Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We could not be more thankful for all of our wonderful family and friends. This year Christmas was riot because Lucas was SO excited for Santa. He was really into the idea and couldn't wait. We really tried to focus on the real meaning of Christmas and I think he started grasping that too. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents and it was the cutest thing because before he went to bed he cracked the fireplace doors and looked up as if half way expecting Santa to be on his way down. He was thrilled in the morning when Santa had eaten the cookies Lucas and Claire had left for him and Santa even left a note. Lucas is still talkin about the note. Such an amazing thing to see the miracles of Christmas through a child's eyes.

Picking out our Christmas tree, we had the perfect one in about three minutes. It is possibly the most beautiful tree we have ever had. Coming from the people who several years ago spent from dawn till dusk traversing the foothills to find the right tree all while our dog was getting invested with ticks...picking out this tree in a few minutes was just perfect!

Christmas excitement. We didn't get to spend Christmas with the Rietkerk's this year so we made a big deal of opening the kids gifts from them two days prior, we didn't want them to be so overwhelmed on the day of. We got them all dressed in Christmas jammies and had festive music playing. Lucas thought Santa had already arrived.

A Christmas Eve tradition, the kids get new special jammies to get ready for the big day! After Christmas Eve mass we always come home and have lasagna, get new jammies, and play a game or two.

Opening their gifts from Santa on Christmas morning. As you can see Claire is cutting four teeth right now so everything is in her mouth.

 

Opening stockings!

Chewing on ribbon, must feel good on the gums.

Merry Christmas.

Nine Months

This sweet little thing turned nine months old on December 6.

Disney II

We enjoyed two days at both parks before Peter started his conference. We had a blast. We spent two FULL days having fun and riding every ride we could. When we left home it was in the 50's so I didn't pack us any clothes for warm weather, or sunscreen. We made several trips to Target to get a quick Summer wardrobe and some sunblock. Wasn't expecting nearly 90 degree temperatures, but it was a nice change.

Lucas is a bit afraid of the dark right now...so he wasn't a fan of the dark rides.. but he managed. His all time favorite ride was Autopia. He was in heaven. Enjoy the pictures!
Claire and I waiting in Santa's village for a moment with the big guy. In his village were all of his reindeer. Amazing. The wait for santa was maybe ten minutes. Shorter than any mall!
Unfortunately, Lucas had wiped his eyes with his hands while waiting in line for Santa and got sunscreen in his eyes. His eyes were tearing and burning. He was a good sport about waiting until after we saw Santa to fix the situation. But, note to self. I probably should use the sensitive faces sunscreen on his hands since he is constantly touching his face.
Even Pluto was festive!

Playing the piano in Mickey's house.

Mikey's birthday cake.

Meeting Mickey. When we finally met Mickey (after much anticipation and exicitement) Lucas says, "that's not Mickey Mommy, that's Minney, he's wearing a dress" He said this very loudly mind you. I hope Mickey wasn't offended. Even for a few days after, he didn't think we had met Mickey Mouse because of Mickey's outfit. I think Lucas was a little disappointed at what Mickey chose to wear that day.

California Adventure Park.

Happy Guy!

We had dinner at a fabulous restaurant on my birthday. A friend recommended it to us and I am so glad we did it. It was amazing food and a great spot to hang out for a few hours.

Desert was phenomenal! I didn't' even eat the brownie they brought me because the spread of gourmet deserts was amazing. Everything on the plate was edible. Even with Lucas' sweet tooth we didn't come close to finishing it all.

Me and the little lady.

Back in Toon Town, Lucas' favorite spot...in a car!

Photo shoot with Lightening McQueen and Mater!

In a Bugs Land.

Driving the Bug Cars.

Driving in Autopia, according to Peter it was anything but a smooth ride.

First of many rides on the carousel.

We had a really fun week, can't wait to go back in a few years.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.....

...to go to DISNEYLAND!

