So off it was to the "
happiest place on earth" with the family and maternal grandparents. Of course the boys didn't know it yet. They just knew we were staying in a hotel, and, you would have thought that fact alone was cause for all sorts of rejoicing. Because, lets face it my boys love staying in hotels, and when they found out our two room suite had a bunk bed, well it was time for extreme celebration.
After we arrived in Anaheim we gave the grandparents some time to themselves and managed to hook up with some family friends, the Ploogs. We met together at Ruben and Beth's house which wasn't too far from the hotel. All of them were there, except John and Marilyn, the family patriarchs. It was a good evening with barbecued hamburgers, socializing, and oh, so many kids. The boys had a blast sword fighting, playing Star Wars, and who knows what else while the adults had a chance for real conversation with the kids busy distracting one another.
The next morning, though brought about the main attraction: Disneyland.
We had a great day of hanging out and riding rides. So much so we had to take a late afternoon break for the boys to catch their breath. We returned, but not before having dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. In case you've never been to the Rainforest Cafe it is a amazingly decorated rainforest themed restaurant that raises awareness and money to help prevent the deforestation of our planets rainforests. The food is expensive but very good and, hey, you're not only helping to protect the Amazon, but you're also paying for the ambiance wateralls, elephants, periodic thundershowers, and an animatronic Gorilla that was positioned right behind our table. About every ten to fiftenn miutes the gorilla would start to move and make noise. It was quite funny . . . for everyone except Matthew.
Unfortunatley, the presence of animatronic gorilla meant the Little Buddy had to be consoled every ten to fifteen minutes. He was not a fan.
But the boys were fans of the land of the theme parks. Garrett went on practically everything he was big enough to ride. Here's the evidence of him on Splash Mountain. He also rode Space Mountain, Grizzly Bear Rapids, Star Tours, Soaring over California, and The Tower of Terror. He loved the Tower of Terror and kept asking if we could go ride it again.
Matthew, on the other hand was too short for thrill rides. This was OK as he was quite happy riding less extreme attractions. Of course the beauty of Garrett's age is that he enjoyed all the rides, the thrill rides and the kiddy rides.
Of course Disneyland is more than just rides its also characters and ambience. The boys also enjoyed this aspect. Here is Garrett with Mickey . . .
And here is Matthew with Pluto . . .
And here we all our enjoying our grand adventure together.
And that brought our Summer vacations to an end. Although we might have liked them to keep on going we could hardly complain after all the good times we were able to share together this year.
I, however, grew up largely in the Pacific Northwest. For me the beach meant the Oregon Coast. It was scenic, and contemplative, and largely rugged. For a few summer months it could be sunny and useful for ocean sports that might be familiar to those from California or a similar climate, but even in July and August the weather could be pretty much a coin flip. While I always enjoyed the Oregon Coast it looks and feels very different from a California beach.
And I'm just guessing, but I'm pretty sure I would feel at home near the Ocean in Maine or Ireland or somewhere else grey and misty, and green beneath the salty air. Lori, however, would probably resonate more with the Florida Keys or Tahiti or some Greek Isle. I'm certain there are places where our notion of what the Ocean and beach should be do overlap--places like Kauai where there are daily rains and the mists hang in the rugged mountains overlooking a warm sandy beach with people playing in the surf. 
