Chapter 24 Final day in LA

Friday May 21 05:30

I only woke Stephanie up once during the night, knowing she was still catching up on sleep from the night before and she would need it for the long day ahead. I got up when my watch beeped and went running in earnest today. Still burning off the stress from yesterday, I had gone over eight miles before I finally turned around.

Today was going to be stress 'free' because there was no longer a mole. The bad guys didn't know where we were and we had taken out their little local army. They would have to start from scratch recruiting people. They didn't know where we were and Stephanie was giving me perfect lines to feed to the tainted twitter account. Last night during the game I texted Skylar to set up a trip to Alaska and Tank to send someone to take pictures, photoshop Oshanna into them and feed them back to Stephanie for her to keep the ruse going.

When I got back to the house I did a hundred push-ups with my feet up on the seat of a patio lounger. Then I did a hundred single arm push-ups on both sides, followed by a five minute chair squat, a hundred lunging squats, a hundred side squats going each direction. I went inside to finish with a hundred straight backed sit ups. I could have done them in the sand, but why get all sandy when there is nice plush carpet only 15 feet away?

When I was done I headed for the third house and found Zip and Zero eating breakfast. I asked them to take Julio back to his hotel so he could clean up and get his stuff then deliver him to the theme park for a day with the family. I added Zip to Julie's and Rachel's patrol and Zero to Oshanna's detail.

When I went back inside the house my mama was setting up cold cereal for breakfast. Abuela Sanja and Rosa were helping get all the food out of the fridge, cut up fruit, set out cups of yogurt and heat up the leftovers from last night in the ovens. I told them all buenos dias as I passed and went straight up the stairs. (good morning)

I took a quick shower and dressed for another day at the theme parks. Finally, I began the slow task of waking up Stephanie. She mumbled something incoherent and burrowed further under the covers.

"Babe" I called to her. "Good morning."

"Good morning." She mumbled with her eyes still closed.

"Babe" I shook her gently. "Time to go to Universal Studios and ride some more roller coasters."

One eye popped open, then the second and she smiled at me. "Roller coasters?"

"Yes, roller coasters, theme park and junk food all day long." Next thing I knew she was hopping out of bed and heading for the shower. I really must make sure she gets her needed eight hours of sleep, at least most of the time. Tonight it won't be happening, it will be our last night together for a while. First, we will be flying till late and then I'm going to keep her up even later and wake her up early. Maybe, at least that is the plan. I'll see what I can talk her into.

An hour later, she was up, dressed, fed and had a cup of coffee in hand. Of course, she chose left over pizza for breakfast. How that goes well with coffee I'll never understand but she happily ate it all down and went back for more.

I received a one-word text from Hector 'Venezuela.'

Electricity was running through the families as we prepared to go to the theme parks. Half of my family and men had just left for Disneyland. Oshanna had gone with Julio back to his hotel room and had promised to stay with him all day. Richard, Diego, Ron and Papa had the four boys. Leyla and Rachel had the older girls and Cassie with Abuela Sanja joining their group.

I got Stephanie loaded up into the SUV. We didn't have to leave early today because everyone already had their passes to get in. She asked if we could stop and get her more coffee so we found a Starbucks on the way. I pulled out Oshanna's phone.

"Babe I made arrangements for one of my men to fly to Alaska, take pictures there and send them to you to post on the Instagram and Twitter accounts. Can you do that for me? For the next week post pictures and keep them guessing where we are and what we are doing?"

"Sure"

"You don't have to do too much. Just post a picture and a tweet or two a day and a couple of pictures on Instagram. Occasionally, answer a question, but if you read back through, Oshanna didn't answer all of their questions. Just a couple a day. She half ignored them so do the same."

"Okay I can do that. In fact, give me the phone and I will post something this morning." 'My brother is being a real wad. He won't let us go anywhere except out to the beach behind our hotel.' I watched over her shoulder confident that she could do this for me.

Because we bought our passes on-line we were allowed 'early' entrance to the park. Though by the time we arrived we were only ten minutes early. Stephanie wanted more pictures of her and us today. Since we had three other guards, Marc, Tiger and Ram with us today and the snitch was caught I felt a little better about letting my guard down and having some fun. I let Marc take our picture in front of the huge turning orb that read Universal Studios. We walked the red carpet to the huge arched entrance, got our two-day passes scanned and went through the metal detectors. Stephanie downloaded the app for her phone and I grabbed a map, not wanting to gunk up my phone with that crap.

