Poncho People.

I learned something new on this particular trip to Disneyland: if there's rain in the SoCal weather forecast, you sure as heck better pack your rain boots because they mean business. As the song goes, it never rains in Southern California, but girl don't they warn 'ya, it pours, man it pours. True story. And yes that really is a song; proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pyC7WnvLT4

We had a blast!! It was so wonderful to have a girls' weekend! I hadn't been on a trip with Mom and Tara since... uh, well, I'm not sure actually. It's been ages though and that just seems weird. To only travel with Mom and sisters or Papa and Grammi your whole life and then all of the sudden you only travel alone or with your significant other. I think continuing the family trips is definitely a good idea.We were so cute walking through the airport. Actually, it was mostly Tara who was cute. Her suitcase was pathetically short so she looked kind of silly pulling it behind her, and then her giraffe, Autumn, sticking out of her backpack just made me giggle. I don't know why but for some reason I just found it really funny.

We arrived at the hotel very, very late -- word of advice, do not take the Super Shuttle from LAX. They drive laps around the airport until the van is full. We seriously rode around in the van for 45 minutes before actually leaving the airport. No bueno. It was midnight by the time we got up to our room and we pretty much went right to sleep. Mostly right to sleep anyway. We explored the room, flipped through the channels on the TV, found some souvenirs (coasters, pens, stickers off the soap wrappers etc.), then flopped onto the surprisingly comfy beds and tried to keep the excitement at bay so we could snooze for a while.

This was our first time staying at the Paradise Pier hotel. It is so wonderful to stay at the Disneyland Resort and have a nice short walk to and from the parks!! And everything is just so cute and Disney-y, so that's fun too. AND they serve Mickey Mouse waffles in the hotel restaurant, which is always a plus.

And we're off! Didn't get up nearly as early as we said we were going to though. It wasn't raining Friday morning so I wore a tank top, capris, and sandals. I didn't even unzip my sweatshirt all day long and by 2pm, I was ready for long pants and socks & shoes :) I made my best effort, what can I say?

Parducci/Sodoma girls self-portrait take 1.

(speaking of Sodoma, Mom made my reservation for the shuttle under the name Stephanie Sodoma. I called her out on it and we laughed and thought it was really funny. Then when we arrived at the hotel at midnight on Thursday night the man at the desk asked for the name of the third guest:
Mom: "Stephanie"
Man: "Last name?"
Mom: "Sodoma"
Steph: "No it isn't!!"
Mom: "No it isn't!! It's Lentz! Stephanie Lentz!"
It was really really funny and she told me not to tell Steven. I think I told him when he called about two minutes later.)

(speaking of the man behind the desk at the hotel -- his name was Steven. In fact, I was running into Steven's all weekend long!! I saw at least 5 cast members with Steven on their name tags and one Disneyland guest with Steven embroidered on his Micky ears hat. There were just Steven's everywhere except not for mine because he was at home and it made me kind of really sad.)

To all who come to this happy place, welcome.

I wish I knew more Walt quotes. This is definitely a personal favorite and I think it every time I walk down Mainstreet.

Evidently Tara was being a flamingo in that photo, which is fun. I like her style. We spent the morning on some of our favorite rides (Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, Pirates...) and then stopped at lunch time for the most amazing corn dog I have ever eaten. So worth the calories and the heavy grease-ball feeling I had in my stomach afterwards. Tara had a dance thing to be at in Toon Town at two, at which point I pretty much ran my cold little self back up to the room to change into warmer clothes. It wasn't raining or anything but it was only in the 50s and rather windy. Not exactly capris and sandals weather you know.

Just as we got up to the room I got a phone call from Chelsea saying that she had just walked into Disneyland. Blast! Terrible timing. We decided to meet up for happy hour at The House of Blues in Downtown Disney. We shared fries and I had a really lovely drink called a green gator. It had pineapple juice, malibu rum, and melon liquor. And then into the park for more rides and a churro of course :)

Always fun to be at Disneyland with a friend! And what a treat to see Chelsea -- it's not often I can call and say, "hey! Want to meet me at Disneyland?"

