Breaking Down Disneyland

I've now been to Disneyland twice in my life.  The first time was in 1988, so I've been itching to get back for a while.  We were fortunate enough to be able to take our kids for Christmas this year, and meet Rachel's parents and her sister's family there.  I don't really remember how much fun I had when I was eight, but I'd be hard pressed to say I had more fun than I did this year.  It truly is the happiest place on Earth.  Here's a few of my observations, for anyone thinking of taking a trip there:

• If you can spend four days in the parks, do it - Disneyland and California Adventure are huge, you really need a couple days in each to see everything at a leisurely pace.  I think you can cover just about everything in three, but that fourth day was nice to knock out some of the "non-ride" attractions, like the Enchanted Tiki Room (although I'd say you could skip this one) and the Disney Jr. Live show (which you could also skip unless you have kids under five).
• TAKE BREAKS  - Can't stress this one enough.  Again, if you're on a budget and have just a day or two, this isn't going to work.  But if you've got the time, get into the park early, take a couple hour break in the afternoon, then go back for the evening/night.  Lines are shorter first thing in the morning, and a lot of the lines for rides for younger kids start to taper off as you get into the evening hours and kids who didn't take a break start to melt down.  I'd recommend taking your break back at your hotel room rather than finding a place to eat in the park, just to avoid the constant stimulation that comes with being in the parks.  You'll also save a small fortune by eating meals outside the park.  Also, taking a full day break in the middle was really beneficial for us.  We went two days, took an off day to shop at Downtown Disney and swim at the hotel, and it was great for the kids to be able to sleep in and not be walking all day.  By the end of the second day, we had to carry both kids out of the park they were so tired.
• Park Hoppers are nice, but not necessary - We paid extra for the park hopper pass, but ended up only using it on that last day to knock out the last few things.  Plus, you really can waste quite a bit of time walking back and forth from park to park.
• The Bug's Life 3D movie is NOT FOR YOUNG KIDS - This show really confused me.  The whole Bug's Life area is really geared towards younger patrons, but the show is decidedly for an older crowd.  I don't want to ruin the surprises for anyone, because it really is an entertaining show, but Jonah was practically in my lap the entire show and screamed more than once.  This is a kid who rode Indiana Jones four times and had no problems handling the bigger roller coasters there.  
• Unless you're staying at a Disneyland Hotel, Magic Mornings only apply at Disneyland - This is written on your ticket, but we missed it anyways.  We got up early to go to California Adventure, but ended up just standing in line to get in for an hour.  We ended up using our Magic Morning the next day at Disneyland, which allowed us to get on a few of the rides that have longer lines (Finding Nemo and Space Mountain) that we weren't able to really do any other day.  
• Unless you're sitting in the front, you won't get that wet on Splash Mountain - This isn't really an issue in warmer months, but the temperature was in the low 50's the whole time we were there.  The cooler temps scared most everyone off of riding it - I never saw a line of more than five minutes to ride it the whole time we were there - and that allowed Jonah and I to ride the ride multiple times without waiting.  
• You will get wet on Grizzly River Run, though - I'd heard this going in, and it's the truth.  We saved this ride for the final ride of the day, and we shed our sweatshirts before riding so we'd have something dry to put on when the ride was over.  
• Even if someone in your party has no intention of riding a certain ride, get them a Fastpass - You can only get one Fastpass per ticket, but one person could use every Fastpass.  Jocelyn wasn't tall enough to ride any of the Fastpass rides, but we used her ticket to get Jonah an extra Fastpass ride, then split our party in half and Jonah would ride twice.  
• Bring a cheap stroller for younger kids - The crowds are too big to bring your doublewide Cadillac Escalade sized stroller.  You'll end up angering everyone around you, and you'll get frustrated yourself with how long it takes you get anywhere.  We picked up an umbrella stroller for Jocie for $20 at Babies R' Us before going down, and it was a lifesaver.  Stroller rentals are $15/day at the park, so we ended up saving $40 by buying one ourselves.  

The Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique is expensive, but worth it for young girls - We ended up splurging for the top of the line package, which gets you VIP access to meet some of the princesses without waiting in the insanely long line.  You also get a photo shoot with your little princess in her dress, which Jocelyn absolutely loved.  In addition, every park employee will refer to your daughter as "your majesty" the rest of the day, which was quite awesome.  They do good work too:

For something special for little boys, get them in the Jedi Training Academy - Jonah loved this, and it was free!  The only catch is that kids are selected randomly from the crowd, so you could end up with a really bummed out kid if they don't get picked.  We were fortunate to have Jonah selected during the first training session we attended, though Rachel had to literally pick Jonah up and shake him to get him noticed over the other kids.  But every kid selected gets a chance to cross lightsabers with either Darth Vader or Darth Maul, and Jonah hasn't stopped talking about it since:

• Christmas is an awesome time to visit the park - Between the music playing and the extra decorations, it really is special.  A few of the rides (Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Small World) change their formats to incorporate holiday themes which makes them different from during other times of the year.  

• No matter what time you show up to the bus stop, your bus has just left - We ended up walking the 6/10ths of a mile back to our hotel just about as often as we took the bus, and it was about the same amount of time.  It just adds to your time on your feet though, which can be problematic if you have small children, grandparents, or are just out of shape.  
• Driving takes a while, but if your kids travel well, it'll save you money - It's a 14 hour drive from Albany if you're lucky to miss LA traffic like we were on the way home (and you can time your trip to make this more likely), but our kids were awesome.  I'm sure the fact that Santa brought them both iPad Mini's for Christmas helped, but they were totally content to listen to music and watch movies most of the way.  We had to fill up five times on the trip, and the average cost of a fill-up was about $50, so we spent less on gas than we probably would have for one plane ticket.  
• You'd be hard pressed to find a better place to spend a vacation - It's one of the few places where everyone, no matter your age or interests, will have a good time.  Jonah loved the rides, Jocie loved the princesses, I was fascinated by the attention to detail and level of professionalism shown by the staff, Rachel loved the atmosphere, and of course as parents we loved the looks of excitement and wonder on our kids faces, something you probably won't get if you take them to the Grand Canyon or Washington D.C. or even Hawaii.  I can't guarantee it won't be 27 years before I visit again.

The Greatest U-8 AYSO Soccer Game Ever Played

This past Saturday I had the privilege of being a fan at one of the greatest sporting events in Oregon history.  It didn't involve the TrailBlazers, Timbers, Winterhawks, Beavers, Ducks, or any other team with players who get paid to play (see what I did there?).  It involved the Dark Knights of AYSO Region 870 squaring off against the Renegades. 

Major League Baseball likes to promote its annual All-Star Game with the tag line "this one means something," a reference to the winning league of the game securing home field advantage for its participant in the World Series that year (go Angels!).  As is the case with just about every meaningful "greatest" game played, something has to be at stake, be it a championship, rivalry, comeback story, "David vs. Goliath," matchup, whatever.  There has to be a backstory. 

The story of why this random soccer game between a bunch of first and second graders from Albany was so great begins about a year ago.  My wonderful wife Rachel had volunteered to coach Jonah's AYSO team, and as a result would have to go through mandatory "coach orientation" prior to beginning the season.  Nobody enjoys these things, but when the instructor launches into a lecture about teaching "the five principles of offensive play" to the coaches of a bunch of elementary schoolers, it gets even more unbearable.  Rachel came home from that meeting with a very negative view of AYSO in general, thinking the whole organization could stand to take it down a notch on the self-importancy scale.

Fast forward a few months to the final game of the season.  U-6 soccer games are just 3-on-3 scrimmages with no goalies and no score kept.....the idea behind this is to encourage having fun on the field over winning and losing I'd assume.  Before the last quarter, Rachel and the opposing coach got together and agreed to let all five kids on their rosters play together for the final five minutes - because who really wants to sit on the sidelines and watch the last few minutes of their season?  Who could see a problem with this?  The answer to that question:  Mr. Five Principles of Offensive Play, that's who.  He saw this occurring from another field, made his way over to Rachel, and - while the game is still in play - proceeds to tell Rachel that she "can't do this" and that "the league will hear about this."  Rachel is not exactly the kind of person you tell that she can't do something, and it'd didn't sit well with her.  If he made good on his threat to narc on her to the league I can't say, because it certainly never came back to Rachel.