Once again skipping the Walking Dead tour she led us past Harry Potter to the Simpsons Ride. They were just opening the ride up and we got to be in the first group of "riders". Stephanie insisted on sitting in the middle of the row, making Marc and Tiger who had led the way into the row of seats back track to sit next to her. This upset the young attendant, named Chris, who kept trying to usher her to the end but when we, her four men in black, gave him a disapproving glare he gave up and started ushering people to come around and fill the row from the other side.

She screamed several times during the 'ride' and gave me a very disapproving stare as I sat motionless and un-reacting next to her. When we got done with the ride she was furiously tapping away on her phone and led the way down the escalators to Julie! She hugged all the girls like she hadn't seen them in a year. Said 'Hi' to Rachel, Leyla and Abuela Sanja and then loudly asked the girls what they wanted to do because she was tired of her four-man entourage that didn't talk, didn't scream on the rides, didn't care what she did and just followed her blank faced through the park.

Marc and Bobby probably would have been a little more interactive if I hadn't been there but they were just following my lead and all I kept saying was "Babe what do you want to do?" I didn't realize we were that bad till she was so animatedly talking and interacting with the girls.

Down in this part of the park was Transformers 3-D. Stephanie was talking excitedly with the girls while leading the way up the stairs and through several tunnels until we got to the VIP express ride cut off. We were ushered the right way by workers dressed in uniforms like army fatigues. Wrong color but close. We eventually reached the final tunnels that were designed to look like an underground bunker with control consoles and flashing lights like it was an emergency and we got 3-D glasses. I should have expected the glasses since 3-D was in the name but I was hoping this was an actual ride and not a stadium experience.

We had thirteen security personnel and eight family members and I couldn't figure out which group I was supposed to count myself with. Technically I was head of the security detail but today I wanted to be Stephanie's fiancé and Julie's dad and have a little bit of fun with them. So I recounted myself with nine family members and twelve on the security team.

There were twelve seats to the ride so I sent five men ahead and four men behind. I rode next to Stephanie with everyone else fitting in the last three rows. Leyla and Abeula Sanja sat with us in our row and we pulled down the bar, pleased that this was an actual ride and that everyone fit on it.

We were riding in one of the Transformers and went through a maze of tunnels with 3-D video and lots of other Transformers fighting on the screens. We got knocked around and the car bumped and rocked as we moved along. The best two parts were Megatron shooting us, as we got heat and flames our way, and a part where we fall and Bumblebee catches us. The fall was pretty good with air rushing at our faces, and everyone including Stephanie was screaming.

The whole 3-D video was pretty good with different Decepticons reaching out to grab us and debris flying at us. When the whole car got sucked through Devasator it was an optical illusion trick that was really well done. It was occasionally hard to tell what were the real tunnels we were moving through and what was just on the screen with sound effects. It was funny to see a 'dead' Megatron at the end. The music throughout was from the movies and the whole experience was well done. Stephanie and the girls really enjoyed it screaming the whole way through and I might have smiled several times.

One of the best parts for me and I felt stupid acknowledging it was the big thank you Optimus Prime gives at the end. You get so little recognition in Special Forces sometimes for missions where you put your life on the line. Just a 'good job soldier' and a pat on the shoulder. It was actually nice to be thanked in such a profound way. Actually I think it was because he called us freedom fighters and that was what one of my COs used to call us. The real men behind the scenes that fought for freedom.

The girls began walking around back to the beginning.

"Jewels where are we going?"

"Come on Dad, that was the best ride besides Harry Potter. We have to do that again."

"Yeah" seconded Becky and Maggie.

We trooped through the shortcut one of the workers pointed out to us, took the express ride pass and came out almost to where they load the ride again. The second time through was even better than the first and I chuckled to myself as the girls and Stephanie screamed again the whole way through.

After the ride there was a small congregation of people waiting around the corner and the girls asked what was going on. Someone told them that Optimus Prime was going to make an appearance. We waited too, the girls making their guards crazy as they got out of protection range, winding their way through people, getting up to the front of the crowd where the red velvet ropes kept everybody back. Eventually there was the sound effects of a transformer transforming and two big doors opened and a ten foot tall Optimus Prime came out. He did his spiel about how each of us had to save the planet. He then introduced Bumble Bee and they started taking pictures with the crowd.

At first it was only children going up to get their pictures taken but Stephanie took my hand and dragged me in line behind Julie and the girls. Finally the girls got up there and Leyla and Rachel were all snapping pictures as they posed. Stephanie told them to wait up there and we joined them in the pictures. Stephanie of course had handed her phone off to Marc. Stephanie told me to smile and I gave her my 'I'm thinking about smiling' smile.

