Drive to Roseburg met at Foster Dad’s work in Eugene

Short drive home Let the maddness begin

Saturday

Sunday

Parking Fee

Unapologetic No train

No Petting zoo area

Hot

No feeding of Lairkets

Lunch cost more then admission to the park, not sure that has ever happened at Disney.

Equilibrium as defined by the dictionary is a state of balance due to the equal action of opposing forces or mental/emotional balance. We are dealing with the second kind. Finding the balance with now 3 kiddos is hard. It’s amazing how resilient they are while we are all trying to find our stride.

JJ

Big Sis

I was apprehensive of going back, older, fatter and with grey hair. I was also very worried that my very fond memories of that time of my life would somehow be blemished. But on August 30th 2014. 20 years after end of my Thorn reign ended I stepped back into time.

History

In the summer of 1992 Robert Johnston called my house with two important messages. First he was back in town. Second he was living downtown on the street.

I was on the next #15 bus to downtown, within a week I was at the City Nightclub and my whole life changed. By March of 1993 I was elected Thorn 17 and was “King of the Gay’s

Drugs

Lanny Swerdlow the owner of the City Nightclub use to take to the stage and promote his pro-marijuana agenda. As a 18 year old standing in a club were sex and drugs were common place

secretly pretending not to be the square I was.

But this time when he took to the stage and preached I heard his words through a very different filter. The filer of an adoptive father of three children all prenatally drug exposed.

Tuesday

Grandma, Aunt, Cousin and Uncle arrive

Jayme heads to first day of 4th grade

Joshua takes day off

Elijah has his weekly therapy meeting

Anthony spent’s 2 days making his Green Enchilada sauce, no one said anything so it might have been a bad batch.

Wednesday 

Prepares a large breakfast spread 3 types of bagels with cream cheese.

Gabriel has his Early Intervention appointment with his skills trainer.

Visiting family leaves and goes shopping for the day, back for dinner.

Pasta and bread, Olives,  Anthony goes shopping and kills his remaining food budget

Played Apples to Apples as a family

Thursday 

Both Jayme and Elijah off to school.

Return to expect a empty house but family still there. They leave Elijah and me and go on a boat cruise and then head to the Multnomah Falls.

They get home very late and we just have left.

Played Uno together as a family

Friday

Joshua takes day off. And everyone but Anthony and Jayme go to the beach.

Jayme has school Elijah did not, So Anthony stays behind to pick up Jayme from school

Family returns at 7:30pm and Grandma takes Jayme to CPK so they can have sometime together as he has hardly seen her all week.

Saturday Morning

Jayme’s First Soccer Game

Anthony reheated the leftover Hash-brown casserole, cooked bacon and pancakes.

Everyone says goodbye and

Anthony, Jayme and Gabriel fly out the door at 9:30am for a 10am game.

Joshua and Elijah wave good-bye to our guests and come out for the game an hour later.

With Anthony now a stay at home Dad, we one again are able to get Jayme into after school activities. So after a long time we are once again deep into team sports, this time Soccer. It’s been a weird experience for the Dad’s. Last time around it was T-Ball and we were very hands on. This time it’s Soccer and we are sitting on the sidelines trying to figure out what the Coach is doing.

We registered Jayme before the last school year ended but strangely he was placed at a different school for his home team. This didn’t matter much to Jayme as he LOVES soccer.

The practices  have been hard on our family. Two practices a week, Tuesdays and Thursday with games on the weekend. Practice would tend to run all the way to 7:00pm or later making 8:00pm bedtime hard. But the worse part was that while Jayme practiced the three of us tended to get bored and a bored toddler and 5 year old are not the most fun things in the world to be around.

But as we mentioned Jayme loves soccer, so the Dad’s discomfort was a back burner issue and Jayme’s needs came first.

Jayme’s team was interesting to watch. Each kid has his own special quirk

As part of our speed adoption

3.5 hour drive south again

2 hours with the boys

3.5 hours back north to pick up Jayme

Jayme tries to kill Joshua with a Golf club

Saturday May 24th 2014

Alarm up at 6:00am again, but this time the whole family is up and loading into our new Mini Van aka our Mormon assault vehicle. We sprung for a car with lots of bells and whistles. It even has two pull down electronic babysitters AKA video screens and 2 DVD players. And boy did we need it as we started another 3 1/2 hour drive to Roseburg.

We were all set; big new car, bags all packed, hotel booked. We only had one real problem, we had no idea where we were going. We knew we were to meet at the foster mothers house, but no one had given us the address. So at the last rest stop before Roseburg we started the phone calls and E-Mails to the caseworker and our own adoption clinician.

Unable to get the info, we decided to head to our hotel, a Best Western, while we waited for the address or a flare or something. Until then we would have to camp out at the hotel.

The hotel staff were super nice to us and let us check in 4 hours early.  The hotel itself was clean and the room was ok for the one night we planned to spend. But the staff were super great (did I mentioned 4 hours early?). We had only been in our room for about 20 mins when the front desk rang and told us the boys caseworker had called and left us the foster parents address. Seems we are not hard to reach at the only hotel in town.

We all piled back into the car and headed over to the Foster Families home. The home was only a 5 min drive from our hotel, heck everything in town was only a 5 min drive from our hotel. Before we knew it we were knocking on their front door.

Elijah was very excited to see us and Gabriel was asleep. We got to see their room and their trampoline, which Jayme and Elijah at once were jumping on together. This begin the short honeymoon period for the boys, where they seemed to love or at least like each other.

Then began the oddest family get to know you event we have ever been on. On advice from the powers that be, headed out to the Wildlife Safari. Which worked out to trapping 3 children in a van for 2 hours driving very slowly looking at bushes looking for animals. Oh and Gabe HATES being in his car seat. It was a huge out of the frying pan and into the fire moment for the Dads. It was also on this trip Joshua was given the glorious job of the first diaper change.

The visit to the zoo was mostly a flop. We turned the car north and headed back to the Foster families home and dropped Gabe off for a nap. We then took Elijah and Jayme back to the hotel to go swimming. This was much nicer and allowed for a lot more one on one time.

We dropped off Elijah and said our good nights and then headed back to our hotel for then night. We had two queen beds so Jayme had a huge bed to himself, he passed out within a few minutes of his head hitting his pillow.

The next morning we woke and tried out the hotel free breakfast. We just nibbled as our next stop was full breakfast at the foster families home. Their meal was was much nicer and we got to learn about the boy’s eating habits.

After a nice meal we loaded the boys stuff up into the van, because they where coming home with us for a 2 night sleep over. This was pretty hard on everyone involved. Hard on the foster family, hard on the kids (9 hours of car travel time before they could move in) and hard on our family who just wanted them to stay.

Before we headed home it was decided that we should have a meeting with the Boy’s older sister (she is about a year older then Jayme). She was not placed with the boys for reasons, but she still cares very much about them. It was felt saying goodbye would be helpful for her. The Dad’s didn’t think it was a good idea for Elijah as this weekend had enough heavy emotional stuff for him. But, we are not in charge. We just have to clean up the messes.

