The Flowers Explore - Sequoia National Park Pt 1 - 2022/06/23

So earlier we got to learn about the Sequoias and watch a video about the Sequoias, but that's nothing compared to actually getting out there and seeing the Sequoias. Let's go!

Sequoia RV park and Sequoia National Park - 2022/06/22-26

Anaheim has been great, but it's time to pick up stakes and move this wagon to the next destination. We're going from one magical place to another place that almost feels like it's magic. Let's go! 

We've got a 5-6 hour drive in front of us today, so let's get moving. 

Coke Creations Dreamworld Coca-Cola taste test

Today we're in Utah and visiting with one of Theresa's former co-workers and college classmates! And any time we go visit someone, if I can, I like to try to bring along a taste test that we can all try. 

Coca-Cola and their Creations lab has been going crazy this year releasing all sorts of new flavors. There was Starlight, Pixel, Marshmallo, and now Dreamworld. 

What does Coca-Cola Dreamworld taste like? Check the label. It's Dream Flavored, obviously.  

The Flowers Explore - Orangeland RV Park, Redondo Beach, and more - Pt 2 - 2022/06/08-22

Wow, we had done a whole lot of things in our 2 weeks in Anaheim! Disneyland with the grandparents, meeting up with friends, volleyball, a chalk festival. It's been packed! Let's wrap this one up. 

Even though we're staying in Anaheim at the Orangeland RV park, we have driven to Redondo Beach so many times! Any time I could, I joined my friends in the gym to play volleyball at lunchtime. Back when we lived here, I tried to do this as often as I could. 

Saturday Morning Cereals - Oatmeal Cereal Taste Test Comparison - Cocoa Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, and Trix

It's cereal, but it's oatmeal! It's oatmeal, but it's cereal! 
General Mills what have you done!

In an effort to bring some excitement to what normally be a boring bowl of oatmeal, General Mills has decided to combine 4 of its popular cereal flavors with oatmeal. 

There's Cocoa Puffs for the chocolate lovers, Cinnamon Toast Crunch for the cinnamon lovers, Lucky Charms for the marshmallow lovers, and Trix for the fruit lovers. 

Pasadena Chalk Festival - Follow-up - It rained!

Just a couple days after the Pasadena Chalk Festival, it rained! 

Ruston lives nearby the Paseo and had to stop by to see what happened to everything! There's not going to be a lot of chatter from me on this one. It's just a collection of photos. Chalk art is temporary!

Getting walked all over at the 2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival - 2022/06/18

Well we had a fun time doing our mural at the 2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival, but when we left to get dinner, it got a little abused. How? Well, just so happens that my time-lapse camera was still running, taking photos every 5 seconds and caught the perpetrators. 

I scrubbed through my photos and put it together in a fun little video. How many people walk on our mural after we left? Watch and see! Enjoy!

2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival - Silent Auction and Awards - 2022/06/18

For the Pasadena Chalk Festival, the only thing they really ask of the artists (besides participating on the day of) is to donate a painted canvas for them to auction off during the festival. 

Ruston has made a miniature recreation of our big mural, and I love that he's used a circular canvas!

2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival - Day 2 - Sunday Pt 2 - 2022/06/19

There's so many talented artists that come out to participate in the Pasadena Chalk Festival! Let's go take a look at some! I captured many of them here, but you can find so many more on the official website of the Pasadena Chalk Festival. 

Bianca, your piece turned out amazing this year! 

A time lapse of our 2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival Mural - Mickey Mouse Club

We had a great time this year at the 2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival! It was so good to be back there in person! 

While we were working, I taped a camera to a nearby lamppost and had it taking photos of the area every 5 seconds. nearly 16000 photos later, edited to the portions where we're actively working on the mural, we have a time lapse video! 

2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival - Day 2 - Sunday Pt 1 - 2022/06/19

Good morning! It's Day 2 of the Pasadena Chalk Festival! This is the day that most of the artists will finish their murals, there's the silent auction for all the paintings, plus judging and prizes at the end of the night! How exciting! Let's get started!

2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival - Day 1 - Saturday Pt 2 - 2022/06/18

It's Saturday and the 2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival is in full swing! Artists are doing their best to get their chalk down on the ground before tomorrow's judging! 

2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival - Day 1 - Saturday Pt 1 - 2022/06/18

It's here! The 2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival! After 3 years of not meeting in person due to Covid, things are finally getting back to normal! 

This year Ruston and I are Mouseketeers! I'm a bright, shiny, classic Mouseketeer, while Ruston is a Millennial Mouseketeer. 