She then told the girls she wanted one with just me and she looked at my face and told me again to smile. I gave my little half smile and she elbowed me and told me to smile for real like I was on vacation so I pulled her into my side and smiled like she wanted me to for the picture. Then just to annoy her I slammed my menacing blank face back down and she elbowed me again. I knew that having a trip with my family and Julie was a once in a lifetime event and I felt myself actually wanting to enjoy the day with them.

The girls decided we had to do the Transformers ride again but this time they wanted to go through the line like normal people and walk all the tunnels. As we went through, the girls stopped to watch the videos in each room. We found out that we were actually new recruits. Ratchet came on to tell us the history of the Transformers. We learned that they are fighting over the All-Spark and our mission is to protect it. Turns out our ride is E-vack one of the Transformers and we are carrying the All-Spark to safety.

I know I bought these express passes because I imagined my family trapped in lines where they were sitting targets. I personally appreciate skipping the lines. But it seems that they do a lot to inform you and prepare you for the ride when you go through the way you are supposed to. At least this time of year the lines are so short I didn't mind going through them, as it was less than a fifteen minute wait.

As we left Transformers Julie, Cassie, Becky and Maggie broke out in a run and my men were right there with them.

"Come on" Becky yelled back at us and we all started jogging behind her.

"Why are we running?" I questioned.

"We have a lot of rides to do today." Maggie explained.

"And I want to ride all the good ones twice." Julie supported.

"We're going to Revenge of the Mummy next." Becky clarified.

"We're going to do all the ones in this part of the park before we go back up to the main level." Julie explained and laid out the plan.

When we got to the Mummy ride, we walked past an endless maze of metal bars that I couldn't imagine waiting in for hours out in the heat like so many tourists do during the summer. Then a handy employee ushered us to the express line and we were dumped out minutes from the beginning of the ride.

The walls here were blocks like the inside of a tomb, lit with eerie glowing low lights, covered in skeletons and made creepy with a scary soundtrack. This time I sent all nine men in the car before ours, and loaded up the family in one car together. Once again the seats sat four across and I held Stephanie's hand, letting her get in first so she could be on the outside and sat next to her. As we entered the beginning of the ride the effects here were not all video, many were real animatronics, moving mummies acting like they are crawling out to get you.

I could feel the car tracking upwards and the fact that everyone was secured in separately with a harness should have been a clue, still I was surprised when we crested the top and it turned into a real 'old fashioned' roller coaster ride flying downwards, spinning us up, over and around. Then coming to a sudden stop and sending us backwards through the ride. Again we were turned onto another track that we went backwards through.

All the while the scene was lit with low and sometimes flashing lights. It was riding a roller coaster in the dark, nothing I had ever done before. Finally we were turned onto another track and away we went, forwards this time. The ride lasted longer than I expected as we stopped and turned multiple times, each time going down a different stretch of track.

When we came to the end my men were waiting for us and Becky and Maggie led the way back to the beginning. The girls loved the roller coaster and happily rode it two more times. I thought this was the best protection detail for my men this entire trip, being forced to ride roller coasters over and over. Many of my men had big smiles on their faces as they happily led the girls back around to the beginning.

The Jurassic Park Ride was next and the men led the girls through the jungle like foliage to the entrance. Then through the express pass line to the beginning. I could see immediately that this was another old fashioned roller coaster on rails and Stephanie and the girls were excited to ride it. Here we climbed into boats and Stephanie wanted to be on the outside again so I let her get in first.

The boats went up a short way and then were set loose floating down a gentle river where a soothing voice talks about the flowing river. A big door opens and it welcomed us to Jurassic Park, where there were big animatronic dinosaurs moving about. Then the ride entered a cave amongst a spraying mist and then out to another section of park inhabited by more kinds of moving dinosaurs. I was impressed by the high wired fence that surrounded everything really making it look like the movie.

The ride went through another section where dinosaurs had gotten loose and there was a wrecked boat that one escaped dinosaur was eating. We passed by a section of more escaped dinosaurs and a wrecked car that dropped off the wall into the water. Finally the ride started climbing up the typical hill that is very high and there were more animatronic dinosaurs coming out to get you.

But the hill only had a little drop and then you are floating down the river again where there was a T-rex trying to eat you. For the finale the ride has the big drop that you have been waiting for but that is it and the ride is over.

"Man that sucked." Becky said as we walked away.

"That was a very short roller coaster." Rachel rationalized.

"No that was a disappointment." Julie said.

"Definitely did not live up to its hype." Stephanie clarified.

"I don't want to do it again." Maggie said "It was boring."

"I agree." Julie said.

"Me too". Becky agreed.

"What do you girls want to do next?" I asked them. The girls were obviously very disappointed and I can say that if I had waited any length of time to ride this ride I would be very disappointed too.