I could have never imagined how much fun it would be to take the kids to the happiest place on earth! I am going to have to split this post into two parts because there is so much. We spent two days as a family at the two parks and then I took the kids (I am now realizing this was a brave endeavor) to Disneyland by myself for day three. During all three days we only waited in ONE line at either park and that was for 15 mins tops. We WALKED onto EVERYTHING. This made it so nice because it allowed Peter and I to go on some of the fun rides alone (not that Winne the Pooh's Adventure isn't thrilling) and we were only gone for less than five mins. Unfortunately, Lucas was sick the whole time with a fever, but he was such a good sport and didn't even complain. I think he thought he would miss something or we would stay in if he admitted his illness. We just took it easy and rested a lot. We let him guide us in what he wanted to do...which was A LOT! Poor buddy is such a little trooper.

This post captures the days I was solo with the kids. We spent Monday Tuesday with Peter at Disneyland/CA Adventure then we took a day off (we all needed a little break). Wednesday, I took the kids to Downtown Disney. So, I loaded the double stroller and headed out...easy right? I asked the concierge the fastest way to get there. Little did I know at this time there was a shortcut that he neglected to tell me about. So, I set off. Nearly an hour later we finally arrived to Downtown Disney.. I was diaphoretic, parched, and exhausted. I found my own way back in less than half the time. Oh well. We made it. We walked around, played, and looked at all of the fun stores. The whole Disneyland area is so amazing this time of year, not a detail left unnoticed. Every window and street lamp is perfectly decorated and Christmas carols are always lingering. LOVE IT!

I was looking for a fun place to have lunch, but didn't want it to be too much for Lucas since he still wasn't a 100%. I just happen to stumble upon a restaurant in the Disneyland hotel called Goofy's Kitchen. AMAZING! I was a bit hesitant being alone with two kidlets in a restaurant and one of which had had a few bouts of emesis (Lucas), but again they loved it. When I showed up, the hostess kept looking behind me.. as if looking for another adult to accompany me...I think they thought I was nuts. Little did I know when I picked this place out, it was a buffett. So, in order to get food for everyone I had to go get it....with EVERYONE. So, I decided to again load up the double stroller to head to the food area. I ended up balancing Lucas' plate on top of the stroller shade and holding mine, and pushing the hard to steer double stroller back to the table around Chip, Dale, Cinderella, Captain Hook, and Aladdin. No biggie, we made it...somehow. Each character came to dine with us for a bit. We had such an awesome time.

Goofy met us at the door in his chef's garb! They had this amazing mural of a kitchen that we got to get a photo taken with Goofy (we could have purchased it a small fee of $59.99...or something) we passed on that but had an amazing lunch with SO many of the Disney Characters and Princesses.


Claire trying on some ears.
Chip was definitely the favorite, Lucas is still talking about him.
Hanging out with Pluto.
Both of the kids HATED Captain Hook. I have to say after looking at this picture I can kind of see why. What is he doing to Claire's head? Lucas tracked him around the restaruant and if he even started to step towards our table he would get quiver lip and say.. "mommy you don't like the pirate, get him away."
Aladdin redeemed things.


On Thursday we headed to Disneyland...I decided to take the shuttle :). But, little did I realize that I would have to fully empty the stroller, kids, and luggage and completely collapse it down in order to ride the shuttle. Luckily there were some very nice people to help us out and Lucas chatted with them the whole way, so I think they enjoyed it. I didn't get to take many pictures this day but we made it on a lot of rides. Small world, several trains, the carousel (Claire loved this, wish I had a picture), jungle cruise, Mark Twain's ship, and a few others. We had a great day together!
Claire loving the train ride.
Toon Town, if it would have been up to Lucas we would have never left Toon Town. He absolutely LOVED it.
AWWW Goofy.
Another car in Toon Town.
WE took the horse drawn carriage ride down Main Street and then got an antique fire truck ride back. I had never know about it before, but they have an antique fire station, Lucas loved playing on the horse drawn fire truck. We spent A LOT of time in here.
The obligatory picture at the entrance to Disneyland, this was taken at the end of day #3, they were pretty much ready to go.

Amazing trip! To be continued...