheer excitement of it all on Bre's face just cracks me up!)

This is Big Papa's role in pin-collecting:

This was Sophie's mystery pin, which her sisters kept trying to offer trades for:

While standing in line for The Haunted Mansion, Bre tries to work her magic...

I love the expression on Soph's face here; she is such a newbie at trading, and approaches even her sisters with a bit of apprehension...

But she quickly learns that if she's going to get the best pins, she's going to have to beat her sisters to the Cast Members. It turned out to be quite an entertaining experience, watching the three girls flit from lanyard to lanyard...

Sabrina's got a good one!

Big Papa's been swindled charmed again...

We were able to get the girls to snap out of it long enough to hop over to the California Adventure side of Disney...

But it didn't last long...

When the girls spotted their very favorite ride, however, they put their pin-trading on hold...

Hollywood's Tower of Terror is based on the old Twilight Zone series. After a brief, spooky introduction, you're led into a large elevator with seats enough to hold about 20 people. After they close the doors, the elevator slowly rises up the tower, stopping in front of a large window that looks out over all the park. Suddenly, the elevator drops quickly, at which point everyone inside screams at the tops of their lungs, only to have to do it all over again about 3 more times. It's a wild ride, and everyone who has ever ridden it is hooked.

Except for me, who is the only one of the Stewart Clan not raising their arms in abandon:

I seem to remember someone prying my hands from the lap bar when the ride was over, but I could be mistaken.

Seriously though, my family loves that ride so much, we returned later that night to ride again...

Eventually it was time to leave the park, so out we went with the rest of California...

...and the girls cried "Pins, pins, pins!" all the way home.

    

California, Day 2

Today is moving day for Bre, so I thought I'd get to my computer a bit early and post about our 2nd day in San Diego... Sea World! The last time we were at Sea World, it was in Texas, before Sophie was born. Sabrina was still in her stroller, and Bre got to pet dolphins.. but this time, 16 years later and in California, the park was much larger, with more rides and shows - and no Annheuser-Busch Clydesdale horses. :(  (If they were there, we didn't see them.)

Of course, the star of the park was there (no, not you, Mike)...

(This is the picture Sophie got...)

After Shamu's show, we went to a Cirque du Soleil performance on the other side of the park. If you're not familiar with Cirque shows, they're a twist on a usual circus, taking acrobatics and strange creatures to a new level. They have several different themes to their shows now (my favorite show is Ka, performed in Las Vegas), and will usually prep the crowd by doing a mini pre-show with odd characters. This day was no exception, and when two "clowns" came out, everyone was fascinated. They started moving through the crowd, teasing people and speaking in a strange language in gravelly voices. One of them started making their way toward our side of the arena, and when he laid eyes on Mike, he froze. Suddenly he pointed at Mike, and in a booming voice, yelled, "PAPAaaaa!!!!"

Oh no.

Say it isn't so.

He's going to make Mike the star of the park.

He pulled Mike from his seat and dragged him to the front of our section. He then started rolling up Mike's shirt sleeves, all the while speaking in his strange growly gibberish...

After he got his sleeves rolled up, he then coaxed Mike into mimicking him in various muscle-man moves. Mike obliged, but at the risk of actually embarrassing Mike (is that even possible?), I'll refrain from showing the photos. Trust me, though... it was as if we were watching Hulk Hogan in a WWF warm-up.

After the man-roars ceased, the clown shook Mike's hand, and Mike was ready to breathe a sigh of relief that it was all over...

However, if you'll notice the clown's left hand, you'll see that he wasn't quite ready to let Mike sit down...

Off he dragged poor Mike, to the middle of the arena. Once there, he started showing Mike some crazy karate-like moves, and had him repeat them...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the arena, the second clown was harrassing another audience member, and eventually he was dragged to the front as well. He's the guy in the orange shirt, behind Mike...

They were each coached in these odd fighting moves, and had to perform them for the audience. (Btw, the girls were mortified, and I believe I overheard Breanna say, "My life is ruined.") After learning their moves, they were told to face each other and duke it out in slow-motion with the techniques they'd just learned...

