The Jones Girls

Rob joined us to go to Downtown Disney to watch Toy Story 3 at the AMC Theaters.    This is the very first time that the girls have seen a movie in the Big Screen Theatre…a what better place to take them for their first time than the MEGA AMC Theatre at Downtown Disney!!

We saw the 4:15pm showing.    We got some great seats, the theatre was not crowded at all.   I got everyone popcorn and licorice.  Everyone was excited and so happy.   It was a great Toy Story 3.    We LOVED it!

Then we went back to the parking structure to get the stroller and a few things and we headed out to the trams and went to Disneyland.  We grabbed some dinner…Turkey legs and roasted corn – can I just say YUM!!

After dinner we sat back and watched Fantasmic!!  This is the first time the girls saw it since last year.   The dragon is HUGE and there are some neat new water effects and pyro fireworks.

Afterwards we watched the fireworks then I got them cute Minnie Mouse keychains.   Then we got back in our car at 10:30pm to drive home.  It was a lot of fun and another exciting day at Disneyland!!

Today I took the girls to San Pedro to see where my brother and their Uncle Ron and Rob lives.   Both of my brothers moved out of their apartment and moved a few blocks down into another apartment.   

We had a nice lunch in the apartment.  The girls enjoyed playing with Ron’s cockatoo.    They ate at in the living room on Ron’s surf-board shaped coffee table.   They thought that was really cool because I only let them eat in the kitchen. 

After lunch Rob drove with us to Cabrillo Marine Aquarium at Cabrillo Beach.  It was maybe 6 blocks away from the apartment.      I was pleasantly surprised to see a playground right on the sandy beach, lifeguard posts right there on the beach watching the kids in the water, and across the parking lot, maybe 100 feet away, was the AMAZING Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.

The entrance fee was very nominal – $5 per adult and $1 per child.    Best $14 bucks I ever spent for sure!!     There were so many incredible exhibits with live marine life.  They even had a touch pool that the girls gleefully dipped their hands in to touch beautiful starfish, sea urchins and other sea creatures.

At 3om they have a daily fun activity for the kids.  They let the kids hatch their own grunion fish eggs. It is amazing to see the fish hatch right out of their eggs right in front of our eyes. 

They had amazing fish aquariums and lots of educational and interesting things to look at and see. 

 They have a playroom with fish themed costumes, a puppet show theatre for kids to play and a huge table with comfy chairs for parents and kids to play with puzzles and games that they provide.   There is a neat courtyard with fun photo signs for the kids to peek their heads through and parents take pictures of them. 

This place is like a miniature Long Beach Aquarium, except no crowds!!  This place is a hidden secret, a quiet gem that is a true treasure to come across!!

California Adventure Disneyland opened up an amazing water light show 10 days ago.  Today we spent the day there and then saw the show at 10:15pm tonight.  Feli joined us today.

We waited in line for 45 minutes to get fast passes in the morning. This gave us Priority Seating for a good view.

During the day we saw the theatrical performance Aladdin.  The show will be ending at the end of August and a new performance will begin in the late fall or by December.    It was spectacular and the Genie was so funny!

Then we went to see Nemo & Crush interactive show.  Maryssa especially enjoyed this show!

After that, we went to Play House Disney.  Feli had just as much fun as the girls did!!

We had gotten Fast Passes for the ride Soaring.   Maryssa was too short, so Feli stayed with Maryssa and got her cotton candy while I took the other girls on Soaring.  They went crazy and LOVED it!!  It is a truly amazing experience.

At 5:15 we grabbed a spot to watch the Pixar Parade while getting a bite to eat.    It was fun and relaxing.   The characters squirted water on us!!

Then we went to It’s A Bugs Life Land and rode some rides and watched a 3D movie there.

We did a little shopping and I got the girls Fantasmic Micky Ears and a few other things.   

At 9pm we jumped in line to wait to get our spot to watch World of Color.  One of the Cast Members told me that over 25,000 people a day were watching the show!!  That is amazing!!

The show was spectacular.    We weren’t expecting to get as wet as we did.    Thank goodness I had brought blankets to cover up the girls to protect them from getting wet and to keep them warm.   They stayed pretty dry but I got pretty wet.

All of the girls made cute gifts in school for their Daddy for Father’s Day.  

Savannah presented Daddy with a cute card that was in the shape of a dress shirt and tie.  Inside the card was a picture of her in a cute frame.

The triplets gave daddy cute foot imprinted gift bags.  Inside were a picture of each girl in a cute frame along with a laminated foot print with a sweet message about loving their Daddy.

