Disneyland favorites

Today, on the way home from Logan, I asked Mother what her favorite part of the Disneyland trip was. She had a hard time deciding on just one.

The first thing she mentioned was the parade at Disneyland, followed by the fireworks. She really liked the hotel room at the Ramada Maingate. Especially the handicap accessible bathroom. She thought it was awesome to see the sun sink into the ocean & she really liked the Golden Gate Bridge. She maintains that is the first time she has seen it. I know we saw it in the 1970s when we went to Disneyland the first time.

She liked Tony Roma's Thanksgiving dinner, too. But hated IHOP. The interesting thing is, Nick did not want to go to IHOP. Mother wanted to go to IHOP, so I pushed for IHOP. It was almost as expensive as Tony Roma's the day before. Mother hated her food. It was over cooked, tough & cold. She kept eating it, complaining the whole time. So, we told the cashier Mother did not like her food. The cashier dropped the charge on it. But even though the others said not to give the waiter a tip, I did. It was kind of chintzy, only 10 percent of the total, but ... a tip nonetheless. A day or so later Mother said, "Just because you're old, they don't have to give you old food." Today as we drove by IHOP in Logan, she had to bring up the IHOP in Anaheim, LOL.

While we were eating at IHOP in Anaheim, a waitress stopped by our table to put something on it & paused a minute. After she left, I commented we'd just had a "drive by." I said she must be checking out the handsome young men at our booth.

Disneyland, Day 3

On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we were on our way to Disneyland after renting the wheelchair for Mother at the Scooter Shop. Mother & Don-Mike were ahead & had been stopped by a salesman. If we would consent to listen to a sales pitch Friday night for Shell Vacation Club, we could have a ride in a limo & would get $150 in gifts. We didn't have to buy anything, but we did have to have an income in excess of $70 grand a year!! And an excellent credit rating. We don't have either one, but as Don-Mike said, maybe combined we have an income that high. I'm sure the boys have excellent credit ratings, but we don't. We also had to pay $20 in cash as "earnest money." LOL. Don-Mike had $20 in cash.

So, Thursday night, we extended our stay another night to listen to the presentation about the Shell Vacation Club.Since Mother & I only had a one day pass for Disneyland on Thursday, the guys spent the day at Disneyland with us. They went to California Adventure on Friday. Two full days at the park was better than the evening on Wednesday, all day Thursday & leaving Friday morning.

Friday evening Don, Don-Mike & I got a ride in a limo. I was NOT impressed. It was a rear wheel drive & I fell over the hump in the middle not once, but twice. On the way back, we had to sit facing backwards & I got car sick, uggg.

We listened to their 90 minute spiel. Kept saying no, thanks to not one, not two, but to THREE salesmen. It's a good thing Nick didn't go with us. We kept using him as our excuse. We don't travel much because we have a son on the autistic spectrum, blah, blah, blah.

Don-Mike got his $20 cash back & we got $100 in Darden gift cards. Darden Restaurants are Bajama Breeze, LongHorn Steakhouse, neither of which had we heard of, Red Lobster and Olive Garden. We also got $50 in ARCO gift cards for gas.

ARCO's web site says, "You can fill up at nearly 1,300 ARCO stations on the West Coast." Bold italics are mine. However, we only found one ARCO station that had diesel. We used $21 on diesel. and now have $29 in ARCO PumpPASS's left to use.

Back to using Nick as an excuse. He does NOT like to travel. Maybe he'd do well if we went somewhere & stayed. He does not like to ride in a car, but he will drive. Last year, he wouldn't go to Montana with us. We were afraid he wouldn't go this year. He did have fun at Disneyland & California Adventures; but did not enjoy the trip up the coast or home.

Links for Disneyland

Thx for asking about our Disneyland trip Janelle. I had thought about blogging about it, but your question nudged me. I am planning to do a scrapbook album for Christmas presents this year. Since this trip was basically planned at the last minute, it cost about $2,000 to pull off. With that kind of cash outlay, Christmas will be pretty skimpy this year. The idea, of course, is that the trip is our Christmas.

I just found out we went during a peak time. I guess the week before Thanksgiving & the week after Thanksgiving are the slow times. But, we enjoyed it.

Here is a video of the fireworks I found on YouTube. Actually, I found it on a cool website called Dis. Here is a link to their page, Christmas at the Disneyland Resort.

