James Dodge

Today was another awesome day!! We spent all our time today in California Adventure again – and we got to see the World of Color show for the first time. Let me just say – it is awesome!!! You’ve got to check it out!! Although, the way the make you line up is kind of a joke. The other day, they told us that in order to sit where the best seating is, you need to have a fastpass in order to get in. Plus they told us you need to get one first thing in the morning. What they forgot to tell us is that they open the gates an hour early for everyone to get fastpasses. So as we got there this morning, there was a huge line for these things – Jason and I hopped in line and finally got our passes after a while. They split all the passes into different color groups – but then they won’t tell you where your group has to meet. They really don’t want anyone camping out for a seat, so all they do is tell you to look for a big crowd of people and then they’ll tell you which section goes where. It ended up being very chaotic!! Whatever happened to just sitting down 5 hours before the show while a few people held spots and the rest go ride rides? I think they need to find a different system. But anyways – we did end up getting awesome seats anyways (of course – who did they think they were dealing with anyways? LOL). I shot video of the entire thing – when we get home I’m going edit a few minutes out and post it to show what it looked like – it truly is amazing – an awesome show!! Tomorrow we have early admission back into Disneyland so I’d better get some rest – good night for now!!

Guess what? We made it into Disneyland today!!! We got up early because we had a 7:00 reservation for Breakfast with Minnie in the Park. We had a lot of fun there – the kids all had a blast. You’ll have to check out the photos to see everyone we got to see. After that we got right into riding as many rides as we could. About midway through the day, we all went back to the hotel to rest a little bit before going back into the Park until it closed. We got to see the fireworks again – this time from right in front of the castle. We got to hit just about every ride we wanted to – the ones we missed we’ll make up on Thursday. Looking forward to tomorrow when we head back into CA Adventure and check out the World of Color show.

All right – day 2…………and we still haven’t gone to Disneyland yet! LOL – maybe I should have named these blog posts something else. We started our day early and went to visit with Jim for a while. It was great to be able to see him and hang out for a while. It’s amazing how fast the time flies. He’s looking good and it was sad to leave to go back to the hotel. If you’re reading this and you haven’t talked to Jim in a while………….write him a letter!!! Right now!!! After we got back – we ran over to Tortilla Jo’s for dinner and then the kids hit the pool. They had a great time. Then we watched the fireworks in Disneyland from the pool area. We had a great view and got some good pictures – but we still have to see them in the park – nothing beats seeing them live in the park. Even though they had the music going it just wasn’t quite the same. But it was neat to see them from a different view. I started taking pictures of them, but Audrey had to help save me from a bunch of empty frames. Most of the pictures you see in the album were ones she took – most of mine got deleted. Thanks Audrey!! After this, Jason, Marsha and I headed downstairs to get hot chocolate for everybody. Wow – do not make the lady at the lounge in Paradise Pier angry after 10:00 PM!! After I saw the way she was talking to the people in front of us, I was almost too scared to order! LOL. Took us about 45 minutes to get our hot chocolate – but it was worth it!! Fun, kind of bittersweet day. Tomorrow – we’re going to Disneyland for sure!!! I promise!!! We’re going to Breakfast with Minnie, so we’ll be getting up pretty early for our 7:00 reservation. It’s going to be fun!!

All right, so maybe we didn’t actually go into Disneyland today – we spent the day in California Adventure instead. But it is Day 1 of our Disneyland trip that we’re on at the moment. We’re down here with Jason & Marsha, their kids, Mom, Cody, and 3 out of our 4 kids. We’ve had a blast today riding as much as we could through CA Adventure. I’ve got some pictures in the album section – I’ll be putting pics of everything going on throughout the week. It’s been a great day, but now we’re all tired and we’re getting ready to go to bed………..looking forward to tomorrow!!

All right. So this last week Teresa and I flew out to see Jeff graduate from Basic Training, bring Audrey back home, and hang out with Rob and Brooke. We flew out Wednesday, and got back home late Sunday night. Anyways, I’ll post more on those adventures later, but I had to write a quick entry for Rob & Brooke. We got talking about the blogs and they were giving me a hard time about how long it’s been since I posted anything. And how I said I would post pictures of our trip last year and never did. Blah, blah, blah. So there – I’m posting again – and I put up the pictures from last year. So there!! Love you guys!! Thanks for letting us stay with you – I always love hanging out with you guys and with Caleb too – that kid cracks me up!

Well, this weekend has been pretty full. We flew into Jacksonville, FL on Wednesday, rode with Rob & Brooke up to Columbia, SC for Jeff’s Family Day and Graduation, drove back to Port Orange, FL for Saturday, then drove to New Port Ritchey on the OTHER side of Florida to pick up Audrey so she could fly home with us. We’re excited to have her back with us and can’t wait to see what the future brings us as a family. She’s back just in time for Jason & Marsha to come visit, as well as a bunch of other people. Going to make for a fun summer!! Special thanks again to Rob & Brooke for driving us around – you guys are awesome!! And thanks to Caleb for keeping me laughing all weekend!! Mr. Bojangles!!! Mr. Bojangles!!! (This is what Caleb and I kept singing every time we passed a Bojangles restaurant………….or just whenever we felt like it!) LOL!

Last weekend we had the chance to fly out to see Jeff graduate from Basic Training. We’re very proud of him and we had fun hanging out with him. He told us his nickname during training was SRT Neon. When I asked him why, he said “Because that’s the smallest Dodge they make.” LOL!! I thought that was hilarious! Thanks to Rob and Brooke for picking us up and chauffeuring us around for the weekend. It was great hanging out with them and Caleb all weekend. To see more pictures of graduation – check them out on Facebook. Good job Jeff!!!

Man, I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve posted to this. I meant to post pictures from Spring Break, but never got around to it. I’m going to try and get those posted this next week while on vacation. Teresa and I are in England for Audrey’s graduation. We flew out of Vegas Wednesday morning and got here Thursday morning at 7:00 AM. Man, were we tired!! We are staying with Marsha and Jason, and will be here through next week. Audrey’s graduation ceremony is tonight here in Ely, England. I will post more throughout the week (I always seem to find time to post to this blog while on vacation) and I will try to get some pictures up as well.