The drive was not a fun one. Elijah did great, he loved watching TV all the way up with Jayme. Gabe… hated this trip. The joke their Foster mom made was to give him a teddy gram cookie every 10 miles. The reality was more like every mile. Joshua and Anthony took turns siting in the back with Gabe trying to keep him calm. It was a long 3 1/2 hours.

Driving down with Jayme

Meeting at foster parents house

Trip to the Zoo

Back home to foster parents for Gabriel

Swimming with Elijah

Late night coffee and sleep

Breakfast at Foster Parents

Playdate with big sister in park

Joshua – with big sister moment

The long drive home

Pizza for dinner

Hard first night

House in Oceanside Oregon

One man and three babies

Tilimook Cheese Factory mad house

Kite flying

Lincoln City

Lunch at Pig and Pancake

Smores on our stove

So our family is comprised of 5 men types. But we all come from 4 different families, who at the time of our birth all made different choices for our private male parts.

Jayme who helps out changing Gabriel’s diapers and shares a room with his nudist brother Elijah has over the past year has noticed the differences between the three of them.

Anthony explained this difference to Jayme when his brothers moved in. Told him the story of Abraham and gave him a short explanation of the how this Jewish tradition became pretty normal here in America but is falling out of use.

We thought everything was going great until lunch the other day. While sitting in the Village Inn having lunch Gabriel took Joshua’s side of gravy and started dunking his french fries in it. We all had a good laugh as Joshua pretended to be upset. Anthony said, “Well it looks like we now know Gabriel’s ancestry, He’s Canadian!”  Then Joshua explained poutine to the boys.

Jayme without missing a beat chimes in. “Well, I’m Jewish.”

We all just gave him a blank look not understanding what he was talking about.

Noticing our looks, he pointed downwards and say’s “Because, you know. Down there.”

Birthday number two with our family and Elijah’s seventh. Once again Anthony made custom birthday invites and with Elijah’s blessing we booked JJ Jump again.

This year Elijah’s birthday landed on a Sunday and we had some special plans for that day (more on that later). This required us to go for a Saturday Birthday party. We sent out over 20 invites and when the big day came we only got one kid from Elijah’s class. Historically we have had just plain horrible luck with inviting kids from the boys school. Jayme’s 9th saw him with only one kid at his bowling party. Luckily we cast the net wide this year and invited more then just his class. In the end we had 6 kids. One sister, two brothers, one classmate, one cub scout and one second cousin. We also had a few adult friends who attended.

The kids all jumped for a good hour before the party started. Elijah got to play with all the kids who came and had a good visit with his sister who drove into town for the party. Unlike last year the dad’s skipped the noise makers so the party portion of the day was MUCH quieter.

We handed out cupcakes, apple juice and ice cream cups. After the feast the unwrapping of presents began. Last year Jayme had to help Elijah open his gifts (he was just overwhelmed), this year ALL of the kids crowded around and helped. It was very very cute.

Once the gifts were all opened and Elijah thanked everyone we said goodbye to all the kids and friends and headed home. Elijah’s second Aunt and second Cousin both came over to the house for a visit.

We ended our evening at Sweet Tomatoes for a healthy birthday feast.

After Elijah’s birthday dinner, both Dad’s and Jayme started to lie our pants off. For the rest of the world it was 5:30pm but we told Elijah it was 7:30pm his bedtime. But since it was his birthday he could stay up late for another hour.

With the boys in bed early, the Dad’s begin to pack. Joshua had been doing Laundry for the past 2 days and stacked in the Dad’s room was everyones clothes and all of our suitcases. By 10pm the packing was done and Anthony passed out in bed.

4:30am the alarm clock sounded and the Dad’s showered and finished loading the car.

4:45am we woke up Elijah and the boys. By 5:55am Elijah who had asked only days before for a trip to Disneyland like Gabriel got for his birthday and woken up enough to figure out he was getting a birthday trip to Disneyland as well.

We got to the airport in great time had plenty of time to get to the gate with Coffee, food and drink for the flight. Last time we were the last people on the plane. Same plane and airline as last time as well. Jet Blue non stop to Longbeach.

Once again all of the boys flew great, no crying for freak outs. Which must have come as a great relief for the panicked looks Anthony got as he carried Gabriel onboard.

We left Portland and it’s 34 degree weather and walked off our plane and onto the tarmac to 75 degrees, by noon it hit 88 degrees and Jayme was melting.

We used Super Shuttle again and arrived at our hotel the Anaheim Fairfield Inn. The Dad’s had stayed here a few times before, but never with the kids. With our room not ready, we bag checked our luggage and everyone changed into shorts in the lobby restroom. Then walked across the street to the Disneyland Resort.

Everything online had warned us that the crowd level would be very high. But we really were not prepared for it. The boys both wanted to do all of the new Star Wars rides in Tomorrowland. The more crowded place in the mornings. We normally turn left into Adventureland as 90% of everyone else turns right. But for the boys we turned right.

Hyperspace Mountain was a 120 minute wait and all of the fastpasses where GONE for the day. Star tours was also over 100 minutes but Anthony was able to get fastpasses for that evening. Overwhelmed by the crowds and no rides to get on we wandered back to our normal battle plan and Adventureland. The crowd was so bad they had cast members directing traffic. When we got to the Haunted Mansion we found it also had long wait time 90 mins. So after walking the whole park without getting on any rides we decided that we would just have lunch.

Feeling a bit defeated and still tired from our early morning flight we popped into the Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante aka Mexican food for white people. But it as safe and filling food and helped lift our spirits a bit. We then all walked over as a family to Splash Mt and Gabriel and Anthony headed our to wait.

Thankfully both groups found some Disney magic. Joshua and the boys came off Splash Mt with big smiles and a little wet. Anthony and Gabe enjoyed a walk around the park together and rode Winnie the Pooh.

We then headed back to the hotel to finish the check in a get packed for the evening in the parks.

Dinner was at the Blue Bayou with the Fantasmic dining package. The food was ok, the service was horrible. Waitress actually walked way, mid sentence while we were ordering, then came back with only 3 drinks. Anthony without missing a beat said “AND to complete our drink order we would like…” Sadly his distain was lost on her. At some point she must have known we were unhappy with her lack of service as she pawned us off on another server for the desert course.

Luckily the poor service was lost on the kids. Elijah even liked the frozen celery sticks he was served, Don’t worry the waitress made it better, she microwaved them (face-palm).

After a so so dinner was Fantasmic. We have now done the packages for this show 4 times. The first two times it was the now extinct desert package. This wonderful package came with a reserved chair, drinks and a huge box filled with tasty treats. The last two times have been with the dinner package. First time around we got front row seats and the food was very good. This last time has convinced us that this will really be our last time.