I found The Haunted Mansion is transformed into Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" only in the fall. So, I am glad I got to see it.

I had never heard of Fantasmic! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Mother did not. Wheelchairs are on the dock, so she got the "smoke" from the fireworks.

Disneyland, Days 1 & 2

We left last Wednesday morning at 3:30 a.m. & drove & drove & drove. We arrived in Anaheim at our hotel about 5, I think. I had reserved a handicapped accessible room at the Ramada Maingate hotel across from the main gate of Disneyland. It was only a 5-6 minute walk.

I had also bought three 2-day park hopper passes online. We thought Mother would have to be there to redeem the tickets because I had used her credit card to buy them. With that in mind, we decided to wait until Thursday morning, Thanksgiving, to start using the passes. Thursday morning Mother wasn't feeling good, but she never feels good in the mornings. The Ramada Maingate had all these little shops in front of it. One of them was the Scooter Shop. With Mother's macular degeneration, she is legally blind & cannot operate a motorized chair. So, we rented a nice push wheelchair. Don-Mike pushed her.

We got to Disneyland & purchased 2 one-day passes for Mother & I. Mother didn't want to ride any rides. I would have liked to, but didn't want to leave Mother sitting in the wheelchair. I had been told Thanksgiving is the time to go to Disneyland because there aren't any lines, but it was busy. I wanted to ride 2 rides, the teacups & the haunted mansion. I also wanted to see the Christmas parade & the fireworks.

We didn't need any identification for the park hopper passes that I had printed out at home. I pushed Mother into the castle. The moat stunk. I know why moats were put around castles & I'm sure the moat around a real castle stunk worse than this one. It was quite a chore pushing her up the ramp into the castle. I saw the teacups. It is the Scrambler with teacups for the seats, so no, I didn't ride it.

Mother & I were tired, so we went back to the hotel & took a nap. So, glad we have texting on our phones. I texted Don, but he can't see without his glasses & he didn't take his glasses with him to the park. So, Don-Mike & I texted back & forth.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings at Tony Roma's right next to the hotel. At least, Mother, Don, Don-Mike & I had T-giving dinner. Nick had a full rack of ribs.

Then we went back to Disneyland for the evening. I wanted to see the parade & the fireworks. The parade was fabulous. Nick found a perfect place for us to see the parade. Then the guys left to ride more rides, LOL, they weren't interested in seeing the parade.

We were on our own to see the parade & it was a great place. Some Orientals walked right in front of us & stood there taking pictures. A man told them to move, we were there first. Then he & his wife stood one on either side of us & kept the view clear for Mother to see. I called them our guardian angels.

The guys came back & took us to ride the Nightmare Before Christmas. I told Don that was the only thing I wanted to ride, so they went with us. They knew how to do the Fast Pass & how to get Mother to the front of the line. This was the ride I remembered the most from the first time I went in the 1970s. Of course, then it wasn't Nightmare before Christmas, it was something else. Mother & Don-Mike had a package of wrapping paper with a lit fuse sitting in their laps. Nick & I had candy canes. He thought they were boring & would have liked the coffin in the empty car next to us. I can't remember what Don had.

We also saw Fantasma & then stayed put for the fireworks. The fireworks were awesome. The next day the guys went to California Adventure & Mother & I stayed at the hotel & rested.

Two days was a lot better than a day and a half like we had planned. It worked out a lot better

Tuesday, Dec. 1

We made it home last night about 8 p.m. A day later than we planned. We spent a day longer at Disneyland than we had planned, but we're home! Mother did not come home in a coffin!! Woo hoo!! She's awfully tired, but you can't keep her down.

She almost had all of their laundry, hers & Don-Mike's, done & stuff put away when I got to her place this afternoon about 2:30. I, on the other hand, unpacked a suitcase. Before we could wash anything we had to get a bag of laundry soap.

I've caught up on Jonah, Sheila, Angela & Gwendolyn. It didn't look like anyone else had posted on their blogs in the last week. I also caught up on Facebook, but that wasn't horrendous, as I've been doing that sporadically this week.

I took my laptop with us, but the internet was always SOOOOOO slow. The only thing I could access was Facebook, so I was glad to check on that every day. Sunday night Nick & Don hogged the laptop. I was too tired & upset to fight for any time. I read.