It continues our usual modus operandi of picking a Disney theme and dressing to match! We've had a lot of fun years!

Alright, let's get started with 2022!

Pasadena Chalk Festival - The Night Before the Event - 2022/06/17

It's Friday Night and the Pasadena Chalk Festival is almost here! My family is still at the Orangeland RV Resort down in Anaheim, but Ruston and I have an early start tomorrow morning. Instead of driving tomorrow morning, Ruston offered me his guest bedroom for the night. Perfect! 

When I arrived at 9:30pm, Ruston and I were both ready to get started. I don't know who suggested it, but somehow we agreed to drive over to the Paseo to get going! 

The Pasadena Chalk Festival - Prep Work and Artist Party - 2022-06-16

Catching up on some older stories. 

It's summertime and it's nearly Fathers Day! You know what that means! It's time for the Pasadena Chalk Festival! All the way back in 2011, Ruston invited us up to Pasadena to experience it. In 2015, Ruston and I decided to stop being observers and start being participants! Because there's two of us, and we each have different ideas, we go back and forth year to year to decide what chalk mural we're going to do. This year it's Ruston's turn! 

For all the years up to this point, we've drawn our mural in the main thoroughfare, but there's one section that Ruston has always had his eye on. You see, all the sections of the entire chalk festival are pre-marked off for the artists to use, and they're all some form of Rectangle. But, there's this one spot. It's in Animation Alley. It's right near the bottom of a large staircase and it's a circle. Also a lot of people are going to walk by it because it's so prominent. Ruston has wanted that for years, thinking there's something cool we could do with it. 

About a year before the event, we contacted the organizers, asking if they could save that spot for us. I know in the past they've kept certain high-profile spots for other artists, so it couldn't hurt to try. Pasadena Chalk Festival Event Manager Kat Ward said she'd see what she could do. Good enough for us! 

In the end, Ruston decided to go with this Circular Mickey Mouse Club logo. Not overly difficult, but instantly recognizable. Also, for years now, we like to dress up to match with our mural. We can be Mouseketeers! Sounds like we're off to a good start! 

Hanging out with Lola Days - 2022/06/15 and 17

One of the great parts about being back in California is getting to see old friends. Ian has a couple very special friends from school that he's missed dearly. We got to meet up with Brylie earlier in the visit. Today we are meeting with his second girl friend. Lola! She's missed Ian a lot too. We've sent pictures and videos back and forth, and even did a Flat Lola project to help with her school! But there's nothing like actually getting to see someone in person. 

Ian was so excited the night before that he couldn't sleep. The next morning, he made sure to wear his nicest clothes (a collared shirt and jeans) and wanted his hair combed. He even requested that Alli wear a dress. He's serious about making a good impression! 

Our last day at Disneyland with the grandparents! Pt 2 - 2022/06/13

We have had a great time together hanging out Gram and Pop Pop as they came to visit us in California. Exploring Disneyland together has been awesome and I love all the time we got to spend together. 

Let's close this one out. 

Our last day at Disneyland with the grandparents! Pt 1 - 2022/06/13

It's our last day at the Disneyland Resort with the grandparents. We've had a lot of fun together re-exploring what was once our home park. I parked once more in the Toy Story lot and we were on our way!

Coca Cola Creations - The Artist Marshmello's Limited Edition

Coca-Cola Creations has come out with a new flavor! We previously tried Coca-Cola Starlight when we were in Epcot at Mission Space! 
Today we have a new flavor that I guess we'll call Marshmello's Limited Edition. 

The kids saw it in the store, saw that it was new, and begged to try it. They were surprised I said we were going to do the taste test and started pulling out strawberries and watermelon. 

Kids - It's not marshmallow flavored? 

Freetles Freeze Dried Skittles Taste Test Comparison

Earlier this year we had an awesome and truly crazy Skittles taste test with 13 different types of Skittles and 56 unique Skittles flavors. Megan and Patrick were responsible for gathering a whole bunch of those Skittles flavors, and so it was no surprise that when we arrived back in Colorado, Patrick had a new Skittles item for us to all try. 
Freetles!
Freetles? What are Freetles?

Skittles are good, but can they be made even better? Salt City Treats seems to think so. They put Original Skittles in a vacuum chamber, freeze them to -40F, pull a vacuum as they bring up the temperature, which causes all the water inside to evaporate. The result is a crunchy and brittle texture.  

We're back at Disneyland! Our second day at Disneyland! Pt 2 - 2022/06/11

It's our second day at the Disneyland Resort, and we spent the morning bouncing between both Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. Our Genie+ Lightning Lane reservations are ready for us to go ride Guardians of the Galaxy, so let's get ourselves over there!