We where given different instructions on where to go before the show. We arrived at the spot 1 hour early only to find a mob of people and no cast members who seemed to know what was going on. Once the mob moved we found our line spot for Blue Bayou, but once we got to our spot we found the river belle diners had taken all of the front row spots in our area. The kids still had great views but the whole thing was a big mess. One of the perks of the dinner plan is only having to arrive 15 mins before the event to get a great seat. Even an hour early we got second row.

After the show we headed back to our hotel. Elijah got the pullout sofa. Anthony and Gabriel got one queen bed and Joshua slept with Jayme’s knees in his back in the other.

DAY TWO

6:30am and Anthony was pushing everyone out out of bed. We arrived at the parks at 7:30 for a 8:00am rope drop. But we hit a HUGE line. Not a line to get into the park but a line to get into the bag check prior to the maingate lines. It only took about 30 mins, but the effect really worried us that the crowds were going to ruin our trip. But then Elijah’s birthday trip luck kicked in.

After getting fastpasses for Sorin, we made a beeline for Carslands and the normal 250 minute wait for radiator springs racers only to find the ride broken and closed. Again, we picked food to change the groups mood. Anthony plopped the family at a table outside of Flows Diner and returned with a huge breakfast for everyone. Then Elijah’s new super power kicked in. As we started to finish Anthony saw that the cars were running in test mode. So we walked up to the attraction only for the ride to open. It was a walk on. A walk on an hour after park opening! Once we exited the ride the wait time was up over 90 mins. We laughed all the way to Sorin for another walk on with our fastpasses.

Now the crowds had not lessened, but for the rest of the day we seemed to just avoid them and hit rides with ease. One exception was the 40 min wait at Starbucks for Coffee that Anthony suffered so Joshua’s caffeine level stayed above “murder everyone” levels.

With the National Councils decision to stop excluding GLBT leaders and GLBT membership, we decided the time was right to get the boys involved.

Anthony had been a Pathfinder when he was a boy; the SDA rip off version of scouts. Joshua has an Army/ROTC background and 2 cousins who made Eagle Scout. So we felt that scouting would be good for the boys.

Anthony did the first reach out via the web looking for den to join. After a few weeks of failure and no replies, Joshua took over and started calling. He found a pack based out of the Happy Valley grade school which is right near our home.

Jayme had to miss a soccer practice to attend the first pack meeting, but he said it was worth it.

Jayme joined as a Webelos Cub Scout. There are 6 or so boys, all his age which will be great for building his social interaction skills. They played games and Jayme even won a few.

Elijah joined as a Tiger which is the first level of the Cub Scouts. Unfortunately on the night he joined, all of the other Tigers moved up to Wolves, leaving no Tigers. At this age, the parents must attend all functions with their child. Since Joshua was the only parent, he became the highest ranked parent and leader of the Tiger Den, a Tiger Den of one.

For the past week the boys have been learning the Scout oath and law and the whole family is in Scout mode. Anthony was in charge of sewing all of the patches on the boy’s new uniforms. Joshua has been taking hours of boy scout leadership online classes.

Speaking of uniforms, they are NOT cheap. But seem to be made really well. The lady who helped us get all the parts we needed for each uniform also suggested Joshua get a uniform as well, as Den Leader. She also let it slip that we were the first 2 dad family she had seen in the store. So once again we are boldly going forward (cause we can’t find reverse).

Welcome to part two of our ongoing series of the trials and tribulations of Gabriel.

So after our Chicken Pox scare over the summer, Anthony set up a wellness check with our normal Doctor. She has been out on Maternity leave and Anthony just wanted her to run her hands over Gabe to make sure he was ok.

When we got to the office, we found that our Doctor was still on leave and we would see the fill in Doctor. Anthony told her the story of the one day chicken pox and mentioned that at Gabe’s last SNAP checkup they said his iron was a bit low.

She did a full checkup and heard a heart murmur, which worried her… a lot. So it worried Anthony even more. She ordered some labs for Gabriel and since they could not do the tests in house at our clinic they sent us off to the big clinic in Oregon City.

Now Gabriel is a ward of the state and is covered via state insurance. After the adoption we will have the option to keep him on it until he is 18 or switch him to our own private insurance plan. At our drugstore and our home Doctor’s office we have NEVER had any issues. It’s only when we venture to new and larger sites the fact we are pre-adoptive parents shoots up red flags. Our run to the Oregon City clinic was not the exception.

First they wanted Anthony to prove family income. Then they said they needed DHS approval to see Gabriel. If you have read our other post about Elijah’s teeth you will know that Joshua nearly put his foot in someone’s tuckus the last time this happened. Anthony just kept repeating that the other clinic made the appointment, all forms should be on file, that his name is clearly listed as the foster parent on tab two of the computer files computer screen and refused to fill out anything. They relented and allowed us to have the blood drawn.

Now for Gabriel everything was great until the needle entered his arm. For the 2 mins it took to take 4 tubes of blood, he screamed and screamed and screamed. He has not forgiven anyone for this evil brought upon him.

It took two days for the same day results to come back. Gabe’s iron level was a bit low and some other parts of the results concerned the fill in Doctor as well. So she wanted to double check the results and asked for us to get a second lab done. Once again Gabe was fine until the needle entered his body, this time in the other arm.

Once home from the lab the clinic called and the Doctor wanted to see us. She did not have the labs back but wanted to hear his heart again. The nurse tried 3 times to take Gabes blood pressure, but each time he would scream (my thoughts, he thought he was getting another needle in the arm). With all the screaming, for some reason, his blood pressure was VERY high. This worried the Doctor even more. She made us wait as she called a cardiologist for a referral.

Once at home with a referral in hand the phone ran. It was the clinic again. They told us to take Gabriel to the emergency room at once, that the clinic had called and they were expecting us.

PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC

Now with in moments of this call. Joshua was in route to home to get the boys. Sam was notified that he needed to babysit until Joshua’s arrival. 2.7 minutes from the call Anthony and Gabriel were in the van speeding across town to the Children’s Hospital.

Within a few moments of arrival we are walked into a posh emergency room and two nurses are probing Gabriel. Anthony mentions the two shots and how he thought it might be adding to his stress levels if they check his pressure on his arm. So they switched to his ankle.

Pulse – Normal         Pressure – Normal

45 mins later with 12+ stickers, Gabe was discharged from the hospital.

The Cardiologist

A week later we had our appointment with the cardiologist. The new Doctor listened to Gabe’s heart and they decided that he would do an ultrasound. Now this was a very emotional moment. They had Anthony lay down on a bed, lay back and then place Gabriel on his lap. On the wall was a big screen TV and they put Cars on for Gabe to watch.

They removed Gabe’s shirt and the Ultrasound tech placed a lubed up wand on Gabe’s chest. She worked a control panel right out of Star Wars, after a few moments and several buttons pushed, Gabe’s heart was on the screen above her control board.

As two adoptive parents of older children, seeing an ultrasound of our children is something we have never thought would happen. Nor the experience of hearing our unborn child’s heart beat. This was so very close to that experience, Anthony became very emotional on a whole new level other then worried about Gabe’s health.

