Welcome to Shanghai Disneyland! After getting through security and picking up our tickets, we entered the park right around 8:30am, about 30 minutes after the park officially opened.
As soon as we entered the park, we saw Duffy the Disney Bear in an adorable Halloween outfit! Alli told him that she has a Duffy bear too!
Good morning from Shanghai! It's 4:20am and Ian is wide awake! Like I've done the previous days, when the kids got up early, I took them out of the room so the rest of the family could sleep.
Ian asked if we could go to the pool! I told him it was super early and I didn't think it was open, but we could try. I had him change into his swimsuit and we left to explore.
When we last left off, Theresa, Ruston, Ian and Alli were enjoying the new Toy Story Land at Shanghai Disneyland. Where did Jacob and I run off to?
TRON!
Let's continue our story from last time where we're just getting to Shanghai Disneyland!
Ian - Daddy, when are you going to stop writing about taste tests and write up our big Disney trip?
I know, I know. That one has gotten away from me. I'm already behind on writing up other travels, and this one is super daunting, knowing there's Shanghai Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland still to go. And after that, Paris Disneyland too! But the kids really want to see the pictures and hear the stories, so, here we go again!
Where were we? What's this trip all about anyway? Well years ago now, Theresa, Ruston, Jacob and I thought it would be awesome to do a trip to all the Disney parks in the world! We held back until Shanghai opened, then waited a little bit for them to get all the kinks settled out. By that time, Theresa and I had kids! Why not go ahead and bring them along! So, we decided to travel to Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Japan all in one massive trip to visit all the Disney parks, plus a little bonus travel.
I've previously written up our 3 days of travels around Korea, but stopped before we got any further. Now it's time to continue our journey as we fly into China to visit Shanghai Disneyland! And just a reminder that during this trip Alli had just turned 3 the day before this, and Ian was 4 years old.
The kid had both fallen asleep super quick the night before. It had been a busy day exploring the Korea, visiting Namsangol Village, and Lotte World. But the time change is still something they're adjusting to. Ian was awake at 3:30am and Alli wasn't far behind at 5am. Since we had 2 separate rooms, I went over to play with them while T got a little more sleep. If you look, those pencils spell out ALLI. Nice work girl!
We love all sorts of cereals, but Frosted Flakes is a favorite. We've tried lots of different flavors including Strawberry Milkshake, Chocolate with marshmallows, Cinnamon, Banana Creme, Chocolate, Pumpkin Spice, Honey Nut, Regular Frosted Flakes, and Frosted Flakes with marshmallows.
Today we get to try Cinnamon French Toast Frosted Flakes.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch with another new item? I mean, we've tried so many different ones before, we've got to try one more! So so much Cinnamon Toast Crunch things.
It's Captain Crunch's 60th birthday? Happy Birthday Captain!
And the day I'm posting this happens to be my birthday too! Happy Birthday to me!
We love our Doritos Chips. There was even a taste test where we tried 11 different flavors at the same time in an effort to find our favorite! Today though, we're moving away from the Doritos Chips and trying the new Doritos Dips!
While visiting Michigan, Aubrey and Jared took the family out to a store that specialized in importing unique snacks and drinks from other countries. They knew I'd love it. I'll have pictures of all that in a post in the future, but for now, let's look at some of the treats that I got from there!
Starburst Cotton Candy! We love just about everything coming from Starburst, and this is something new! The last thing we had were those Starburst Airs and Starburst Gummies, so hopefully this can provide some sort of redemption. And they have included my favorite flavor! Strawberry Starburst!
Today we are having a giant Milkis beverage taste test! The kids are certainly excited to try all the flavors!
Moon Pie Cotton Candy? I'm always up for trying something new!
Growing up in the south, Amy and Richard were both big fans of the original Moon Pie. Will a Moon Pie Cotton Candy be able to take its place? Let's find out!
My son Ian has a beautiful heart. He's a really thoughtful and caring kid. Ready to help out whenever anyone needs it, and regularly puts others needs before his own.
But that's not what this story is about. This story has to do with his physical heart. It's a Flowers Tale I wasn't sure I'd ever write up, but Ian has asked me to do it a few times now and he wants to read about a big time in his life.
So in a post that's going to bring back a lot of memories for Theresa, myself, and the rest of the family, here's The Story of Ian and His Big Heart!
How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?
I found 4 different Hawaiian Punch drink mix packets and figured we'd have to try them all!
