I’m feeling sentimental again, because it’s time for Bunny to return to college after a month-plus of Christmas break, so I’m thinking about one of my favorite things that Turkey and Bunny and I like to do.
I’m not sure when we started going for boba tea…maybe last year sometime? But no one else in the house likes boba tea, so it’s become an “us” thing, and we occasionally go out for boba guilt-free, because we know no one at home will be missing out!
We’ve enjoyed trying out different places when we’ve been out running errands, and also trying different varieties. Most recently, I tried popping boba, which is so much fun, and also flavorful and refreshing! And they’re always pretty drinks, too, which make them even more enjoyable! I’m really glad this is a thing that the three of us started to do together, because even if it isn’t a common indulgence, we always really appreciate it when we have the chance!
Yesterday was a most-anticipated day…our annual trip to St. Charles, MO, for Christmas Traditions! We were worried about the weather (it was supposed to rain the entire day, but we got lucky, and it was mostly dry while we were there), and the traffic (an accident had I-70 at a standstill for a bit on our way there), but we made it in time (and even found a decent parking space!) for the Santa Parade:
After that, we headed down Main Street to look for all of our favorite characters, and we did a pretty good job of it!
As I did last year, I had to take a picture with the Mistletoe Misses…I love their costumes, and they seemed to like my outfit, too!
I also had to get a picture with the Lord of Misrule himself…I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to give him a sword!
But the main attraction is always a visit with Jack Frost. We love listening to his banter and seeing what kind of antics he’s added to his routine from year to year, and of course Bunny always has to take a picture with him. I was surprised to discover that he had been waiting for us this year, though. Usually, we attend the festival earlier in the season, which I guess he knows, and he had been carrying around a special gift for us since (I assume) opening day, which he was excited to present to us, complete with some of his original artwork on the bag. Jack may have a cold exterior, but he truly has a heart of gold! I was exceptionally touched (ok, I started crying right there on Main Street), because I had never considered that our presence there is valued. It was quite a moment, and made this our best trip to Christmas Traditions yet, and I know we won’t forget it.
Even on a damp, gloomy day, historic St. Charles is a beautiful place! And since it was so gloomy, we could really see the Christmas lights, which was very nice!
Our last order of business was getting our yearly photo at the gazebo. We had to wait for a madrigal performance on the steps to wrap up, but we got it in the end. So many years we’ve done this now!
Next year is the 50th anniversary of Christmas Traditions, and we’re already looking forward to being a part of that celebration!
This weekend, we got to visit Bunny for Parents and Family Weekend at her college! We’ve been there before, but it was fun to see some of her favorite things and check out where her classes are!
We got to go to “Donuts with the Dean” while we were there, visit the campus Starbucks (I think we’re calling it “Starbies” now), walk all the way to the top of the hill, and attend a volleyball game (we won!). It was a beautiful day, to boot, and we had a really fun time!
We even got to have Zaxby’s, which is a real treat for me!
The most special thing to me, besides seeing her (of course), was getting a picture of all the children. I know she hasn’t even been gone for a whole month, but I was really happy to get a new photo of the Fab Five together.
I’m not going to lie…Thanksgiving feels like a long time from now, but that’s when we get to see her next!
Today is Bunny’s first day of classes at the four-year college she transferred to to complete her college education. She’s already been away from home for over a week, and we miss her terribly, but we’re also very excited for the opportunities she’s going to have over the next two years!
This has been a Big Week. We said goodbye to Bunny when we dropped her off for college, and I didn’t think Chickadee was going to let her go:
To distract ourselves from missing her, we visited the St. Louis Zoo on what was probably the nicest August day I’ve ever experienced in St. Louis! It was the kind of day that makes you believe that eventually it might be autumn.
I’m not going to lie…I’m feeling sentimental because Bunny is moving out this weekend to finish her college education. That has me thinking back over how quickly the years have gone by, and I can’t look back without remembering how Turkey and Bunny have been my “almost twins” since the day she started crawling after him.
They were born one day short of 16 months apart. And Bunny was determined to chase after and keep up with Turkey since she began moving. It didn’t take long for strangers to assume they were twins when we were out and about, and in a lot of ways I viewed them that way, too…I even started Bunny in kindergarten with Turkey, and they were classmates all the way through.
They were each other’s first friends, and it hard for me to imagine them not together. I know that I will adjust to our new normal, but it’s going to be a big adjustment, and one I’m not entirely looking forward to.
Today is Bunny’s 19th birthday! We started the day with a “Bunny Walk.” We had quite a bit of rain overnight, so we didn’t see as many bunnies as we would have on a drier morning, but we still saw about a half-dozen or so, which was a good way to begin Bunny Day!
