The Happiest Place on Earth!

Here we are celebrating 40+ years of marriage with some of our children and grandchildren.

We are at Disneyland and this is significant because we had our first date at Disneyland on Friday the 13th in March 1970. It was a lucky day for us. We also spent our one night honeymoon between classes in college at Disneyland on April 17th, 1971. Later, Neal worked at the Autopia cars in Disneyland in 1972-1973 as we waited for the birth of Derrick. Derrick went in with us often when he was just a baby to look at shops and just walk around. We got in free because Neal worked there. However, in those days you bought tickets to ride each ride and so we couldn't afford that but we always came away with a special happy feeling. Disneyland opened just 15 minutes from my hometown of Garden Grove in 1955. I was 4 years old. A few years later Santa Claus left us tickets and we got to go on Christmas Day to Disneyland. For my family, that was the beginning of a happy relationship. Neal remembers going in 1956 when he was 5 with his grandmother, she died in 1957. They had to drive 2 hours from Ventura for the trip but boy was it worth it. As we raised our children we took time to go to Disneyland whenever we could. Not real often and even less when we move to the Pacific Northwest. However, to this day, it is a magical place to us. We have 3 day passes and tomorrow is our last day. Derrick and Jen came with their 3 kids, Rachael, Megan, and Ethan. Melissa and Morgan came with their 3 kids, Manhattan, Megan, and Maxwell. Jeffrey and Danielle had school so we brought Kaylee and Sami. Stevie is 3 and too young to be away from mom. Michael and Esther are in the process of adopting Miriam and Elaina, and also just found out they will be having child number 7 in August. So, they couldn't make it. They are busy at home with Miriam, Chantelle, Elaina, Lauren, Alexander, and William. We don't know what number 7 is yet. We have missed them but plan to visit them in August. So, we are very busy grandparents. Melissa found us a house to rent near Disneyland, about 1 mile. It has a pool, hot tub, ping-pong table, pool table and a wide screen TV in every room. It is 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. She did great! The house is beautiful. This trip has been wonderful. We are so grateful to our children for helping us make this happen. This was a dream anniversary! Neal and I are already talking about doing this again some day. Love to you all, Laura and Neal