Back from stay-cation!

Back to routine, back in the saddle, back to 'normal'? Whatever you want to call it things are returning to the regularly scheduled program here at chez Hickman. Bob had to work some of last week (albeit from home, but still) so some plans got put on hold till a later date/vacation. The vacation started off pretty low key with a lunch at Souplantation, and the 9th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series (addicting!!!) and then some bike prep for a planned ride out on Sunday. We were up bright and early Sunday morning too ready for the 100 mile trek to El Mirage.

The journey went pretty quick though, surprisingly, and we arrived around 10am and called our friends who were staying there in their RV. We hadn't seen Janry and Meilani for a long while (heck they brought their son William along and last I remember he was a baby!). Our mutual friend Orn was along too and we have the same bike :)

Yeah that's me sitting down, geared up and ready to head out! I have mismatching pants (blue) to the rest of my gear (red) which pains me cos for pics and scrapbooking I'd like to match, ah well. The old red pants kinda got a hole burned in them from the exhaust on our last outing (a LONG time ago!).



Yeah lots of bikes huh? Even little William had his own bike! So cute, with training wheels and everything, hehehe. Bob took some video footage on his camera of me tazzing around on the dry lake bed, so much fun! Will get that uploaded at some point for ya! Not much to see really, just like the pic below but moving. The place is SO HUGE, it's awesome! Still more sandy than I'd like on the trails but the lake beds makes up for it.


We did agree that the best part by far was being able to stay in the RV during the 'downtime'. Just being able to go to proper bathrooms (nightmare at some places, nothing more than a hole in the floor covered by a shack!), and grab a beer and put your feet up for a while. Definitely makes riding more relaxing.


Monday of course was Labor day here in the US, a national holiday, so we stayed home and did the traditional thing: BBQ! Bobs latest thing is mini bagels and so he made some sliders with some natural burger mix. We BBQ roasted some potatoes and had a little cook out on the patio, yummy!

See the sunbeams? Yeah it was a warm holiday for sure! I will also add that he finished up 5 out of the 6 sliders! The 6th one naturally got cut up for the dogs, who thought that sliders were delicious! They even ate the lettuce :)

Tuesday was our Wedding Anniversary, thanks for all the gratz messages on facebook etc. 11 years! Time flies! Anyway we left the house around lunch and headed down to Disneyland :) Finally got to go on the Toy Story Midway ride at the California park. It's awesome, loved it! Definitely recommend it! Much better than the Buzz Lightyear ride in Disneyland. Here is a self portrait of us queueing to get on the ride :)

We did discover on the way down that our usual parking lot is closed now. No more Timon and Pumba parking, just a heads up if you are headed that way. They are renovating much of the California park too so that was interesting to see. Good thing too cos some of the attractions were pretty lame in that park. Glad to see they are putting money into both parks! Naturally we have inside info on some of the renovations they are doing over the next few years (Bob works for Disney remember! Yes we get in free!) so we know the basic plans, should be awesome once it's all done!

Wednesday Bob did have to pop into work briefly so I headed down with him and we went for lunch at the ABC commissary. The Studio's are fun, lots to see (not open to the public as far as I am aware). They have some awesome little touches around the Disney lot, so I took a few photo's.

Below is a pic of a bronze statue of Minnie Mouse and some guy I can't remember. It wasn't Walt Disney, I'm sure Bob will remind me later! On the wall are handprint plaques of famous people, like Manns chinese theatre, only vertical!

The main Disney building is HUGE, and we couldn't go inside but how cute is it to have the seven dwarves holding up the building? I loved that dopey was on the top. Yeah I cut one of the dwarves off on the left, but hey I was taking pics with my iphone! Give me a break :) Fun place to work though huh?

And naturally there is a statue of the man that started it all, Walt Disney, at the other end of the plaza with his most famous creation, Mickey Mouse.

We also went into a few of the buildings and I forget which is which but one had some cool props in it. Including the dresses from Enchanted and Pirates of the Carribean. Loved the Enchanted one, though the actress is pretty skinny if you ask me, though when I commented on this Bob naturally said the right thing "you could definitely fit into that". Gawd love him huh?

Pretty much other than some meals out (ok a LOT of meals out) and shopping, that was about it. I didn't do ANY crafting *shock* I know! In fact aside from two occassions I pretty much stayed off my computer!!! Can you beleive that? I updated facebook from my iphone and pretty much took some downtime from online. Oh I even took a break from fitness! I worked out twice (aside from dirtbiking and walking everywhere). Of course back to it today and I feel like my legs are going to drop off! lol!

Wow LONG post! I need to update a few things during September and I need to get back into a routine, or a new routine should I say. I've been saying that things are a-changing and this will be my first month with less crafty commitments and with more of a grasp on what *I* want for my/our future. Fun times ahead for sure! Back tomorrow with more pics and a sewing post :)