Disneyland for the holidays (aka as Disneyland while 28 weeks pregnant)

On Friday afternoon Nick, Ellie, Susie and I went down to Anaheim and Disneyland. We spent Friday afternoon hanging out at the hotel, Downtown Disney, and ice skating. Disney had a ice skating rink set up in Downtown Disney and Nick, Susie, and Ellie all went ice skating. In true Disney fashion, the kids skates were double blades, the adults skates weren't sharpened, and everyone had to wear a helmet. Safety first. Ellie did a great job. She only fell once, but was stable on her feet and after "marching" for a little bit she starting gliding. She did much better than the other kids and adults.

Everyone had a great time and after a short trip to the Lego store, it was time for dinner. We dined at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen and had a great dinner. Then we all returned back to the hotel to go to bed early to get a great night's sleep as Saturday was going to be spent all day in the parks...and we were planning to be there just as the gates opened at Disneyland at 7:00am.



Per our usual Disneyland tradition, we were up early and at the gates about 15 minutes before they opened. As Ellie and I were waiting in line to rent a stroller for the day, Susie came running over and told us to run back to Nick because we were going to open the park. I didn't ask any questions and ran with Ellie (who basically dragged her pregnant mom who learned later that running while this pregnant is not my thing) over to where Nick had been standing in line...but he wasn't there anymore. Instead, he was standing with a Disney employee outside a special gate waving at us. Apparently Susie and Nick and got chosen as the Honorary Family and were going to open Disneyland...however, Susie being the awesome aunt that she was wanted to make sure that Ellie and Numero Due/Chaos were in on the action. Fortunately, Susie got the stroller and met us back at the gate before all the festivities began.



The Disney employee informed us that we had to dress up for the Honorary Family activities so we donned headbands, necklaces, and ribbons. When it came time for the gates to open, we were introduced as the Harrer Family from Pasadena and lead the crowd in a countdown from 10 to open the gates. We had time to take some special photos in front of the train station without anyone else around and we got a special FastPass that would let all of us to the front of the line of any ride.

As soon as the gates were open, this Honorary Family took off for Tomorrowland and Space Mountain. Ellie, Nick, and Susie walked onto Space Mountain, while paced and waited for them to get off my favorite ride. Apparently Ellie had fun, until she didn't because she thought the ride was messing up her pigtails.

We knew it was going to be crowded. We had park hopper tickets and Susie hadn't seen any of the new parts of California Adventure. So we thought through the morning and came up with a strategy. After a quick spin on the Buzz Lightyear ride (which I could partake) Susie and Nick ran over to California Adventure to grab some FastPasses for the Carsland ride roller coaster. While they were getting FastPasses Ellie and I hit up a couple of rides. She rode the Casey Jr. train for the first time and wasn't too happy that her mom made her sit in the back of the caboose...really the best part of the train...but still...she wasn't too happy.

After a spin on the carousel, we got in line to meet some princesses. This was where Nick and Susie met up with us. We got treats at a food cart in the new Princess Faire area which has Nick's second favorite treat at Disneyland (a frozen apple juice cider thing with a berry syrup and pineapple whipped cream) while we waited in line to meet the princesses. We were lucky enough to have a meet and greet with Cinderella, Ariel, and Mulan. Mulan! I never have seen Mulan out meeting her friends. It truly was special, as Mulan is Susie's favorite "not a princess" princess. Ellie had a long conversation with Cinderella about her hair and how it was blonde, long, and pretty and similar to one of Cinderella's friends Rapunzel. Ellie was very proud and happy to receive such a compliment from Cinderella herself! Of course, Ellie also told Cinderella that she was her daddy's favorite and that he liked her...I'm pretty sure Nick was blushing for the next 45 minutes.

Then we headed over to California Adventure to make use of the FastPasses that Nick and Susie had gotten. While they were riding the Carsland Racers (technically the name is the Radiator Springs Racers) I hiked over to Tower of Terror and got FastPasses for them on that ride. As soon as they were done with the Carsland racers we took a quick spin on the Mater spinny ride (I'm using Ellie's terminology for these rides which accurately describes them) which I could go on and then the three of them headed over to Tower of Terror. While they were going on that ride, I hiked over to Soarin to grab more FastPasses (I was the FastPass queen!) and took time to take a pity-selfie of myself in front of Tower of Terror...as at 28 weeks preggers it was another one of my favorite rides that I didn't get to ride.


Then we got a second breakfast/early lunch/large snack and headed over to the Toy Story Mania ride, which was another new one for Susie. Then a quick spin on the Zephyr ride where Susie and I got a cute portrait. Then we headed over to Soarin which I could also go on! Being preggers didn't mean I couldn't go on any rides...just the big ones. There were plenty of rides and attractions and things I got to partake in.

We headed back to Disneyland after Soarin for lunch and learned how insanely crowded and crazy Disneyland can get during the holidays. We had to rearrange our strategy for the afternoon as Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones, and Splash Mountain were all down at the same time...well Thunder Mountain is still undergoing repairs, but still...3 big ones down at the same time made other areas of the park pretty crazy. We headed to ToonTown for the little kids roller coaster which Ellie was totally excited about. Then we headed over to New Orleans Square for the Haunter House which was all decked out as Nightmare Before Christmas awesomeness. The line for Haunted House was pretty long and Ellie was not happy about it...even with a churro! Then we used our special pass to hop to the front of the 90 minute Pirates of the Caribbean line. Then it was time for ice cream and the holiday parade.

