Home Safely...Disneyland Day 1 Travelogue...

Its A Small World...Lit up for Christmas

Well, I may as well fill up some blog posts talking about our recent trip to Disneyland. First of all let me say that Disneyland is not my idea of the ideal family vacation. I had only been once before this, and it was when I was in my early 20's. Crowds are not my thing, and Disneyland is hugely expensive (I am thinking of writing a completely separate post on that later) and I think I am just too frugal for it to be something I would normally consider doing.
However...D's Dad turned 60 this year and he wanted to do something special for the family. He felt like if he waited until he was 70 he would be too old to enjoy himself, so he decided Disneyland would be a fun idea. He has been planning this for over a year. It was decided that Christmas was the best time for everyone to have the time to do it. I wasn't keen on that idea, but I was overruled. Since we are all only together once every three years and this Christmas was when it was supposed to happen anyhow, it was settled. So D's Dad (Grandpa L) paid for his four kids, their spouses and their kids to go to Disneyland. He paid for 16 plane tickets, and for 18 passes into Disneyland for three days. He also paid for five hotel rooms and various other things. Thank you Grandpa L for being so generous. I hope you aren't bankrupt now. The only thing we were responsible for paying for was food on the trip, and Grandpa L ended up defraying that cost by sending money to his daughter E who was already in California for Christmas and having her buy all of us groceries to use for lunches. We only had dinner to worry about after that. Then he helped pay for dinner one night, and a family friend that went along for the trip paid for dinner on another night. We were able to get away just paying for one nice dinner, and a couple of times eating fast food, so our expenses were low.

First let me say that they do a great job of decorating Disneyland for Christmas. Then let me say that it is very crowded at Christmas and I would almost rather go there at any other time of the year. However...there were a few perks, one being that Disneyland was open until Midnight every night we were there.

Since I am pregnant there were quite a few rides I could not go on. That was fine...we did a lot of kiddie rides, and I feel like our kids had a lot of fun. They never had to wait for grown ups to go on rides they wanted to do like some other kids there had to. To be sure there were a few meltdowns which is to be expected, especially with kids on the Autism spectrum. All in all I think it turned out pretty good. We kept costs down by packing fruit snacks, granola bars and bottled water into the park. One thing we read said you could not bring food into the park, but park security checked our bags each day and never said anything about our snacks and water. We did not succumb to the lure of mickey mouse shaped ice cream, or shell out $5.25 for a single hot dog and a bag of chips. (Again...another post all together...) While not my first choice for a family vacation, I am still glad we went. Thank you again Dad/Grandpa L!

Here is a travelogue for day 1. Enjoy...

