mid-December to Christmas Eve

After getting some rest from our vacation, we headed out to visit the fam on Dec. 19th. Tony was showing pictures from my camera and decided to get a little wacky with it. First he got a shot of Eric, Jordan, and himself (at a bizarre angle from holding the camera)

and then of me demonstrating the "gang sign" I flashed at the camera on the way down Splash Mountain on our last ride.

It was Christmas Eve before we knew it. The kids had been doing Santa advent calendars and the beards were now white and fluffy!

(Christian made me take a second picture of his, the little joker)

We wrapped our little gifts for the a white elephant gift exchange at my parents' (the first of many, most likely). I had seen the idea for the cute snowman wrap (gummy pandas were inside) and Faith did such a great job bringing it to fruition!

The nativity play was wonderful, as always. Christian got to be Joseph this year. The angel (Sierra) is delivering a message to Mary (Lily).

What a cute couple!

The whole gang. Brendon was a shepherd and Noah, his sheep.

The three wise (wo)men: Faith, Celeste and Alaura.

My cuties!

Christian's white elephant gift was a box of gag items from the dollar store. It included a thing that sqirts you when you sit on the potty, fake soap that has a fake fly attached to it, a whistle that made a whoopie cushion type sound (which he calls a "tootie whistle") and these crazy fake teeth.

He cried and cried over having to put it in the gift pile and then threw a big fit when Celeste chose it. She was soooo sweet, she traded Buddy for the votive candle holder he had. Later in the game Faith stole the candle, but I think all the kids were happy about what they ended up with. But none more than our little guy!

Afterward, we commenced with our annual family tradition of driving by Doctor John's, but first we swung by the Roy City offices and admired all the lighted trees.

There was even a sleigh where another family was taking pictures. They obliged in taking our family picture.

Unfortunately, there weren't many cars {to laugh and point at} in the parking lot of Doctor John's, probably due to the fact that we drove by before 9 p.m. The kids put out a great spread for Santa and the reindeer and got nestled snug in their beds. 

The reason for all the additional snacks, over and above the cookies & milk requisite: for the six months prior to Christmas, Buddy had been commenting about any food he deemed delicious enough, "Santa needs to taste this!" And in fact, he remembered that he wanted Santa to try the green Miracle Salsa with avacado, tomatillos & anaheim peppers that we got at the Kaysville farmers' market. He was quite sad that we didn't have any to share. What a thoughtful little guy!

Disneyland! part 2

On December 15th we got to Disneyland early and rode "Pirates of the Caribbean" twice in a row. We love that ride and we were especially sad when last we were there (March of 2006) that it was closed for renovations. They were putting in the Johnny Depp likenesses, and I have to say, we were very impressed!

 We did some classic rides like Dumbo,

and the teacups,

and then headed into Toon Town. We loved looking through Minnie and Mickey's houses and posing for pictures.

Next we checked out some attractions at California Adventures and even got to meet Mr. Incredible!

Even Tony was worried about going on Tower of Terror! Faith even cried a little after the ride was over and was upset that we made her go on it. Oddly enough, the next day she had a change of heart and said that she actually liked it!!?

We all enjoyed the new Toy Story ride/video game,

and were a little caught off guard when the ferris wheel car slid and rocked just as I snapped this pic.

We ate at Blue Bayou that evening and, even though it was super pricey and Tony wasn't feeling well, it was still awesome. The ambiance and getting to gawk at the Pirate's of the Caribbean's riders made the experience one of the kids' favorite.

We then watched the parade from our spot by the entrance.

Because it was drizzly, no one was in line for Splash Mountain the next morning, so we completely soaked ourselves by riding it twice without getting off in between.

We did the Haunted Mansion again,

and just afterward Christian tripped and decided to catch himself with his head instead of his hands. That was the loudest melon-hitting-pavement sound I've ever experienced! While trying to calm myself down, we rushed to the first aid station. Buddy was all right, they just gave him some Motrin, a bandage, and an ice pack.