Hot Tamale Cotton Candy? I love Hot Tamale candies! They are one of my favorite movie snacks! But, can that spicy goodness be captured by a cotton candy? We'll find out!
Today we are testing out 3 different Nespresso coffee machines. It just so happened that while we were in Colorado, we had 3 different versions of coffee makers that all used the same Nespresso coffee pods. When an opportunity like that comes along, we like to compare them.
Minecraft? Pringles? Two things that the kids just happen to love!
While perusing a Market World, I found a snack I've been wanting to try for a while! Pipcorn!
I first saw this brand of popcorn on Shark Tank years ago (like 2019). Back then, you could only order it online, and when I went to place an order, they were overwhelmed by the Shark Tank success and had sold out. I hadn't thought about them much until I saw these again in stores years later. Tabasco flavored popcorn and cheese balls! Yum!
Homemade raisins? I knew it was possible, but I never really thought about trying it. My dad was given a grocery bag full of grapes and knowing there was no way he could possibly eat them all before they went bad, he set off to make homemade raisins!
A new Kit Kat flavor! We love trying all the different Kit Kat flavors!
Walking through a local 7/11, Megan saw these at the counter.
Megan - Joe, do you want to get them?
Knowing how many taste test things I still have waiting to do, can you believe I actually said "No thank you."
Well, Megan wasn't about to let me slide and went ahead and bought one. Then the next day she went back and bought 2 more! Okay then, let's do a Kit Kat Churro taste test!
Happy Fourth of July! We had a great time at Patrick and Megan’s.
Megan and Patrick invited us over to have dinner and watch fireworks from their porch. We've got burgers, steaks, and more!
It’s a beautiful day to hike on America’s Mountain! Today I got up early to hike the Manitou Incline with my dad Mickey and brother Patrick.
What's my favorite soda? It's got to be Dr. Pepper. In the 1880s, when Charles Alderton combined those 23 unique flavors into a carbonated beverage, he definitely had a winner.
And when I saw that Dr. Pepper was teaming up with the Serious Bean Co. to make Dr Pepper Baked Beans, I knew I had to try them!
It's the Fourth of July weekend and as we were trying to figure out meals together, having steak was at the top of the list. But how should we cook it? There's so many options. Megan and Theresa both thought it would be a great idea for a taste test! And so today we'll be trying out ribeye steaks cooked four different ways!
Happy Fourth of July weekend! My brother and SIL's community had bike parade, free hot dog cookout, and more!
Time to finish our long summer journey (from 2022) and make it home to Florida!
Since we've got everyone together, let's do a taste test!
Jumping back a bit in time, last October we were working our way back to Florida in the RV. Stopping in Mississippi we got to visit with family, including my Aunt Kim and Uncle Mark!
I love to get videos of the "work in progress" to show how a mural comes together.
The first is the Splash Mountain mural by Ruston and I. I'm using a cheap YiLite camera that I picked up on Amazon. I love the camera, but they haven't updated their app in years. I have had to keep an old cracked iPhone 6 still running a very old version of the IOS around in order to connect to it. This phone must never be updated!
Seeing as how there's now 2 teams participating, of course I had to have a second camera running to pick up Theresa, Ian, and Alli as they drew the National Park Service emblem. Despite being plugged into a battery pack, the GoPro decided to quit after an hour, so most of this video is from the wide angle shot of the YiLite camera.
And since it's a wide angle shot, I also happened to get a time lapse of my chalk neighbor KDaze Karla Navarro. Not the best video, but still fun to watch.
Fair warning, the Pasadena Chalk Festival has previously made the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest chalk festival in the world. By my count, this year there were 170+ artists drawing, so this page is going to be really really long. I won't be commenting much.
The day after the chalk festival, Monday morning, the sky was overcast and the crowds were gone. I got up early to visit the festival grounds before everything is cleaned up. With no weird shadows and no crowds, I was able to meander through all the murals, taking pictures as I went. I think I got them all, and where possible I included the artist's name.
Please enjoy!
We're having a blast at the Pasadena Chalk Festival! We've been so busy though getting our own murals completed that we haven't had much time to go around and see everyone else's chalk art!
It's late at night, but I wanted to get a post up about the Pasadena Chalk Festival and our awesome time there. This year we have two murals! Ruston and I are doing the poster for Splash Mountain, and Theresa and the kids are promoting the National Park Service by drawing their emblem!
There's plenty of other amazing chalk artists at the festival, but this post is mostly about us. I'll be covering everyone else in a separate write-up.
