Christmas Journey to California

I got a wild hair this year and decided to do something a little different for Christmas.  We went to California and spent Christmas week at my Dad,s house and, of course, also visited the Merriest Place on Earth!

Below is a collage of every picture I took over the entire week.  It was a crazy week to say the least but the highlight was of course, Christmas Day with family and then with our favorite Mouse!

 

I drove to California with the 3 kids on the 19th and Eric joined us a few days later.  In those few days, I risked our lives driving in crazy rain down the Cajon Pass into San Bernardino, watched Southern California flood from my dad's house, took Cameron to the ER with croup, and braved Disneyland with the 3 kids on my own in the pouring rain...whew! What doesn't kill us makes stronger, right?  On top of being pregnant and barely getting past the sick stage, I am extremely moody and tire very easily these days... just ask Braiden.    Cant imagine why...

Needless to say, I was very happy for Eric to join us so I could have a little break from worrying about the kids' every move.

 

We had an excellent time at my Dad's house, hanging out with the kids and visiting.  Heaven knows we had plenty of togetherness as there was no going anywhere in the crazy rain that did not stop for 4 days straight.  We went to the movies, ate chips and salsa and played, played, played!

I took the kids to D-land on that Wednesday (was going to be Tuesday but 2am on Tuesday morning I was in the ER with Cameron so we needed our rest) and we had a great, although wet, day.  It rained on and off all day but we had hardly any waits so I will take the rain.  The only bummer if the day is that Cameron's Mickey Mouse jacket and hat were stolen right off of our stroller...yes, crime happens even at Disneyland.  All I can hope for is that it went to a child that really needed it. 

This is good pictorial evidence that it takes many shots to get a descent photo with this wild group.  After about 14 shots...



...we got this.  And my Dad's eyes are still closed. HA!

Christmas!!!



Christmas Eve brought leaving food on the lawn for the reindeer, reading the Christmas Story from the Bible, The Night Before Christmas read by Dad and all the kids squeezing into one room to sleep. Oh yes an don't forget the endless putting together, wrapping, taping, and Santa-ing.  **WINK, WINK**



Christmas Day I was happy to report that the kids actually slept until 7:30am!  Santa was good to everyone that day.  Paigey got her Barbie Laptop and Cameron got his "Fwinkey Dog" (Slinky Dog).  They succeeded to make a 3-foot high pile of wrapping paper in 2 minutes FLAT!  Then my dad made breakfast... can you find it?  Yikes.

We braved Disneyland on Christmas Day.  I thought this was going to be a unique idea.  Nobody actually goes to Disney on Christmas!   Oh ya right!  I think half of North America was in Anaheim that day!  They actually SOLD OUT of tickets...SOLD OUT!  Good thing we already had ours.  We made the best of it and had a great time.  The people are ruthless but patience is key unless you want to kill someone; and something tells me that isn't acceptable at Disneyland. 

And people wonder why love Disney so much...look at those faces.



We got home after a VERY LONG DRIVE.  As I suspected there was terrible traffic the second we got on the freeway by my dads house ALL THE WAY TO VEGAS!  What should have taken 3 hours, took a whopping 6 hours! We stayed in Vegas and made our way back the next day.  When we got home we had another Christmas with the gifts that we left at home.  The kids thought they were in heaven.  Christmas twice??  Whoopeeee! 

I always like to take some pictures of the Christmas Decor to motivate myself the following year.  Also so I can remember how my house looked during these times of the year.  I am afraid that I will forget.  These are just a few of my favorite little reminders of the season.  I know its just "stuff" but many times during this time of year, especially this year while I have been super sick with pregnancy, I will sit in my living room and just look around, and my comfy home and the sounds of my kids makes me remember why I am who I am and how blessed I am to be me.

I especially love my Door of Love (the Christmas card door).  I LOVE getting cards from my friends and family and hanging them up as a reminder of how loved we are.  This year's door isn't to shabby! Thanks everyone.  XOXO!