I'm not even going to comment on this.

Friday night we saw the World of Color show. I'm not even going to try to describe it to. I will say that it is not to be missed and I am so incredibly glad that we went on Friday night! Trying to go Saturday night in the wind and the rain would have been miserable. Tara and I ended Friday evening with at least two (maybe three) trips down Splash Mountain. Mom is such a great sport! She just kind of hangs out in the giftshop right there while we run back through the line. We were really lucky the line was so short and I told Tara it was the only chance we had to go on Splash because I knew that if I got wet it didn't matter since we were going right up to the room anyway. The first time down we didn't get wet at all. Should have ended there though because we got splashed pretty good the second time. Mom bought a couple of cookies and some really tasty English toffee for us to share. Tara fell asleep before she could eat any of it so we saved her a bit for breakfast.

Saturday morning we looked out the window and just saw a wall of sideways rain. Seriously. The palm trees were blowing around like crazy and it just looked miserable. We were still excited to go into the park but I'll be the first to admit we were probably all feeling a little hesitant at the same time. We started the day off right with chocolate milk and Mickey waffles and then Mom had a little surprise for us:

Ponchos.

I shuddered when I saw her holding them. I always think the people wearing ponchos at Disneyland are such wimps! I mean, come on, isn't it ridiculous that people buy ponchos to go down Splash Mountain? I think so. But, we weren't wearing them for water rides, we were wearing them because the weather was miserable and cold and there was no chance of us drying off and warming up while we walked around. So, we were poncho people. It was quite the adventure.

Tara had another dance thing to go to so Mom and I dropped her off, zipped over to Disneyland to pick up fastpasses for Space Mountain, and then popped back over to California Adventure to get in line for the totally awesome Toy Story ride. Yet another not-to-be-missed attraction that I had never experienced before.

Within the first 15 minutes of our day I was completely soaked from the knees down. Our shoes were just squishing all morning long. We didn't really talk too much Saturday morning. I think Mom and I were both just trying to talk ourselves into enjoying the Disneyland experience but we had to agree, it just wasn't the same in the rain. I hope this was both our first and last Disneyland in the rain experience.

We went on some rides and it was nice to get out of the rain for a minute but everything was wet wet wet, even inside. We were more than happy to take a break at the Pizza Port and share a hot chocolate and slice of BBQ chicken pizza for lunch.

You should see some of the pictures Mom took on that day. In one particularly pathetic photo, I am on the Dumbo ride with my chin tucked down to my chest and both my jacket hood and poncho hood covering as much of my head as possible. I've never thought of Dumbo as a fast ride but I kid you not, the rain was slapping me in the face as I was flying around up there. At one point I just started laughing. I couldn't believe how ridiculous the whole scenario was.

We met back up with Tara and decided it was the perfect time to go down the Grizzly River Run seeing as how we were already completely soaked anyway. It was so much fun!! I was really nervous about getting splashed because I thought I was going to freeze but the water on the ride was actually warm and it felt so good! That was one really nice thing about most of the rides -- usually at Disney parks I freeze every time I go into a ride because of the AC, this time it was actually nice and warm in the rides and just freezing outside.

Back up to the room to change (blast! The only dry things I had at this point were capris and sandals -- should have brought an extra pair of jeans. Fortunately it had pretty much stopped raining by this time in the afternoon so I wasn't so much worried about getting all wet again as just being cold.)

And then dinner! You really shouldn't go to Disneyland without stopping for a monte cristo sandwich at the Cafe Orleans. The fries were pretty tasty too.

The calm after the storm. Gorgeous.

This is from a series of photos. They're all funny but I particularly liked this one.