As always, present-opening was the highlight of the morning. There was a dual theme of Star Wars‘ Ahsoka Tano and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
We watched some movies this afternoon, and I worked on dinner. She asked for the apple punch from The Brothers Grimm Cookbook that we enjoyed a few weeks ago to go with her traditional birthday dinner of Stromboli:
This year’s bunny cake was based on The White Rabbit from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I don’t think I got his expression quite right, but he was pretty easy to decorate!
If you look closely at the shirt I wore to Disneyland, it says “Chasing the Fun.” Turkey and Bunny said it should have read “Chasing the Characters,” because apparently that’s what I do best when we go to theme parks!
Here’s a round-up of the characters we met or saw up close at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure (plus Goofy’s Kitchen)….my personal highlights were meeting Donald Duck, and also getting to see Goofy in his snazzy green suit! Also, since I was wearing a birthday celebration pin, many of the characters either said “Happy Birthday!” to me (like Lightning McQueen), or pantomimed it in some way (like Minnie Mouse).
Not pictured, but also seen by us include Peter Pan and Wendy, Captain Hook, the other chipmunk, Mirabel, Pinocchio and Geppetto, Sadness and Joy, Snow White, the Evil Queen, Ant-Man, Thor, Merida, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, the Dora Milaje, Mary and Bert, Chewbacca, Rey, Mulan, and Clarabelle Cow. I think that’s pretty impressive for just two days in the parks!
We saved Disneyland for our second (and final) theme park…seeing the train station for the first time was just as much of a thrill as it was at Disney World!
We got to watch the welcome show that is held on the steps leading up to the station when the park opens. The characters (minus Donald and Daisy, sadly), were all were their beautiful Disney 100 costumes!
We decided to take care of two things at once, and rode the Disneyland Railroad (something I really wanted to do since its Disney World counterpart was closed last summer) to the back of the park (where we wanted to get coffee).
What I didn’t realize is that station was practically on top of “It’s a Small World!” So we rode that first thing, and I loved it (of course)!
We then made our way to the Alice in Wonderland area, where not only do they have the teacups (a different experience because in California, they’re fully out in the open), but a second Alice-themed ride as well. And we ran into Alice herself, plus, the Mad Hatter!
We also visited New Orleans, home of the Haunted Mansion and beignets, and also Princess Tiana!
We wanted to make sure we saw the Sword in the Stone and the Wishing Well, since we missed both of those things at Disney World. Sadly, none of us was worthy to remove the sword, but we did all get to make a wish!
We were lucky that the “Star Wars Month” events were still going on while we were, and Turkey and Bunny got to ride “Hyperspace Mountain.” While they did that, I walked around and took some pictures of the castle (and let a Disney photographer take a photo of me!). Not as grand as the Cinderella Castle, but still lovely!
We walked back to the castle when they were done, and I found someone to take our picture:
The Disney photographers also got some nice pictures of the three of us:
And then we headed over to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. I’m pretty sure there are some minor differences, but it felt pretty much the same as the Disney World version! We got to have ronto wraps for lunch, and do some shopping and sightseeing.
One of the things Turkey and Bunny were most looking forward to, though, was having another lightsaber building experience at Savi’s Workshop (especially since they updated the parts since last summer). It was pretty cool to just get to be an observer this time, and watch other people do the work!
We didn’t see the Mandalorian and The Child, but we did get to meet Boba Fett!
We didn’t get to go on Rise of the Resistance because it was either shut down or the line was two hours long or it closed early (that was probably the biggest regret of the whole trip), but we did go on Smuggler’s Run…I got to blow things up!
After that, we walked through Downtown Disney on our way to dinner. Of course we had to stop at the Lego Store and admire their creations:
I really like this beautiful floral display:
And then we went to the Disneyland hotel to have dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen…it was so much fun! (Full details to come…)
After our meal, we hopped on the monorail to get back to the park:
We rode Star Tours (always a fun experience), and then went in search of Dole Whips:
We were barely able to find a place to view the fireworks…the crowd was massive!
The park is open for a couple of hours after the fireworks, so we had time for a few more things. We were three minutes late for Rise of the Resistance, so we headed toward Runaway Railway, instead. I love how the line is set up like a museum dedicated to Mickey Mouse!
After that, Turkey and Bunny decided to ride the Matterhorn while I took care of what was left of our shopping, and took some more pictures:
We rode the teacups one more time, and even managed to get on Dumbo the Flying Elephant.
We shut the park down (which I would somewhat regret the next day), and didn’t get back to our hotel until about 12:30. It was really hard to get to sleep after all that excitement and knowing we had a full day of travel ahead of us!