We also gave him Father’s Day cards and I gave him his favorite Special Reserve 12 year Canadian Club Whiskey. 

He was really happy and it was a nice Father’s Day.

We had our next door neighbor, Sid, over for Father’s Day dinner as well as my brother Rob.  The weather was perfect today so we ate outside on the deck.

Today is the last day of swimming lessons for the girls.  They will resume again in September when they get back in school.

Today they got to play with the floaties…this is their favorite time of the whole class and they only get to do it on the last day of the 4 week swim class.

They were presented with certificates of what they have completed.    See you back in September!!

This was our end of school year celebration!!

I organized a fun tour of John’s Pizza in Buena Park.  It is like Chuck E. Cheese on steroids.  They have an all you can eat buffet and indoor rides such as the scrambler, bumper cars, airplane ride and indoor playground, plus lots of fun games to earn points to get prizes.

Liz and her son Daniel, and Corrie and her 5 kids met us at John’s Pizza at 2pm.   We got a private room and we were surprised when they told us that we got to make our own pizzas!!   So we all made our pizzas and while they baking, we went to the buffet tables to get salads, pastas, etc.  We were all starving as none of us moms had breakfast or lunch yet.  

We were given cards that had points on them and the kids could redeem them on the rides and games.  After we ate, we  ventured out to the game room and rides.   All of the kids rode on the airplane.   The triplets were not tall enough to do the bumper cars, so Savannah did that.  She was not tall enough to do the scrambler ride. 

Then the girls played in the indoor playground for quite a while.  Savannah and I went to play some games to earn points to win some toys.

After 3 hours since we arrived, we cashed in our points and the girls got dinosaurs, heart necklaces and Dracula teeth.

A few months ago I got the girls the Lion King 2 video.    My friend Corrie called me and said the theatrical show Lion King was having a limited engagement at the Costa Mesa Performing Arts for a short couple of weeks in June.   She asked if Savannah and I would like to join her and her girls.

So I had Savannah go on You Tube and watch the theatrical performance and she was mesmerized with excitement and amazement.   I asked her if she would like to go see it and she said Yes Mommy!!  I was so excited, this will be here very first theatrical performance.

So today at 3:30pm, Corrie picked us up and we went to dinner at Red Lobster.    It was a nice dinner and the girls enjoyed visiting the live lobsters in the aquariums.   

At 5:30pm (the show started at 6:30pm and we wanted plenty of time to get there) we packed up in the car and I reached in my purse for the tickets so we could “GPS” directions.   NO TICKETS were in my purse!  I distinctly remember putting them in my purse before we left the house.  But then I do remember Google directions to get to Costa Mesa Performing Arts…does this mean I LEFT THE TICKETS AT HOME…which will put us almost 45 minutes late!!

I call Cliff and frantically tell him I can’t find the tickets.  He goes through my desk…no tickets!!  EEEK!!  Where are they?  I am so panicked, I am going to through up the expensive lobster dinner that I just ate.  

I run into the restaurant…perhaps the tickets fell out of my purse and landed on the floor under that table?   So I run to the table.  It is sparkling clean and no sigh of the tickets.    NO dice…OMG!!

I quickly seek out our server and have him check with the bus boy to find out if he had seen our tickets when he cleaned our table.  The manager came out and handed me a folded up wad of paper that had been pulled out of the trash.    The tickets were in my hand….granted, they were in the trash, but I had the tickets – WHEW!!   Thank you Precious Lord – and I mean I really prayed and thanked him!!!

So this put us behind only 7 minutes.    Our drive was smooth as well as our parking.  We got to our seats.

Savannah was amazed at how grand the seating was in the theatre.  We had balcony seats with a fantastic view.    The curtains went up and the show began.   The Baby Lion King scene immediately began the performance.  The symphony was excellent the dancers were electrifying to watch.  The costumes were mezmerizing and ingenious!!

We had a 1/2 hour intermission.    It was about a 3 hour performance.  Savannah was getting antzy about 3/4 of the way through..not too bad for a 6 year old watching her first performance being that long!!

We left and I got a little dizzy.   We had to go up and down stairs and then go around and down for many, many flights.   The walls were full of mirrors.  It was very disorienting for me.  At last we reached the bottom-whew!!

We waited in a long line to get the girls a little keepsake present.  The line was obnoxiously long.   We weren’t  about to wait in this cattle call!

So we paced to the exit and we lucked out – there was a guy selling Lion King stuffed memorabilia.   Savannah wanted what she called “The Pig”.  So I got her that.

We got home at about 10:30pm.