Happy Thursday -- let's catch up, shall we?
It is officially summer break here, which means: no school, lots of pool time, and the kid going away to Grandma's for a week.
But let's start with Bay's Dance Recital that happened last weekend. She has been in dance all year taking a Hip Hop Class, Tap Class, and Ballet Class. The school she went to has been around for 20 years, but honestly you would never know that based on how much of a sh*t show it was to get any information from them about anything. And recital weekend was a nightmare. But we survived and she danced so well!
Immediately following her second recital performance, we sent her away to my mom's house for the week. #ByeBay
Then we packed up our car and headed to California. On the agenda: Dead & Co. show +
Disneyland + SWGE!!
Since we were leaving so late in the day, we got a hotel outside of LA in West Covina. Brad still had to work on Monday and Tuesday, but we made it work. Monday we did some sight seeing around DTLA. We went to some breweries. We went to one of the hotels that inspired the inside lobby of the Tower or Terror. Then we checked into our hotel and got ready for the show. We stopped by a wine bar I have been dying to go to for years and drank some 1995 St. Emilion wine. It was perfect. Then we headed to the Dead and Co. show at the Hollywood Bowl, which was also perfect.
Tuesday morning, I got up and ran along the Hollywood Stars Walk of Fame. That was fun. But man, Hollywood is gross. Everywhere smelled like pee and was just so dirty. Not all fun and glamorous like you would expect. We had a reservation at SWGE at 2pm, so our plan was to get to Downtown Disney for lunch while Brad finished up work, then head to the parks. We checked out the new Ballast Point location, it was nice. Then Brad went to drop his laptop off at the car and I went to get our tickets. I headed into the park and waited for him and of course got a picture with Goofy!
Then we had to go to Tomorrowland to get our wrist bands, no issue there. Then we had to book it all the way across the park to SWGE. We got in about an 30-45 minutes into our reservation so there was like NO ONE around it. It was weird. We stopped at the first photo op.
Then we walked in and decided to go on the Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run ride because the wait was 30 minutes. It was okay. I think what I am missing is more motion. I wish it felt like the Star Tours ride. We rode it twice while we were there in hopes to get a Pilot seat, but we didn't. Basically you get handed a card that has a role and the CM aren't really looking or caring who they give what position to. Which I guess is fair, I don't know. I had an older mom and a daughter in her 20s as the Pilots the first time and they sucked at it. The second time I had a dad and a 10 year old kid and they were actually pretty good. I was the Gunner and Engineer. Both of those roles would be much better if the ride had more of a motion feel. Literally my only complaint. After that we tried to get into the Cantina but if you didn't get on the list first thing when you got to the land, you didn't get in. The doors were closed so we couldn't even see what it looked like, but it sounded like a dance club. Bummed we didn't get to see it but whatever. Life happens. So we went and tried a Blue Milk instead. If you like Coconut and Starbursts, you will love it. Not too sweet, not too tart, very refreshing. We only tried Blue because they were $8 and I heard Blue was better anyway. We didn't try any food. We walked around the whole place and the stores. We saw Kylo Ren (maybe??) and some Storm Troopers. We also saw Chewy and Rey. We spent about 2 hours in there and then left. I am glad we were able to check it out. I don't necessarily think this is a land I would seek out to go to until the new ride opens. But the Smuggler's Run isn't even enough for me to want to trek out to SWGE unless I was with someone who wanted to go and we had time to kill. Now I will flood my post with pictures.
After SWGE, we had about 6-7 hours until we *HAD* to on the road to get back home in time for a nap before work. Luckily, the parks weren't too crazy even with Grad Nite going on. Without going into too much detail this is what we accomplished:
Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Snacks at Bengal BBQ, Soarin' Around California (it was our first time and I know this is a hot take but I like Soarin' Around The World more! BUT the ship I was stationed on in the Navy was in this one and that was AWESOME!), Churro, Drinks at Lamplight Lounge, Walk Around The Pier, Cheese on a Stick, Hyperspace Mountain, Matterhorn, Walk Through The Castle, Guardians of the Galaxy, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while the Fireworks were happening, Indiana Jones, & Star Tours.
We hit all of the Star Wars themed things, so check check check.
It was a super fun and exhausting day. We left at 11pm and got home at 4am. Yesterday was ROUGH. But I feel more alive today!
Anyway, that's all. I also started my Marathon Training Plan this week and signed up for the Marathon I am training for yesterday (finally!!). More on that later though. Kbyeeee.