Day One We had to be up around 4 am to get to the airport on time. We got there without glitches and made it to our gate. Then it was a waiting game. The Portland Airport was kind of a madhouse considering how early it was in the morning when we got there (5:30) but it was to be expected the day after Christmas. Our plane left about 7:45 or so and we even got to Orange County early. The boys had never flown before (other than #1, but it was as a baby so he didn’t remember). Our family that included D’s Dad and sibs and their kids for a total of 18 people took up three rows of the plane and it was fun to all sit near each other. We got into John Wayne Airport at about 10:00 a.m., got our baggage, and caught a shuttle to the hotel. On arrival one of our rooms was ready for early check in. It happened to be one of the two rooms for D and I. His sister and her hubby who were down there visiting his family met us at the hotel and had brought groceries to cover lunches for the week. So, all twenty of us crowded into our little hotel room and had sandwiches and chips for lunch. It was CHAOS. By the time we were done the other rooms were ready. I was very disappointed that our rooms were not adjoining. We were told they would be, but it was not the case, and there was nothing to be done about it. So D was in one room with 2 of the boys the first night while I was in the room next door with the other three. The boys traded rooms back and forth every day so they could spend nights with both of us. We all headed for Disneyland around 1:00 p.m. Trying to stay together in a group of 20 was a logistical nightmare to say the least. We ended up near the Carousel and #3 (our 7 year old with Autism) wanted to ride it. We got in line, but it turned out to be a line for the Peter Pan ride. We stayed in line in spite of the 60 minute wait and a meltdown on #3's part. We distracted him with a Gameboy that a friend lent us for the trip. We rode Peter Pan and he was appeased. Then we rode the Carousel because we had promised him we would do that next and the line was next to nothing. Next we caught the train that goes around Disneyland and rode it for a few stops so that we could get to where the jungle cruise was. Along the way we climbed up and took a tour of Tarzan’s Treehouse then went on to the Jungle Cruise. Again, the lines were short for that ride so we went on it. #4 (our 5 almost 6 year old) got scared of it, but the rest of us had fun riding it. By that time it was getting towards evening, and we decided to head for dinner. D’s Dad wanted to all eat at the same place so we went to IHOP because kids eat free there after 4 pm. I had read some reviews that the IHOP there was spendy, but they decided on that anyhow. It was about $14 for an omelette. I don’t eat at IHOP very often, but I am pretty sure it is less than that at the ones in Oregon and Washington. My Chicken Strip Dinner was $11.99. (I am used to paying $8 or so for that meal). R, who is a family friend that was along for the trip paid for everyone’s dinner. Of course most of the grown ups felt bad and ordered water to drink. After the meal we headed to the hotel for a little while. Everyone was tired from getting up so early. D and I took the boys down to the hot tub. I went for a swim while they soaked and then sat on the steps of the hot tub for a little while. Then we headed back up to our rooms, changed and went back to the park. The rest of the family stayed at the hotel, and I have to say that negotiating the park with just our own kids and not having to keep track of where everyone else wanted to go was much easier. It was dark by this time and the park was all lit up. We went and let the boys ride the Rocket Orbiter, which they loved. I skipped it because I don’t like heights or things that make you dizzy, and #5 (the 4 year old) stayed with me and watched. D wanted to do Star Tours and the wait was only 15 minutes. Pregnant women are not allowed on Star Tours, so I stayed behind with #1 (age 10) and #3 who were both scared because of the warning sign. We went on the Rocket Orbiter again (I watched again) while D was on the Star Tours ride with the other three boys. We met up after that and since the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride was a short wait we went on that. It was one I could go on and we had fun. Next we hit Honey I Shrunk The Audience and watched that. The two younger boys didn’t like it…too scary and #5 kept swiping his hands at things thinking they were real. After that we wandered over to It’s a Small World and went on it. The wait was longer for that…60 minutes again. We waited anyhow and enjoyed the lights. We finally got through that ride and by the time we finished it was about 10:30 p.m. #5 had fallen asleep on the ride. We caught the train around to the main street station and walked back to the hotel. I have to say that it was much less crowded in the evenings, and although colder, still not bad. The weather during the day was T-shirt weather for us and we wore jackets that night. I took the three boys over to my room and we got into bed and watched the Disney Channel until midnight and went to sleep.

Drowning in vomit

If that title doesn't turn people away from reading this post I don't know what will.

We have sickness here. Too much of it.

It started out Thursday evening when #5, our youngest wasn't feeling well. He threw up three times that day and seemed better in the morning. However, late in the afternoon on Friday he wasn't feeling well and refused a cookie (a sure sign something is wrong). He threw up a couple more times that day, and today he was still laying around on the couch for most of the morning. He perked up later in the day and seemed okay. We ran some errands, got some things done and then in the evening #2 started feeling sick. We set him up with the bucket and pretty soon he was using it. #3 said he didn't feel like throwing up but his stomach hurt. We made him lay down in the living room as well. Pretty soon he joined in the fray, and #4 wasn't far behind.

At one point #3 was throwing up into a bucket in the living room while #4 was in the kitchen throwing up in the garbage can. Then #5 started to look green around the gills. He ran for the bucket which was unfortunately occupied by #3 and ended up throwing up on the floor and into the bucket. D took the bucket and went to empty it out, and at that point #2 woke up and said, "OH NO!" I ran over with a (luckily lined) trash can, and he threw up in it. Its one of the most disgusting things I have ever witnessed, and yet we were laughing about the horror of it.