"I want to go on the Simpson's ride." Leyla interjected. "We never got to it yesterday."

"Me too" agreed Becky and Maggie.

"I do too, but I want to finish down here first and I want to go on the Transformers ride again. It's like the second best ride in the park." Julie said.

Everyone agreed and we went back to Transformers two more times before leaving this area of the park. My men led the way up the escalators and quickly found the Simpson's ride that we had already been to. I noticed that the girls were checking their phones where they too had downloaded the app.

We got handed 3-D glasses for the ride and the girls were anxious to ride it. This time Stephanie sat next to the girls and was like another person, laughing and talking and screaming her way through. The ride takes you through Krusty the Clown's new roller coaster with the Simpson family, while Sideshow Bob sabotages the ride trying to kill them. I had been on this ride too many times for what is was, but it was fun to watch Stephanie and the girls as they screamed their way through it.

The girls didn't seem disappointed that this wasn't a real ride and of course they had to ride it again. This time going through the regular line to get the whole backstory and history of Sideshow Bob and why he hated Krusty the Clown and the Simpsons so much he would blow up the ride while they were on it.

"What do you want to do next?" I asked the group as we turned in our glasses and exited the ride.

"The studio tour is in this part of the park." Rachel encouraged.

"Sure I've heard it's a must do." Julie added.

"I want to see The Fast and the Furious Supercharged and it's over there too." Becky said.

"I heard you get to see the studios and hear all about how they make the movies." Maggie stated.

While the girls started walking ahead of us following the maps on their phones Stephanie began talking to Leyla, Rachel and Abuela Sanja. Probably more than she had this entire trip. I couldn't help but eavesdrop as they discussed what they were doing.

"It's really nice to spend the day with your girls." Stephanie started. "Carlos and I had a lot of fun with them last week on the cruise and it is great to do that again."

"A lot has changed for you this week. You got engaged to Carlos and you're going to be Julie's stepmom. So I am glad to spend this time with you as well." Rachel said.

"Oh no!" Stephanie clarified. "I'm nobody's step-mom. I can be her friend and confidant, but I don't really know how to mother anybody and you do such a great job I don't even want to try."

"Well Carlos asked if Julie can come up and visit sometime, like maybe over summer break, and honestly I'll feel better about sending her up there knowing you will be there for her to hang out with and talk to. We all know Carlos isn't much of a talker." Rachel said.

"Sure, that I can do and if she comes we can visit with Maggie and Becky too." Stephanie said.

"I know the girls would love that. I always have to work during the summer and the girls just hang out at Mama's and Papa's and Abuela Rosa watches them. I'm sure they would rather have some fun days hanging out with you and Julie." Leyla said.

"Maybe we can get the kids together and go to Six Flags, or Point Pleasant and the beach. Maybe even do both if she comes for a week or more." Stephanie said.

"Yeah Julie loves roller coasters if you haven't noticed. Universal Studios is the highlight of this trip for her."

"For Becky and Maggie too. They don't often get a chance to go to a theme park. This is an unexpected vacation made even more special with Julie and both Abuelas here. They don't get to see you, Abuela Sanja that often."

"And I miss seeing the girls more. Maybe I will try to come up this summer as well and spend more time with my nietos." (grandkids)

"Another unexpected thing is how well all the girls are getting along. With teenage girls you never know how well they are going to mesh and they are getting along wonderfully." Leyla said.

"Yes and I am appreciating how well they are including Cassie in everything. She's quiet and doesn't say a lot but I know she really likes being able to hang out with Becky and Maggie. They are so much older she really looks up to them." Rachel said.

"They are still really good girls and easy to get along with. We aren't having any pre-teen angst yet."

"Honestly I have always felt bad that Julie has never had the opportunity to get to know Carlos' side of the family better. This trip has really given her the chance to meet her cousins and get to know her Aunts and Uncles. Before this trip she had only met Abuela Rosa once. So this has been a rare unexpected blessing for her to get to know everyone like this." Rachel said.

"Well we have enjoyed getting to know her as well and Freddie too. My boys really like having another boy their age to hang out with." Leyla said.

I listened carefully to the women as I walked along on the other side of Stephanie. It was nice to see them interacting. I had never really gotten the chance to see Stephanie hang out with the other women in my family besides Oshanna and Angelia.

"So what does every one want to do before we leave the park? I don't want anyone to miss out on anything they really want to do." Stephanie asked the women.

"Well I wanted to do the Studio Tour and see the Fast and the Furious ride too." Rachel said.

"That's about the same for me." Leyla added. "I have heard the WaterWorld show is good so if we get a chance I would like to see it."

