A Disneyland Tradition

Since Jack was old enough to walk, Jack would coax to get down from our arms, walk to this door near the exit of the Alice in Wonderland ride, and knock.

Only one year found him unwilling to do it.

"That's just for babies," he said.

I was devastated, especially hearing that from a five-year-old boy, who always loved the park and especially this spot so much.

We talked about that and about his not wanting to go on some of the rides in Fantasyland. For the next trip, everything changed again.

It was a relief. Five or six is too young to become a cynic.

The 2010 Trip To Yellowstone

It's pictures like this that make me miss having all my grandchildren home together. The fun they have is something that is so contagious, although on a rare occasion, the fight a bit. It's the only sound I don't like when we're spending time together like this.

The highlight of having Lydia and her precious crew with us was this day at Yellowstone, something I never thought I would hear myself say out loud.

Yellowstone Park was a spot we visited often when I was young, so for years, I somehow felt I had had my fill. The advantage of getting old is understanding that reliving memories in the park is important.

The mud pots was the first stop after a short rest in West Yellowstone. It gave me a chance to take Tommy in a shop and look at some fun things.

Tommy decided he wanted a hat, and to make the day a perfect one, I promised him that I would buy one of his choosing, if he didn't make any annoying noises and fight with Jack or Anna.

Tommy was excited. But he forgot the deal, until of course his mom said it was a "done deal."

Pop Pop the Negotiator took over, and everyone assured Tommy that we would get a hat for him, if of course, he lived up to his end of the bargain.

And he did, although Pop Pop had to remind him occasionally about that annoying noise thing.

Tommy has this high-pitched sound he makes, one that disturbs adults and dolphins and dogs too--not just because of the "high pitch" thing, but because it's just annoying too.

Ann reminds me that I was probably a little boy once too, a very long time ago.

Tommy had a great day. Jack and Anna did too. Sammy enjoyed everything too, although occasionally Pop Pop had to give his signature growl. So, does that qualify for an annoying noise too?

So the end of a perfect day happened. We arrived home at 2:30 a.m., after a long day in Yellowstone.

And the next day Tommy got his hat.

Anna had to have one too.

Jack already has one, so he wore Pop Pop's In-And-Out Burger cap for the picture.

But I have to admit, the annoying sound was close to the most annoying sound in the world, but I miss the sound now, and my grandson who made it.

The Trip To Jalisco's

Aunt Connie and Jenny came to visit in Idaho Falls on this day. They pulled in around lunch time.

I came down the steps, after almost putting on a green shirt. Since I knew we were going to be doing the salsa thing at the restaurant, I didn't want to wear my new shirt, so I wore another one--an orange shirt that had already strangely faded in a couple of spots.

Connie says, "Gee, I guess I didn't get the e-mail this morning, so I could wear my green shirt."

Anna, Tommy, Jack, Lydia, and Ann all had green shirts. A good laugh before all of us loaded into Connie's van and my VW Jetta was a great way to start out the day.

On this day--the 22nd of July--things were still gearing up for the air show in Idaho Falls. The jets were doing their practice runs over the city center, filling the sky with white vapor trails. The roar of jet engines dominated everything.

It was a perfect day for grandchildren and cousins to remember.

Kristin came to lunch with us, so it was a fun get-together. It's interesting how quickly time goes.

I remember when Connie's boys were the age of Tommy and Jack. Connie would drive to Idaho Falls to visit, staying in one of the hotels with a large indoor pool.

Now Richie just graduated from high school, and Steven is in his final time of the whole high school experience too.

On a trip that once had Richie and Steven and Connie's Tommy and eventually Jenny too, now only Jenny makes the drive with her mom. And my guess within a short year or two, Jenny will have friends and activities that will prevent her from going too.

Here I sit for another striking pose. I'm so glad I trimmed the hair from my ears that morning.

It's the curse of being over 30. My hair, like the frost on any pumpkin late in the fall, turns pure. Oh, and it grows wild in your ears, nose, back. And I won't even talk about the rug on my chest. And in my case, my pumpkin head is so large, it has its own weather patterns. That's why it often needs combing for no apparent reason, yet the gravitational pull is also a benefit. I find it easier to keep my hat on my head, except of course during a windstorm.

