Busy as Bees

We are busy as bees in summer around here…just as happy, too!

 

These were taken at the Mission San Juan Capistrano in May.
The flowers look like they’re made out of tissues and for some reason that pleases me.

Happy Summer to all of you!

Home Decor: Front Porch

Focusing just on the porch today…

Before:

Our door was standard brown and the door handle blended right in. It also had a brass dead bolt. There was really nothing special about the entire front porch. I have always wanted a porch to hang out on while watching the kids play. I wanted it to be welcoming and pretty.

After:

 

While there is still more to do (a new chair or two, maybe some flower baskets on the rail or hanging, PAINT the rail!, decorate that blank corner somehow, etc, etc), we’re pretty much done for now. We actually finished it last fall but I just got around to doing this.

House numbers: We put new ones on from Hobby Lobby for $2 a piece. Now people driving by can actually see them instead of them being hidden behind the column.

Doorbell: Our old one was the standard $2 plastic rectangle that had shattered and was an electrifying liability. I thought all the doorbells at Home Depot and Lowe’s were super blah so I bought this beauty on Amazon for about the same price as the one’s at the store. $15. Such an upgrade and it’s one of my favorite things. It’s slightly annoying to see the screws but oh, well.

 

 

Knocker: We decided to go with a classic look and install a knocker and kick plate. The knocker is cheap. Honestly, too cheap. It wiggles and feels lightweight but at least it looks nice. I didn’t like drilling through the door and the screws show on the inside. Definitely not ideal.

 

Kick Plate: I love the look of the kick plate but I almost didn’t go for it because it was $30 for this plain, thin piece of metal. I have no idea why it cost so much. In the end I’m glad we installed it. It just completes the look. All the kids in the neighborhood use this, literally, as a kick plate. I always have to tell them, “Stop kicking the kick plate!” Haha.

 

Here’s the hanging lantern. After looking at outrageous lighting prices online I was going to give up but then I happen to find this at DI for $7. It was brass, of course, and we painted it black. After hanging outside for 2 seasons it needs a cleaning and touch-up. It looks great at night all lit up. We are a corner house and the street is very dark at night as there are hardly any street lights. When our porch light is on it just lights up the whole corner. It’s so welcoming and I love it. It was a pain to install! It took Rob 4 reinstalls in 4 hours over two nights just to hang this thing.

I got two Yew trees and put them in plastic pots that I already had and painted black. I wanted evergreens so that they look nice and welcoming even through our long winters. They survived! I’m hoping they grown enough to need a repot next year.

 

Pillow fabric leftover from another project.

 

Just over a year ago we had to get our concrete redone. It looked great until a couple of months ago. Now it’s even worse than before they “fixed” it. The whole top of our porch is coming off. It’s a problem we’re going to have to address soon.

 

The blue door was a bit stressful. It was supposed to be slate blue and it turned out a little less slate and a little more blue than I was counting on. After Rob spent $35 and 4 hours to paint the dang thing so I wasn’t going to change it. I have since grown to really like the color (it has a luminescent sheen) and we receive compliments all the time.

 

Finding this outtake made me smile!

Like I said, there’s always a ton more to do but I can’t wait forever to document. Having a house and a yard is fun but SO much work! I really do want to give lots of props to Rob for his hard work in making my visions come to pass.

Total Cost: About $100 including the yet-to-be-used black paint for the rail.

Blog Attacks

On more than a few occasions I have experienced mild panic attacks regarding things I’ve said or pictures I’ve shown on our blog. During such attacks I get all sweaty and my breathing quickens and my mind goes a mile a minute. I worry about offending someone or making myself seem foolish or unlikeable or a number of other things. I realize that even though it’s my family’s personal blog, the list of people reading it is growing longer and longer. We’ve chosen to not make it private but sometimes I wonder if I’d feel more free if it wasn’t public. I’m just so introverted in real life that I love being more extroverted online. It’s probably a lot easier to get to know me by reading this rather than talk to me in person.

Depending on the subject, before I click “Publish” I read and re-read and sometimes have Rob read what I’ve written. He always tells me it’s fine whether or not I think it is. I try to be honest without being too honest (there are so many more VERY honest things I could say…). I don’t want to regret saying something I shouldn’t. I have regretted more than a few posts over the years. Rob thinks I’m crazy for worrying about it but I care about what people think, whether or not I should.