After some beats and more clicks on the control board and about 5 mins of time the test was done. Gabriel’s heart is 100% normal. Kids get murmurs from time to time and there is nothing wrong.

The Results

Gabe is now on a low dose of Iron supplements and Anthony has lost about 10 years off his life due to the stress of it all. Grey hairs, check. Loss of sanity, check. Learning the in’s and outs of the Children’s Hospital, check. Still loving our children, check ++.

Elijah has had ongoing teeth problems. In earlier posts we have shared the horrible time we have had getting Elijah into see a dentist. Sadly the drama continues.

Elijah’s final treatment to treat his last few cavities came at last. Elijah’s dental office is backed up for months, so Elijah has to wait and wait between appointments.

Anthony and Elijah arrived at the office (on the second day of school) for their 7:00am appointment. Elijah was prepped for sedation, no food or water. We got into the office. Anthony had his ID and insurance card photocopied again (7th or 8th time, we have lost track). We then made it into the treatment room.

Here is where they BLEW IT, 100% BLEW IT.

The nurse said Elijah had a choice this time. Since the sedition medicine tastes so bad he can have a lollypop to suck on after or have the chocolate syrup with the bad tasting medicine. As soon has he heard bad tasting he was done. For 30 mins he refused to let them put it in his mouth.

40 mins after arriving we were walking out with a new treatment date 3 months out.

Our only other option was to try a hospital dental option. The dentist office gave us the referral but said it could be as late as January before the children’s hospital could see us.

In keeping with the Dentist office staff from hell’s track record – took a week for the children’s hospital to call and they could see him in another week. Anthony took the call and told Elijah’s foster care story, the issues we had in the past getting him seen because he is a pre-adopted kid and what was going on. Forms were sent to DHS for signing and all was well.

The appointment day came and Anthony and Elijah arrived at the dental office on time only to be visited by a old friend, a large stack of medial a consent forms, which Anthony can’t legally sign. The office then quickly told us that they would not see Elijah without them.

So last time Joshua lost it, well now Anthony had a controlled explosion. Anthony was quick to inform the staff that DHS had already signed forms! He quickly learned those were only for payment not for treatment. WHY?! WHY?! WHY would they only send payment consent forms but not consent forms to treat. Where they planing to just bill without ever seeing him?

Again the answer rolls back to guy on the phone who called Anthony to setup the appointment. Seems he was new and did not work out so they fired him.  Really? REALLY? REALLY? Did they not think to check the guys work AFTER they fired him for not doing this work correctly? I mean it’s only health care related stuff, so nothing important right?

So we got a new appointment for 15 days out to give DHS time to work with the office and left defeated again.

For those of you keeping track, we are now up to 3 dental offices and 8 dentist appointments (with 4 failures to treat or see) in a 8 month time span for Elijah. Each time with him freaking out and getting upset about pain and the unknown. Mad does not even come close to what the Dad’s feelings on this issue are.

At the second appointment we got in with no issues. Met one on one with the Dentist and he took a new set of X-Rays. Elijah did great. The Dentist is meeting with the full team and they will have a group discussion on how to best proceed. Option one would be to try sedation again. Option two would be a full hospital visit with full sedition, the plus with that is they can do all of his procedures at once with very little pain or stress to Elijah.

First we should touch on what a Vogon is:

“They are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn’t even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders – signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.” Douglas Adams  – Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy

On January 15th 2016 we got notice from the boys attorney that after a month of waiting the final paperwork was about to be signed by the judge. With Jayme we did a full formal signing ceremony, photos with the judge and most importantly we walked out of the courtroom with paperwork proving that Jayme was ours.  For Elijah and Gabe it was a whole new experience.

It took several weeks for our attorney to receive anything from the courthouse. What was sent was the paperwork for Elijah’s and Gabe’s new birth certificate without any of the supporting documents the court was to supply. The biggest missing item was a signed copy of the judgement. By this point DHS was out of our lives and our children were undocumented people. Even with the correct paperwork; Gabriel’s birth certificate would take 4 months to process and Elijah’s 11months.

After a few weeks and several calls to the courthouse our attorney was able to an order in for 5 copies of the judgement. The next day Anthony and Gabriel left the house at 6am and drove 3 hours to the Roseburg Courthouse.

Once at the Courthouse they waited in line behind all the dead beat dads trying to pay as little as they could for child support. Again here security was very tight. Anthony had to show his ID and then they called him Joshua for the remainder of the visit. After about 20 mins they had the proof of the adoption and started the 3 hour trip back to Portland to drop the copies off at the attorneys office and drop off a additional check to expedite Gabriel’s birth certificate thru the Oregon System of Vogons.

The side story to all of this is dealing with the DHS Vogons. Elijah’s adoption assistance amount was wrong, something we missed before we signed. So a new agreement had to be draw up with them. Because it was their mistake too they rushed it. The second issue was there medical ID cards.

Now as much as we hated the Oregon State Vogons, the Federal ones are worse. With an upcoming international cruise coming up for the 2 Dad’s and Gabriel, all three of us needed passports.

One year ago my family was in full blown emergency mode.

A member of our family was no longer safe to be around. For the past 2 nights we had been camping out at a hotel trying to make the whole adventure fun for the kids while trying to not break down in front of them.

The call came in while Josh and I were at lunch with two of his work friends. Sam was dead.

The date was May 5th 2014, the adoption committee selected our family as a forever family for Elijah and Gabriel.

January 16th 2016 a “short” 620 day’s later the judge signed the adoption decree.

Which means their now 100% ours. No more DHS, no more having to get a third parties permission before taking them for a dental check up! No more monthly home visits! The boys signed off on the adoption a year ago. The Dad’s signed off on the adoption 620 days ago. Everyone in our family was ready for this process to be done.

We told the boys last night. Elijah was THRILLED. Moody Jayme was moody. Gabriel just clapped and was his normal happy self.

We took the boys out to dinner at their favorite place Sweet Tomato’s.

For our first official day as a family of all DeSoren’s we are going to go on a Cub Scout Field Trip.

620

First it was Gabriel,  Fever of 101.2 for 2 days. Then Anthony was smacked down for 3 days with a fever of 102.

Hoping to not get hit Joshua took to sleeping on the sofa. But he only ended up with something worse. A week after everyone was well Joshua came down with Strep. His Doctor confined him at home for a week. Anthony confined Joshua to his bedroom. Joshua was not allowed to go near the kids or leave his room for 7 days. Jayme helped sterilize the house. Every light switch, doorknob, stair rail, etc. was bathed in disinfectant spray or sanitizer. We were very worried that the kids might get strep and everyone would keep passing back and forth to each other.

The morning after the start of Joshua’s confinement, Gabriel woke covered in spots and white blisters. All over his face, back, arms and legs. Anthony rushed him to urgent care. When the nurse came in she said Chicken Pox and when the Doctor came in he had to get a second opinion because he had never seen it before, but both of them said Chicken Pox. The second Doctor even gave Anthony the “your a liar” look when Anthony stated that Gabe had all of his shots.