"Abuela Sanja, what do you want to do while we are here at the park?" Stephanie asked her.

"I don't care what rides we go on. I just really wanted to spend more time with my nietas. I only see Becky and Maggie once a year at Christmas and I've only seen Julie a few times in her whole life, so I couldn't pass up this opportunity to spend the day with them." She explained. (granddaughters)

"I'm sorry for not getting Julie over to see you more often. She has such a busy schedule with school, soccer and flute lessons." Rachel explained.

"I would like to see her but your whole family too. I should have you over for dinner or something once a month so I can get to know all of you and so Julie won't feel so out of place when she comes over." Abuela Sanja offered.

"That would be nice. I would like her to get to know you better too." Rachel said.

"I would also like to invite you to some of the Manoso family gatherings. Maybe once or twice a year. We have a lot of family in Miami and many of them saw Julie when she was born but haven't seen her since and ask about her often."

"Sure," Rachel said, "that would be nice."

They all enjoyed walking over the long bridge that led to the ride and gave a bird's eye view of Los Angeles. We got to the line and were ushered to the waiting points for the tram. Each tram pulls four cars and each car holds about twenty five people. Still the line was so long it took two trams till we could get on. In line we were passed 3-D glasses and I was starting to think they needed to pass these out at the gate and just give you a pair to carry around all day. We got on the first car and with twenty one of us filled most of the car up.

The seats were four seats across and Stephanie sat in the end seat again, going against my instincts that wanted to put her in the middle to keep her better protected. I had all the men sit behind us and let the girls sit in the front row. I was pleased when Leyla and Abuela Sanja sat next to us again while Rachel sat one row back. We had our own personal tour guide, named Debra, with a microphone head set that talked us through the tour.

Along the side of the road were posters of some of the famous movies made on the Universal Studios lot. I don't honestly know what I was expecting because the pictures I had seen showed different action and live movies being filmed but I didn't realize until we left the grounds that this was a tour of the real Universal Studios, the lots and stages where they filmed their movies.

They had a lot of sound stages, who knew they needed so many? The New York metro lot is the façade of large buildings made to look like New York City. They also had façades of small buildings that look like any generic city. We drove around a little more and then they drove us into a manmade cave. It kind of looked like an old fashion wooden tunnel for a train but the walls inside look like rock.

A short way in it became totally dark and I watched the driver and the outside to see what he was using to guide himself while we moved forward in the pitch blackness. They welcomed us to Skull Island and it was time to put on our glasses then the walls came alive with a movie of dinosaurs that made it look like we were still moving as they chased us and came close to attacking us. Now obviously it was a movie but the girls still screamed and squealed like it was somehow real.

After that King Kong showed up and wrestled with the T-rex that was going to eat us and after throwing it over the tram and jumping over the tram himself the tram fell and the T-rex almost got us, but King Kong saved us again. Finally he took down the T-rex for good and roared and beat on his chest like all good giant gorillas do.

We drove through their collection of famous cars but since I'm not a major movie fan I didn't recognize most of them. Following that we went through part of the set for Jurassic Park where they had some dinosaurs jump out at us for good measure. We went through old Mexico, as they called it, where we got to see some of the special effects they use to make stormy weather and then experience a flash flood.

We parked for several minutes in a quiet zone where they are filming. The purpose for this was lost on me. Then we drove into a sound studio set up like an underground subway where we got to experience an earthquake, including shooting electrical sparks and flaring flames, followed by another flash flood. I was impressed that they could do this with four large trams.

I enjoyed the fake Jaws attack and how loudly the girls screamed when it lunged out of the water But I was not impressed with the black charger from the Fast and the Furious on the side of the road coupled with the threat that Dominic Torreto was loose on the back lots with the FBI chasing him. I laughed hard inside over Norman Bates carrying a dead woman out of the hotel and putting her in the trunk of his car before chasing the trams with a knife.

The crashed 747 airplane scene from War of the Worlds was impressive for how big it was and that it is still preserved. Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) from the Fast and the Furious comes on the video to say we're all in danger and they're taking us to a secure location. The girls look fascinated more than afraid and Stephanie is grinning widely anxious for what is next. I have to appreciate the lengths Universal has gone through to make this ride entertaining.

Inside the next warehouse is the Fast and the Furious adventure movie. It was better than King Kong. I don't know why they list them as separate rides when they are only part of this one. The movie really made it seem like the tram was moving, how they make it 360 degrees I don't know but it was showing out both sides of the tram and out the front. Plus it was being broadcast separately for each car of the tram. Apparently, it is the world's largest 3D experience with walls over 40 feet high.

