Puzzles!

 A few more puzzle happenings from the last few years.

The dreaded ombre puzzle!  It seems like it should be super hard.

First you sort!

Then the outline, like a regular puzzle.  This was really easy because the color is obvious when they are adjacent.

Then I just worked line by line.  A little boring because very little shape info, just trial and error.

Ta-da!

We also did a puzzle that had clues to the mystery in it.  

For example, when you look at this from the side, they are numbers.  It was not super successful as an escape room, but was fine as a puzzle.

A vintage map puzzle for Christmas.  This was way tougher than it looks.  There are words!  But they go in all directions and may not be where you expect.  Did a lot of it based on color, and lot on finding on the poster.  

A new one from the Magic Puzzle Company!  I love sorting by color.

There is a secret after you finish that I won't reveal. All puzzle fans should give one a try!

Vacation puzzles!

These are from the Maui trip. 

I love vacation puzzles because you don't have to decide what to do when you are done.

I only had time to do the fun parts of this one, oh well!

Maui, May 2024

 Maui

Perfect sunset on the beach, Maui

On a cloudy day we went around the bay to see the lighthouse.

There was no info online, but it turns out the lighthouse is...tiny!  Less than we expected for sure.

That didn't stop us from having a lovely time hanging out on the beach

listening and watching the waves.

Checking out the surfers

Uphill from the lighthouse is the wind farm.  There is a trail, but it was hot and muggy, so we didn't see the point.

We ate so well!  Shave ice.

Malasadas

Banana creme brulee

Fun tiki drink

Fancy humus

Fancy moco loco

Vegetarian poke...not what we were expecting and no better than we deserved, lol.

Classic moco loco

Fish tacos with coconut milk sauce on the slaw was A-mazing!

Choose local for our 'at home' drink!

Cheese and sausage in the center, wrapped with mochi dough, rolled in sweet potato chunks, deep fried, and I turned down the option of sugar on top.  Wow.  We didn't go back for another, maybe next time!

Disneyland, Nov 2023

Disneyland, Nov 2023

After the Monterey half-marathon, we road tripped to Disneyland with Delicate Flower and family!  The drive down was a little crazy as part of the freeway was closed because of a fire underneath the road!  On our Disneyland day there was thunder and so much rain that we left early and no one was sad about it.  

Baymax macaroon-super cute and tasty!

Chocolate covered holiday churros.  I don't need to eat those a second time, but glad I tasted them.

At Pacific Wharf the Chinese food was actually quite good.  We had a big day and did the new Spiderman ride, the giant coaster and many smaller rides.  The highlight of the day was when all the guys went to the Roaring Rapids ride after dark.  The line was non-existent so they got to ride it like 4 times in a row without getting off and on again!  Even better, they persuaded random strangers to join them.  We girls stayed cozy in the room, lololol.

Prepping for Xmas!

On day 2 we spent the morning in Galaxy's Edge, the Star Wars land.

Ronto roasting!  We had a vegan one and it was great.  Blue and green milk?  Better than expected, but one each for the group was enough.

It was amazing.

I had read that it was really well done.

did not disappoint!

I know why everyone raves about it.  What I hadn't prepared for was the interactive possibilities.  If you have the Disneyland app, when you cross over it switches to all Star Wars.  It gives you opportunities to complete quests, gather info, level up, basically be a person in the world.  Next time I'll have others get the app ahead of time!

We did not make our own light saber or mini droid, but the options are there.