Long Beach and Disneyland

In November Michael had to go to Long Beach, CA for training for two and a half weeks. Maia and I were lucky to go with him for the whole time. We stayed at the hotel with him and hung out there while Michael went to training. It was great to have more time with Michael since he only worked 40 hours a week. He would leave at 6am and then return around 2pm, and then spend the rest of the day with us. We felt so blessed. We had a lot of fun being down there. We spent lots of time with Michael's friends from college, Derek and April and were even able to see other friends Michael knew from when he was down there for school. We also spent some time near the ocean and were able to introduce Maia to the beach. I think she liked it, but mostly she napped while we walked on the pier. However, we did get her to wake up a little so she could enjoy it as well.

The breeze was pretty chilly that day so I think she liked being all close and sheltered from the wind.

We went to a playground with Derek and April and swung next to them.

We also got to spend a morning with Chris and Lorina. It was good to see them and have Maia meet them as well!

Then there was Disneyland. Derek and April knew someone who worked there and he was able to sign us in so we could have some fun there. It was my (Jeanette) first time to be at any Disney park so I was pretty excited about this. I think you could say Maia was too. She definately was into all the stimulation that surrounded her.

Why the "L" you may be thinking. Well when we got to the park we were to meet the guy who works there by the "N", but there was no one there, so we second-guessed ourselves and thought maybe we had said the "L". We saw a couple sitting by the "L" and asked if they were the ones we were supposed to meet. Well they were not them, but they thought maybe we wanted a picture next to the "L". They were pretty insistent on this and we were late to meet our contact at the "N", so instead of fighting it we just posed for them. Thus, our Disneyland family picture is in front of the "L". We like to say its for the double "L's" in Miller or for the single "l" in Michael or Leah. Whatever the case, we have one Disneyland picture with all of us in it and we can chuckle that it is next to a random letter that really has no big significance to us. We did, however, meet the man next to "N".

Into the park we go!

The Castle!!!! Apparently it gets snowed on every night during Christmas. We were able to experience Disneyland snow while we were out there and told Maia that her first snow was in the Los Angeles basin. But then I don't know how much it counts if it was coming out of a snow machine.

We were getting ready to go to Never-never land.

Pinnochio, not quite our favorite, but it's a cute picture with Daddy.

Its a Small World was Maia's favorite. She had fun checking everything out. I thought it was a little over stimulating myself, but Maia was sure enjoying it

We ran into Goofy

Visited Mickey in his house.

With so much going on, Maia did not sleep until after the parade which ended at 7pm. However, once she fell asleep she was out for the rest of the evening. So Michael and I watched some shows, took her on more rides, and enjoyed the rest of our evening until the park closed at midnight.

We had a wonderful time in Southern California, but by the end, we were ready to be back in Portland to begin our Christmas preparations.