Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Sweet Sixteen
On Monday, Bethany had her sixteenth birthday. It was a little bit low key because we had a bigger blowout for her fifteenth birthday, but we still wanted to acknowledge it. A good friend of hers turned 16 three days earlier, so she spent two nights in San Diego last week with a group to celebrate that.
On her return, we surprised her by having several friends spend Saturday night at our house. We setup a projector and big screen to play movies for the group in our large upstairs playroom. On Sunday, we took them to play laser tag and have lunch.
The laser tag games were an interesting combination of younger boys, teenage boys, and the group of 5 girls (and me). The games were supposed to be free-for-all with everyone scoring off of everyone. However, the groups seemed to naturally evolve into teams anyway: the little kids and related adults vs the teenage boys vs the girls. The older boys seemed annoyed by the audacity of the girls to challenge them as a group while the younger boys were happy to have a natural enemy in the girls to skirmish with. The girls seemed to follow the free-for-all spirit of things in game 1, but learned (with a little coaching from me) to work together like the other groups were doing. At the end of three games, the consensus was that it was fun and ideas for future father/daughter events were discussed.
Sunday evening ended with a family outing for dinner at Lucille's, a local BBQ restaurant that Bethany selected.
On Monday, some friends with annual Disneyland passes (the deluxe kind that are not blacked out in August) took Beth for her free Disneyland day that the park offers. She took that chance to renew her annual pass (received on her fifteenth birthday) with a discount from her free ticket. We finished the night of her actual birthday with the family at home watching episodes of Smallville on DVD (we are getting around to watching those which I got for my birthday last year).
On her return, we surprised her by having several friends spend Saturday night at our house. We setup a projector and big screen to play movies for the group in our large upstairs playroom. On Sunday, we took them to play laser tag and have lunch.
The laser tag games were an interesting combination of younger boys, teenage boys, and the group of 5 girls (and me). The games were supposed to be free-for-all with everyone scoring off of everyone. However, the groups seemed to naturally evolve into teams anyway: the little kids and related adults vs the teenage boys vs the girls. The older boys seemed annoyed by the audacity of the girls to challenge them as a group while the younger boys were happy to have a natural enemy in the girls to skirmish with. The girls seemed to follow the free-for-all spirit of things in game 1, but learned (with a little coaching from me) to work together like the other groups were doing. At the end of three games, the consensus was that it was fun and ideas for future father/daughter events were discussed.
Sunday evening ended with a family outing for dinner at Lucille's, a local BBQ restaurant that Bethany selected.
On Monday, some friends with annual Disneyland passes (the deluxe kind that are not blacked out in August) took Beth for her free Disneyland day that the park offers. She took that chance to renew her annual pass (received on her fifteenth birthday) with a discount from her free ticket. We finished the night of her actual birthday with the family at home watching episodes of Smallville on DVD (we are getting around to watching those which I got for my birthday last year).
Labels: Bethany, Birthdays, Disneyland
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Bethany's Birthday
I completely glossed over Bethany's birthday earlier this month. She turned 15. It has been a busy month between the reunion, our new exchange student, keeping up at work, and so on. Anyway, one of the busy items this month was the celebration of Bethany's birthday.
Bethany has a number of friends that have Disneyland annual passes. As a result, we decided to allow her to have a Disneyland birthday. This included renting a room at the Residence Inn nearby for 2 nights and covering one day of admission for a couple of friends that did not have passes.
By staying at the Residence Inn, we had great meals in the hotel room courtesy of the full kitchen. The hotel also offered a nice breakfast. We saved a ton of money by not eating at Disneyland!
The weekend was called a great success by the girls. We parents were a bit worn out though. Bethany had a good 15th birthday celebration!
Bethany has a number of friends that have Disneyland annual passes. As a result, we decided to allow her to have a Disneyland birthday. This included renting a room at the Residence Inn nearby for 2 nights and covering one day of admission for a couple of friends that did not have passes.
By staying at the Residence Inn, we had great meals in the hotel room courtesy of the full kitchen. The hotel also offered a nice breakfast. We saved a ton of money by not eating at Disneyland!
The weekend was called a great success by the girls. We parents were a bit worn out though. Bethany had a good 15th birthday celebration!