If you think I’m crazy, you’re right on the mark. There. That’s honest.

ps…I’m probably going to regret posting this post. I didn’t have Rob read it first…

Disney Planning

Even though I’m no longer a professional in the travel industry I take travel planning very seriously. I think things run so much more smoothly with three kids when you follow a plan. Of course, I plan for everyone’s needs and wants, wiggle room, spontaneity, and randomness :)

I really try and make each trip the best possible. I don’t overspend but I also don’t skimp. If you’re going to spend $1500 on a vacation it better be worth spending that kind of pizza dough! Here’s my methodology. If my budget is $1500 but the hotel in my price range is less convenient or a little grimy, then I don’t hesitate to spend $200 more on a hotel that makes me feel comfortable and like I’m actually on vacation. The same thing applies to flights, car rental, food, etc. You’ll often find that by spending just a little more (in the grand scheme of things), you’re experience is much more enjoyable. So in the end, I could have spent $1500 for a decent trip but with more stress or I could spend $1800 for a great and relaxing time. It is well worth the extra $300. Otherwise, it’s almost a waste to spend $1500. Does that make sense? In the end, your joy compounds more than your budget does.

I’ve tried so many websites and guides over the last couple of decades. Last year when I was making my plan of attack I utilized “The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland”. I’ve used the “Unofficial Guides” for many of my trips and I LOVE them. Indispensible. These are the real deal. SO much more worthy of using than Fodor’s, Lonely Planet, Frommers, etc. which are too generic and depend too much on the location’s tourist boards and chambers of commerce rather than their own people being there and experiencing everything first hand.

I need to give serious props to the Unofficial Guide’s companion website and app that I 110% depended on the entire trip. Touring Plans (which covers Disneyland, California Adventure, and Disneyworld) uses data they have personally collected ON THE GROUND in these parks for the last ten years. As far as crowds, they take everything you can think of into account. They don’t only consider obvious things like spring break but other conventions that take place in Anaheim throughout the year. They have a Crowd Calendar which we used to plan exactly which days to go. We were somewhat open concerning our dates so we checked the calendar and, sure enough, there was a 4-day window with crowds MUCH lower than other days and weeks in our time frame. We went and, yes, we didn’t wait longer than 15 minutes in all the days we were at the parks. Most of the time we only waited 5 minutes (even the new Radiator Springs Racers, which has a typical wait time of up to 2 hours! We went on it 3 times in a row with only a 5 minute wait each time). Had we gone a few days before or after, we would’ve been waiting 20-45 minutes for almost everything. This worked brilliantly for us last year, too. 

There’s WAY too much for me to include here but the website also has tips and suggested touring plans (which I didn’t use because they’re mostly geared for busier days where you have to scramble to get on anything). They describe in detail and rate every ride and show so you know if it’s something you want to go on or see. We used their detailed Dining Guide which shows not only all the menus and prices so you can plan without wandering around wasting time but they also personally rate food quality and value for the price. We ended up being quite happy with our meals because we knew we were getting the best for our money. We downloaded the Lines app which gave us up-to-the-minute wait times on all rides. We were able to hop on many more rides because we knew there was only a 5 minute wait. Anyway, yadda yadda yadda. It’s $7 for a year’s access to their site which is a complete steal. I’d pay $50 or more. I’m frugal with my endorsements. I don’t throw them out there Big Willy-Nilly style, but in this case I will be their spokesperson. I’m in love with them. If I could, I’d marry them and co-produce their offspring.

Certified Travel Counselors are almost a thing of the past due to the ability of people having their own access to everything online, even though it can be very daunting. Even a little trip to California can take 10s of hours to plan! I don’t think people realize how valuable hiring a pro can be but I know that’s rarely going to happen anymore. I’m not saying you can’t have a fantastic time planning your own way. Some people would throw up at the very idea of planning like this, but as for me and my house, this way works best. I don’t like to settle for okay. I want optimization. So this way, I get to utilize my travel education and passion and my family gets to reap the rewards. Win-win.

PS. Rob’s also an optimizer. One night I found him trying to optimize my optimized plan. Boy, that didn’t end well ;)

PPS. After reading this you would think that our plan was executed perfectly. You would be wrong. As much as we can predict crowds and wait times, I wish we had an app to better predict weather (literally up-to-the-minute), sickness, and the general cooperativeness level of toddlers. More about this in future posts.

