Orange-Angeles adventures

last weekend was a blast. (ok, technically since it's Monday now, it was the weekend before last. but whatever.) it was a lot of driving, but it was totally worth it. it started on Friday with the Phoenix to LA-ish drive (or Orange-Angeles as Tom used to refer to the Orange County/Los Angeles County area). only this time I wasn't by myself. Jonah, Sarah, and Beth came along because we were all going to Disneyland! so I dropped them off in Anaheim and then went up to LA to see the family. bright and early the next morning, I picked up Anthony (the best brother in the world) and drove us both down to Disneyland. you see, Anthony now has this kick-ass job at ABC and can get me (and a couple other people) into D-land and California Adventure for free. so that's awesome. super awesome.
Saturday was also Beth's birthday so she was super excited and Jonah had something special planned for Sarah as well. the five of us got to the park just after the 8am opening and proceeded straight to the new-ish Finding Nemo ride that none of us had been on yet. however, we noticed there was no line for Star Tours and so we stopped there first. although that line is usually short (nowadays anyway), I have never actually walked onto the ride like I did that morning. after a short battle against Imperial star destroyers, we walked over to Space Mountain to get a fast pass. however, that line was also ridiculously short (about 10 minutes) so we decided to just go on it as well. crazy good luck! up next was Finding Nemo, which was about a 45 minute wait. but still, we couldn't believe our luck with the short lines. later in the day we realized it was at least partially due to the fact that it was ridiculously hot and humid all weekend. but it was worth it. the lines were shorter than I have ever seen them on a weekend during the summer. so that was nice. other highlights from the weekend at Disneyland: waiting in line at Pirates of the Caribbean (congratulations Jonah and Sarah!), Beth taking pictures of Pooh (a la Amelie and the gnome) constantly, dinner at the Blue Bayou, the kids doing the Jedi training academy, the backside of water (as always), Anthony getting sunburned, the super fun new Toy Story ride, and pineapple floats at the Enchanted Tiki Room. here are some pictures:

Disneyland June 08

after the eventful weekend at Disneyland, I spent a few more days in LA visiting family and friends from college and driving all over the place. I don't think I could have packed in any more fun.

in other news, I am officially mad at DirecTV because they are stupid. I tried to go watch the UEFA Euro 2008 Final yesterday at a pub with some people from my soccer team, but for some reason DirecTV screwed up and nobody could get it. anywhere. argh! (and yes, I was recording it at home, but I wasn't at home and now I don't want to watch it because I already know what happened.)