He perked right up and we went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I even told Buddy that he could drive and then complimented him on his driving skills. About halfway through, after taking on tons of crazy turns and nearly crashing our car, he turned to me with a freaked out expression and asked if I would take over driving. I laughed and my little guy was very relieved after I showed him that the steering wheel doesn't actually do anything and the ride steers itself. Poor Buddy!

Faith loves giving her little bro piggyback rides.

We actually had a good lunch of meat kabobs and a shared sandwich, Christian just had to ham it up for the camera!

Then Faith started feeling not-so-great, so Tony sat with her while I took Buddy over to Tom Sawyer Island. He loved everything over there, but especially the skulls.

We climbed up through some of the man made caves, but inside one the walls kept getting closer and closer together and the pathway narrower and narrower. I just about had a panic attack at one point where I was pretty sure I couldn't get through the next opening and was afraid to get stuck. The one recurring nightmare I have is just like that!!! I turned right around, went back, and refused to go in any more caves. Christian thought I was a wimp.

That evening we decided to do some shopping in Downtown Disney. Christian nearly suffered complete heart failure when he entered a Lego store for the first time. I think it was more awesome than anything he had ever imagined :)

The kids decided to spend the rest of their souvenir money on Build-A-Bear.

They had a blast!

Tony got us these cups of chocolate mousse for a treat that night.

December 17th was our last day at Disneyland. Faith and I decided to try the Indiana Jones ride even though Christian was too short for it. Tony took Buddy on Pirate's again while we were gone.

A couple of times this trip we got churros. Yum!

Last time on Small World,

and then we rode in the caboose of the train.

Had to get in one last viewing of Bug's Life!

And it started to really rain.

We had to eat lunch at Cafe Orleans since they didn't have the Monte Cristo sandwich at the Blue Bayou for dinner (only lunch) and we'd heard it was fab. It didn't disappoint!

Faith's feet got wet and freezing and our hotel shuttle couldn't pick us up until 5:15 (they don't run it from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) so I suggested going to Captain EO so we could get out of the rain while we waited. Afterward, Tony apologised to the kids for torturing them with it, but they'd enjoyed the kooky musical! On the drive home the next day Christian asked from the back seat, "Mom, do you member that cool show where there was the bad guy with tubes and big claws and that nice lady with curly hair changed it nice?" Faith said, "Buddy, that wasn't a lady, that was Michael Jackson!" Totally understandable mistake.

The next morning we picked up a few last souvenirs like pajamas for the kids, shirt for Tony and this ornament for me. Then we were on our way back home!

We only stopped three times on the way back, just for fuel and to eat dinner at Panda Express. The kids slept a lot more this time so it made the trip quite short for them. I took these pictures just before taking the kids into the house. You can kind of see Buddy's p.j.'s have Mickey dressed as a pirate,

and Faith got a Minnie Mouse nightgown (and woke up when I opened her car door, that stinker). We absolutely loved our vacation and hope to get back to Disneyland in the next year or two!

Disneyland! part 1

Early in the morning (we were on the road by 2:30 am) on December 12, we started off for Disneyland! We like to drive straight through, so we thought by leaving so early the kids would sleep through much of the expedition. [this is a staged picture taken around 7 am]

Unfortunately, the kids were too excited and woke up immediately after being placed in the car. Fortunately, they were excellent on the trip. They watched movies, colored, ate snacks, and played with toys.

Other than losing the little magnetic car twice (I need to attach that thing with a string), this timeline board kept the "are we there yet?"'s at bay. Tony just zeroed out the trip odometer when we left the house and had the kids move the car each hundred miles. The pictures at the top just represent the starting and ending points and some things we would pass on the way, but the kids teased me that it didn't look like Las Vegas when we were 200 miles away from home :)

We only made a couple gas/bathroom stops and got breakfast at a drive through so we made it to our hotel by 3:30 p.m. The kids and I swam in the chilly pool while Tony rested and then we ordered pizza.

The next morning started off with Breakfast With Mickey!

