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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Disneyland trip

John had a conference in Anaheim, CA in August. Well this makes for big plans for a family vacation. The plans started early in the year with all the kids on board to make it work. Mark asked for the week off on his first week of training for his summer job. Luke got a flight and made plans with his internship in N Idaho for him to be able to come. Jessica started making plans and working her schedule around that time so we could all be together. We were hoping to get to meet some of Jessica's family also.

Now John was in charge on this trip so.... we got packed the night before...car loaded etc. We got up at 3am and left before 4am. The boys Mark and Jay went promptly back to sleep. Well , I tried and John drove. We made it into Anaheim to check into our hotel by....... Luke had flown in by 10am that morning and Jessica had picked him up at LAX. They got to Disneyland ahead of us. We stayed at the Marriott, where the conference was but.....a long walk to the Park.
Jay, Neola and Mark, taken right inside the park when we first got there.

John, Neola in front. Mark and Jay behind. Think Jess or Luke took the picture. Runaway train ride. One of my favorites.
When we first met up with Luke and Jessica we took this picture.. wish I had had someone near by take the picture.... never did get a complete picture of us all in Disneyland.

The Sword and the Stone. Luke, Jay and Mark.

Jay, Luke, Jessica, Val and Matt standing in one of the many lines for rides. Jessica's sister and her boyfriend joined us for a day and a half. It was fun to get to meet them.
Luke and Jessica in front. Jay and Mark in the back. Toontown. We have picture of boys with it when they were little. Jess loves Toontown.
Jessica and Luke. They got sick and only got to do Disneyland on Sunday and Monday. That was sad as we had planned on 5 days. Jessica ended up in ER and with Swine Flu.
Jessica, Jay, Luke and Mark. Who needs to buy hats when you just try them all on and take pictures.

Luke and Jessica were sick and unable to go to the park, John was at conference. Jay, Mark and I headed out for a morning of Disneyland. It was much more low key than the two days before when we were rushing from one ride to the next and getting fast passes etc..

Neola and Mark on Main Street U.S.A. It is nice in the morning when not as many people are around. We rode the rides down main street and got pics with the characters. Also got in several rides before it got too busy.

The driver took a picture of us in this vehicle.

Jay, Donald and Mark.


Jay and Mark at the N of California, To the entrance of California Adventure.

We then spent some time in California Adventure. Here is Jay and Mark with Goofy.

The boys and I took a break and ate lunch with John at the Cheesecake Factory near the hotel. Then rested for alittle while before John got out of the conference. Then headed to the park again.

John and Mark in front. Jay behind John. California Screaming. We got to the park and went straight to the ride because there was a parade going on and the line was really short. They got right on. John had no idea what he was getting into!
Meanwhile I'm taking pictures and getting a phone call from Luke. They are at the ER and want John and I to come and help take care of them. We leave Mark and Jay at Disneyland and head to the hospital were Luke and Jessica are waiting. (In hind site Jess and I both wish we had a picture of them in the ER, but had I taken one Luke would of killed me) Jess was wearing a mask and leaning on Luke who was covered in a blanket. There must have been 30 people in the ER. Jess got an IV and meds for Swine Flu and we took them back to her aunts.

Mark and Jay on a ride at California Adventure. While we went to rescue Jess and Luke they closed down the park.

The next day John's conference only went to noon. So we took a day off from Disneyland and went to the beach. Luke and Jess were staying with Jess's Aunt Audrey and we went to the beach near her house and got to spend alittle more time with the kids. They were heading to Moscow the next day. Jess couldn't be around her mom going through chemo so it was best that they go, besides Luke needed to be back at work on Sat and they were driving .

Mark and Jay on sunny S. CA beach.

Aunt Audrey took this picture of us all in her house the day we went to the beach.
No one else got sick. Thank you Aunt Audrey for opening your home up to us. We enjoyed meeting you.

My birthday at Disneyland!! How exciting is that! It doesn't matter that it was my 51st it is still and exciting place to go. I got a pin to wear that had my name on it and Happy Birthday. Everywhere you go you see people with the same birthday and lots of people say "Happy Birthday" Since we had already purchased a pass for the day I was given a $75 gift card to be spent in the park. Cool huh?

No I didn't buy it just had my picture taken with it:)

Mark, Neola, Mickey, Jay and John

Neola and Mickey after a play.

Mark and the CA sun.

John's birthday present to me was to get this drawing done of me!

We took a drawing class, learned how to draw Daisy Duck. It was nice to sit down.

Jay, Neola, John and Mark at Grizzly Mt. They have photographers all over the park. You get a card and they take the picture and scan it onto your card. When you get home you can download and buy pictures. They also use your camera and take the same picture for you on your camera. Nice service. We did end up buying several pictures.

And what is Disneyland with out watching the Electric Light Parade. Cool picture.

The vacation was over and it was time to go back home. We left early morning and drove home all in one day. The trip to California was fun. It was great to go on a family vacation. We took a bunch of pictures and have special memories to treasure.

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