When we arrived, there was quite a backup! Semi-official tape lines on the ground and a cast member with a stick sign helped direct people where to go if they were returning with a Lightning Lane reservation. If this is the line for us, I hate to think how slow and long the regular line will take. 

We're back at Disneyland! Our second day at Disneyland! Pt 1 - 2022/06/11

It's Day 2 of our Disneyland Adventure! There's a lot going on today so let's jump right in! 

National S'mores Day with Jacob - August 10th

 Jacob is visiting us and reminded us that it’s National S’mores day! Let’s celebrate!

The only three ingredients you need for a perfect dessert

We're back at Disneyland! Our first day at Disney's California Adventure Pt 2 - 2022/06/10

We're having a great day at Disney's California Adventure! It's our first day back to Disney parks on the West Coast in a very long time. It was a great morning, and now we're moving into the evening hours. Our Genie+ has come in handy, getting us on rides a lot sooner than if we had waited in the regular line. 

Next, let's go ride a crazy coaster! Goofy's Sky School! Goofy tries to do so many things! Back at Walt Disney World he's a pilot at Goofy's Barnstormer and a train conductor on Mickey's Runaway Railway.

We're back at Disneyland! Our first day at Disney's California Adventure Pt 1 - 2022/06/10

Today is another special day! (We seem to have a lot of those). After years and years, we are finally coming back to the original Disneyland! Our last trip was back in March 2020, when I took the kids right before everything blew up with Covid. 

Now that things are getting more back to normal, and now that we're back on the West Coast, it's time to return! And even better, we've got visitors! Pop Pop and Gram from Colorado are out here with us and all set for some fun days at Disneyland!

Pizza at Home - California Avocado Pizza

Pizza day! We're in California! I already did a pizza based on California Dates, but that's certainly not the only crop that California is known for. Avocados! I bet I could make a pizza out of that!

Mission Avocados are based out the USA, right here in California. 

Orange Creamsicle Milkshakes with oranges from Orangeland RV

One of the happy benefits of being at Orangeland RV park is that we are allowed to pick as many oranges as we like. But what can we do with all those oranges and that delicious juice? You know what I bet would be delicious? A milkshake, but with orange juice. A creamsicle milkshake. 

And so that's what we set about making!

Blueberry KitKat taste test comparison plus a special tea party with Gram and the grandkids

Forgive the time jumps. While we were in Colorado, we did a ton of different taste tests that I didn't get to write up. Time to play some catchup! 

You know we love eating different flavored KitKat. Today we're having Blueberry Muffin KitKat!

And what better thing to compare them to than blueberry muffins! Yum! 

Hanging out with Brylie Day - 2022/06/09

Today is a special day! One that Ian has been looking forward to for a long time now. 
If you ask him what he misses most about living in California, he'll tell you it's actually two things. Back in Kindergarten he made two very good friends, Brylie and Lola, so if you ask him what he misses most, he'll say "My girl friends."

Brylie just finished school yesterday, and tomorrow she's flying to Canada for a few weeks! The only time we could meet up was the day after we arrived at Orangeland RV. We got up early that next morning and drove from Anaheim out to Redondo Beach!

The Flowers Explore - Orangeland RV Park, Redondo Beach, and more - 2022/06/08-22

We're on the move again! It was great hanging out in Palm Springs with Jacob. We got to do so many things together! Now it's time to move a little further west out to Anaheim! 

If everything goes according to plan and we don't have any issues, it shouldn't take any more than a couple hours. 

The Flowers Explore - The Cabazon Dinosaurs - 2022/06/07

I have seen the Cabazon dinosaurs a few times driving by, but I've never actually stopped at them. It's our last day in Palm Springs and that's pretty close by, so we've definitely got to do that. 

The Flowers Explore - Joshua Tree National Park - 2022/06/06

Our current travels have us staying in Palm Springs California, but we're always looking for a good national park to go visit. Just over an hour away from our campground is Joshua Tree National Park!

Covering over 1200 square miles, it's larger than the state of Rhode Island! President Theodore Roosevelt established the park as a National Monument in 1936, which was then re-designated a National Park in 1994. 

Pizza at Home - California Date pizza with caramelized onion, bacon, goat cheese, and basil

This week we're in California! Palm Springs to be exact! Besides being known for being very hot, Palm Springs is also known for providing the chewy fruit known as the Date. Palm Springs and Coachella Valley provides 95% of the Dates for the entire United States!

And so I thought it very fitting to theme this week's pizza, and my first California themed pizza to the Coachella Valley Date!