Idaho/Washington 2023 Video

Another trip... another awesome video by Jadyn!

Such fun memories from our trip to Northern Idaho.

California 2023

 LA Dance Magic Nationals in Anaheim California was held July 5-10th @ the Hyatt Orange Regency.

This being our first year of Academy Dance I had forgotten that this was required until about March. haha

Good thing I have Melanie to fill me in about things like that. ;)

No actual schedule was given out until a week or two before, which made planning a little harder.

Lydia doesn't do a solo so I figured we were safe the 1st couple days of the convention since she wouldn't need to be there for that.  Then 10 days before the convention Tina sent out an email saying that being to the solos was mandatory...

Except I had already bought flights, tickets to Disney etc. and Lydi was NOT going to be making it to those 1st two days of solos. OOPS!

So we left late on Wednesday the 5th... using Delta miles.

Checked into the Hyatt Regency for 7 nights... for which I'd used points.

Now the actual convention... and Disneyland... and all our food and treats... those weren't a deal.  But I was feeling pretty good about the other savings! haha

It was just the three of us. Jadyn was along for California sun, DISNEY and to support her sister, but she didn't do the convention or performances.

I was sure glad to have her with me!

The two of us were planning on 4 days @ Disney.

Lydia had major FOMO about that.  I made it work so that she would have 2 days... one day before her comp/convention and 1 day after.  She still was feeling FOMO... I mean I understood her feelings... but definitely reminded her that the purpose of the trip was for HER convention.  It was not cheap, like $500 and Jadyn and I could either sit in the hotel, or go do something.  She wasn't any happier about it, but she was more careful about complaining after that.

So after a text to Tina explaining that Lydia would NOT be there to watch the solos that day... Thursday the 6th was spent at Disneyland.

Gosh we had an awesome time!

We opened and closed the park of course.

Got there at about 7:30 am and stayed til midnight.

I think this is interesting and gut wrenching at the same time.

The cost of Disney tickets. Grrr

We were looking through scrapbooks and found a ticket stub from 1999 @ DisneyWorld.

It was a 5 day pass and as I recall it was right around $100.

So for journaling purposes I'll list the prices in 2023.

They seem CRAZY outrageous, but maybe in 10 years I'll think this was a bargain!!  haha

A 1-day ticket is currently $104 - $169 depending on the day of the week/holiday.

+ $65/day for park hopper

+ $25/day for Genie Plus.

I paid $335  (including $50 for Genie + ) for Lydia's 2- day ticket.

(We did end up adding a 3rd day to Lydia's for $100 more)

AND

$495 (including $100 for Genie +) for mine and Jadyn's 4-day tickets.

Considering that back in 2000 a 1-day Disneyland pass was $33 and a 3-day was $79... we should NOT have complained about the price back then!!!!

Anyway...

we sure had a blast!!!

We weren't ready for that picture. haha

We fit pretty much EVERYTHING in that day!

We made REALLY good use of our Genie+, obviously took lots of pictures, ate yummy food and walked miles and miles around Disneyland.

Honestly it was an AMAZING DAY... I couldn't have wished for more than being with two fun loving girls!!

One super awesome thing was the weather... it was the 1st/2nd week of July and they were experiencing some lower than normal temperatures.  One day the high was only 78... the other days were in the mid 80's. But since Logan was in the mid 90's that week it was beyond perfect for us!!

The next morning Lydia didn't have any classes, but she was there bright and early (Like 6:45 am) to watch more solos and Tuellers dances.  I walked Lydi down to the convention center... and then headed back up to our room to sleep.  Jadyn slept until 11. haha  We spent some time together at the pool and basically just hung out at the hotel.  Lydia was back and forth and spent time with her fun dance friends.  She mainly hung out with Kendyl Knowles, they had a great time together.

That afternoon was her dance competition for her three dances.

Let's go Crazy, Move it and in Case you don't Live Forever.

It was so fun to be there with Melanie, gosh I'm grateful for her!

All three of Lydia's dances looked great, but there was some SUPER stiff competition at Nationals.

It was fun to watch, cuz there were some INCREDIBLE dances.

They ended up with Platinum scores, but didn't place in any of them.

Saturday morning we ALL woke up early.

Lydia was off to her first day of convention and Jadyn and I were heading back to Disneyland!

Kendyl's mom was really helpful and made sure that Lydia had food and a friend.

They spent some time at the pool that afternoon and all of that helped with her not feeling too left out with us going to Disney without her.

Jadyn and I rope dropped "Rise of the Resistance" and then worked our way through all of the rides again!  It was SO much fun being there together.

At five PM... we left Disneyland.

Which really kills me... cuz we've paid for the whole day, right?!

But I knew that Lydia was done with classes and activities so we'd planned on getting back to her.

I made us an appointment @ the Newport Beach Temple for baptisms.

And I found out that Yamel loves the Temple and Family History work... maybe more than me.

So she was super happy to go!