They said that there was no magic pill or cream. It would just have to run it course. They advised Anthony to buy some liquid Benadryl to help with the itching.

Anthony dropped Gabe off at home, headed to store and returned with Benadryl, Calamine lotion and hydro-cortisone. We gave Gabe a dose of Benadryl put him down for a nap and then began our second round of home disinfecting.

The next morning, with the exception of a few scratch marks, every last Chicken Pox sore was gone. Anthony has submitted our family for the Noble Prize for finding the cure for Chicken Pox. So we are looking forward to the awards ceremony and the prize money. That or the two Doctors were wrong….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DizGpPaJhQ0

2015 saw Boys and Girls Aid as the official charity of the the Grand Floral Parade and Bank of the West as the official sponsor of the Boys and Girls Aid Family Walk in the Grand Floral Parade.

When Anthony got the E-Mail invite for our family to join the walk, he signed us up on day one. He carefully entered online for the T-shirt sizes each of us needed and clicked send.

The week before the walk Anthony headed down to pick up the T-Shirts. What he came home with was; Three Red adult mediums for the 3 boys and One red XL Youth T-shirt for one of the Dad’s. A quick phone call to Joshua later and that evening Joshua arrived home with 5 matching red blank T-Shirts all in the correct sizes. Seems good old Bank of the West didn’t order any kids sizes…. for a kids charity group.

We had a good laugh about not getting any of the correct sizes, but realized on the plus side we are NOW ready for Gay Days next year at Disneyland.

The Grand Floral walk started at 9:30am and we had instructions to be in our area at 9:00am. So on the big day we loaded the van up. The night before Anthony had laid out all the outfits for everyone and loaded Gabe’s diaper bag with snacks, juice boxes and sun screen. So we had no reason to be late, but we were.

The whole area was in lock down for the parade so we had to walk down from Joshua’s work to the rally area. We arrived in perfect time, just as the parade volunteers where moving our group out to the main doors into the Memorial Colosseum. We just slide right in on the side.

From year’s of being in the Portland Pride Parade, it was clear to both of us that Boys and Girls Group was an after thought/tack on group. We walked directly behind Bank of the West who wore yellow t-shirts, ours were red. Directly behind us was the Fred Myers volunteers group also in red shirts. So our group mostly was lost during the parade. Each time we came to one of the announcing booths they would call us Bank of the West, Fred Myers or The Oregonian do to the huge Oregonian logo on our groups T-Shirts.

There were a few important places they did get it right. The best was when we entered into the Memorial Coliseum. We walked in and and straight into Governor Kate Brown. She talked and shook all of our hands and called Gabe a cutie. Jayme was a bit stunned and didn’t really understand that we just met the Governor of Oregon until it was all over but he was super excited about it.

The walk itself was a 4 mile death march in 90 degree weather and full sun. But we had a blast. Jayme walked the whole route with only a little complaining at the end. Elijah walked about 1 mile and then spent the rest of the journey in the baby stroller or being carried. Gabriel was the grand marshal of the whole event, he waved at everyone from his stroller or a Dad’s arms.

We crossed the 4 mile finish line and Joshua and Elijah stood in line for some free swag and grub that was laid out. Elijah absconded with 2 full size subs and a free backpack sling.

As all the other families headed back into the city, we walked out towards the PGE park MAX stop. While waiting for the train we all shared juice and the free sandwich in the shade of the train stop.

It was a great day and next year we hope to work with some other parents to organize Boys and Girls Aid’s own entry into the walk and get some T-shirts that fit.

Elijah came to us with tooth issues. It’s hard to miss his missing two front teeth and his slurred toothless speech. It makes him very distinct. Elijah entered care with very poor teeth, so bad that he had to have a mouthful of cavities filled and those mentioned two front teeth extracted.

Even though the boys moved in with us back in May of 2014, not all of their healthcare did. It took several months for the dental to transfer to a local vendor and then several months for an open appointment with Jayme’s dentist who takes the Oregon Health care plan. This became a bigger issue when he started to complain of tooth pain.

Now for Elijah to talk about pain is kinda a big deal, we have noticed that he as a pretty high pain thresh hold and tends to hide pain. The upsetting part of our story is Elijah will have reached this high level several times before this blog is over.

DENTIST OFFICE #1

A few weeks before the appointment Elijah started talking about a tooth hurting. It would be several months before the pain would be 100% gone.

Daddy Anthony was in charge of the first Dentist visit. Gabe, Anthony and Elijah all crammed into the exam room for a long cleaning. Elijah did great with the x-rays and did great with the cleaning. What he did fail at (and so did Gabe and Anthony) was the 45min after the cleaning waiting for the Doctor. Once the cleaning was done we sat and sat and sat. The Doctor was busy with another treatment and could not come in to see Elijah. With 10 mins left before we had to leave to get Jayme from school she appeared.

Strike 2 for the Dental office was quickly identified. The hygienist had failed to get a x-ray of the bad tooth so the Doctor had no way to see how bad it was. But she did open Elijah’s mouth and quickly find 6 cavities all in need of treatment. As we rushed out the door to pick up Jayme we found out the next closest treatment appointment was 6 weeks out. Elijah would have to wait to get his tooth fixed.

6 weeks later, Joshua takes Elijah in to the Dentist for his appointment. Everything was find until it came time for the shots. They tried numbing topical meds, they tried gas but nothing could get Elijah to relax and allow that needle into his mouth. After about 15mins the Doctor gave up and told Joshua that he would have to take Elijah to a pediatric Dentist. Now this was a shock because we thought we were at one. But it seems the pediatric Dentist that Jayme was seeing at this location quit. So they only had regular dentists now.

DENTIST OFFICE #2

It took a week for us to get a call from the pediatric Dentist office. First date available was another 6 weeks out. With some pleading about Elijah’s case and how he was a foster kid and how poor his teeth were they said they could do a examination only appointment and the Dentist would judge if the tooth needed rushed attention. The only time open was 7am the next day. So Joshua took Elijah in on his way to work, with the plan Anthony would pick up and take him to school later after Elijah got to spendsome time at Joshua’s work.

Joshua and Elijah arrived at the new Dentists office. Joshua presented Elijah’s medical insurance card and then the receptionist asked to see Joshua’s ID. Now this was a new thing for us, we have never been asked that before. Not at our Medical Doctors office with Jayme or the other boys. Not at the Pharmacy when picking up controlled prescriptions. So Joshua asked, “Why do you need to see my ID?”. The reply was to prove that he was who he says he is. Joshua said sure, but I am not the patient my foster son is.

It should be added that having now worked with the reception and booking staff of this office, clearly Joshua asking why was a challenge to the receptionist supreme godly authority. She quickly got back up and then told Joshua that since Elijah was a Foster child they could not see him today. Now to Joshua’s credit, no one was killed. But he did leave a bit mad. Not sure why, waiting for 12 weeks with a child in pain might have something to do with it, but who knows.