Labels: Bethany, Disneyland, Family
Monday, September 17, 2007
Enhanced Photo
It's amazing what photo editing software can do. Thanks, Tim, for the improvement!
Labels: Bingo, Disneyland, Photo, Rob
Monday, September 10, 2007
Disneyland Pontoon Bridge - Wheelchair
Lee reminded me of this photo a few years ago. I had forgotten about it. This is a picture of me pushing my wheelchair-bound dad across the old pontoon bridge on Tom Sawyer Island at Disneyland.
For anyone not familiar with it, this was a bridge floating on barrels in the "Rivers of America" part of Disneyland. This was tons of fun to run across as a kid while it bounced up and down in the water. It was at best a wobbly walk across this bridge.
I am guessing here, but from the photo I think I was around 13 or 14 at the time. My dad later had an electric wheelchair so that he could get around on his own, but this was the old manual one that someone had to push around. I don't remember when he got that electric chair, but it could not have been much after this photo. There is no way the electric model could have made this trip. It was too heavy to maneuver somewhere like this.
Once my brother and I were old enough, we did some pretty daring things with my dad in his wheelchair. This was one. Pushing close to the edge of the Grand Canyon was another. I was definitely more nervous than my dad seemed to be -- he had the utmost trust in our ability to handle these situations. It was a lot of responsibility to put on us -- and a good way to teach us that level of responsibility at a young age.
The line of people behind us is pretty funny. I don't remember them at all, but I can imagine now what they were thinking.
Labels: Bingo, Disneyland, Rob
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Over the Video Game Hill!
My video game prime is behind me. I accept that. However, what happened on a recent trip to Disneyland is downright embarrassing!
Disneyland has a fun new ride called Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.
I wasn't even aware of this new ride until we came across it on a recent trip to the park. The ride was a lot of fun for the whole family.
Basically, the idea is that you are in a spaceship on a moving track. You have a blaster and you are shooting at targets along the ride. You get a score for how well you do. At the end, you can get a photo of yourself on the ride. There is a way to play this at home teamed up with the riders at Disneyland, but I haven't tried that yet.
At the end of the ride, we recovered our photos. Here is the photo of Hayley and me with our scores. As you can see, my elementary school daughter beat my score.
It gets worse. My wife, who DOES NOT PLAY VIDEO GAMES, and Bethany each beat my score as shown below.
The worst part is that my son not only blew away my score, but he also got more than 50% of my score with a second gun fired with his OFF HAND! At least I had fun. *sigh*
Disneyland has a fun new ride called Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.
I wasn't even aware of this new ride until we came across it on a recent trip to the park. The ride was a lot of fun for the whole family.
Basically, the idea is that you are in a spaceship on a moving track. You have a blaster and you are shooting at targets along the ride. You get a score for how well you do. At the end, you can get a photo of yourself on the ride. There is a way to play this at home teamed up with the riders at Disneyland, but I haven't tried that yet.
At the end of the ride, we recovered our photos. Here is the photo of Hayley and me with our scores. As you can see, my elementary school daughter beat my score.
It gets worse. My wife, who DOES NOT PLAY VIDEO GAMES, and Bethany each beat my score as shown below.
The worst part is that my son not only blew away my score, but he also got more than 50% of my score with a second gun fired with his OFF HAND! At least I had fun. *sigh*
Labels: Disneyland, Family, Games
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Andrew is a Mage!
For anyone that didn't already know, my son Andrew is a professional mage! OK, he is not so much the "fireball" kind of mage as he is the "pick a card, any card" kind of mage. Nevertheless, he gets paid to do magic.
He currently works at Houdini's Magic in a kiosk at Disneyland's Downtown Disney district. He has to wear a tux and he helps with the performances that the store puts on every 10 to 15 minutes. He has even received a number of cash tips for some of his performances.
Andrew is a performer at heart. Whether it is drama, guitar, improv comedy, or magic, he has a fun time. It's great that he has found something to get paid for that he really likes.
P.S. The picture at the right is Andrew in a costume similar to what he wears at work. I don't have a picture of him at work though. This picture is from a performance where he played Dr. Watson (of Sherlock Holmes fame).
Labels: Andrew, Disneyland, Mage