I went to the garage and got a tarp. Are we cold hearted or what? We spread it out on the living room floor and made sick boys lay down on it with their pillows and blankets. We got them each their own bucket or container to puke in and they have spent the evening throwing up, sometimes at the same time, and sometimes one after the other. All of them refused to use Sally (for those of you not in the know, Sally is the barf bowl I have been using during pregnancy, she is a high class Tupperware bowl that will never EVER be used to store food again.) I have to say that I am kind of glad none of them wanted to use her since I still need her on a regular basis and I don't want their sick germs contaminating her.

If you have read this far without getting sick, I applaud your stomach of steel, and I beg for your prayers. If any of us are throwing up (other than morning sickness, I hope I can tell the difference) on Monday we will have to miss out on our family Christmas Eve celebration and that would break many of our hearts. My family used to get together monthly, then it became quarterly, but it has dwindled a bit to just a few times a year and our next get together with everyone at once is not until summer. Please pray for us to be healthy by Monday morning. And if we can't have that, then Tuesday. We are scheduled to fly to California and spend a few days in Disneyland the day after Christmas and our flight leaves early Wednesday. I don't know how we can take pukey kids on a plane, and they certainly wouldn't be able to enjoy Disneyland once we get there if they are sick. Not to mention that there will be cousins there as well and we don't want any of them getting sick.

#1 has been crying out of fear that we will miss Christmas with family. He is the only one of the boys that has not gotten sick yet, and D and I are dreading and waiting, and hoping against hope not to get sick. We know it will take a miracle considering the amount of puke we have been cleaning up. The boys have thrown up several times each this evening.

I hope your prospects for a Merry Christmas are looking better than ours are! I wish you all safe travels, and a puke free Christmas!

Fiction Friday #16

Just a quick note to let you know that we are going to be out of town next Friday and I will not be able to do a Fiction Friday then.
On with the story...

Rob ran through the house searching for Jess, just in case she and Kaitlyn had gone upstairs or something. He knew that it was a useless search to make, but he made it anyway. The house was empty. Even when he stepped outside and scanned the yard for any sign of them, there was no clue. He went to the barn and looked inside. Nothing.
There were only a limited number of places they could have gone. He had been on the front porch with Topher and that left the back side of the house. His heart beating quickly he stepped back into the house. What was he going to tell Topher?
The phone on the kitchen counter caught his eye. He picked it up and pressed redial. It rang through to the answering machine at his garage in town. Then he remembered that Jess and Kaitlyn had been waiting for him downstairs. He practically jumped down the stairs and ran to the phone. Someone picked up after two rings, it was a waitress at the diner.
"Hey Susie, its Rob. Is my wife around there by chance?"
Susie replied, "Sure. I think I saw her heading upstairs with Barry a little while ago. You want me to get her for you?"
"No thanks. I just wanted to make sure they got there safely. You don't have to say anything. Jess hates it when I get worried about her."
Susie chuckled, "She always seems to think its cute when you check up on her. Ah, to be young and in love again."
"Susie, you're only a couple of years older than me."
"Yea, well I have the young, but I could sure use the in love part."
Rob thanked Susie and said goodbye. He went back upstairs, his brain working overtime trying to think of something to say to Topher. When he opened the door the blond man was putting a cell phone in his pocket and turned towards Rob with an expectant look on his face. Rob hesitated for a moment and Topher's face darkened.
"She got away didn't she?"
Rob kept his face passive and nodded. "She must have gone out the back door."
Topher's eyes immediately scanned the yard and he started walking immediately around towards the back of the house. Rob followed him. As they neared the back door Rob heard the phone ring in the house.
"I'd better see who that is."
He went through into the kitchen, sensing that Topher was following him into the house. He picked up the phone and kept his back turned towards Topher as if he was unaware that he wasn't alone.
"Hello Rob. Its me."
Jess's voice never sounded so good to him, but he kept himself still and said, "She's not available right now."
"Rob? What's going on?"
"No thank you. We're not interested at this time." Rob hung up the phone. When he turned around Topher was staring at him with a look of distrust on his face.