The best part was when the tram went off road and felt like it was falling. I seem to really like the falling scenes today. It is one reason I always liked jumping out of planes. Feeling that free fall and the world rushing by you is always such a trip. Fortunately by the time we made it out of the last warehouse, it had been almost an hour and we were back at the theme park.

We moved on to the Harry Potter Adventure, this time through the girls had their camera phones at the ready and were taking pictures of everything and themselves with everything as well. The famous Hogwarts train, each of the very famous shops and then in front of The Three Broomsticks where they declared we were having lunch. Ram, Bobby, Junior, Ian, Scott and I led the way through the line and I told the lady behind the register we were a group of twenty one and I was paying for everyone to the last man in black.

Standing in line I could see how ridiculous we looked, thirteen large men guarding five targets. With our shorts and tank tops we at least looked a little like we were on vacation too, but the silent brooding stares and constantly shifting high-alert stances told another story. There was no denying these men were working, not here for the rides. Maybe once this whole mess was over I could have Stephanie give the men lessons on relaxing and looking less militant so they could conform to fit in more situations.

There were a lot healthier food options here with roast chicken, corn, roast potatoes and salad! OMG a glorious roast chicken salad. I had salad last night after being without but it was just lettuce and croutons with Italian dressing. This was a real roast chicken salad and I was in hog heaven. Stephanie got the chicken and ribs platter but instead of roasted potatoes she upgraded to the seasoned wedge fries. Julie and the other girls got the roasted smoked chicken platters. After asking me specifically they all ordered frozen Butterbeers, pumpkin juices and gilly waters, explaining that they were just here for the day and had to try them all.

Leyla and Rachel decided that they wanted to try different things and ordered the Shepard's pie dinner and Cornish pastries and agreed to share. Several pairs of my men got together and split the four-person family feast. It was just the right amount of food for two over-sized musclebound monstrosities. I smiled as I listened to the teens argue about whether the frozen Butterbeer was better than the original.

After the family feasted the girls were too full to go on rides and all wanted to buy scarves for their various houses. Becky declared that she wanted to be like Hermione and got the gold and red. Maggie and Cassie wanted to be Hufflepuff because one of the Hufflepuff boys in the movie also played the vampire in the latest books they were reading. Stephanie was leaning towards getting the green scarf representing the Slytherin house, remarking on how she had a thing for the misunderstood bad boys, but Julie was trying to talk her into choosing Ravenclaw.

Julie just had to have the blue and finally talked Stephanie into buying a blue one as well, even though there were no cold winters in Miami requiring a scarf and in all the years I've known her I've never seen Stephanie wear a scarf. Julie promptly reminded me that these were souvenirs so I told Rachel and Leyla that I would buy the girls whatever they wanted but that they had to deal with lugging it around the park, loading it in their luggage and hauling the stuff through the rest of the trip and back home. They looked through everything, approving and vetoing, and keeping the girls from going too far overboard. Rachel knew that each shop would allow us to leave our items with them so they could be sent up front for pick-up at the end of our day. We needed empty hands before we went back to the rides.

After shopping the girls wanted to go back to the Harry Potter Hidden Journey ride. As we stood in the much smaller line I listened to Julie and the girls make small talk with four teen boys in front of them. The boys were filled with excitement as they explained to the girls that this ride was the best in the park and they had already been on it four times today.

I considered having my men get rid of them, but Stephanie convinced me there was no harm in letting them ride rides together. After Harry Potter the four boys followed us to ride the Hippogriff. At Stephanie's stern look I had four of my men ride in the car ahead of us so the boys could ride in the same car as the girls. The group of teen boys tagged along with us and I watched them warily. Finally after enjoying the singing frogs the girls decided that they wanted to leave this area to finish the rest of the park. While the boys, realizing they were never going to get the girls alone and that we were leaving California tonight, went back to the Harry Potter ride.

Becky and Maggie led the way to the Despicable Me ride and the girls all loved it. They were laughing at all the jokes, screaming and laughing on the ride, all the while with big smiles on their faces. After riding it the girls announced that they wanted to see the shows. I couldn't believe all the rides we had ridden in one day. It is amazing how fast you get through the park when you don't have to wait in long lines.

WaterWorld was an interesting show, the pyrotechnics were impressive and the cast did a great job with their fake fights. They really looked real. The boaters, jet skiers and stunt men were world class doing lots of stunts in a small space. But what fascinated me was their mic technology, small enough that you couldn't see them but completely waterproof as they all went in the water multiple times and they were still working. I would have to find out more.

