Today we bought a pop-up camper. And because that is my opening line, you may be thinking that I'm going to make that the focus of my post, but you'd be mistaken. Today has been one of those days where I've gotten a ton of stuff done and now I'm tired, so all I'm going to say about the trailer is that I am beyond excited to have a real-life kitchen to use while camping. And I'm not complaining about the king-sized mattresses, either.
I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say about the trailer another day- another day when my brain isn't fried from dealing with insurance and financing and hitches, with laundry, cleaning and baking thrown in.
I just have a couple of things I've been meaning to write about, even though they have nothing to do with each other. I'm going to go ahead and stitch these random ideas together and call it a night.
First, last week, we surprised the kids with a trip to Disneyland. Matt was staying at the Paradise Pier for a creativity conference, so the kids thought we were just going out to see him and hang out at Downtown Disney. Instead, that night, our room had a view of the World of Magic show at California Adventure and while they were watching it, we gave them their tickets for the next day. They were totally surprised, but probably not as much as I was at myself for not blowing it. I kept that secret for an unprecedented month and a half, and I can't even count the number of times I almost let it slip. Now I totally feel qualified for a job in the secret service. Or maybe I could be the person who puts the winning Oscar titles into the envelopes. That'd be fun.
Anyway, it's been a while since I felt the "magic" at Disneyland. But this last visit- it was perfect. We took our time, and while we got to all the rides we wanted to go on, we also took our time going through the park and stopped to have a lot of experiences, too. Jake got to fight Darth Maul in Tomorrowland, I had my first Dolewhip, we had lunch inside The Golden Horseshoe and watched the show, (which we had never done before), and we rafted over toTom Sawyers Island Pirates Lair to spend a good time. My favorite part of the day was when Roo, who upon entering Toon Town for her very first time, gasped and said, "I LOVE it! It looks so FAKE!" Which is probably exactly what the Imagineers want you to feel when you are there. Also, is there any other place to be at dusk than in New Orleans Square with the Jazz band playing? Disney Magic, man. It was there on that day, in full force.
Here's the other thing I wanted to mention: at the beginning of June I made a pact with myself to read only non-fiction books this summer. I'm not in love with that decision, mainly because I didn't realize how much I rely on fiction stories to relax. Non-Fiction stories require a lot more thinking, and to be honest, I've already cheated on my pact. I miss escaping into my stories.
Anyway, because I know you want to see it, here is my nightstand with all the books I've been reading this summer. There's some fiction in there, but please notice, it's heavily outnumbered by the non. I'm only one-third cheating.
I was going to give y'all a summary of each book, but I'm practically asleep already, so how could I expect you to stay awake through all that? I may come back later and talk to you guys about them, but for now I'll just say that the one I'm currently reading is the one on top; In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote. I'm really liking it, even though a few nights ago I was reading it during a lightning storm and because I was right in the middle of the part where the Clutter family was found bound and murdered in their beds, I mistook the lightning for flashlights outside my bedroom slider. I almost woke Matt up, but fortunately freezing in fear while my blood ran cold gave me enough time to come to my senses.
Anyway, I've never read anything by Capote before and he really is an outstanding writer. What is confusing is that on the first page of the book he states that "All the material in this book not derived from my own observation is either taken from official records or is the result of interviews with the person directly involved." However, his writing, like I said, is so well-done and thoroughly detailed that he is telling this tale, not like a journalist, but like a story teller. I kept wondering, "Well, how does he know what bird Perry Smith (One of the killers) was watching while out on a boat in Mexico after the murders?" I know Capote spent huge amounts of time speaking to all the people involved in the case, including the accused- but I can't imagine that something so obscure and minute would even come up in conversation. He had to have colored in some of the detail.
At any rate, all of that is just nitpicking. It's a great story, and my most enjoyable read of any non-fiction stories so far this summer. That's probably because it reads like fiction, (it's only creepy when you stop think about the fact that it's not).