Joshua and Elijah returned home and told their tale. Anthony took the boys to school and then called the Dentist office to see how we fix this.

The phone was answered by a nice man. Anthony explained what happened. The man on the phone sounded confused and asked for the insurance information. He was then quickly able to pull it up and said, “I am not sure what the problem is, all of his insurance is correct, both of you are listed. Can you hold and I will talk to the receptionist?”

Several minutes later a woman comes on the phone, this turned out to be the receptionist. She started telling Anthony that since they had no idea Elijah was a Foster kid they had no way to confirm that Joshua was the foster father. Now this is a lie, as all of our names and information are listed on Elijah’s insurance HIPAA information. Anthony mentioned that he had told the scheduling person on the phone Elijah’s whole story just 2 days prior. The receptionist then without asking transferred Anthony to the scheduling receptionist.

She picks up the phone with “You never told me he was a foster child, because if you had I would told you we needed a form from DHS.” It should be noted that Anthony has not yelled. Anthony calming say “Well that is not true and I don’t like being called a liar. But, it’s not important right now. I just need to know what I need to get you so Elijah can be seen.”

The scheduling receptionist stated again, “I will need a DHS form.”

Anthony asked  “What form do you need, what form number is it?”

“I just need a DHS form.”

“Ok, but what form do you need? A DH1-45 form or some other weird numbered form or something like a consent form..”

“I need something that proves your the Foster father”

“Well that is in the HIPAA insurance information that you can pull up on your screen. Do you need letter from DHS?”

“Yes”

“What needs to be in the letter?”

“It needs to say your the foster parents”

“Ok, does it need to be on letterhead? Does it need to be a live signature or can we fax it?”

“You can fax it.”

“Ok what is your fax number”…

This strange banter continued for a few more minutes until we got to the next logical question.

Anthony asked “So how soon can we get Elijah back into be seen?”

“Well that depends on how fast DHS is able to get us the form.”

“Oh, you will have the form by noon today. I will be calling Elijah’s case manager and attorney right after this call.”

One long pause later.

“Well if we get the form today, we could see him in 2 days at 7am.”

“He will be there, thank you for your help. I will call back today at noon to make sure you have the form you need.”

After a call to DHS and short talk with Elijah’s caseworker, we had the “form” which was just a letter in by 11:00am and the caseworker was on the phone to the Dentist office moments after getting off the call. Two days later Anthony took Elijah into the office. Anthony had his personal ID and insurance card ready and handed both to the receptionist before even saying who he was. Both were scanned and we were told to wait.

Now, this is the end of the Dentist drama. The nurses and Elijah’s Dentist are wonderful, kind and gentle. It is like night and day in that office. Front of the house is power mad and the back of the house is amazing. After some x-rays and a quick look the Dentist told us that the tooth that had been bothering him was now a fully abscessed. The Dentist informed us that the tooth was not savable and have to be pulled.  She gave him a prescription for antibiotics and an appointment for extraction 9 days later.

Since she recommended sedation for the procedure, the dentist office tried for 7 days to get DHS to sign off on the sedation. With no luck the Dentist called us directly and told us. We called our caseworker and they had the sedation consent back same day. The Dentist has now mentioned twice how impressed she was that we could get DHS to move so fast. The truth is we just have a great caseworker.

Extraction day could not come fast enough. The antibiotic helped with the pain and swelling a bit, but eating was still very hard for Elijah. When we arrived, again Anthony handed over his ID and Elijah’s insurance card again before speaking (both were scanned again) and we were told to wait.

Once back in the back of office, in the good zone, Anthony and Elijah entered a dim quiet exam room. Elijah got a arm hugger on his arm and little clip on his big toe. Then he got a nice blanket to keep him warm. The sedation meds are oral, so after he drank them down we had to rest for 20mins for them to kick in. Anthony read Harry Potter to Elijah as he got woozy.

The Doctor came back in and gave him some pain shots, which he handled with no issues. Then 10 mins later she came back and wiggled two infected teeth out. They told him to bite down and then they raised him up. He quickly pulled the gauze out of his mouth and said “Blood! What happened?”

We set a date to come back and look over the other cavities for 2 months later and then we headed home.

Recovery at home was very fast. Once in front of the TV he was pain free and doing great. By the afternoon you could not even tell there was anything wrong that morning.

RETURN OF PAIN 

About 2 week prior to our appointment Elijah started complaining about mouth pain. This time on the other side of his mouth. Eating quickly became something very hard and painful again and we found ourselves right back in the place we were just a few weeks prior.

Dentist day came on the last day of school. So we had a very very full day. Anthony and Elijah arrived at the office. Anthony handed over his ID and Elijah’s insurance card again before speaking (both were scanned again for the third time) and we were told to wait. And wait we did. It took about 30 mins before we were called into the good back. The Dentist came out and explained that a procedure had gone long and apologized for the wait. Anthony told her about the new problem and how the Dad’s really did not want any more extractions as we have become concerned that he will not be able to eat.

Once in the good back of the house Elijah had a full set of x-rays done and a tooth cleaning. The great news was the Dentist felt that she might be able to just cap the two teeth. The bad news was the next appointment open was 3 months out. Anthony and the Dentist talked about how we might get in sooner. She mentioned that she had a lot of cancelations this week and she was sure she would get another one very soon, when she did the spot was ours. We also talked about calling in each morning to see if anyone had canceled.

So the next morning Anthony called and asked if anyone had cancelled. He spoke with the same nice man as last time, the one who found our names in Elijah’s HIPAA insurance with no problems. He told Anthony that they had no cancelations, but the 8:30am had not RSVPed for their appointment and I was welcome to call back at 8:30am to see.

8:30am Anthony called back. This time he got the Serene Highness receptionist. She scolded Anthony for calling, that she makes those calls and 8:30 would not be an option for Elijah. Anthony thanked her (for his tongue lashing) and said he would check back tomorrow.

Later that night we got a call from Her Serene Highness, the 7:00am for the next day had canceled and if we wanted it she would allow it. Anthony thanked her and quickly got off the phone before he said anything to upset her.

TAKE TWO

Anthony and Elijah arrived at the office on time only to find the doors closed and the lights out. So we headed over to the adult side of the office rather then the pediatric side. Anthony was ready to hand over his ID and Elijah’s insurance card again. But this time on the adult side, they did not need them. A new nicer receptionist only asked if Elijah had eaten any food. Within mins we were called back to the good side for round two.

This time Elijah was much calmer, until the medicine came. He really didn’t want to drink it this time. He also was much for restless in the chair during the procedure. Anthony had to hold his hands.

The Dentist was able to cap one of the teeth, but the other was dead and the nerve neurotic, it had to be pulled. The whole procedure was quite fast and the bad tooth came out very easy, which made the Dentist comment that we were lucky and just cut off another infection in the nick of time.

Once home Elijah bounced back again and within an hour was playing Star Wars Lego and pain free.