Grandmother Allred’s Party

My Grandma Allred moved back to the area after living away for too many years. We are happy she is close again and we get to visit with her at all the family get-togethers. Madeleine seems to be particularly happy about this.

For her birthday, my mom wanted each family to get a picture with her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some other candid shots from the evening.

 

 

 

 

 

We love grandma!!

Downtown Disney: The Big Reveal

Last Fall Rob and I were talking about how much fun it was for our family when we went to Disneyland. I mentioned that Nate is getting older and won’t want to go on the kiddie rides much longer and how Madeleine is pretty much out of the princess phase. I convinced him that we should take the kids one more time before they grow out of this precious time of their life where fantasy and imagination is reality. You know, before the magic ends. It didn’t take much convincing :) We decided that if we could swing it we’d go again in the spring.

Since we didn’t know for quite a while if we’d be going, we kept it secret from the kids. Then once we knew, we decided to continue the secret and surprise them. It was so hard! We both slipped up a couple of times but they never caught on.

This year we also decided to invite Rob’s parents to come along. It was so fun doing Disney with kids so we thought it’d be great for them to have that experience with their grandkids. We also knew our kids would LOVE spending so much time with their Grandma and Grandpa Snow.

We told Nate and Madeleine that we were going to Phoenix (to account for the two days of driving). We weren’t sure how far we’d get before Nate read a road sign but the dvd player and iPad kept his eyes from wandering. We also made sure we didn’t stop at the same place we stopped on the way as last time.

Finally, we got to Anaheim. Rob and I were so nervous! We’d waited so long for this surprise! We drove straight to Downtown Disney but the entrance we went in last year was closed so we had to park and enter a different way, which I think threw off the kids. The reveal wasn’t spectacular. Maybe I could’ve amped it up by doing some grand gesture? Instead I tried to just get them to figure it out on their own. Haha. Oh, well. It was still fun. Link

So in Downtown Disney we wandered and played and ate dinner before we went to our hotel across the street. Fun stuff.

 

Nate’s car won, of course!

 

 

 

 

And here are a couple of pictures from my phone that I forgot to put in my last post. This was Barstow on the way down. Admittedly, I was frustrated. I had originally wanted to go to California in February when it was miserably cold here in Utah and 80 degrees down there. Instead, we waited until May so that we’d be sure to have great weather, especially for the beach. Well, we got out of the car in Barstow and it was cold and windy. The last thing I wanted to do while in the desert was wear a jacket! I had been FREEZING for the last 6 months, after all! Ironically, back home it was 90 degrees. Blah.

 

Day in Laguna Beach

(Yes. This post is out of order. I’ll catch up on the other vacation posts later).

After 4 days of “amusement” we really needed some relax and play-in-the-sun time. This year we decided to try out Laguna Beach. I don’t remember ever visiting this area before so it was fun to see someplace new. The town is cute with easy access to the beach. First we stopped at a shop next door for supplies and then we used them! For some reason Cara decided she wouldn’t wear her bathing suit.

We soaked in the sun, enjoyed the view, people-watched, snacked, and played.

 

Sand got everywhere, of course.

After 3 hours, we still didn’t want to leave so we moved the car and extended our stay for another two. This night we picked up dinner and ate it in our hotel room in Mission Viejo. It was a great day.

Side Note: I used to worry about my very pale skin. As a teenager I’d lay out for days in my friend’s backyard rubbing baby oil repeatedly over me hoping that it would do the trick. Nope. I tried tanning beds once or twice. I hated it. Skin cancer runs in my family and it’s not pretty. I’ve tried the tanning lotions and they just look stupid and fake. My last option was to try the spray tanning at salons but I decided, “You know what? I just don’t care that much anymore.” I look the way I look and it’s just not worth it to me to stress about it. People may stare (and sometimes they do) but whatever. Even though I’m from Southern California I’ll never look like I am and that’s fine. So now I let myself get a few minutes tops of sun before I slather on the spf 1,000,000+ (or as high as I can get my hands on). I do the same for my family. PS: Remember a few years ago how FAR fake tanning went? Especially in Hollywood? Those people looked so orange and strange. I’m glad the trend has come away from that somewhat. Who knows, maybe in a few more years glowing white will be the new trend.