Disneyland Trip 2014 Day 2

 The hotel room was cozy but all of the importants had room and time to get ready.

 Nana and Mikayla on the move......  (A recurring theme as you will see...)  Here they are getting lots of pennies for the wishing well.

 Obligatory Mickey photo ops.

 This was the view the rest of us had most of the day.

 This was Maylee's take on most of the day.

 Daxton loved the carousel.

 Maylee......well, you know.

 Mikayla wished to be a fairy princess.  (See her mom's blog Hancock Happiness) for details.

 Maylee and Grandad related well to one another.

 Minnie's house was a hit.

 Watching mom and dad ride the Mickey roller coaster.

 Goofy's crazy piano tasted good to Daxton, as did pretty much everything he encountered.

 Mikayla performed on any and all stages all day.

 It's a Small World wonders.

 Nana seating.

 The girls ended up meeting 9 of the 11 princesses I am told.  The word from the Neelys, our local Disneyland experts, is that is nigh unto impossible.

 There's nothing like that "Tired" that comes from best effort.

 Daxton had his "Show choir" goin' during the Mickey's Magical Map show.

This tore at my heart strings.  Mikayla stood there waiting to be turned into a fairy princess and then said, "Nothing happened."    Her dad came through with the real magic when he told her, "Some wishes take a long time and you have to work really hard."

Wet Wet Summer 2014

 The Summer Monsoon was generous and AWESOME. We ended up with over 11 inches of rain.

 The Big Pond filled and stayed filled all Summer.

 Baylie, Toby, and the Carter cousins (Missy and Bella) got in on the waterpark fun.

 In September, the national weather folks all used words like "Catastrophic" and "Life--threatening" to describe an eminent hurricane threat. Hurricane Odelia ended up not hitting Southern AZ but it did arrive in the San Pedro from Mexico.  Our lower pasture was under 8 feet of water.  Good thing I had moved the cows to higher ground!  Max and Uncle Dean Kartchner both said it was the most water they had ever seen in the San Pedro. The tree above is in about ten feet of water a hundred yards across.

 

 

 Below is an image of what's left of my fence.  It used to be five feet ABOVE the greenery.  Now it's covered with sand.

 Before the Odelia runoff

Same spot.  After being under6-8 feet of water for three days.

Disneyland 2014 Day One

Nana and Grandad were invited to go to Disneyland with the Hancocks after the girls (With some help) saved a whole jar full of money to pay for the trip.  We had a blast!  Nana and I thought we were really smart letting the Hancocks drive while we flew.  Due to airline issues, we had to change our flights and we got there AFTER the driving crew but we soon got settled in.

The first day we hit the beach at Crystal Cove on the recommendation of the Websters.  It was close, relatively private, and BEEEautiful!

 

A playful seal kept our company off and on and we also found a few other sea creatures that washed up on the beach.

 

 

 

The Mermaid was more patient than the Starfish.  There was also an Octopus, but I'll have to add him later when I get an image from his mom.

We had all the comforts of home.

We participated in the Yin and Yang of tidal ebb and flow......

 

 

 

 ....collected a few treasures....

....bid the seal adieu..

...and loaded up the (sandy) crew to rinse off in the hotel swimming pool.  (Sorry, Desert Sands Hotel but it's all in the name anyway....)