Saturday night ended with a little Disney magic. Kind of a long story and I'm already a bit long winded but I'll try to keep it short-ish. So you know those little Christmas villages that you can buy with all the cute tiny houses and cars and people and shops and things? Well they have a set of those miniatures of Disneyland. They are unbelieveably detailed and let's be honest, I'm a sucker for anything "miniature". (travel-size aisle at the drugstore? Anybody? Yeah, I thought so.) Not really the sort of thing I would spend my money on but I love to look at them. Anyhow, at one point in time, they used to make one of these miniatures of the Dumbo ride and Mom had seen it online. It has since been discontinued and is rather expensive and difficult to find.

While we were in a store on Mainstreet that had some of these miniatures Mom decided she would just go ahead and ask if maybe by chance they had one of these Dumbo ones. The man in the shop was really friendly and said he was sure he had seen one in the store room just the past week when he was looking for something else. So he went back and looked for us but, unfortunately, came back empty handed.

He was still convinced he had seen one and suggested that maybe it had been when he was in one of the other shops so he sent us over there to ask. The ladies at that store weren't quite as interesested in looking for it. They were certain that if they had one it would be out on display, but Mom asked really nicely and one of the ladies went to check the store room. Meanwhile, the other lady stepped into the office for a moment and then came out with a box in her hand. I got kind of excited but then realized she was helping another customer and thought maybe it was for him. Then she called us over -- she said it was just sitting in the office. Just sitting there! Mom had mentioned our family connection to the Dumbo ride and why it would be so special for her to find this, and it was so sweet because the lady actually got kind of emotional about it. She said she had never seen the piece before and she was so excited to take a peek at it and seemed to be genuinely touched by the sentiment behind the search. It was just this precious little magic Disney moment and it really felt like it was "meant to be." Of course the Dumbo miniature went home with Mom and now has it's special little place up on her mantle.

What a perfect way to end our evening!

It was raining cats and dogs when we stepped out of the shop but we made our way back down Mainstreet to thank the man who had helped us and to tell him that we found it. I loved it. Might not be a super exciting story for you, sorry about that, but I thought it was special.

As it turns out, Sunday morning after a SoCal "hurricane" is the PERFECT time to go to Disneyland! There were no waits at all, for anything, and we were able to go on more rides just in that morning than we had done almost all weekend! No rain on this day but windy and very cold indeed.

SUNSHINE!!!! Yeah Baby! Glad to know it's still there.

One of my favorite pics from the weekend -- we had just come out into the sun so the eye that's in the sunshine is kind of winking and for some reason I just think it's hilarious. Thank you Tara for making me laugh and for being so stinking cute.

One truly beautiful thing about our weekend: the flowers. They were just gorgeous! Everywhere you looked there were brightly colored spring blooms popping up. I think Mom took more pictures of flowers than she did of us :) We learned that they completely replant the entire park multiple times a year (can't remember the exact number), which means that these flowers are specific to the spring season and the flower beds will probably look completely different in a couple of months. We overheard this family in front of us in line for Peter Pan reading Disneyland trivia outloud from an app on their phone so then Mom found an app on her phone and started doing the same thing with us. It was pretty comical because she was having us guess the facts by asking us questions and we were WAY off almost every single time unless it was something we know from the Disney books we have at home.

We finished our Disneyland vacation with lunch outside at the River Belle Terrace. It felt like Disneyland came to life in the sunshine. I'm not even kidding. It was like a completely different place. We just sat there soaking up the sun, people watching, and enjoying our sandwiches. We made a quick stop in a few shops on the way out and then we were off to the airport.

Parducci/Sodoma girls (minus Mandie that is) in the sun!

It was a quick, wet, slightly ridiculous, and very fun weekend and I am so looking forward to doing it again sometime soon! We decided that as soon as I find out I'm pregnant we'll plan a Disneyland trip. It will be perfect for multiple reasons:

1. I am NOT going to Disneyland with a stroller. I just won't do it. So that will be a good time to get my fix before I begin my many stroller pushing years.

2. Steven will be more inclined to give in to my request if I'm pregnant, right?

3. I can eat whatever I want. Chocolate milk and churros all day. With a cup of Dole whip thrown in there every now and then. Who knows, maybe I'll want to dip the churro in the whip. That actually sounds kind of tasty...