Back at the apartment Jess hung up the phone. Rob was not alone in the house. She could tell that what he had said had not been for her benefit. She couldn't imagine why he would have let Paul into the house, but it was the only reason she could think of for his response to her call. What had they gotten themselves into?
Jess sat down on the couch, trying to sort out her thoughts, but she had been up all night and soon exhaustion overcame her racing mind and she drifted off to sleep.

Wordless Wednesday

Dreaming of...

One Week...

...to get all your presents wrapped, all your ribbons tied, all your treats made, and all your preparations finished...I am so far behind.

In years past I have been known to make up to 17 different kinds of treats and goodies, but this year so far I have made NOTHING. I just haven't been up to it. I have even bagged out on making my Christmas morning cinnamon rolls this year. I just have nothing in me right now as far as cooking goes. I delegated the fudge to my sister, and I plan to make truffles because I fear for my life if I don't.
My shopping however, is pretty much done, although not wrapped up yet ;o) Every day I think to myself...I should wrap some gifts and get a head start...and yet...still I sit. I love Christmas... but I am not in the spirit this year. I don't think its only the nausea, there are other stresses I am thinking about.
So tell me...how do you get in the Christmas Spirit? We have decorated, we have made ornaments, we have watched Christmas movies, but I am just tired, and stressed, and I want to make the last few days before Christmas fun for the boys...so hit me with your best ideas!

Fiction Friday #15

The silence in the cab of Barry's truck was palpable in an uncomfortable sort of way. He could feel the tension in the girl next to him even as she seemed to visibly relax. Jess just stared straight ahead. Finally Barry broke the silence.

"Where am I taking you?"

Kaitlyn turned towards Jess at Barry's question, wanting to know the answer as well.

"The diner." Jess paused, then continued, "Did you ever find someone to rent that apartment above the restaurant?"

Barry sighed, shaking his head. "Its yours if you need it."

"Actually, I was wondering if Kaitlyn could stay there for a while. I am going to be getting ready for the baby soon, and I thought maybe you would let me train her to take my job."

Barry started to answer, but Kaitlyn cut him off.

"You're assuming I WANT a job. I am not planning to stay around here. I have to get out while I still can! You can't ask something like that of your Dad, he doesn't even know me!"

"Where are you planning to go then? Back home? Or are you just going to try to disappear? You can't just involve people in your problems and then disappear. We are a part of this now, and I don't want to spend the next year wondering if you are dead or alive."

Kaitlyn's shoulders came up and she stared ahead in resolute silence.

"Okay." Barry's voice was firm, but quiet. "I have no idea what the two of you are talking about. I am not sure I want to know. But yelling at each other right now is not going to help. You can use the apartment...even if its just for the day. You can use it for a week or two if you need to. Why don't we just get to the diner, and then you guys can hash out whatever is going on there."

He took their continued silence as agreement and turned on the radio. None of them spoke until they had reached the diner.

Once there Barry took them inside and showed them up the staircase in the back to where the apartments were. He turned towards Kaitlyn, nodding his head towards one door. "This is my place. I don't know you from Adam, and frankly, I am not the helpful kind. I am doing this for my daughter, against my better judgement. Now I don't know what is going on with you, but I hope you will have a little respect for Jess for trying to help you out.

"The apartment is over here. I'll give Jess the key, and you can just let me know how long you will be needing the place once you figure that out." He handed Jess a key, gestured towards the door of the other apartment and then turned back to his own door and stumped inside, closing the door behind him.

Jess took the key her father had given her and opened the door to the apartment. Kaitlyn followed her inside.

The apartment was small with a faded loveseat against one wall. A table and two chairs occupied a corner and an old fashioned looking radiator heater took up space along the wall beneath the window. The opposite wall had a sink and a short countertop with a single electric burner and a toaster on it. The last wall had two open doorways, one leading to a bathroom and the other to a bedroom.

Kaitlyn crossed the room and flipped aside the curtain to be greeted by a view of a side parking lot below. There was a fire escape below the window. She sighed and turned back towards Jess.

"So what are we doing here?"