When this season started, Rachel noticed a familiar name on the coaching roster - yep, you guessed it.  The showdown was set for the fourth game of the season.  When Rachel saw that game on the schedule, she said "I don't care if we lose every other game, we will not lose that one."  Keep in mind that score isn't officially kept for U-8 games either.  No matter, Rachel does not like to lose.  For reference, here is her reaction after losing a dance battle to her six year old son in Just Dance 2014 on the Wii:



 The first few games of the season were a struggle for the Dark Knights.  After dropping the first game 2-0 on a pair of own-goals, the team was completely overwhelmed in the second game, losing 6-1.  Again, no official score keeping is kept, but we don't pay attention to that in this household.  Coach Rachel was starting to doubt her abilities as a coach.  From my sideline seat, I got the impression that the team was having a little trouble adjusting to the larger size of the U-8 field (it's probably twice as big as the U-6 version) and weren't really translating the skills and concepts they executed in practice to the games.  I think there were more than a few times that Rachel and I discussed that she had a team of really good kids that just probably needed a few more games to really understand what was going on.  By the third game, they'd figured it out.  Rachel had asked Jonah to kind of be more vocal on the field.  Our son has become a legitimate soccer nut over the past year - playing FIFA games on the iPad, watching Premier League games with me on Sunday mornings, begging Rachel and I to kick the ball around with him in the backyard during every free moment.  As a result, he's starting to have a more advanced understanding of what needs to happen on the field.  He took Rachel's suggestion to heart, even organizing the team into a wall in front of the goal during corner kicks without being instructed to.  The Dark Knights prevailed 3-0 that day, setting the stage for Saturday's showdown.

Rachel was gradually getting more anxious throughout the week.  On Thursday, she made sure to stress to the parents that they needed to have the kids there by 8:30 (our team has a tendency to show up just prior to kick.) On Friday, Jonah told me he couldn't wait to play soccer tomorrow, because he was so excited to "beat mommy's nemesis."   By Saturday morning, Rachel was in a full frenzy .  Her alarm went off at 5 am, so she could get her workout in and be home in time for me to go on my usual weekend 3 mile jog by 6:30.  By the time I rolled out of bed at 6:45, Rachel was already back and showered.  She says to me "You were supposed to be out jogging 15 minutes ago.  Stick to the schedule!"  Yes, ma'am.  When I got back from my jog around 7:30, Jonah was already in his uniform and he and Rachel were having a rematch in Just Dance on the Wii, in which Rachel redeemed herself by crushing Jonah.  "I didn't have that bad controller today" she said triumphantly. 

When we arrived at the field 35 minutes prior to the 9am kick-off, I assumed we'd be the first people to the field.  However, the opposing coach had beaten us there.  As we set up the field, Jonah loudly asked "hey mom, which one is the coach you don't like?"  Thankfully, nobody heard that, and Rachel calmly explained to Jonah that it wasn't that he was a bad guy, he just did things a different way than mommy did, and that she wanted to win to prove that his way wasn't the only way to get positive results.  Then, the coach comes over to ask Rachel which sideline she preferred to be on.  Up until this point of the season, the teams and the spectators had all been on the same side of the field for every game.  He was adamant, however, that the teams and the fans be on OPPOSITE sides of the field.  This guy is 100% by the book.  Then, he comes over to Rachel with the referee to make sure that Rachel is OK with them instituting the "mercy rule" in the event that "the game gets out of hand."  Rachel calmly says "That's fine, but my team's not going to need it."  (Author's note:  I LOVE MY WIFE.)

The game starts, and for the next forty minutes, I saw a bunch of six and seven year olds play one of the best games ever.  The kids were hustling all over the field, plays were being made, and the crowd LOVED IT.  I don't think I'm overstating the fact that Rachel's determination was felt by every single person there.  The referee kept lauding the players' effort during the game, saying "this is one of the best games I've ever refereed" at one point.  My dad, who is a life-long soccer hater, said "if every soccer game was like this one, I'd have no problem with it." 