(We brought Jace Schaaf along as well)

The Knowles had a rental car so that worked out PERFECT since we'd planned on UBERing.

We made the 45 minute drive to Newport Beach and had an awesome experience together.

My Jady was really wishing we could spend more time @ Disneyland. I didn't feel right about leaving Lydia in the hotel room... or having her hang out with Kendyl for the rest of the night.

So... Jadyn went back to Disneyland herself.

I am so proud of her for doing this.

We dropped her off around 8:30 and she stayed til midnight.

Just Disneying it up by herself!

Our hotel had a shuttle, so we worked out how she'd get back and after leaving the park she just stayed on the phone with me until she was on the shuttle.

That's a memory for her for sure!!

The next morning was Sunday.

Honestly... we had PLANNED on just the two of us going to California Adventure.

But Lydia really felt like her dances weren't going to make it into "the Gala".

Basically if your dance was picked you would perform again Momday night, have an extra practice. etc

Tina thought one of  her dances "might" be chosesn, because other years LA dance magic  wants to include all of the schools at the convention. So she figured at least ONE of Tueller's dances would make it in.

But... if hers weren't picked... Lydia was done @ noon with convention.

So she would be able to join us for that day around 12:30.

So, we sent Lydia off to convention that morning and slept in again.

Lydia was right, her dances didn't get in but one of the littlest girls groups did.

So she was mighty happy about being able to have another ALMOST full day at the parks with us!

We pretty much spent the day in our room.

Jadyn stitching and me doing family history.

We did venture out for a little time by the pool.

AND we went with the Knowles and a few other dance moms/girls to the Anaheim Packing District for lunch.  What a fun place with so much variety... but I ended up getting the exact same thing as last summer.  Can you blame me?

Yamel and I shared.

Kendyl and Lydia did each others hair and had a great time hanging out the rest of the day.

We went to dinner together later that night @ an Italian place by our hotel.

Monday was Lydia's last day of convention so we did the same thing.

Got her off, then Jadyn and I grabbed a LYFT to California Adventure.

Once again we had a blast, the two of us did pretty much ALL of the rides before Lydia made it there @ 12:30.

(She also rode the shuttle from our hotel, stayed on the phone with us and we met her @ the front of California Adventure.)

We rope dropped cars... it went pretty well except that we still had to wait about 45 minutes for that first ride and there were TONS of people behind us.  Later in the day times got down to about 60-70 minutes, but that lineup for cars was long REAL fast at rope drop. The best idea in my opinion is to save cars for later and rope drop "Guardians of the Galaxy" or "Webslingers" first, since everyone runs to Cars.  Then do single rider on Cars later in the day and only wait about 30 minutes!

We both forgot about the pictures and are looking AWESOME in this one. ;)

Jadyn is a Marvel fan.

I just don't know that much about Marvel movies.

Our photographers were NOT impressed when we had to ask them what "kind of pose" when they said pick a "Marvel pose". haha

My favorite ride is Guardians.

Jadyn loves it too, but there was a time when she did NOT like that ride.

Hahahaha

Here's a blast from the past to prove it.

Lydia looks scared... Jadyn looks PISSED.

And she was, she wouldn't talk to anyone for about an hour after. ;)

Look how she's come around now. ;)

Saige, you were a photopass girl once upon a time.

Why does EVERY photography want us to do this pose every single time??

Yay!  Lydi joined us!

Choco-Smash bar

Yum.

It's crazy how much great food is @ Disneyland/California Adventure.

We ate quite a bit! ;)

There was one more day @ California Adventure the next day... Tuesday.

We tried to rope drop Cars again.

We had a great plan... Lydia was going to be our "runner" and get there first.

Except the poor thing got wacked in the eye by one of the frantic workers waving their arms saying "move to the right".

So we ended up clear back.

Like the line was almost two hours long.

So we got out and headed to Guardians again.

I've learned my lesson now.

No more Cars for rope-drop!!

How cute are Jady's new Toy Story Vans???

You know who can throw some serious "webs" on Spiderman's WebSlingers ride.

Jadyn

she is amazing.  I don't get it, I just know my arms are tired after the ride.

You know who is amazing @ Buzz Lightyears AstroBlasters??

Jadyn

Lydia and I could not figure it out, but she has some "internet hacks" so I think she's cheating.

But she's great at it!

You know who no one could beat @ Toy Story's Midway Mania.

ME!!

I am SUPER professional at that one!

It wasn't easy, but we got tickets to Rogers: the Musical.

I thought it was great.

Lydi didn't love the storyline because it didn't follow the REAL Captain America.

But it was very well done.

Yes the costumes could have been better, but the singing was FABULOUS!

Well, that was a wrap of our California/Dance Convention/Disney Trip.

We ALL loved it.

I KNOW these two girls will always remember getting to spend time together @ Disney with just the three of us.

The next morning we UBERed to the LAX airport and headed home.

Gosh I love these two adorable girls.

Please don't grow up anymore!!!!