Wherein We Meet a Large Rodent of Note

Still updating about our vacation...


So we spent a week in Anaheim with my family. The folks rented a house so we could all stay together ("we" being Russ, Jackson and I, Mom and Dad, my sister Susan and her husband Joel, my brother Dave and his wife Liz and Dave's best man Blair). It was wonderful to all be together again. We stayed up and played games, hung out in the hot tub and let Jackson get to know his family. He loves his aunties and uncles but I think if asked, he would say that his favorite part about this leg of the trip was the foosball table. Yes, we have an addict on our hands, which was confirmed when we got to the Quireys in Blackwell where they also have a foosball table. Thankfully Jackson has many patient people in his life who gladly indulge him. (Liz played with him for almost an hour one day. She's a saint!)


Because we were going to be gone most of December we didn't put up our Christmas tree in Brazil. But we found an acceptable substitute.

That was in Downtown Disney, where we got to spend an afternoon just hanging out and drinking lattes. Yes, folks, that's what missionaries like to do when they come back to the U.S.--drink lattes. We may have lots of good coffee here in Brazil but we do not have sugarfree caramel lattes with nonfat milk.







And of course we had to spend a day enjoying Disneyland. We could have spent more time there but we were happy to even get one day. Jackson had a lot of fun although he really didn't know who any of the characters were. He took a nice two hour nap which let us big kids enjoy some delicious Mexican food. (That's the other thing we do when we go to the U.S.--eat as much Mexican food as possible!)

The grownups had plenty of fun. I got to ride Space Mountain, which is all I really want to do at any Disney park. Russ took my parents and sister to Honey I Shrunk the Audience, which Jackson and I skipped, so that's why they've got these lovely new spectacles on. I'm sure they were disappointed they didn't get to keep them. (And I know that Susan is incredibly disappointed that someone had to hold the camera so she didn't get to be in this picture. I know I would be.)

And we stopped into the home of this guy. It was awesome because there was NO LINE. We just ran through the empty house. Jackson didn't quite know what to think of him but he wasn't screaming, so I guess we count that as a successful visit.





(Hmm...there is some crazy formatting going on here. I'm just going to leave it as is because my son needs to get ready for bed. Just squint and imagine it's prettier.)