And that's it. That's all the stuff that was floating around that in my head I wanted to talk to you about. Matt is watching SuperMensh: The Legend of Shep Gordon, which is a much better documentary than I thought it would be. (Initially, the title made me think that it was a Will Farrell movie.) I think I'll turn my computer off and join him.
Happy Fourth of July, and have a good night!
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| She'll look better when Matt takes a picture of her. |
I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say about the trailer another day- another day when my brain isn't fried from dealing with insurance and financing and hitches, with laundry, cleaning and baking thrown in.
I just have a couple of things I've been meaning to write about, even though they have nothing to do with each other. I'm going to go ahead and stitch these random ideas together and call it a night.
First, last week, we surprised the kids with a trip to Disneyland. Matt was staying at the Paradise Pier for a creativity conference, so the kids thought we were just going out to see him and hang out at Downtown Disney. Instead, that night, our room had a view of the World of Magic show at California Adventure and while they were watching it, we gave them their tickets for the next day. They were totally surprised, but probably not as much as I was at myself for not blowing it. I kept that secret for an unprecedented month and a half, and I can't even count the number of times I almost let it slip. Now I totally feel qualified for a job in the secret service. Or maybe I could be the person who puts the winning Oscar titles into the envelopes. That'd be fun.
Anyway, it's been a while since I felt the "magic" at Disneyland. But this last visit- it was perfect. We took our time, and while we got to all the rides we wanted to go on, we also took our time going through the park and stopped to have a lot of experiences, too. Jake got to fight Darth Maul in Tomorrowland, I had my first Dolewhip, we had lunch inside The Golden Horseshoe and watched the show, (which we had never done before), and we rafted over to
Here's the other thing I wanted to mention: at the beginning of June I made a pact with myself to read only non-fiction books this summer. I'm not in love with that decision, mainly because I didn't realize how much I rely on fiction stories to relax. Non-Fiction stories require a lot more thinking, and to be honest, I've already cheated on my pact. I miss escaping into my stories.
Anyway, because I know you want to see it, here is my nightstand with all the books I've been reading this summer. There's some fiction in there, but please notice, it's heavily outnumbered by the non. I'm only one-third cheating.
I was going to give y'all a summary of each book, but I'm practically asleep already, so how could I expect you to stay awake through all that? I may come back later and talk to you guys about them, but for now I'll just say that the one I'm currently reading is the one on top; In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote. I'm really liking it, even though a few nights ago I was reading it during a lightning storm and because I was right in the middle of the part where the Clutter family was found bound and murdered in their beds, I mistook the lightning for flashlights outside my bedroom slider. I almost woke Matt up, but fortunately freezing in fear while my blood ran cold gave me enough time to come to my senses.
Anyway, I've never read anything by Capote before and he really is an outstanding writer. What is confusing is that on the first page of the book he states that "All the material in this book not derived from my own observation is either taken from official records or is the result of interviews with the person directly involved." However, his writing, like I said, is so well-done and thoroughly detailed that he is telling this tale, not like a journalist, but like a story teller. I kept wondering, "Well, how does he know what bird Perry Smith (One of the killers) was watching while out on a boat in Mexico after the murders?" I know Capote spent huge amounts of time speaking to all the people involved in the case, including the accused- but I can't imagine that something so obscure and minute would even come up in conversation. He had to have colored in some of the detail.
At any rate, all of that is just nitpicking. It's a great story, and my most enjoyable read of any non-fiction stories so far this summer. That's probably because it reads like fiction, (it's only creepy when you stop think about the fact that it's not).
And that's it. That's all the stuff that was floating around that in my head I wanted to talk to you about. Matt is watching SuperMensh: The Legend of Shep Gordon, which is a much better documentary than I thought it would be. (Initially, the title made me think that it was a Will Farrell movie.) I think I'll turn my computer off and join him.
Happy Fourth of July, and have a good night!
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