Next appointment for the remaining cavities it in 3 months, but the Dentist said none are near any point of causing pain.

POSTSCRIPT

Remember the nice man who found our insurance information easily and suggested calling back. They fired him for telling us to call back at 8:30. Not kidding, they really did.

Gabes 2nd Birthday, Anthony’s 21st again and Jayme’s 10th. MORE then enough of a good reason to go to Disneyland and meet the Mouse.

Day one

Our fight was a 7:00 am direct on Jetblue to Longbeach Airport. This would be both Gabriel’s and Elijah’s first commercial airline flight. With Jayme we had to do a visit to the airport and lots of special airplane books. Not so much with these two. We did give Elijah Jayme’s old airplane books and he did read and enjoy them, but he is not Jayme.

We got to the airport on time and parked in long term parking. When the shuttle bus came up the driver was none other then our friend Alan, he runs tree farm for the annual Christmas tree hunt that we take the boys to. Very strange to be greeted by the shuttle driver at the airport by name. The boys got a kick out of seeing someone they knew as well.

We packed Gabe’s car seat for the flight but found out at the gate he did not need it for the flight. This was great as he HATES being in the car seat.  So they checked it for us and we piled into the plane. We must have been a very strange sight, 5 guys all moving in a disordered mass down the gang plank. We all sat in one long row. Elijah in the window, Gabe in the middle Anthony in the aisle seat, then Joshua in the middle seat directly across and then Jayme on the far window. The amazing part, no crying or fear. Elijah was in TV land and ignored most of the flight and Gabe was just one happy little dude.

We landed in Longbeach and after getting our bags and making the required restroom break we headed out to wait for our shuttle. But that too was a short wait and a direct trip to our hotel, the Desert Palms Hotel and Suites. As we pulled up a huge union strike picket line was in front of the hotel (ok perhaps not huge, 7 guys). So just to check in we had to be a class traitors and cross the line. But with a non-refundable vacation paid for and 3 kids ready for Disney, we somehow found the will.

Check in was a snap and they even had our room ready, which was nice since it was well before the stated check in time. Our room was a bunk bed suite with a nice king bed for the Dad’s. We didn’t stay long. After everyone changed in to shorts and used the potty we were out the door and headed for the parks.

Disney’s California Adventure was our day one park. Knowing how impulsive Elijah can be and not knowing how he would react to the park so we over prepped for any outcome. We wrote our cellphone number on his upper arm, gave him long talks about staying close and as we entered the park stopped to introduce him to some cast members. The cast members were happy to let us use them as props as we showed Elijah their cast member name badge and told him if he got lost anyone with a badge like theirs is someone who will help him find us. After our talk the cast members gave the boys Mickey stickers and we headed in to the park.

We made a bee line for Cars land, remembering how crazy the lines for the racers can be. By the time we got there the line was over 200 mins again, so we let Jayme and Elijah play on the other attractions. Elijah got to meet Mater and Lighting McQueen and even the big red firetruck (Red). He didn’t really seem to connect with them. Gabriel would have NOTHING to do with them. He just saw them and cried and ran to Daddy Anthony. He did do great in his stroller, for the most part he kicked back, waved at everyone and enjoyed the ride. For Elijah, itwas a bit like Jayme was on his first visit, quiet and overwhelmed.

After CarsLand, Jayme wanted to do California Screamer. So Joshua and Jayme headed off and Anthony, Gabe and Elijah followed slowly behind. The three of them took the scenic route to the Pier area. Alone the way they found a Donald Duck meet and greet. Elijah waited for his turn and then ran up to Donald and gave him a huge hug. Elijah was all smiles. Donald made a big deal about their shirts matching and then Elijah took off his Mickey sticker and gave it to Donald. It too a moment for Donald to understand what had happened, but once his handler told him, he made a big deal about Elijah giving him a sticker. As Elijah and Donald’s moment came to a close the handler asked if Gabe would like to meet Donald. Anthony took Gabe out of his stroller and Gade took 4 steps toward Donald, turned, screamed, and ran crying back to Anthony. Ah… Disney magic. (Photos on Shutterfly BTW it’s hysterical)

Lunch time was a 2:00 pm reservation at Carthay Circle. We love eating at this place. We normally do the World of Color package, but since WOC was down for refurbishment it was just for lunch this time. Not sure if was just a bad day or if Disney has been dumbing down the menu, but our lunch lacked some of the food magic we have had in the past. The food was still great, but not as great as it was before. Now we also had an almost 2 year old toddler, a 7 year old and a moody pre-teen… so that might have had something to do with it as well. That said all of the boys loved their lunch, it was a great family moment as we grazed off each others plates and made jokes.

Per our family schedule after lunch is nap time! Best tip we can give anyone going to Disney, always take an afternoon nap. You come back to the parks recharged and get to watch people who didn’t deal with tired kids and tired parents. Thankfully our hotel this time is pretty close, about a 10 min walk away.

By the time we got back it was starting to get dark. Jayme wanted to do Tower of Terror so we split up again, this time Anthony with Gabe and Elijah, Joshua with Jayme. While the boys did the tower, Elijah and Gabe took the Red Trolley. The Red Trolley is a very short Trolley that takes you to the front of the park from the Tower of Terror. Anthony got on board with the two boys and Elijah started to ask questions to one of the conductors. Before Anthony knew what was happening, Elijah and the very very cute conductor were playing hide and go seek through the windows. Elijah was having a blast. The ride itself was a bit of the let down for him, since it was so short. Once off we walked back to the Tower and met up with Jayme and Joshua. Jayme wanted to go again. Anthony said it was unfair to Elijah, but then Elijah said he wanted to go on it too. He was just tall enough, so with some worried looked between the Dads we agreed and Joshua lead Jayme and Elijah back onto the ride.

This left Anthony with Gabe. Now Gabe so far has not been a very good rider of rides. On the merry go round he screamed his head off and every other ride he as a bit of a cry at some part of it. But that did not stop him from pointing and indicating that he wants to go on a ride. So Anthony wandered with the stroller until they got to Bugs land and Gabe started pointing at a simple safe ride. Anthony then parked stroller and the two of them waited to go on the little bug ride. The ride itself is very tame. You sit in a little booth with wide benches, you are lifted a few feet off the ground and you go around in a slow circle. It was of course scream city until Anthony pulled out his iPhone and gave it to Gabe. It was easy for Joshua and the boys to find Gabe and Anthony, they just followed the wails. Elijah LOVED Tower of Terror.

With the close of the evening and with our fast passes in hand we headed down as a group to Radiator Racers. We all headed up and got a child swap pass. This one works with one Dad staying with Gabriel and one taking the boys on the ride, then switching. Joshua headed in first with the boys and Gabriel and Anthony tried to find something to do. It was almost 45 mins later when the boys came back out and Anthony was able to head in with Elijah and Jayme. While in line Elijah and his ZERO stranger danger came out. He started talking to some kids. Per our normal with him Anthony asked if Elijah knew their names and when he said he didn’t Anthony followed up with how do you know they are safe? It was at this point the kids mother chimed in that her daughter can be very scary. Everyone laughed. For the rest of the wait in line the two boys chatted with the two other children. By the time we got to the ride loading area we had become a group of six and all rode together in the same car. After we got out we lost ournew friends in the crowd.