It was so good to come home to Steven! He told me I would never understand how much he missed me (what a sweetheart!) and then he took me out for sushi :) I wish he liked going to Disneyland. I love it so much and was wishing all weekend that I could share it with him. I asked if we could plan a weekend trip down there sometime and just do it the way he would like it -- only the "fun" rides and lots of yummy food, and plenty of time for just relaxing in the hot tub. He said he thought that was doable but suggested we invite another couple along. Any volunteers?

Greener Pastures.

Today was my last day at my terrible-awful-no-good-very-bad job. I can't believe I'm done! It hasn't sunk in yet. It has been a long and miserable 4 months of work and I am more than happy to be done with it. And the even better news is that I finally landed my first ever full time teaching job and I start next Thursday!

It was a whirlwind of a week in regards to my professional life. My interview was at 12:30pm on Monday -- I chose not to tell anyone at my school why I was going to be late for work. I thought the interview went pretty well but left feeling slightly discouraged. It's totally normal to spend the entire day after an interview over-analyzing your responses and coming up with all kinds of clever things you should have said but I was also worried about the fact that they seemed to be interviewing so many candidates. I figured if there were that many people in the running, I was sure to be on the lower end in terms of professional teaching experience.

I arrived at work later that afternoon feeling somewhat discouraged, completely exhausted from our crazy weekend, and generally grumpy about my job. It was a normal day at work, which means not-so-good, and I had pretty much resolved that I was just going to quit even without having something else lined up.

And then I realized I had a voicemail.

It was the principal who had interviewed me less than four hours earlier calling to say that she really enjoyed meeting with me, she had contacted my references -- who all had wonderful things to say about me -- and after a long day of interviews they really felt that I was the candidate God was leading them to choose for this position. I was shocked!!! And so SO excited!

I called Steven and my mom and quickly shared the news with my fellow after-school teachers. At 6 o'clock I went straight to my boss and told her I had accepted a new job and would be leaving at the end of the month. Ah! Such a good feeling! And the crazy thing is, I hardly knew anything about the job I had just accepted. I didn't know what the pay would be, whether or not I would get a spring break, when summer vacation starts, if I would have any benefits etc. etc. etc. Here's what I did know: full time job, classroom teacher, Christian school. Done, done and done. Everything I've wanted in a job (full-time teacher) and after my slightly traumatic experience in my most recent job I am ecstatic about the idea of working in a school where my faith is the common denominator.

By noon on Tuesday I had signed the contract and toured the school. I will be teaching 5th and 6th grade at a small Lutheran school in Burien - I have three 5th grade students and two 6th grade students. Five students!! How cool is that? It is definitely a pay raise from my last job, the commute is about 10 miles shorter (round trip), I still get the same week off for spring break PLUS Good Friday, school gets out for the summer on June 15th, and if I'm interested, I'll be the first candidate considered to stay on in the position for next year. As of right now my official title is "Long-Term Substitute" so I guess I haven't fully arrived as "Teacher" but it's pretty darn close and it's the first time I've ever run my very own classroom.

I had planned to stay at my other job until the middle of next week but I got an e-mail from my boss early this morning saying she had decided that today would be my last day. That was really difficult for me in more ways than I'm going to describe right now. I will say that I was hurt by it and I felt like I got cheated out of the "closure" I had been looking forward to. I had planned to bring treats and write thank you cards and do something fun with the kids but there just wasn't time for that. It was really tough saying goodbye to all of my students today. Some of them made me cute little cards and gave me big hugs and told me I'm their favorite and asked me to come back and visit and one of the students even said "Well can't you just tell them you aren't going?" and she begged me not to go to the new job. It was really sweet. I know this new job is going to be really good for me though so I didn't let myself get too terribly sad about the whole thing.