Disneyland

Well, my aunts, Luana & Onda, don't think it's a wise idea to take Mother with us on such a long trip. Luana told me that Mother doesn't want to go. Today the cardiologist, Dr. Otrusinik, voted with Luana & Onda.

I posted this as my status on Facebook tonight:

Now Mother's cardiologist says don't take her on such a long road trip. (Driving to Disneyland for the weekend.) I have no brothers or sisters to take care of her while I'm gone & I can't be in two places at once. Pray for us.

Mother & I discussed it at lunch after the echocardiogram & the pace maker check.  Dr. Otrusinik was appalled that we were even thinking about taking her. I suggested that perhaps we could call Dr. Broadbent & have the surgery to remove the squamous cell cancer lump from her arm postponed for a week. Mother didn't answer me.

Luana had said she'd check on Mother every day. But I don't want to leave her here alone & I want to go. So, I guess I'm being selfish.

Tonight when we got home & I was packing for Mother, it was time to take her meds & I wanted to put her meds in the bag so they wouldn't be forgotten. I asked her what we were going to do with the coumadin. She said, "Aren't you going to call & cancel the surgery?" I THOUGHT, "Oh, my h-e double toothpicks!!! Why didn't you say so at lunch? I could've called & cancelled then. Now, it's 6 o'clock & the office is CLOSED!!!" Instead, I calmly said, "Yes. I'll do that tomorrow." So, she decided not to take any coumadin tonight.

Last night we were in the ER until after midnight with a bloody nose & her INR level was only at 2.3 (low for her). Her nose oozed blood all day. One of the reasons Dr. Otrusinik thought we were being foolish. Besides the fact that Mother needs to be off the coumadin for 7 days before the surgery. No coumadin, sitting for 12 hours, she could throw a blood clot & die. He did suggest that if we do take her, which he strongly disapproved of, we stop every 2 hours & move around for a minimum, MINIMUM, of 5 minutes. Don-Mikel is going to love that.

I don't know if we're leaving at 3 or 2:30, about 5 hours from now. I told Mother not to get undressed & to sit in the chair until it's time to go. I think I'll do the same thing. Just gotta go pack. I paid a couple of bills & have got to grab the checkbook & we'll be good to go.

I'm feeling really discouraged. Don & Don-Mike gave Mother a (priesthood) blessing this morning, so I feel like it will be ok, but I told Don to take the consecrated oil, just in case we needed it. I remember Daddy would always take the consecrated oil when we went on vacation. I even have it on my list.

Went to put some more clothes in my suitcase & noticed 2 cats on the bed. Don went in the bedroom & soon came out asking me to come look at something. There was Jae in his suitcase. I took a picture with my cell phone.

I heard Don say he is on his way to bed, guess I'd better go get my stuff off the bed & finish packing.

A quick note

I can't believe it's been over a week since I posted a blog entry. I've been depressed. Money is an issue & it seems like I'm being pushed into spending money on Disneyland that we don't have. Our sweet Don-Mike is reaching deep into his pocket & paying the majority of it. The Lord is helping with this venture too, by sending money & help from unexpected sources :)

On another note, this is the main reason I wanted to make an entry tonight:

It is working! With collective efforts, PetitionToCureSMA.com is growing -- and quickly. In less than a week it has blown past 77,000 supporters! This is awesome! And, as this petition grows it is not only sending a strong message to Congress, it is raising awareness of SMA. And knowledge brings change!

A blog I follow, Gwendolyn Strong, is about a little girl with SMA. She has turned 2, something most children with SMA do not do. I cannot believe I have not blogged about her before.

Recipe Corner blunder

So, I failed to say what the 4th recipe was supposed to be in the Recipe Corner. It was Turkey and Cranberry Salad. Now, it looked really good & I was quite intrigued with it. If there's room I'll make a correction this coming week & run it. Of course, no one caught it, so I may just let it go. If we run a correction, we will draw attention to the fact that a mistake was made.

I spent a couple of hours tonight researching & doing an itinerary for our Disneyland trip for the week of Thanksgiving . Don-Mike still thinks a Disneyland package is the way to go. I didn't even take that into consideration. That's $1,500 without gas, groceries & lodging to & from!!!!! Maybe Mother & I will stay home.