DAY TWO

Disneyland

The problem with going to Disney World is that Disneyland is so little by comparison. Jayme, Anthony and Joshua had the “oh that is in Magic Kingdom” morning and Elijah and Gabe just had smiles from ear to ear.Sadly Splash Mt and the Railroad was down for refurbishment. But Elijah got the grand tour of everything else. We spent the whole morning hopping from attraction to attraction.

Gabe was getting better now at being on rides and we had much less yelling today. In fact, this marked the beginning of Gabe’s Roller Coaster mania. Ever since this trip, Gabe loves to watch YouTube videos of roller coasters. He throws his hands up and screams in joy.

The case of the missing bunny

It only took a few minutes of being in the hotel room before Elijah noticed Rabbit was missing. The cleaning staff had made all of the beds and on the pull out sofa arranged all of the boys stuffed animals in a nice row, well all of the stuff animals except Rabbit. Rabbit was one of the two main stuff animal friends that Elijah clings to, numero uno being Dog. But Rabbit is a very close second.

Anthony tucked all boys into bed and then climbed into bed with Joshua, who was already face down and near unconsciousness. It was then Jayme made his partial admission. “Dad, I think Rabbit might have been thrown away. I think Gabriel might have put him in the trash can before we left this morning”. Translation: “I threw Elijah’s stupid Rabbit away and I don’t want to get in trouble.”

Anthony remained in bed for a few moments and thought about how he might have felt as a child if one of his stuff animals was throw away. So while everyone slept, Anthony headed out the door in search of the maid. He found her down the hallway and he quickly explained the lost Rabbit tale. Now the next bit is a bit of translation issue for this writer, as most of it was in Spanglish. 3 maids and their two supervisors all checking to see if Rabbit was swept up into the dirty laundry. This was done by yelling down in the hallways in Spanglish and via radio. After which all of them were very certain that Rabbit was not with the bedding. So the search headed to the trash can option.  Anthony and one of the supervisors began to empty the maids full push cart trash bag into another empty trash bag in search of a white stuffed Rabbit. Then at the bottom, all wrapped up in a clear plastic trash bag liner was Elijah’s Rabbit.

Reeking of 10 rooms worth of garbage, Anthony returned to the hotel room with a safe, but smelly Rabbit. The only words mentioned were to Jayme who’s guilty head popped up as the room door opened. “YOU OWE ME.”

Fantasmic – The new stupid way

So in the past we have treated Jayme and ourselves to the Dessert Fantasmic Party. While not cheap, you get seats, drink service and a huge dessert box. Plus the huge bonus of not having to cue up for hours and sit on the concrete for the show. Well Disney has killed this service. In it’s place is a Meal Package plan. Eat and pay for a meal at a higher set rate and you get Fast passes for Fantasmic. We opted for the Blue Bayou. Readers of this Blog will know how this place has let us down many times in the past, the most notable being sat by the toilet all night and the fragrant orders that fell upon us. But this time the gods smiled upon us with river front seating and while nothing that we ate was memorable, the food was not bad. At the end of the meal, the waiter gave us 5 huge 1/2 inch foam seat cushions for the show that night and 5 fast passes. Thank goodness we had the stroller to haul them around.

Later that evening we arrived at the Blue Bayou Fantasmic check in area. Which can only be described as a every man for himself area. Elijah once again forgot his stranger danger and befriended an elderly couple. Combined our expanded group were the first into our reserved area and the 7 of us got front row on the ground seating. This was fine for our family, but our new friends had a very hard time with it. Disney dropped the ball on this one.

The show started and Gabe stood up and yelled ICKY!!!! ICKY!!! ICKY!!!! Gabriel is in love with Mickey Mouse, insane in love. Goes nuts when watching the Mickey Mouse Club, loves his Mickey dolls and seeing Mickey in person was just to much for him.

The show as always was great. Both Elijah and Gabriel loved it. The Dad’s didn’t like the new seating, hated not having drink service and had a longing for a return to the chairs.

DAY THREE – GABRIEL’S BIRTHDAY or How to spoil your 2 year old

The morning started with a short walk from our hotel to Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel and Mickey Mouse’s PCH Grill for a Character breakfast.

True to form, Gabriel saw Mickey ran towards him for a big hug, got a hug, then turned and ran in abject terror. Elijah and Jayme did much better. It was very cool to see our moody pre-teen Jayme forget to be moody for a bit and be a kid. He, out of all of them, spent the most time with the characters.

Breakfast was a slow buffet. All the Characters came over to our table more then once. At the end they sang happy birthday to Gabe and brought our a chocolate birthday cupcake with a candle (Video on Shutterfly). This was not a cheap meal, but so worth it. No one was frowning, no one was moody and Gabe got to see Mickey!

One negative we had was the photo person forgot to bring us our photos from the Mickey meet and greet. So when we asked for them they gave us double the photos to make up for their mistake.

After breakfast, we walked to Disneyland via Downtown Disney and the Grand California Hotel. Once in the park we redid some of the rides the boys loved the day before and hit a few we missed. We also took a swing up into Toontown for Gabriel and a visit to Mickey Mouse’s House.

Gabe got to interact with all of the weird things in Mickey’s house and after a short wait was face to face again with the Mouse himself. This time Gabe was able to keep his cool. After a big hug he just wanted to sit at his Mouse masters feet and worship him. Elijah was quick to ask Mickey how he got there from breakfast so fast. But Mickey was ready with an answer and flashed a shocka to Elijah to let him know he was the same Mickey from the Beach party themed breakfast. The moody pre-teen just wanted to go back to Star Tours and pretty much hated the whole event.

Your again?

As the day came to a close Anthony and Gabe headed to a good spot in front of the castle for fireworks. As they got to the middle area a voice rang out “Hello Again!” It was the mom from our first night who’s family we befriended and rode with on Radiator Springs Racers. She was sitting on a bench with her new infant son and she invited Anthony to join her. A few minutes later both of our families arrived and we had a large group of 11 people sprawled out waiting for fireworks. The kicker for this second chance meeting was their family is from the Portland area too!

After a 5 min firework show (yes they must be saving money for the 60th), Anthony, Elijah, Gabriel headed back to the hotel to sleep. But Jayme had struck up a new friendship with the oldest boy from our run into family and the two of them spent the next few hours on Space Mt and other rides talking Pokemon and Doctor who.

Trip home

This was pretty easy. We used the same shuttle service and they got us to Longbeach airport with 2 hours to spare. Now we had a chance to enjoy the new airport which is a huge improvement over our last visit where they stored us in a hot box.

The flight home was quick. Gabe was bit more fussy this time and he ended up sitting with Joshua and playing iPad with daddy.