Ben woke up ~10am and seemed to be feeling much better so we coordinated with Kerri to hookup at the Monorail entrance in Downtown Disney. By the time we got into the park he was like a new boy (we should have gone on the Pinocchio ride first!).

Lines were short so we got through a ton of rides in fairly short order. By 2-ish we decided to head back to the hotel and get some swim time in. There's a small water slide at the hotel (may 100 yards long?) and after a few minutes of play time in the regular pool I went for a quick run. Next we coaxed Ben into taking a stab at it. He was tentative at first but I saw him half way down and he was loving it. Being proper spoilers we "only" let him ride it a million billion times before we had to call it quits. We had just [almost] forced Abby to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, assuring her that she would like it (which she did not) so getting her to try this "new" thing just wasn't going to happen. Perhaps next year.

After a bit of dinner we made our way back to Disneyland and hit several other rides. None of us had ever been on the Peter Pan ride so we gave it a shot and boy that was fun. 30 years of going to DLand and never once on that ride? No idea why.

While we were in line to fly away with Peter the woman in front of us asked me if she could borrow my cell phone so she could call her daughter. A minute into her conversation led to a bit of a shriek... her daughter announced that she was pregnant. The grandma-to-be was so happy! And Abby remarked, "She's the happiest person I've ever seen!". Kinda weird for a 6 year old to say such a thing but really, that was one happy bird.

Ben was pretty-well spent by this time but we went for one more pass on Autopia, thinking that we'd catch the monorail from there. Turned out that it was too close to fireworks time so we ended up walking back to the hotel. And even better -- I apparently left my cell phone at the Autopia ride. When I got back to the hotel I realized it was missing so I kept calling it with Kerri's phone and finally one of the employees answered. Thank goodness they answered because I never would have guessed that it had been left inside the park. I'll get it back in the morning.

About ready to crash but looking forward to some early access to the parks before we call this weekend "done".

I'm sitting here in the Paradise Pier Hotel at Disneyland in SoCal for our Mother's Day weekend. We got down here Saturday evening so we could wake up fresh and head straight to the park this morning.

Last night we bummed around Downtown Disney for a while and ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe followed by a trip to Haagen Dazs for ice cream before returning to the hotel. At 9:30-ish we jammed down to the pool area where you can see the fireworks from across the way at Disneyland proper. And then upstairs for bed. But not so fast...

Ben indicated that his "tummy" hurt but since he says that quite a bit when there's something he doesn't want to do I didn't pay too much attention. A few minutes later he, his special pillow and blanket and a good portion of the bed were filled with vomit. Woohoo! We cleaned him up and I called down to the front desk to get some new linens. I was a bit embarrassed when making the call but the girl at the front desk did not seem surprised at all so it must not be too uncommon.

I figured it was the excess junk food and his jumping around that had caused the episode so I didn't think much of it. He seemed to feel okay when we woke up but two minutes after a few small sips of water he was competing in the cookie toss again (not much left in him to come up). We tried it again a bit later with the same result.

No need for Kerri and Abby to hang around and watch him feel sick so they're off to the theme park. Kerri called to let me know that they got to sit with the driver of the Monorail into the park which sounds pretty cool.

I'm sure it'll still be a nice Mother's Day because while Kerri might want both kids with her, there is a separate kind of fun to be had with just Mom and her first born -- There's no boys to wreck things for her and no battles over what ride to queue up for next.

Ben is sleeping things off a bit and I've ordered an over-priced bagel to be delivered to our room. At least I've got my EVDO connection to help pass the time (there's only so much Disney Channel this overgrown kid can take). Sure they have in-room broadband but it's a bit of a hassle and requires everything to be proxied through them and they're restrictive on ports (or I'm an idiot and can't figure out SSH through their system).

[...Interruption for room service delivery...]

I should note that in addition to the bagel I ordered a couple of beers. I know it's morning time but I'm on the 10th floor and y'all know that Tom doesn't like being in tall buildings so I need to take the edge off. $10 per beer (Bud Light!), delivered. Apparently for another dollar they'll drink them for me too. Convenience has its price I suppose. But if I ever hear about a large group of irrational, height-challenged people visiting this place I'm gonna buy a crapload of Disney stock.

More updates later, assuming anything at all happens before we leave on Monday, aside from Ben sleeping and barfing..

Completely random brain dump but wanted to get this out before I forgot absolutely everything. Lake Piru, 2008.