The Special Effects show was entertaining and educational for the girls, who have never thought about the special effects much less wonder how they do them. They had stunt actors show how they beat each other up with out actually hurting each other. They showed how they do some kinds of visual effects and how they put sound effects to already shot film. They 'cut' a girl's arm with a 'blood knife', a special effects tool that releases blood from the knife's blade. They showed motion capture where they use a special suit to move, the computer captures the movements, and you can create a digital character and make him move however you want. Then they did the best thing and actually set a guy on fire. As cool as it was to see I wouldn't want to be the guy set on fire six shows a day.

The stunt show was good and impressed the girls but what they really loved, and how I knew I was with a bunch of little girls and not boys was the animal trick show. They loved the whole show from beginning to end. They loved the birds. Especially the one that would fly to the person selected, take a dollar bill out of their hand and fly it to the trainer. Then the trainer gave the bill back to the bird and it flew it back to the person. They had a lot of animals that crossed the stage without a trainer and exited the other side through a variety of exits. They had ducks, geese and even a chicken which is impressive, I didn't know chickens could be that smart. Several different cats, a rat and even a whole line of guinea pigs that trooped across the stage except the last one that looked lost and took several extra minutes to finally make his way to the other side and off the stage.

They had several dogs come on the stage and do different tricks. One staged trick had a young volunteer boy ask the dog to go off stage and bring back an article of clothing. He brought back a hat the first time but a bra the second, and the trainer made a big deal about it being a family show so another dog came dancing out on two feet, took the bra in his mouth and danced back off the stage again. I can't say it wasn't cute but this was not the show to interest big strong men in black. The girls oohed and ahhed, pointed and laughed. They wanted to watch the show again but Stephanie's stomach was announcing that it was dinner time.

As we prepared to leave the park we stopped and picked up all of our shopping bags and though I had paid for the bill I hadn't realized how much stuff they had bought. We headed over to the City Walk area to check out the restaurants and shops, allowing everyone several dinner choices. After some debate Rachel, Leyla and Stephanie decided on Bubba Gump's Shrimp for our meal. The teens all got fried shrimp with fries. Steph ordered the Shrimp Shack Mac n Cheese. Rachel and Leyla both got Jenny's Catch with lobster.

Abuela Sanja loves seafood, I knew from growing up in her house, but she eats it Cuban style and it took her a few minutes to decide. She finally ordered the Bourbon Street Mahi Mahi with a cup of Shrimp Gumbo while I happily ordered the Pear and Berry Salad. A couple of men got the grilled Seafood Trio. Several got the ribs and shrimp. But the favorite was Forrest's Seafood feast. A full meal with fried shrimp, beer battered fish, fries and hush pups.

Everyone was stuffed and much to Stephanie's chagrin we left without ordering dessert. I froze when I heard Stephanie yell and immediately scanned the area, ready to strike. After finding no potential enemies I looked back at Stephanie. She was nearly panting as she looked in the window of the Voodoo donut shop. She gave me a pleading look and I nodded as she went inside followed closely by two of the guys. The girls seeing where she went immediately followed with Leyla, Rachel and Abuela Sanja all trailing behind.

Voodoo Donuts was a donut lover's dream. The girls started calling out the exciting toppings on every donut. I chuckled when I watched both Bobby and Marc lick their lips when Julie announced there was a bacon maple donut. I encouraged the girls to pick out a few dozen to bring back to the plane. I noticed Leyla and Steph giggling near one of the display cases and went over to join them. They were staring at a chocolate frosted donut that I quickly realized resembled a penis with a ball sack.

"Is that what…" I didn't get a chance to finish.

"It's one of the specialty donuts, it's called Cock and Balls'." Stephanie laughed.

"Babe"

We left the store with six pink boxes of donuts. The girls and Stephanie each ate a donut now and I pretended to look the other way when Marc and Bobby wolfed down their maple bacon donuts. Steph moved up beside me and I surveyed the donut in her hand. It was shaped like a person with frosting to decorate the eyes, nose, and mouth. It was a puffy glazed donut with chocolate frosting and a pretzel stick protruding from the heart area.

"Voodoo?" I asked.

She nodded as she took another bite. "Oh my gosh."

She tilted the donut to show me the red jelly that was oozing out of the area where the heart would be. I shook my head as I watched Stephanie take another bite before licking the chocolate off of her lips. I would have loved to clean her lips off myself but it wasn't the time or place. I would have her tonight, there was no doubt about that.