The game ended in a 1-1 tie, and nobody went home disappointed.  I literally ran across the field after the game to give my wife a hug because I was so proud of the performance of her team.  Also, I was pretty relieved for her.  "I can live with that," she said, smiling after the game.  We all could.  I think she had a new level of appreciation for her nemesis too, as he turned out to be a pretty good coach who was positive and fair with his team throughout, despite the fact that we all had the impression that this was the first game they hadn't absolutely blitzed the competition.  My mom said at the end of the game she noticed that our team's entire cheering section immediately stood up and cheered loudly, while the other team's fans kind of just stood up and started ambling towards the field to greet their kids, as if they weren't used to what they had just seen. 

I didn't notice, I was too busy running to congratulate my wife and son, who both made me pretty proud.

I know that hardly anyone's going to be interested in actually watching the game, but I posted the whole game on YouTube because it really was a game that I think our whole family will be talking about for years.  If you do watch it, I apologize for the poor camera work.  I take my duties as a dad far more seriously than my duties as a videographer.  As a result, there's many times when I'll forget to move the camera with the action and you get a lovely shot of an empty field.  Also, the battery died with about 3 minutes left in the game.  Thankfully, nothing of consequence happened in those last three minutes.  Anyways, here's the game, broken up by quarter:

Perspective - An Interactive Blog Post!

It should come as no surprise to friends of mine that I enjoy eating and drinking Pepsi - not necessarily in that order.  So when a meeting at work provides free pizza lunch and Pepsi afterwards, I'm not likely to say no, even though lunchtime is about the only time during the day I can actually get some exercise in. (Side note - this is not true.  I could get up super early and exercise, or work out after the kids go to sleep.  I just choose not do exercise then because it would interfere with two things I enjoy more: sleeping and watching The Bachelor.)

As I'm polishing off a delicious piece of Hawaiian pizza that was probably two or three pieces after where I should have stopped eating, I started thinking about a TV show I watched last night, The Drive of Pac-12 Networks.  They were talking to an Arizona State linebacker who had lost his father to a heart attack a few months ago.  Now I started thinking about having a heart attack myself.   That led me to think "I could die tomorrow if I keep eating pizza like this."  I know there's probably a hundred other ways I could die between now and tomorrow that don't involve pizza, but you get my point.  I instantly thought about the things I would miss if I died tomorrow. 

Obviously, number one was watching my kids grow up.  I've only known them for a few years, but they're both in my top three favorite people in the world.  I really want to see how they turn out.  Will Jonah ever enjoy watching football games?  Will Jocelyn turn her love of singing into a spin on American Idol 2028?  Will Jonah ever be able to fall asleep alone?  When Jocelyn is on her first date, and the guy asks if she wants to watch a movie, will she ask him to watch Annie as her measuring stick for if he's dateable? 

You know what number two was for me?  Jurassic Park 4.  I swear to God, that was the second thing that popped into my head.  A freaking movie about fake dinosaurs.  I couldn't believe it.  I would've expected myself to think of visiting Ireland, or seeing the Beavers play in a Rose Bowl, or going to see the Olympics in some location I'd never otherwise think of visiting or actually getting to build a home from scratch with everything that Rachel and I want.  Nope....Jurassic Park 4.  I had no clue I wanted to see this movie so bad.  In fact, if you had asked me what movie I'm looking forward to the most, I would've guessed I would say Avengers 2.  Apparently Dinosaurs > Super Heroes in my book.

This got me thinking - what would you all miss or regret if you were to die tomorrow?  I've included a handy poll at the bottom, or you can leave a comment below if I left #1 on your bucket list off (sorry, I can't read minds.  Apparently, I can't even read my own.)

Aside from not seeing your children grow up, what would you miss the most if you were to die tomorrow?

Not seeing a part of the world you'd never visited

not seeing your favorite sports team win a championship in person

Not doing some extreme sport (skydiving, rocky mountain climbing)

Telling someone you loved them

Jurassic Park 4

Other

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