No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but company, Scouts, Relief Society and family has kept me so busy that even visiting the Internet is an impossible thought, let alone trying to compose and post!  Until today, that is, and only for a few minutes.  I made a commitment and I kept it, so now I can work without a care in the world…ha ha ha!  What am I saying?  There's no such thing.  So I'm going to keep it fairly uncomplicated today, but this is going to be a gripe session, since I have had this little dust devil whirling around in my head and bothering me since I was at the "happiest place on earth" on Monday and it hasn't dissipated, so I need to get it out of my system and on to happier places.

I made an "adults only" trip to Disneyland on Monday: Grandma N., Jake, his friend Christian, Megan (not pictured…taking picture) and I were all in the area, so we decided to all go together…no one under the age of 21 was in attendance, at least not in our party.  (Children were everywhere!  Babies and toddlers and teens, oh my!)  It still feels a little funny going without kids.  I remember the first time I did not need a stroller as part of the entourage…it was a momentous occasion!  Now, after more than a decade has passed, there is just a little bit of sadness associated with the lack of those little 4-wheeled vehicles.  (I will have to wait for 4 wheels on a different kind of chair, preferably a motorized one!)  One thing that I did not miss was the debate, sometimes with frustrated fits of temper, that comes with going to Disneyland with multiple small children…you know, the argument over which ride we are going on next, who got to choose the last ride, if the line is too long, when we are going to eat, if they should at least TRY to use the bathroom with the others that need a break…it is a very different and much calmer experience.  Not to mention that is was a great day to go – the Monday after Super Bowl!  I don't think that there was more than a 10 minute ride anywhere we went!  The weather required a light jacket, so it was a little chilly, but that's better than being HOT!  We wisely avoided the rides where we might get wet, since the sun wasn't warm enough to dry us off and we are far too old and experienced to want to be wet all day in chilly weather.

There are certain rides that I will avoid at Disneyland.  Since I started having kids, I don't like Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, the Matterhorn…do you see a pattern forming?  Anything fast moving is probably too fast for me – that and going on the Teacups with anyone that likes to spin the center wheel.  But I don't want to hinder anyone else's fun, so I will just sit and wait for them.  We were in California Adventures and checking the line at Toy Story Mania.  It was about a 45 minute wait and the only ride of the day that we decided not to wait for.  The gang decided to go onto Screamin' and that's a sit out for me.  While waiting for the group to gather, I noticed that there was a little red-headed boy reaching into the water where there are fountains in the summer.  Not a big deal…kids are always doing that.  However, when I noticed that he was pulling money out of the fountain, that was a different story.  The group gathered and as we were walking past to get onto the carousel, we very nicely told him that the money that gets tossed into the fountain wasn't supposed to be removed because it went to children's charities.  This kid looked to be about 9 or 10, old enough to be mortified that an adult would speak to him about his behavior.  He stopped for a moment, with a blank expression on his face, but he stuffed the coins he already had into his pocket.  As we started on our ride, we noticed that there were also 2 adult men with the little boy…not super young, probably in their 30's, ALSO reaching into the water and pulling out coins!  That really shocked me!  After we were getting off our ride, there were the three thieves standing at the ice cream cart, presenting their ill-gotten gain to buy a treat!  What a great example!  A little boy might not know better.  I remember when Jake was young and on a trip with a friend's family, Travis' dad left a tip on the table; Jake didn't know about tips (most of his experience eating out was McDonald's or Chuck E. Cheese).  He picked up the money and took it to give it back to the dad, telling him that he forgot money on the table…he didn't pick it up and put it in his pocket!  So maybe he didn't know.  However, how is he to know better when the adults with him are doing the same thing?  A big "Shame on You" goes out to those adults.

Why did that bother me so much?  I don't know.  But now I am letting it go!  However, I did find a good parable at Disneyland.  So this Sunday, with another missed Scripture Sunday under my belt, I will attempt the Parable of Pleasure Island, one for all little boys to pay attention to!