Stitch was so funny! We haven't seen the movie, but I told the kids that I remembered from the commercials that he's a mischievious alien creature. He picked gunk out of Christian's ear and ate it, then picked his own ear and tried to feed it to Christian! Needless to say, Stitch became Buddy's favorite character for the rest of the trip.

The kids were too shy to get up in the front and dance, but they finally stood by our table near the end of the song.

On our way out of the hotel where the breakfast was, we ran into Santa and relished the photo op.

We loved the giant Christmas tree

and the beautiful decorations on the castle!

One souvenir we knew we wanted was hats for the kids, so we stopped right in to the Mad Hatter's where Faith picked princess Minnie ears and Christian got Mickey sorcerer hat with ears.

We loved blasting Zurg on the Buzz Lightyear ride and I think we rode it twice in a row.

We had so much fun and absolutely loved the weather that day!

The kids were a bit worried about Splash Mountain, especially because Faith remembered being scared of it nearly five years ago on our previous visit, but both ended up naming it their favorite ride!!

We were hungry for a snack and decided on some caramel apples. Jook how cute they were! Faith opted for the Christmas Minnie, but we couldn't talk Buddy out of just plain caramel.

I was going to eat whatever he couldn't finish, but he ended up eating nearly the whole thing!

We saw the real reindeer, but didn't stand in line for the big guy since the kids had already visited with him several times recently. Pluto obviously wanted to match his buddies.

Faith totally psyched herself out over how scary she thought space mountain would be. After I forced her on, she loved it!

Disneyland was closing early that night for an employee party, so we got to see the fireworks at 6pm. We sat on a bench right at the front so we could make a quick escape . . .

and head over to California Adventure.

We didn't stay too long since the shows were over and we were tired, but we did a few rides and got to see mobs of people around a DJ and dancers for ElecTRONica--a party they were throwing for the new Tron movie.

The next day, December 14th, we woke up early and drove to SanDiego for Sea World. We got there before they even opened.

Once inside, I got a quick picture of the kids with this penguin character and then we were off to see the exhibits.

We visited the bat rays,

seals, and a few others.

Then, as we were walking down the street, here came a flock of flamingos! Workers were herding them to another exhibit area. It was fun to be so close.

We checked out the arctic animals exhibit and especially liked the polar bears.

Our first show was an educational one about orcas.

We went back to the rays later so we could feed them. Christian's arm wasn't quite long enough (their mouth is on the underside of their body so you have to hold the fish under the water) but I forced Faith to do it against her will (physically holding her hand down there) and she loved it! She was so proud of herself. This big guy kept leaping halfway out of the water at us because he was EXTRA hungry!

Cute snuggly moment while waiting in line to feed the dolphins.

Christian, Faith and Tony each got to feed a dolphin three fish,

petting it between each fish. It was the highlight of the day!

Another big hit--holding starfish.

The park was fairly dead all day and they only did one showing of each show, so nearly all the patrons walked in a glob from one show to the next. It was cloudy, but not cold so we were very comfortable.

This was a pet show that was really fun,

and the seals were the kids' favorite, of course.

We also went to the Shamu show and Christian threw a giant fit because we wouldn't sit at the front of the splash zone :)


At the end of the day we checked out the sharks. I love Buddy's vicious shark face!

The kids got lots of souvenir money from their grandparents and aunt Tammy, so they used some at Sea World. Faith got a Shamu in a pink purse and a marbled glass dolphin to replace the two she broke from our last visit. Yes, two. The first broke on the way home from the trip and Tony ordered another in the mail. Hopefully this one lasts a little longer.

Christian got a Shamu water gun and this snowglobe.

He told me he had to get it because he has a "no-gwobe co-wection." In fact, he had just arranged it on a shelf a few days before going on our trip. As he placed each one, he told me where he had gotten it, "Dis one's from aunt Tammy, and dis one's from aunt Tammy, and dis one's from aunt Tammy, and dis one is a Santa train . . . oh, yeah--it from aunt Tammy." I was thinking, "I need to do something about that aunt Tammy!" (I am a non-collector and I hate nicknacks and trinkets.)


Stay tuned for the rest of our trip pictures!