It's not like I ever viewed myself in my youth as some sort of "babe magnet," but I wasn't disgusting either. The joys of being old, besides of course the whole "hair thing," is the grouchy old man deal. I do that too.

Lydia is tired in this picture. Sammy is not one to let her mom get a night's rest, and during the day, Pop Pop and grandma continually spoil the new princess edition to the Zollinger tribe.

Anna still gets attention, but it is fun to see another little one.

When Lydia first arrived, Sammy would bounce back and forth while on all fours on the carpet, and within one day, she began to scoot across the floor.

Before Lydia left for home at the end of July, Sammy was crawling. It was fun to see how quickly it changed. That's one example of how much fun it is to see things change like that.

It's difficult to get a picture of Sammy that doesn't blur a bit, because she constantly twists and turns and bobs in quick little moves. She have to hold her tightly, or she squirms herself free in your arms.

We still miss the moments where Lydia would hand her to Ann or me. Lydia would have something she needed to do for a bit, and at first, we could only hold the little one for a brief time, and then she would coax for us to pick her up--another change that was so fun to see.

But then as quickly as we arrived for lunch, we packed everything we didn't eat in styrofoam containers, and we went for a walk around the river.

The whole trip went so quickly. Just as things were beginning to be so much fun, it seemed like Lydia was packing to start for a return flight.

Sammy began to get restless in the days just before the end of July. Lydia said that the baby could sense that things were in flux like that.

And we saw the change. Suddenly, Sammy clung to her mom and didn't come to us as easily. But this day was one that was fun, because it was only the 22nd of July, and I kept telling myself that we had a long time before the house was no longer entertained with the sound of three little Jedi warriors, swinging plastic light sabers and eventually dumping containers of toys upon the floor of Jack's room upstairs.

We were off again, having vacated the little restaurant, but we took some parting shots of the chairs that the grandchildren loved.

The walk along the river was one that was warm, really warm for what we seem to see in Idaho Falls. In the evenings, we kept the windows open to cool the house, and then early the next morning, we would begin the summer ritual of closing windows and shutting blinds to keep the house cool.

It's what you do when you don't have air conditioning--something that was a luxury when we built our house. Now it's something that everyone has and something I now wish we had.

The Submarines: The Finding Nemo Ride

For years, this part of the park was something that Cles loved to do when he was young, but as he grew older, he chose not to wait in line for it. We enjoyed everything at the park, but Cles just "outgrew" it.

I still remember the ride having this mermaid and a few other things what were "corny."

And then they stopped the ride entirely, although the dock was still there, and even the submarines were sometimes there as well.

When we heard they were redoing it, we were ecstatic. The date was something that we wrote down and remembered, and for our next trip, we planned it so that we could do the ride.

We went three times at least. It was so much fun for children, and adults liked it too.

The effort to get down a spiral stairwell into the ride was, however, a bit of an ordeal, but it worked. I enjoyed it as well.

Jack and Tommy and Anna love going on it. There are specific things that refer to the movie Finding Nemo, so it is something that will be a favorite for a long time, or at least I hope it's something they will coax to do for a while, when we go to Disneyland together.

The video clips they designed are perfect for the ride, and it adds to the whole experience for little ones and for "big" ones and "really big" ones like Pop Pop too.

Going again on this last trip in 2010 was a perfect adventure. We went several times.

And Please Ann, let me know when you're going to take a picture. I have this look on my face like I'm afraid that my cart is designed by Toyota, that it will spontaneously begin to speed away, and that that I will flounder with Nemo and his friends, while foreigners from the Far East take pictures of me paddling and squealing like a little girl among all the fun things underwater in the area of the ride.

Mandan Indian Village Exhibit Near Fort Abraham Lincoln

The Mandan Indian Village at Fort Abraham Lincoln was fascinating and well worth the several hours we spent there.

The smaller lodges were must as interesting as the larger one, most likely used for tribal ceremonies.

And within the smaller structures, there were a number of things of interest: various things from their culture, including rattles, drums, and even a few children's games.

The pictures below show the things that interested us. There were a number of things they let tourists handle and look at during the guided tour.

Ann and Jack took a tour of the residence of Custer. There were many interesting things in this museum, well worth the bother of finding it and spending several hours there. It's a museum I would like to see again, and I know Jack enjoyed it very much.