Jess looked at her for a long moment, then went to the table and sat down. "I don't know. I was just trying to give you some time and some space to think. Its up to you what you want to do with it. I'm sorry I tried to make all your decisions for you. I guess I wasn't thinking straight."

Kaitlyn stood in silence, staring out the window. Finally she spoke, "I don't know what to do either. You're right that I don't have anywhere to go. But with Paul right here in town, how can I possibly stay here? I feel trapped. Paul has always been good at making me feel that way. I am also tired. I'm not sure I have the energy to run anymore."

Jess looked at the girl sympathetically. "Why don't you stay at least long enough to get some rest then? Take a shower, get some sleep. There are probably some clothes that will fit you in the bedroom."

Kaitlyn looked surprised. "A furnished and clothed apartment?"

Jess smiled. "Actually this was my apartment until I went to college. The other place isn't much bigger than this. Daddy and I moved in here after Mom died, and we each got one of the apartments. I didn't take all of my clothes with me when I went to college, and when Rob and I got married, Daddy wasn't exactly supportive, so I left a lot of things behind. He is always saying that he is going to rent the place out, but he never has, and I doubt he cleaned out my things yet either. I was actually surprised that the place isn't covered in a couple of years worth of dust. He must have the cleaning lady come in and keep things up."

Kaitlyn looked around and noticed that although the furniture was a little shabby, the apartment did have a certain gleam like it had been cleaned recently. She glanced towards the bathroom, "A shower would be nice."

"Towels are under the sink. Those might be on the dusty side. If you don't mind I am going to lay down on the couch for a while. I worked all night and I am pretty tired."

Kaitlyn shrugged, "Its not my apartment, do what you want." She went into the bathroom and closed the door. A few minutes later Jess heard the shower turn on. She waited another minute before quietly stepping over to the telephone that hung on the wall above the counter.

"Hello Rob. Its me..."

Wordless Wednesday

D's shrinky dink ornament. For instructions, see here.

Shrinky Dink Ornaments

This entry is for Scribbit's Winter Bazaar.
Do you remember shrinky dinks? Those fun plastic sheets you could color on and shrink in the oven? This last summer, my older sister told me a method for making your own shrinky dinks at home without having to spend a lot of money. Its also a great way to recycle... First you will need a plastic take-out food box. The key is to get one that has a number 6 in the recycling symbol. Many restaurants give these boxes out for leftover food. You can wash it, dry it, and reuse it for making shrinky dinks. We have gotten boxes like this at Shari's restaurants and they also use them at many grocery stores for salads and etc. After my sister told me about this method of making shrinky dinks I went to our local United Grocers/Cash and Carry and found a set of 100 (large size) of those takeout boxes for $20.00. Since you can use the top and the bottom of each box for shrinky dinks that gave me 200 shrinky dink sheets. It comes out to about ten cents each, whereas when I priced shrinky dinks online, even giving a generous two projects from each 8x10 sheet, it would be at least 25 cents for each project.

Now, down to business. A couple of weeks ago our family spent an evening making Shrinky Dink Christmas ornaments. Here is a list of supplies you will need for this project.
#6 recycle plastic
sand paper
permanent markers
colored pencils
tape
scissors
an oven (preheat to around 350...if your oven bakes hot set it a little lower)
a hole punch coloring pages to trace (optional...you can draw designs by hand if you are so inclined)
First you need to sand the plastic. We sanded it in all directions (only on one side) so as to minimize the appearance of scratches in the surface. You don't have to sand your plastic if you are only using permanent markers to color your project. Since we have young kids we had them use colored pencils, and you will have to sand if you want to use them as they won't color smoothly on unsanded plastic. For some of our ornaments we cut the plastic into the shape of a circle using a bowl to trace around. You have to make sure to get your plastic to the shape you want before you bake it.

We searched the internet for good Christmas coloring pages and printed them out to a size that would fit the size of our plastic sheets. I recommend taping your plastic to the paper with a couple of pieces of scotch tape so that tracing the pattern will be easier. We used sharpie markers to outline our coloring pages and then colored them in with colored pencils. Higher quality colored pencils are supposed to work better, but the crayola ones we used did fine.

