Well that's certainly a busy Friday isn't it. We've had plenty of visitors come see us this summer. It's been great! School is starting very soon though and there's only time for one more trip. Rita and Aubrey came all the way from Michigan to see us one last time.
There's so much to do and so little time! Shortly after waking up, everyone piled into cars and headed to the delicious 85C bakery. There you can select as many individual pastries as your heart desires. The kids have their favorites. I have my favorites. Everyone can get what they want.
Sometimes 2 or 3 things that they want.
It's really fun having a big group like this because you can sample a little hit of everything. My favorites are the sweet cream cheese bread, bacon garlic sticks, and strawberry cream bread.
After breakfast, it was time to head out to the beach. The weather is beautiful today here in Manhattan Beach. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand with the cousin.
And heading down to the water.
After a quick lunch at home, everyone hopped in the car and headed to Downtown Disney.
We had an enjoyable time at Splitsville earlier this summer. The Annual Passholder discount is expiring soon, so one more visit was in order. It's a great deal, bowling for $10 per person instead of $19 per person.
There's 7 of us bowling today, but last time we were here and tried that, it was really crowded on one lane. I asked if we could instead split into 2 lanes, and after a quick confirmation from the manager on duty, our request was accommodated. They took our names and our shoes sizes, gave us a pager and asked us to wait a few minutes while 2 lanes opened up next to each other.
Ian was the first name I told them, so when the pager went off and they called for us, they asked for Ian by name.
Our shoes have made it into a basket, ready to be carried to our lane.
An employee grabbed our shoes and led us to our lanes. Having all this space between the two lanes was fantastic.
Shoes for everyone, including the kids. Let's bowl!
Alli of course had to have that pink Minnie ball she used last time. Every once in a while I was able to convince her to try a different ball that weighed more and didn't move so much, but unsurprisingly she was stuck on pink.
Ian was excited to come back here and bowl again, since it was his idea that got us to come here in the first place.
He's getting some air on that ball. I learned my lesson from last time and made sure to bring my DLSR on this trip. The lighting in here is a bit dim for action shots with the phone.
I still don't know why the lanes do this every once in a while. The ball is going straight, straight, straight, and then at the end seems to take a sharp turn to the side.
Ian was a pretty good helper for Alli. When it was Alli's turn, he'd grab the pink ball for her, set it on the ramp, and watch her roll it. Then if she didn't get a strike, he'd wait by the ball return and load it up for her again. Great job being a good big brother buddy.
Aww. I love these pictures.
Oh boy. Someone found the Snapchat filters. There's some filters you can only unlock when you're in the geographic location near Disneyland. Like Mickey Mouse.
And Minnie too.
Theresa looks like she has pretty good form. Wonder where she got that from?
And there's your answer. Her dad was an amateur bowler (once he even bowled a 300 game). Even though it's been years and years since he's played with any regularity, he posted the best score of the day with a 178.
Aubrey getting into the action.
And having seen everyone else bowl, Ian wanted to give it a go without the ramp. The results were... Well, watch the video.
Ian - I didn't hit the head pin, did I?
Ian critiqued Aubrey's rolling of the ball, saying she should use the ramp.
But alas, even with the ramp, things still go all over the place. It was a lot of fun this time at Splitsville. The 1:15 we had to bowl went by really fast and everyone had a good time.
Time to look around the rest of Downtown Disney.
I'd read on a forum that Disney was making these. I love it! A throwback to my childhood. I have such fond memories of coming home from school and watching A Disney Afternoon with the Gummi Bears, Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, Talespin, Darkwing Duck, and Goof Troop.
A friend of mine loves them too and asked me to pick him up a set. I happily obliged. I like how the insides are bright colors instead of plain white.
And the embossing on the bottom of the Talespin and Rescue Rangers mugs is just fantastic.
One other reason for coming to Downtown Disney is so everyone can get treats.
It's really hard to do much better than a beignet fresh out of the fryer.
For others, Sprinkles cupcakes (covered in sprinkles of course) were a favorite.
Lastly, a visit to Marceline's Confectionary.
Halloween stuff is out already huh?
Some of the treats being offered.
The kids each got sugar sticks. After walking them around the display which must have had 16 choices, I asked which flavors they wanted. "ALL OF THEM!" Should have seen that coming.
So in the end, their sticks looked like a rainbow.
The main reason for coming to Marceline's are the caramel apples. Not the fancy ones, covered in chocolate and sugar, decorated to look like a character or something. Just a plain caramel apple for Rita and a peanut covered apple for Aubrey.
Our time in Downtown Disney up, it was time to head home. But not before dinner. You'd think all we do it eat after a post like this. On our way home from Disneyland is a very tasty Korean Noodle House.
Alli will eat bowl and bowl of radish kimchi. The spicy bbq pork is fantastic, as are the wontons. And of course being a noodle house, you know the ramen bowls are going to be delicious.
It was a busy day, but a very enjoyable one. We love it!
Those mugs are awesome! Wonder why they didn't have emblems inside all of them.
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