Yesterday Maren turned 11. We had a full day that included scoring a goal in her soccer game (woo hoo!), fancy donuts and decaf lattes, and dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory.
Then today we had another celebration with my family, and next weekend she will have her sleepover with friends. Plenty of good times 🥳
The six weeks or so since I blogged last, have been full and busy. But before I go into any of that, the big last hurrah of the summer was a quick trip to Disneyland!
The kids had their first three days of school September 2-4, then on the 5th we flew to LAX, spent the next two days in Disneyland, and flew home on the 8th. Since it was a holiday weekend the kids only missed one day of school, so we didn’t feel too guilty 😊
Our first night in Anaheim didn’t go quite as we had planned. There was a water main leak at our hotel, which I was informed of just after we landed. They were able to book us one night at another hotel, then there was some confusion and frustration, and unfortunately because of the holiday weekend basically every hotel room in the area was booked. After a long time on the phone I was finally able to secure another hotel room for us at a different hotel for the next two nights; not an ideal start to a vacation but at least we had somewhere to stay.
The next day, our first day at Disneyland, it rained hard. Apparently the remnants of a hurricane/tropical storm came through, dumping more rain on the area than it had gotten in many months. We were undaunted, and were determined to have a good time anyway. There was basically no line at Tiana‘s Bayou Adventure (formerly Splash Mountain), so Maren and I decided we would start the day there. We were already wet so figured it wouldn’t be a big deal to get a little more wet.
However, the ride was stopped just before we went up the climb for the big splash down. Apparently many rides at Disneyland are affected by rain and it basically broke down. The ride had to be evacuated, and unfortunately because of my disability I was not able to climb out and walk along the uneven side of the ride to the many stairs that I would not be able to climb. So instead I had to be rescued by firefighters. Not exactly how we planned to start our day, but definitely a unique Disneyland experience!
Here is a picture of me and Maren stuck on the ride, and a picture of what we could see in front of us while we were stuck:
Linden in the rain:
This weekend we went cabin camping with friends near Mount Saint Helens. It was a bit cloudy the day we explored the area, but still fun. There were a couple of accessible trails (paved and boardwalk) that I was able to take my scooter on. One of the trails had a section where you could go underground through a lava tube if you wanted to. Jeff and Maren went through:
Also exciting this week – Linden got braces. She is still adjusting but doing really well with it!
This past week we went camping for two nights at Alsea Falls. It was last minute, kind of on a whim, and we were pleased to discover that this campground was not fully booked and we were able to get a site. It turned out to be a really great place to camp – very relaxed, quiet, no bright lights, and not close to any busy roads. We also did not have cell service, so were truly forced to detach.
We roasted marshmallows, explored, read, and took a short hike to the falls. We will definitely go back ❤️
This year to celebrate Fourth of July, we spent the day with my family in Eugene on the third. We hung out at a park and played in the river.
At the end of the day we came home, got the kids ready for bed, then loaded them back into the car and went to watch fireworks at the end of a baseball game for our local collegiate summer baseball team. We were told that if you go up to the top of the parking structure near the stadium it is a good place to watch, and it turned out to be extremely close and totally un obstructed viewing. It is the first time our kids really saw a good fireworks show, and they thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a little loud for Linden and maybe next year we will not watch from quite as close!
Yesterday for the fourth, we hung out in our neighbourhood where our neighbours have a party and fireworks every year. Linden wanted to stay back a bit, so she and I were across the street in front of our house, and Jeff and Maren had front row seats (as did everyone else) 😁
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