Polar Express

To make the most of my time with B this month I took a couple of days off of work and drove to Williams to ride the Polar Express! It was FREEZING. Granted, it was similar to the weather that I'm used to from Show Low but when you are used to living in the Valley of the Sun - it was freezing. Either way, a good excuse to bundle up with some cute winter clothes and look at the snow and see your breath and slip around on the sidewalks! We got into town, grabbed our will call tickets and got checked into our room while we waited for departure time. We got to the train depot, had time for a pic with Santa and boarded the train! The kids, and some parents, were all dressed in their jammies. Not long after we started down the track, cookies and hot chocolate were passed around - YUM! The story of the Polar Express was read over the loudspeaker and the "chefs" walked up and down the aisle showing the pictures from the book. After traveling through a magic tunnel at the speed of light, we made it to the North Pole in record time! We could see out our windows, all the lights of the North Pole, including some elves' houses, Santa's house, the reindeer stables and Santa's sleigh! Santa and an elf were there waving to us. When we went back by, Santa was missing, but we were quickly informed that that was because he'd boarded the train! Soon enough, Santa was in our train car passing out bells to all the children. On the ride back, we all sang Christmas songs and jingled the bells. Brenna had a great time and it was a lot of fun to see everyone get into the Christmas spirit!

Thanksgiving

Since I'm behind - here's a quick update on our Thanksgiving holiday: B was with her daddy for the actual holiday, but I got to spend some time with other family. I made a quick trip to Globe to see Grandad and Aunt Sandy (with my mom & dad). It was nice to visit and laugh. I drove back to get another turkey meal in with Aunt Debbie and her family - I was stuffed to my eyebrows by the end of the night. The following weekend, I got B back so we took a day trip to the Silliman's house for yet ANOTHER turkey meal. YUM. We had a great meal and lots of fun times watching the kids play and chase each other around. We also watched some football - specifically some Wildcats kicking some SunDevil bootay! Woohoo!

Disneyland

We had a fantastic trip to Disneyland and apparently I'm still recovering since it took me so long to blog about it - sorry! Either way, we wanted to share the fun that we had, so here goes! Day 1, we left in the morning for the long drive ahead of us. Fortunately, we had a DVD player to keep B entertained. We all thought she'd sleep - well she didn't. Mommy might've napped a little - or it might have looked like she was napping - really I was just checking my eyelids for leaks. Anyway...we arrived at our hotel and got checked in. Then we ran over to Disneyland so we could be sure to get at least one ride on It's a Small World (we got word that it would be closed the day after we arrived, so we had to hurry!). We also got some rides in near there - all through Fantasyland. We had a great time! Went back to our room to settle in and could watch the fireworks show from our room - so cool! The next morning, we hit the park early and got to go on even more rides. Among them, was Splash Mountain. You could say that B really liked this ride. In fact, you could say that it was her favorite - she loves the "screaming rides" and especially if you get wet (or anyone with her gets wet). We had a blast on that one and rode it a few times. We also did all the old standards - Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Matterhorn, Teacups, Autopia & the Jungle Cruise. It was fun to see lots of the rides updated (i.e. the Submarine had a Nemo theme, Pirates had a few Johnny Depp look-a-likes. Because it was Halloween time - the whole park was decked out in Halloweentime decor. We got to see lots of characters, get lots of autographs and take lots of pics. The longest line was for Tinkerbell - who knew? B got her princess mouse ears, her face painted and we watched the parade. We went back for the fireworks show that night and it was really cool! Day 3 we started out with early access to Disneyland, rode Space Mountain and a few others before the crowds were big. We even got to meet some of the characters all dressed up in their Halloween costumes! Then we headed over for a day at California Adventure. Although it was chillier, we got on another water ride that day - got soaked - then road a few other rides before meeting all the princesses for lunch! Brenna met Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White, Belle and Aurora! We stayed at CA Adventure for awhile after that (allowing me to ride the craziest coaster they offer - alone since B was too little and Grandma & Papaw were well...um...wanting to keep B company). Then we watched a Pixar parade which was full of all the characters from the Pixar movies. Day 4 we went back to Disneyland for some repeats and some things we hadn't seen yet. We visited Toontown, met Mickey Mouse (again), rode the Monorail, took the train, and snuck in as many more rides as we could handle. We had such a great time - some really good quality time with Grandma & Papaw and made some great memories. B is looking forward to going back someday! She asked if we could go back when she's 10. I said yes - I figure that gives me time to save up :) Thanks to Grandma & Papaw for taking us on a great vacation and planning such a great time! We love you!