Another thing Steven and I are really excited for with the new job is that I should be home by 4:30pm everyday. That's almost 3 hours earlier than with my old job! I'll have time to make dinner again and instead of just eating and watching an episode of Psych and going to bed, we'll actually have full evenings to spend with each other! It's just all so good. I know it's going to be a great experience and I hope I enjoy it as much as I think I'm going to.

While we're sharing good news, I should also tell you that I have a really fun job lined up for the summer. I interviewed for this one a couple of weeks ago and got it pretty much right away as well. I will be working at a summer camp in Bellevue. The camp is only four weeks long (so I still get one month off) and I get to spend the whole time taking middle schoolers on field trips. We'll be going to Wild Waves, the zoo, the beach, baseball games, into Seattle to Ride the Duck, to the lake for kayaking lessons, and on and on. I think it's going to be a blast!

I feel like I've finally turned a corner and things are starting to fall into place in this area of my life. It is spring time and the sun is finally starting to shine. It would appear my winter has ended. No more subbing or tutoring or after-school program directing. I get to work in a place where I will be welcomed, loved, supported, affirmed and prayed for. Just the thought of it makes me feel peaceful. Thank God for spring time!

Breakfast Burritos

My wife makes bomb food.  It really is the best.  I also think she is amazing.  Did I mention she makes really great food?

So Proud!

Just thought everyone should know that Steven made it to the top of the Columbia Tower (69 flights of stairs) in full gear in 15 minutes and 20 seconds at the Stairclimb last Sunday. That's two and a half minutes faster than his time last year! He finished 92nd out of 1550! How cool is that?? Pretty darn. I am SO proud of all of his hard work and more than a little impressed by his incredible performance.

Out of the snow...

and into the... sun? Please, please, please God let it be sunny and warm at Disneyland this weekend!!! There's rain in the forecast and even though I am absolutely thrilled to be going to Disneyland with Mom and Tara tomorrow, rain is the last thing I need in my life right now. I have to admit that one of the things I was most excited for about this trip was the chance that I might actually get a little sunny color on this winter white skin of mine. *sigh* But, I guess 60 degree rain beats the snow and freezing temperatures we've had in Enumclaw this week. I think I'll be praying for sun just the same. Feel free to join me.

It was so great to only go to work three days this week! I think Friday should come on Wednesday EVERY WEEK!!

I'm supposed to be packing right now -- guess I should get to it. So excited for girls-weekend in Disneyland! I still can't get over what an awesome husband I have. My heart melts a little when I think how sweet it was of him to send me on this impromptu vacation. I love him the most!

Hope you're having a lovely week! Stay tuned for Disneyland pictures (of me in a tank top, capris and open-toed shoes soaking up the sun!!!!) and what will probably be an excessively long blog post sometime early next week :)

Love,
Steph

p.s. Hope you remembered to celebrate Pi(e) Day today! Mom, Tara, and I bought a marionberry pie from Sharis (because it was almost 9pm and we didn't have time to bake one of our own) and it was DELICIOUS! What a great day. Too bad 3.14 only happens one day a year.

I Am The Luckiest!

One thing I know for sure is that I definitely do not devote nearly enough of my blogging energy to bragging about what an incredible husband I have. He is absolutely amazing and I am beyond blessed to have him. Anyone who can live with me full time (maybe it's a good thing he has that crazy firefighter schedule) and still be happy and fun and easy going is definitely a keeper (insert shout-out to Paige here, even though she's not the one I'm gushing about at this particular moment). Steven is kind and thoughtful and patient beyond belief. He is always looking out to do what's best for me or what would make me the happiest. He does dishes and laundry and cleans bathrooms and cooks dinner on his days off while I'm at school. He's always working hard and doing his best. He's always excited to take advantage of an overtime opportunity to earn a little extra money for us but has no problem passing up that opportunity when he decides that spending time together is more important. He indulges my obsessive planning and list-making and even plays along every now and then. He gives me back rubs and takes me out to dinner and he never gives me a hard time about spending money. He's always telling me I'm smart and beautiful and sweet, even on days when I'm sure I'm just the opposite. And the list just goes on and on. Honestly, I don't know what I did to deserve him (probably nothing, but let's not go there right now).