It was quite hilarious when they were told to face each other, bc Mike was so burly compared to the kid standing in front of him. I felt like a Philistine watching the battle of David and Goliath.

In the end, the audience was satisfied that they were both declared winners...

...and Mike was finally allowed to return to his seat, where he was greeted him with cheers and high-fives from the audience members on our side... (Btw, they kept the orange-shirted kid up there and made him squeeze into a large plastic floating ball.)

You were a good sport, sweety. ;)

After our Sea World adventures, we headed back out to the parking lot to hunt for our car, and we spotted this crazy van covered in stickers. The driver was a mom, talking on the phone to someone - most likely whoever she was supposed to be picking up at the park. The girls decided they wanted to have their picture taken in front of it, so they all ran over to it before the lady could drive away. I was horrified, bc obviously this woman's van was not part of the day's attractions, but I quickly snapped their photo before the lady could get out of her car and tell them to get the blankety-blank away from her vehicle. It's a blurry shot bc I didn't have time to change my camera settings, but you get the idea...

I gave them the thumbs-up sign (which is what I always do to let them know I took the photo; this saves them from continuing to stand there smiling), and they scurried off, giggling as if they'd pulled some sneaky prank.

After we located our car, it was off to dinner at this popular joint:

...and then back to the hotel. Mike and Soph decided to go for a late-night swim, and I followed along with my camera...

On the way back to the room, I took a photo of the marina, but it doesn't do it justice. It's such a quiet place at night, compared to the hustle of it all in the sunlight...

Day 2 was lots of fun. And Mike, your performance at Cirque du Soleil was your 15 minutes of fame, then I'm sorry. I know you were hoping for more of a Bruce-Lee-type experience.

California!

Greetings from my computer desk! We're back from our exciting - and exhausting - family vacation to California, and I'm finally able to sit down and get caught up a little.

We took off last Monday morning for San Diego, and here's a little of how our first day went...

We arrived in San Diego at 8:45 a.m., which meant that the hotel wasn't quite ready for the Stewart Clan to take over. So Mike drove us to the San Diego Zoo instead...

It didn't take Mike long to find a tree to hide behind and pretend he was a wild animal. I have no idea what possesses him to do this whenever he sees shrubbery, but he gets a kick out of it, and the girls join him to make him feel better about himself.

Bre, however, refuses to join in Mike's animal antics. Instead, she says things like, "Look! I'm Dad, and you can't see me because I'm next to a tree! Rawr!"

Lord, please help me. Please. I'll never ask for anything again. (And is it just me, or does one really need to hold their arms out for balance when the balance beam is that much larger than one's shoe?)

I smiled happily as my legs were being crushed...

The zoo was beautiful, but very hot. (California weather is so odd... if you stand in one place, you're sweating to death. But if you move 10 feet to the left, you need a jacket.) We all love our Henry Doorly Zoo, but it was fun seeing a new place. And the panda was so sweet!

After the zoo, we headed to the Best Western Island Palms Hotel, and after dropping our suitcases off in our room we went to the hotel's restaurant for dinner. I've never been a fan of hotel dining, but this restaurant was fantastic, and the weather for eating outside was wonderful...

After dinner, Mike and Sabrina and Sophie changed clothes and headed to the beach, while Bre and I stayed behind...

While they were gone, I brewed some coffee and stitched a bit while Bre took off for a 4-mile run around the marina. When she got back, we headed out with our cameras to take some photos before the sun went down.

See those tiny spikey things on the top of the sign? We saw those all over rooftops and signs in the area, so I presumed it was to keep the sea gulls from loitering where they shouldn't be...

This was the marina, right outside our window...

I loved the branches on this tree...

The next photo was taken from our balcony. It was taken later in the week, bright and early, but since I was showing you what was around our hotel, I thought I'd include it here... I'm absolutely amazed at these Navy ships. My grandfather worked on an aircraft carrier during WWII, so I think they're magnificent...

That's it for Day One! It was a fantastic start to our family vacation. I'll be back tomorrow with more. In the meantime, I've got more unpacking to do of my suitcase - and re-packing to do with Bre, since she moves into her new apartment tomorrow!

I've missed you all! :)