DIS - NEEEYY - LAAAAANND!

Early Sunday morning we set out on the 45 minute drive to Disneyland. Neither Bronson, Matthew nor Diane had been to Disneyland before, so we had quite a broad day seeing adult and infant attactions. We made it on The Indiana Jones ride, the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Carribbean, Splash Down Mountain (where we got soaked and some of our clothes never did dry off), Winnie the Pooh ride, Disney train, Toon Town, Honey I shrunk the Audience and the Mark Twain paddle boat as a perfect finish to a great day.

We had a ton of fun, and Bronson really enjoyed himself. He was a little afraid on the jungle cruise, and pretty scared on the Pirates of the Carribbean ride, I guess a bunch of drunken pirates singing is scarier than rhinos and aligators and elephants...

Anyhow, enjoy our photos below, we sure did!

(this one's for you, Jess)

(Bronson really enjoyed exploring Mickey's house, he sat in his armchair, watched his tv, and really, really, really wanted to get a drink of Mickey's strawberry milkshake)

(Bronson enjoyed meeting Pooh, ran straight past him to his honey pot, actually.)

(Bronson was so excited to meet Tigger - I don't really think he's ever seen him before, but while we were waiting in line he was watching him with increasing interest, by the time it was our turn, he just ran right up and gave Tigger a big hug and a kiss. He kept waving goodbye to him, then when we headed to Eeyore Bronson wouldn't give him the time of day)

Visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Portage!

Last week we had special visitors, Grandma Diane and Grandpa Terry. We had a great visit full of shopping, eating, drinking, sight-seeing and playing!
Not only did we do the usual Kidspace, LA Zoo, Huntington, etc, but we also went to an Outlet mall, Griffith Observatory and Disneyland! Below are pictures from our many adventures, Disneyland gets a post all it's own :)

KIDSPACE!

LA ZOO!

GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY!

Owens Valley January 2008

Matthew is doing some work on the solar telescopes located at OVRO (Owens Valley Radio Observatory), this is where he also does work on the big 40M scope and the C Bass project. Most of the time he controls the telescopes remotely, from his laptop (7am and 5pm every day), however some hands on work required a last minute trip to Owens Valley last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Luckily, I have a nice boss who was cool with giving me a day off... as long as I was back for an 11:30 am shift on Thursday.

Thursday was an early morning for us (it's a 5 hour drive), but the rest of the trip was super fun.

There was plenty of snow on the surrounding mountains, but little touched the valley floor - boy was it ever cold, however! Amy, Bronson and I had fun swimming in the hot springs and exploring the wonderful small town that is Bishop, CA. We went to galleries, book stores and coffee shops, can it get much better? Well, it was beautifully clear and sunny, too!

We had a really good time, I am reminded how much I would love to move up there, as is Matthew, and Amy got to see another side to California. Bronson, well, he was excited to get to explore the hotel minifridge, he also got his first taste of quality Indian cuisine and mango lassi - which he loves. (The cabin on site at the telescopes was occupied by another family, so they put us up in the Starlight Motel in Big Pine.)

Also, here are some pictures of Bronson and his gal pal (one of them), Sofia, hanging out at Playgroup: