Oregon City, Oregon - Week 9 - February 24- March 3, 2019

Finally....at last...we were on our way to Disneyland







Camille took a thousands of pictures from the plane's window.  These two are the best ones.






Quivering with excitement, these two patiently waited for Jessica to check in at the  hotel.



For dinner Monday night we went to Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co Restaurant  Too bad the kids had no clue what "Run Forrest, Run" or sitting on a park bench with a box of chocolates means.







Each day Bev and Jessica took a picture of each child so that, if lost or if identification was necessary, we would know what the child in question was wearing....rather than describing your child as "wearing pants and a t-shirt".  And,....the moms put on a non-removable bracelet on each child with their name and their mom's cell phone number.....not that we'd ever need that feature.





Turns out that none of the photographs were needed nor were the phone numbers on the bracelet needed....but that was only because Logan could tell the park employees his name and his mom's cell number.  Yes, Logan was lost 3 times...maybe 5 - our recollection is a bit musty.  Ruby wandered twice, for sure, and I found her in the arms of other parents.  In ours and the children's defense, the park was terribly, terribly, yes, terribly crowded.  It was so much easier to get lost in a Disneyland crowd than on the Timberline trail around Mt Hood.  And, at night, the lighting was so picturesque (no, the lightning was DIM - very DIM) that you could barely see our group.  And following people was tricky.  More than once I was following Jessica - that woman ahead of me in jeans and a t-shirt, when actually it was - perhaps, Mandy from Omaha enjoying DL with her family.

Here we are heading off for our first day.  A mad rush for the sidewalk







Just in time to be able to wait in line to get into the park



Here's Travis and family on their way to Pirates of the C.





We spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Disneyland and Thursday in California Adventures.

A yummy lunch





And a happy Eric and an unhappy Ruby





On one of the rides.



Tuesday (and the other days) we had the buffet breakfast in the hotel...unlimited chocolate milk, but bacon on only one day :-(



Iconic photo in the hotel lobby



And we're off



Walt and Mickey were greeting all the visitors.



I think my favorite rides the first day was the Indiana Jones Jeep Ride and Splash Mountain.  I am in the front of the log and totally prepared, wearing the blue poncho, to weather the splash of the mountain.



We - along with Ben and Jessica - had lunch at a restaurant which had food suitable for their Instagram "thesisterswhoateeverything:





More Disneyland on Wednesday.  The kids loved the Star Wars stuff....everything that was Star Wars they loved.  The "make it yourself" light saber was the desired souvenir of everyone.  I think, secretly, that Paul and Travis wanted to build their own saber.











The other desired souvenir were the bubble guns.  Both Ruby and Abby are the happy owners of these guns....but, secretly, I think Abby wished she had a light saber....too or maybe.... instead.



Here Ruby is perfecting the "layering" of bubbles on a fence post.



Dad's souvenirs consisted entirely of leaves, stems, and anything else that might root.





Thursday was California Adventures.  We only had to wait about an hour to get in.



Everybody rushed off to ride Lighting McQueen



We hung back to meet up with Andy Larsen and Sheeree Larsen who were mission buddies with us.  We were in the MTC together;  they served in the Moscow Humanitarian Office and were our 'leaders' in the humanitarian work.  It was fun to talk with them - of course we were separated by the fence/gate leading into California Adventures.

Taking a rest



Big Ferris Wheel.  We are in one of the cars that didn't rock and wiggle.





Giradelli chocolate delights.



Janie was the easiest to take care of.  Give her a glow stick, and she is happy.



Everyone who rode the Incridicoaster loved it.



A highlight of the week is that three teeth were lost - one each by Logan, Abby, and Clara









We had a great time at Disneyland;  We were exhausted every evening.  and......so crowded and so noisy, and so expensive.  It is like every family's trip to Mecca - it must be done at some point in your life.

We returned to Oregon City on Friday, and I had forgotten how to cook so we went to Ingrid's which is a little restaurant in Oregon City which serves Scandinavian food.  It was really good.  I got a veggie pear wrap, and Dad go a Korean pork belly bowl - oh...on one side of the restaurant you get Scandinavian and the other side, Korean.





Saturday we spent the whole day burning all of the piles of fruit tree trimmings that we had collected.



And then we went to Rigoberto's.  Dad had a language problem at the order window and somehow got two entrees for himself.  We ate for three days on the left overs.



Sunday marked a very important day in our year  ---  the Osmaronia cerasiformis or Indian Peach bushes are in bloom!!!!!!  These are the first native bushes in Oregon to flower.