Then we headed back over to California Adventure. We figured it would great to grab a dinner over there and then find a spot to watch the Color Show (aka as World of Color). However, the one FastPass we didn't grab was one for the color show so we had to scout out locations and hold down a spot so that we could see the show. Finally we could a great location and I set up camp. Ellie and Susie went to ride Ariel for a second time in the day. Then Nick and Ellie went to ride the swings which Ellie really enjoys. Susie was on dinner patrol and made runs grabbing food for me and everyone else, as well as hot chocolate for everyone.



Our spot was perfect and we had a great view for the show which everyone enjoyed. Of course, it was late and we were all exhausted. After walking over 17 miles (according to Nick's pedometer) my pregnant body was done. Ellie was sound asleep 2 minutes in the stroller after the color show. But, Nick and Susie still had enough energy to head back into Disneyland to go on Indiana Jones and Star Tours. However, on our way back to the hotel, Ellie and I caught the Disneyland fireworks outside of the park...just enough for me to be fully content. It was such a great day and we all got to do everything we wanted to.



On Sunday, after sleeping in, we had a special breakfast with Goofy and his friends at the hotel and then we hit up the pool. Ellie was a little afraid of Aladdin when he came to visit our table, but she was super excited to see Goofy, Chip, Dale, Pluto, Jasmine, and Balou from The Jungle Book. Ellie and Chip even played games hiding behind the booth from me and the camera. Ellie was so excited to show off her swimming ability for Aunt Susu and show her how much fun the water slides were.

The whole trip was so much fun. Everyone had a great time and as usual our experience at Disneyland was truly magical.

Merry Christmas 2013

Well our Christmas holiday started on Friday December 21 when Ellie had a special holiday party at school. There was a short holiday program where the kids sang some Christmas carols for the parents and Santa. Yep, even Santa stopped by for a visit! Then there was a gift exchange (so every kid walked away with a wrapped present, picked at random from Santa's sack, which was brought by another student). Then there was a fun party afterwards where the kids got totally hopped up on sugar. There were cupcakes with frosting that was about 4" tall...so more ended up on them than in their stomachs. Lots of cookies were consumed, giggles were everywhere, and then all the kids went home, early from school.
















On Saturday, December 22, we took Ellie to her first ballet. We took her to The Snow Queen done by the California Contemporary Ballet Company. We got her all dressed up and headed to the ballet! The main lead was danced by her ballet teacher and she was so excited to see her. Ellie was not the youngest kid in the audience, but she was one of the best behaved. She sat quietly and was engaged for the entire 2.5 hour ballet. She was so excited to see her ballet teacher dance and was so happy to see her after the show. We all enjoyed the show and had a great time. I was so proud of Ellie.



And then Aunt Susu arrived. Ellie was looking forward to seeing Aunt Susu so much. So on Sunday night, she and I drove to LAX late at night (in the brand new car that was literally like 4 hours old at that moment) to pick up Susie. On Monday I had to work a little bit in the morning so Ellie and Susie got to work creating a gingerbread house and made some snowflake decorations for the house. Then we all had lunch and headed out for a little shopping in Old Town Pasadena.



Then it was Christmas Eve! My parents drove down from Santa Barbara to spend Christmas Eve with us. They arrived and we went shopping a little bit in Pasadena (last minute shopping is the VB tradition). And then we all proceeded to eat way too much...I think the technically term was "grazing" and we did that all afternoon before the traditional dinner of pizza. Of course there was some cookie cutting, decorating, and baking. There was some serious cookie decorating going on...

Then it was time to open presents! Below our tree was pretty crowded with presents. I think Ellie opened her favorite present first, a Playmobil kitchen that she has been coveting for a long time. She only wanted to play with the kitchen and we had to talk her into opening more presents. Of course, once she did open more she realized that she was a pretty lucky little girl this year.

Nick was pretty excited about his new dustbuster that Ellie and I got him...its the little things I guess that make him happy. Ellie was pretty excited about her Playmobil kitchen, but also VERY excited about the Playmobil kids room. And she was super pumped to see the cash register with play money that she got. She also got some great new books, a butterfly garden, and some other fun toys that she received from family. Ellie also did a pretty good job playing Santa and passing out presents to everyone. It was a fun evening, but once we saw that Santa was almost to Chicago and leaving presents for Tristan on the NORAD Santa tracking website...it was time for Ellie to change into pajamas and head to bed. Ellie and Susie had a slumber party in Ellie's room.

Christmas morning, Ellie stayed in bed until just before 7...which is her usual wake-up time anyway. After we heard her walking around Nick and I got up. We got my parents from the guest house and got set-up with cameras to watch Ellie walk into the living room to see the presents that Santa left for her.

She was so excited to see that Santa had brought her American Girl Bitty Twins. She was a little in shock, but also I think that she expected them. She had only asked Santa like 5 times...lucky little girl. Santa also had some fun stuffing stockings for everyone, especially Ellie. And of course Santa remembered to bring some Cronuts for Grandma Pam (and Grandpa Mike...but mostly Grandma Pam).

And then it was time for the traditional Christmas morning breakfast of friend mush. Then we headed up to Santa Barbara for Christmas dinner. Ellie would not leave her new twins (aptly named Luke and Leia, she came up with Leia and her dad volunteered Luke as a name for the boy twin...and its already starting).



It was a great Christmas full of family, good food, and good fun. And then we got up early and headed to Disneyland with Aunt Susie...which is deserving of its own blog post!