Got there first this year and put my tent up in the same location as last year. It's very close to the lake and a place where the youngest kids tend to congregate (since I have a couple of them). They spent quite a long time jumping from air mattress to air mattress inside (because I don't sleep on the dirt anymore). Lots of crappy snacks and dirt in there but we;ll worth the trade-off since I always know where my kids are.

Brother Pat and neighbor Matt show up next and begin putting their stuff together. Then the troops start filing in. Dave Ely came up to get camp setup though he'd have to leave (but he'd re-arrive the next day without having the hassle of setting things up) and come back the next day with Jonathan. Folks began packing in and before too long there were tents all over the perimeter with a spacious, err, space in the middle.

The wind thought it could take Dave's tent before it was staked and it almost did but we're seasoned campers and we won the day!

Matt brought his backyard BBQ. The full propane, stainless, 6 burner BBQ. We're not slumming this year. 2KW generator too. But we're still camping because there's no cell coverage.

I stopped on the way to pickup wood from a local mass wood vendor and spent $20 on a crapload of long-seasoned, quality wood. Matt bought a bunch of similar and with others bringing theirs, we had to take some home for the first time that I can remember.

Kids had a great time running around the campground and down to the lake and since we had the "group campsite" we didn't have to worry about outside traffic. Cousins and friends all played together.

Ben and Lucas decided it would be a good idea to look down the barrel of Darin's pellet gun. No one is blind.

Megan skipped past some Stinging Nettle and it caught her ankle. She's always been a trooper and a bit of Benadryl cream set her straight. Pat walked her back to point out what had nailed her so she knows to avoid it in the future. My guess is, she will.

Dinner was not a big deal on the first night but everyone was able to use any one of four BBQs or stoves along with roasting over the fire. I had to get up at 6am so I could take Abby back to town for her last softball game of the season. Gone by 7:15am and back by noon.

Older kids want to do their own thing but are always careful of the little ones (I won't speak to the middle kids' fates). I was shocked (shocked!) and how respectful they were and how aware of the little ones when things wanted to get crazy. Bravo teenagers.

Kent's daughter Katie is nearly a master camper already (before me!?!). She's an asset to the crew and can be relied on to pull off any camp duty, without complaint. I'll watch Kent and Abby will need to watch Katie and we'll be golden soon.

No boats this year -- Or so we thought! Some weird fresh water mussel is spreading across the local lake and if your boat was wet, you could not get in and our main boat was wet (from rain but who would buy that story?). But Chris Johnson's boat was dry so he got in and saved the weekend (for boating).

Chris piloted the boat most of Saturday and Sunday so all kids got multiple rides. He F'in rocks and basically gave up his weekend for the rest of us. Makes me want to buy Epogen.

Abby went on the "pull toy" for the first time and got dumped at some point. I almost dove in after her but Chris tells me to hang on and let her float... he'd be there before I could swim to her. Abby did great but the water was 59 degrees so she chilled pretty quickly and preferred not to go in again. Big milestone for Abs.

Went on a "nature walk" with Jonathan Ely, looking for deer and toads. He "Pied Pipered" the little kids with his factoids. Plenty of toads but didn't run into any deer this year. No snakes either!

Couple of old pals from Camp Emerald Bay, Catalina came this year: Dave Sander and Dean Ellis. Haven't seen Dean in 20 years. Still good guys. Dave gave me a copy of his book which is on deck for this weekend as a read.

Pat gets hassled by everyone and their mother over his wins at the Emerald Bay Tri-athalon. Everyone thinks they can beat him but so far only Pat can pee without toilet paper.

Johnboy fed my kids most meals like the good uncle he is. Most of the food I brought went home with me while the kids leeched off uncle John. I've taught them well. Most of my food came from the master campers (Matt, Darin, Kent, Chris).

Was down to the last 4 adults on Sunday but had to leave because kids were finished by sun, softball and water. Last year I was the last family to go by an hour.

One full picnic table of crap (tshirts, fishing poles, oven mitts, tie-downs, tent covers, blah) that was left behind from others that we tried to sort out. I have stuff from several siblings (rookies!) that I have to return, just like last year. When will they ever learn? Of course, I'd be in the same spot if I had left earlier, but that's not the point.

Left the campsite cleaner than when we arrived. Everyone did their part and the last few did a final walk to get the itsty bits. Fruit Loops on the ground left for the birds... it's their natural food!

There was much more but that's all my brain can return atm.