You will never believe what he did for me this week, really, you won't. We had been texting off and on throughout the day on Tuesday and he told me that he had a fun surprise for me and that I should prepare to be excited. So I prepared, but not to the degree that I should have. I was prepared for Tillamook mint chocolate chip ice cream, or a vase full of daffodils, or a candle-lit dinner, but he had something much grander in mind. He had made dinner, which is always so great of him even though that wasn't the surprise, and we sat and enjoyed it and had a really nice chat about our day. Then he cleared the table and asked if I was ready for my surprise. Guessing that it was maybe dessert or, ahem, bedroom related, I told him I was too full and asked if we could wait a few minutes. I think maybe he was a little too excited to wait. He laid two pieces of paper on the place mat in front of me. And I just stared unbelieving at them for a very long time.

The first was a 3 day park hopper pass for Disneyland and the second was the confirmation info for the plane ticket he purchased to get me there. He is sending me to Disneyland! I was speechless. I can't honestly say that I've actually been rendered speechless all that many times in my life but I really just couldn't say anything. Eventually I started crying and hugging him and saying things like "are you sure?", "really??", and "but it's so much money!" I just couldn't believe it!! The giddy phase was close behind all of this blubbering and I think I made it quite clear that I am VERY excited!

Mom and Tara were already planning to be in Disneyland next weekend for some dance workshops and performances that Tara is doing. I had jokingly asked Steven last week if I could tag along. He got all serious and thought about it quietly for a moment and then said "Well, I'd really miss you, but yeah, let's look at plane tickets." I laughed and told him I wasn't serious and we shouldn't spend the money. I thought that was that, but I guess not. Evidently he checked in with my mom over the weekend, got all of the flight info, and booked the whole thing Monday night while he was at work. He said that I've been working really hard and he knows it's been tough on me that he has been working so many weekends lately and he just wanted to do something nice for me. Um, don't tell Steven, but flowers and ice cream qualify as "something nice." This was way over the top but made me feel so incredibly special! What a sweetheart! I'm really bummed to be going without him but he has to work all weekend and besides, I know that he truly doesn't care about going to Disneyland anyway. Plus, I absolutely cannot wait to come home to him! It's going to be so great :)

So, mostly, I've been waiting all week to share this fun bit of news and to just love on Steven a little bit. He is wonderful and I don't know what I would do without him. His generosity this week blew me away! What a great guy. I really am the luckiest.

A Challenge.

Believe it or not the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb is THIS Sunday!! Steven has done a really incredible job fundraising this year. He got really excited about raising money for the LLS early on in the process and has already raised double what he did last year.

I have not been so helpful in this process. I've been shy and embarrassed about asking people for money -- it's not an easy thing to do -- but with the actual event less than 48 hours away I want to do my part. My family has already stepped up to the plate (BIG thank you to my uncles and Papa & Grammi) and quite a few of our friends have also donated generously (we're so thankful!), but if you haven't had the opportunity to give, now is your chance!!

Here are 3 big ways you can help:

1.Pray for Steven! This is an exhausting climb. He's hoping to finish in less than 16 minutes this year but I'm sure those 16 minutes will feel like forever! He's supposed to start sometime around 1pm on Sunday afternoon.

2. DONATE. I have 256 facebook friends (many of which I'm not even in contact with, yes, I realize that) and if each one of them donated $5 (some of you already have--thank you!!!) Steven's fundraising total would increase by 50%! That's HUGE!! If you think you have a little something to give please click here now before you forget :)  www.llswa.org/goto/lentz no amount is too small!

3. Help raise awareness -- pass this on to. The LLS is doing great work and everyone needs to know about it. Check out Steven's website (above) for more information. Here is the homepage for the stairclimb as well: http://www.llswa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FF_homepage


Thank you so much!