SoCal '09: Disneyland

2009 California Trip - Part 1

DISNEYLAND

We were lucky enough to get to Disneyland while we visited Sean's family this year! Our budget was pretty tight, but we got some Disney giftcards and Christmas cash that we used toward the admission cost. What a fun day! Todd, Muffy and Spencer came with us, along with Auntie Cassie - we also met up with Alysha and Blake (they went a little earlier since they weren't going to stay all day).

In usual fashion, we arrived early and stayed late: 15+ hours and we did it all... the rides, the shows, the fireworks and the yummy treats you can only get at Disneyland!

Here's some pictures from throughout the day...

Jungle Cruise
From right to left: Cassie, Blake, Alysha, Spencer and Todd - Muffy's hidden.

Gotta get a Hippo pic for Sean!

Haunted Mansion all dressed up for a hauntingly good Christmas in "Nightmare Before Christmas" decor.

Alysha and Blake on the Indiana Jones ride.

The boys - Ethan and Spencer
Watching the ducks and waiting for the first group to go on Splash Mountain.

We ate lunch in Tomorrowland.

No trip to Disneyland is complete without a ride on King Arthur's Carrousel.

Muffy, Todd and Spencer

Big smiles on the Carrousel!

Had to get pics by the fire station and in the fire truck for Ethan. :)

That is a really, really big Christmas tree!

Watching Fantasmic! on daddy's shoulders.

My attempt at a decent picture of the castle all lit up at night - I wish I knew how to use my camera settings a little bit better!

For the record, we all rode on:
- Jungle Cruise
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Haunted Mansion
- King Arthur Carrousel
- Winnie the Pooh (just Ethan and Mommy)
- It's a Small World (Ethan went with Todd, Muffy and cousin Spencer)

And those over 40inches also enjoyed:
- Splash Mountain
- Indiana Jones
- Star Tours
- Space Mountain
- Big Thunder Mountain

And the big excitement of the day???

Measuring at just over 36inches high, Ethan was able to go on...

Matterhorn Bobsleds!!!

Wahoo!! His very first roller-coaster! It was so fun to be able to take him. :) He sat with me and Sean and I tried to brief him on what to expect. We told him it would be fast and a little scary, but that Mommy would hold him tight the whole time. Well.... I won't say that he loved it - but he didn't hate it either! No tears, but his eyes were sure big when we finished the ride. Toward the end, I even held his hands up. We had also warned him that he would see a monster - afterwards, Sean asked Ethan what color the monster's eyes were. Without hesitation, Ethan answered, "Red!" I'm going to mark this down as a success and hopefully next year he'll be tall enough for even more rides!! [Random Fact: It was also the 50th anniversary of the opening the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland.]

Also, since we were there just days before the Rose Bowl (which our own Oregon Ducks were playing in) we decided to wear our new Oregon shirts to Disneyland. Sean and I in Rose Bowl shirts and Ethan in an "I Love My Ducks" shirt. [The "Ducks" part of his shirt is covered up by a bag of goldfish in this picture.]
I thought we were being so original, but apparently we weren't the only ones with this brilliant idea - we saw fellow Duck fans throughout the park ALL day! It was actually kinda fun - like an unspoken bond. We got many high fives and "Go Ducks!" shout-outs. When Sean and I went on Splash Mountain, we happened to get on an all-Oregon log and for the big drop we did the "O" with our hands. Also, a fellow fan saw us in Tomorrowland and let us know that the Oregon Marching Band and cheerleaders were going to be performing in front of the castle later that night so we made sure to catch the show and were not disappointed.

We did attempt to find Donald Duck himself for a cool family picture, but were unsuccessful in tracking him down. We had to settle for a tour of his boat in Toon Town - for the record, it was the first time I had set foot back there in 10 years! (And I've been at least 6 or 7 times since then).Ethan steering Donald's boat.

Oh yeah, and those yummy Disneyland-only treats, which I highly recommend, are:

- Churro (Other than a fresh one from Mexico, these are the best!)

- Dole Whip (Combining two of my favorites - fresh pineapple taste and frozen yogurt! Find the stand outside the Tiki lounge thing in Adventureland.)

- Ice Cream (I know, I know. What's so special about an ice cream cone, huh? Well, when it's a waffle cone with the top dipped in chocolate and then rolled in crushed peppermint and filled with a scoop of the best peppermint ice cream you've ever had... sigh... it's pretty special. Plus it's from Disneyland, so that alone just makes it more magical! :)

Another great trip to Disneyland! I am SO HAPPY that Ethan also enjoys it and I feel so lucky to have (ahem, awesome) family that lives in Southern California that we get to visit because otherwise our pretty much annual trip would all just be a dream. Until next time...