After you are done coloring your image, remove the tape and use a hole punch to punch a hole at the top. (Because there is a significant amount of shrinkage, make sure not to punch your hole too close to the edge or it will break easily after baking.)

Now its time to bake your project. You can set your ornaments to bake on a foil lined pan. As they bake the plastic will become very distorted and will crinkle up. The first time I did this I thought it wasn't working and took my project out of the oven. It looked like a bowl. However, I later returned it to the oven and it finished flattening out as it baked. So don't be alarmed if your projects become misshapen. If the corners roll over too much you can use a chopstick to help flatten them somewhat. I you take it out of the oven it will harden within a few seconds. Once the projects flatten out give them about ten more seconds in the oven, and remove them.

This is a blurry picture, but will give you an idea of the amount of shrinkage that goes on.

Some of the boys' ornaments

A finished ornament on the tree

D decided to do one using only sharpie markers to color it, and without sanding. It turned out so beautifully that I am using it for my Wordless Wednesday post. I hope you enjoy trying this project with your family! Our kids loved it and have asked many times about doing it again.

It could have been so much worse...

After weathering the recent storm and miraculously coming through it unscathed...my mind turns to how much worse it could have been.
Today I got an email from Kathryn aka The Daring One over at Daring Young Mom. If you want to see how much worse things went for a lot of people, please check out her post here, and see if there is any way you can help.
Christmas is rapidly approaching, and there are families without homes, and who have lost everything, including their livelihoods. I can only imagine how horrible and helpless they must feel. Please, if you have the means to help...do what you can. Thanks!

The Perfect Storm

There will be no Fiction Friday Post this week. I apologize. It has been a stressful and busy week here, and I just don't have it in me today.
The majority of people won't know since news coverage has been sparse, but here on the Oregon coast we were hit with two huge storms Sunday and Monday. The winds were up to 120 miles an hour, and most of the coast lost power and many lost phone service. Our power was out for 75 hours, and the phones were out for about three days as well (including our cell service). All the roads leading inland were also closed due to the storm because of flooding, or downed trees, so we had no way out either. We finally have power here at our house, but many people in nearby neighborhoods still are without power. Many people suffered a large amount of property damage, and it has just been a surreal experience in many ways.
We were very blessed at our house that the only damage was some downed trees that did not hit our house, and several shingles blowing off of our roof. Sunday night we didn't get much sleep with the wind, and I feel like it was pretty miraculous that there was not more damage to our home. I was awake most of the night listening to the wind, and it was blowing so hard that it literally felt like an earthquake, our whole house shook. The boys spent four nights sleeping in the living room where it is a little warmer than upstairs and we used up our supply of glow sticks so that the boys could have a little light in the room they were sleeping in, and to light the bathroom at night.
We were fairly prepared as far as things go. Not perfectly prepared...for all the flashlights we have, the boys manage to lose them pretty often, and we couldn't find any of them. We have oil lamps, candles, a battery operated radio as well as a wind up radio with a lantern, a batter operated lantern, a push light, and a butane stove burner like they use in catering. Sunday morning we knew there would probably be a power outage, so we filled up our cooler with ice and essentials from the fridge so that we wouldn't have to open the fridge when the power went out. We played games such as Spongebob Monopoly, Life and etc. and we did some Christmas art projects together during the day. It was actually kind of sad when the power went back on (although we were happy to save the food that was thawing in our freezer). We had some great quality family time together for those three days the power was out, and got along better than usual.
It was hard not having phone service to let family know we were okay, and we realized that we needed to be more prepared. Although we were more prepared than many people, there is still a lot we could have done (always have extra TP...ALWAYS...luckily that was just a close call and not a nightmare experience) such as making sure we were caught up on laundry and have adequate gas in the car. After a few days with no gas pumps going you get desperate for fuel. We are going to implement the half tank rule that D's Grandpa always followed rather than letting the car get down to empty before filling up.
Anyhow...I am sure most of you were thinking I was sick and just not posting, but in fact, I had no power, no phone and no Internet...I will try to get back to a regular posting schedule next week, although there is a chance we will lose power again before everything is back to normal.