At 5:00 p.m., we had to be on our way in order to get to the river boat. We made it with a bit of time to spare.

It was an end of a perfect day.

Our Stay In Minnesota

Some nights, it was difficult to get the three kids to get to sleep. Jack had been looking forward to seeing Tommy and Anna for months, and when darkness fell and it was time to go to sleep, Jack didn't want to stop playing. He also liked watching a movie or two.

Eventually, we would turn off the lights and finally get them to sleep, but it was fun to hear their laughter and see their smiles.

It's what made the trip so great. To se the grandchildren have fun together was incredible.

But eventually, the three would start to fall asleep. Usually Anna or Jack would be the ones to fall asleep first.

Tommy was the last to shut his eyes, and we sometimes would enjoy him just a little while longer before he fell asleep too. For me, it was incredibly fun to be able to do things with him.

One afternoon, I decided I would take the boys to a movie. Jack and I had seen Star Trek. I thought it might be fun to see it a second time, but Jack was not interested.

Tommy and I went the next day. It was so much fun, and I could tell that Tommy was excited. He talked a mile a minute before we arrived. Tommy does that when he's excited.

We walked into the theater with plenty of time. I did concessions. Tommy was very excited about the sodas, popcorn and mini-doughnuts they had. It seems like I also bought something else that Tommy wanted as a snack.

The movie was fantastic. It's something I'll always remember doing with him, not because of the great film, because it was a very good one, but because of how excited my grandson was to be with me that afternoon.

The photograph at the left is of Jack and Anna playing just a short time before we left for Idaho Falls.

Everything is so green in Minnesota. It's something I will miss. Living all your life in a desert area all your life forces you to notice things like this.

You just can help enjoying a scene without scrub brush and cactus.

The Last Day In Minnesota

Just before we left Minnesota early this past spring to return home, I took pictures of Tommy and Anna.

This dress is one that Ann and I sent with some other things for our little princess. She put this on for us special, so we could get a picture, and Anna did love the colors.

The trip to Minnesota was fast this year. I did my visits to the specialist at Mayo, and it gave us a few days to be with the grandchildren. It was nice, but it went so quickly.

It was a sad trip in a couple of ways. First, I don't know we'll ever get back there again in early summer, so there are things I'll miss--the beautiful farms and endless cornfields, the sound of frogs at sunset, the bird song there--mourning doves at night and killdeer and larks during the day.

Oh, and I'll miss going to Mall of America.

The Vibes At Disneyland

Only those in wheelchairs and electric carts understand this blog. Whenever I was there with my children, we ran from ride to ride. It was always October when we visited, and with few exceptions, the number of people in the park was minimal on those days. There was no wait at any ride, and we ran from ride to ride.

It was like our family felt we had to get "our money's worth" out of each visit. Sometimes when we are there even now, that attitude resurfaces with me, but then I take a reality check.

First I can't move like that at all, and unless my electric cart operates well, there is no way that we go quickly. Even then, there are no few days in the park that aren't crowded, but even when no one is there, I find myself looking at the visit differently.

I watched this man in a wheelchair. I was in my cart. A worker stood next to me, and suddenly, the worker spoke.

"You know it's interesting. The man there in that wheelchair arrives each morning, watches families arrive together, sits for a few hours in the sun, and then he goes home."

First, I thought it was strange, but then I realized that every time I arrived, I had this rush of memories as we went down Main Street, and I realized I was the same way. I too could sit on Main Street, listen to the music, and watch families walk hand in hand down toward the center of the park.

It's an incredible feeling there.

The nice part about having a chance to go more than one day is this important fact--you don't regret coming, you don't regret going home, yet you look forward to the next trip to Disneyland. At least that's the way it is for me.

If you are not lucky enough to have a change of heart, where you actually begin to love the crowds and enjoy the park experience, you will when you have grandchildren.

The times I've spent there with grandchildren has been wonderful.

There is not a trip that doesn't offer great memories: Tommy's addiction to a warm churro, Jack's knocking on the door of the little door near the exit of the Alice In Wonderland ride, Anna's continual skip and hysterical laugh while we have fun together.

It's all part of the Disney experience.

Each visit there with grandchildren yields new memories, and soon, we'll be there with our newest addition: Sammy.