At 19:45 I sent a text instructing all of my men to herd their charges towards the exit. I reminded them to make sure everyone had eaten before getting to the airport and if not to stop for food before getting to the plane; that we had a four-hour flight ahead of us. I had been receiving texts all day from my men and it sounded like the Disney group had a good day and stayed together through the park. The boys had ridden every ride and seen all the shows. But they saw WaterWorld and the Special Effects shows twice. I had received updates from Lester all day giving me the whereabouts of Oshanna. He knew I didn't want to see her and I occasionally sent him texts of where we were going so he could steer clear of us.

On the way to the airport I texted Skylar to have the plane readied tomorrow for a weekend of flying. No flight plans were to be filed; we were planning to leave about twelve. I wanted the pilots only, no Emile or Sabine, but with a fully stocked kitchen along with two meals per seat and as many snack foods and drinks as they could fit. She texted back that she did it already but didn't give the pilots the destination. I replied to her text explaining that they would get the exact location when I boarded tomorrow but that obviously we were going back to the mainland.

Once at the airport the thirty-three men had the luggage quickly loaded and the back seats returned to their vehicles. Nightshift had been there waiting for us and had already unloaded the seats. My family was quickly seated inside the plane, many of them picking the same seats they had ridden in before.

I gave Marc my ID and credit card and told him to take some men to return all the SUVs because I wasn't up for dealing with more inane employees. Once everyone was seated and while we waited for the men to get back I had Emile and Sabine take the donuts and offer them for everyone to eat.

Cheers went up around the plane when the captain announced our destination was Honolulu, Hawaii. After takeoff and once the seatbelt sign was turned off I stood and addressed my family.

"This next week you are all booked on Koana Cruise Lines for a week long island-hopping cruise. We will check into the airport hotel so we don't have to drive anywhere. Tonight stay with the group till you are securely in your rooms. Don't unpack, we will be leaving in the morning to board the ship around 10:30 am. This will give you time to sleep in and order room service for breakfast before we have to leave. I will be flying back to the mainland to handle some business for a few days. Marc will be in charge on the cruise. Listen to him and do anything he says."

"On the cruise ship we have an entire hallway reserved. My extra dayshift and nightshift men will be guarding that hall. Stay with your assigned men at all times on the ship. Excursions off the ship are tentatively authorized in groups of two guarded women together or more. I don't want anyone going off the ship alone. If there is any trouble at the ports of call you will have to stay on the ship the rest of the trip. I shouldn't be tied up that long; hopefully I'll be back midweek and rejoin the cruise at whatever port you are in."

I debated what I was going to say next, I hated asking my family to lie for me but short term it was the most expedient way. "If you are ever asked, I stayed with the group the entire trip. There will be photos of me on the cruise everyday so don't expect to be asked but just in case you are, I stayed with you the whole time."

My family nodded to me knowing this was important and then, seeing I was done, went back to talking to each other and playing on their electronics.

While I was talking, Mama and Leyla moved to the same row as Stephanie and pulled out their phones and computers. When I got done talking Mama moved into my seat engaging Stephanie in conversation.

"You haven't been on the Pinterest page for your wedding or made any comments all week so we just wanted to ask you a few questions." My mama started and Stephanie groaned and rolled her eyes.

To be continued.…

A/N: Thank you all for your reviews! Another fun 'happy' chapter on vacation with the family. Please read and review.

As always big THANK YOU to my beta Sassysaint you add so much!

Second Big THANK YOU to my sister, Jonelle. Thank you for fixing all my many little mistakes.

Ranger's Family Album

Mother's Mother – Abuela Rosa, Father's Mother – Abuela Sanja Manoso

Mother – Maria Father – Javier

Siblings and family in age order

Leyla (35) & Richard Gonzales– Rebecca (Becky) 12, Margaret (Maggie) 10, Richard (Ricky) 7, Michael (Mikie) 5

Angelia (34) & Jordan White – Shanna 5 – Kendrick (Ricky) 3

Ricardo Carlos Manoso (32)– Ranger

Julio Manoso (30) Ex Allysa – Jacob 2

Isabella (27) & Diego Diaz – Chris 8, Shylia 6, Parker 3

Oshanna Manoso (22)

Rachel & Ron – Julie 12, Fredrico (Freddie) 9, Cassandra (Cassie) 6

Trenton & Miami Merry Men Assignments (33 Men)

Abuela Sanja – Vince, Ian

Abuela Rosa – Manuel, Gavin

Maria – Erik, Francis

Leyla – Hal, Tony

Angelia – Woody, Dillion

Isabella – Cal, Red

Oshanna – Lester, Sport

Rachel – Eddie, Pace

Julie – Junior, Scott

Stephanie – Ranger, Marc, Tiger

Extra's – Bobby, Ram, Zero, Zip

Night's – Chet, Chester, Gino, Mario, Ryan, Ramon, Billy, Cade, Simon