PROOF that I was actually there! I went through our pictures and this one at the gate is the ONLY picture of me from the day! I've gotta get Sean trained to snag the camera out of my hands more often and get a few of me and Ethan - and someone else to take a few of me and Sean for that matter!

Just another day...

...in my new life as a mostly-stay-at-home mom! Monday morning Ethan and I got off to sort of a slow start. We were both still tired from the weekend and slept in a little. Once Ethan was up, though, the first thing out of his mouth was, "I'm sooo hungry!" Of course. Two bowls of Raisin Bran Crunch later...

Meanwhile, after catching up a little in the blogging world, I got busy cleaning up the house and at one point found Ethan like this:Completely zoned out in front of the boob-tube, watching Disney channel and eating more cereal. Yeah, time to remedy that. TV was turned off and other activities were suggested - he settled on water painting and I got out the paint, water and paper. While he worked on his latest artwork for the coveted refrigerator spot, I worked on loading the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen.

Ethan was quite occupied with his painting, back was to me by the way, so finally I asked him how he was doing. He turned around to look at me and this is what I saw:I couldn't contain myself - I burst out laughing because it was completely unexpected! Though, I should have known with a 2year old and paints that not all of it would end up on the paper! He also showed me the artwork on his hand:This was the final masterpiece that was put on paper - Ethan told me there was "purple for mommy, blue for daddy and green for Ethan!" I love it and it most certainly is proudly displayed on the fridge!

Christmas Festivities 2009

Christmas 2009

So I thought last year Christmas was fun with Ethan - even more so this year! He was so into it! Those precious little eyes took in everything in great awe. I so love experiencing things through a child's perspective.

The days leading up to Christmas were hectic, hectic, hectic! Packing the house, packing for California, dealing with a broken oven (the healing element went out mid cookie baking) and trying to finish up last-minute projects for Christmas. My new motto became: "Sleep, who needs sleep? Sleep is for wienies!" Somehow we got it all done - well, all but the Christmas baking that is. Sorry 5th ward people. We tried... Honest!

* Christmas Eve: I had to work a part day Christmas Eve, then ran some errands and then went home to get ready for Christmas Eve dinner at my Auntie Kay's. We had a small group and Ethan was the only great-grandchild there but we very much enjoyed our evening. It was such a nice break not having to be in charge of anything and the dinner was yummy! We watched a church devotional that gave the history behind the song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" - my Grandma Mary's favorite and one of my favorites too. It was such a good story!! I had no idea of the history and really liked hearing it - Edward Herrmann narrated.

The group - minus Sean and cousin Drew.

Cousins - Christine, Lizzy, Drew and me.

Drew stole my camera.

After Kay's we went back to my parents house so Ethan could open his Christmas jammies and we could read our new Christmas book.

This year's book: Humphrey's First Christmas

* Christmas Morning: We spent our first Christmas morning together - just the three of us! I stayed up waaaay too late and got up waaaay to early. In fact, at one point I remember seeing the comics/crossword page of the newspaper and reading some insanely high percentage of people get like 5 hours sleep or less Christmas eve. Yep, that was me! But, I did manage to get my breakfast casserole made and in the fridge along with a dozen homemade cinnamon rolls. We had a YUMMY Christmas breakfast!!

Before the little one awoke...

This was the star of the show... Ethan opened some new clothes, etc. and then this toy and was interested in opening anything else after that! He was happy as a clam just playing with his new truck! Finally we convinced him to open his last couple presents (which included a pretty cool Little Einsteins rocket)!

Then we got ready to go and headed over to my parents house for breakfast (the casserole and cinnamon rolls I had made), more stockings and presents with them.

My dad shaking his gift... it was just a gift card, but I filled the box with pistachios - his favorite!

Sean modeling his new, super warm-n-fuzzy hoodie.

Ethan and his new "MONSTER CASTLE" from Gramma Julie and Grampa Greg! It roars and lights up and make scary storm noises!

* Christmas Afternoon/Dinner: Our traditional dinner at Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Chuck's! Soooo good! It's my family, my grandparents, uncle Steve and cousin Cody. Gotta love Grandma's homemade rolls.

Gift chaos!


Ethan on his new Cars "TV couch" from Uncle Steve and Cousin Cody - he LOVES it!!

It was a long day. He fell asleep on his little couch right in the middle of all the conversations and activity!

We had a great Christmas!! I love being surrounded by friends and family at that time of the year. I love all of our traditions and starting new ones. And I love our little family!!

[The following evening we left for California!]