by laura beth

Bill had never been to Disneyland, and since we were on a kick, we decided to go again. Thanks to a friend who works there we were all able to get in for free. Also, Kenny bought this software called Ride Max. Based on the date, day of the week, time of day you go, and rides you want to go on, it maximizes your day at Disneyland, and minimizes the amount of time you spend in waiting in line. And it really works.

Julie and I are both prone to motion sickness, and although I had been fine on the other visits to Disneyland, I agreed to take a Dramamine with Julie. Big mistake. We were total zombies the whole day. However, we didn't get sick, and we still had a pretty sweet time. Julie did not at all like my favorite roller coaster at California Adventure, but they both loved Space Mountain. Julie and I also worked up the courage to go on the Hollywood Tower of Terror, after we had talked each other in and out of it several times: "I'll go if you'll go...but if you don't want to, I'll totally stay here with you." I had been on it one other time, but it was real real scary and I had butterflies at the thought of going again. We did it, though. We were gripping hands so hard our knuckles turned white. It was superduper!


On the way back to Ratface's we noticed that the moho was overheating. Guess we better take care of that.

by laura beth

February is Museum month, so Julie, Bill, Kenny, and I went to San Diego's Balboa Park and hit up free and half-price museums. It was a wonderful day. We enjoyed the botanical gardens, Museum of Man, the Timken Museum of Art (it's the home of Rembrandt's portrait of Robert DeNiro, and a room full of beautiful Russian icons), had lunch in the park, and hit up the beach on the way home.

by laura beth

One of the main reasons we were able to talk Bill and Julie into coming to visit us was our 2nd Annual Oscars Party. Kenny does it up real nice. Trivia, games, snacks, cash money prizes, noisemakers. Costumes are required--you must dress as a character, title, or theme of a currently nominated film. This year's line up: Kenny as Lars from Lars and the Real Girl, Bill as I'm Not There, Julie as Charlie Wilson's War, Grandma as Fiona from Away From Her, Nathan as Sicko, and Laura as Juno. Heather showed up for a quick visit as Giselle from Enchanted. We watched the awards ceremony, ate tons of snacks, and laughed a lot. Fun times.

by kenny

We have these great friends, Bill Thompson and Julie Foster. Bill is from Laura's hometown of John Day, Oregon, and Julie is from outside of Philadelphia. Julie spent some time in John Day with mutual friend Maggie Willis, and met and fell in love with Bill. They were married, lived in John Day and became good friends of ours. They had big plans to move to Australia. In preparation to do so, they sold their belongings and moved out of their apartment, only to find out that Bill couldn't get the proper visa. And so, like us they hit the road. And because we love them, and they love us, they came and stayed with us at Ratface's for a few weeks in February & March. Good friends are hard to beat.

by kenny