Holidays in Review: Christmas & New Year’s

And in the blink of an eye, it was Christmas Eve. We always go to Christmas Eve service, look at Christmas lights, and get our Winter Dream Tea Lattes from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Unfortunately we someone mixed up the times of CB&TL's hours, so we ended up getting hot chocolates from Panera. For those of you who are wondering, yes, my dad did rent a van again for us! We no longer have an SUV/van in the family, so in order for us to look at lights we'd need a bigger car! Mike Badger got to ride with us again and spend these traditions with us, and I was so thrilled! He's been with us on Christmas Eve all of Owen's life now, so clearly it needs to continue for the coming years. (Hint, hint, Mike!)

Our Santa picture this year...

 

Christmas Day we spent the morning, just the three of us, opening presents. I was excited for Owen to play with his new toys that Andrew and I picked out for him. Although he's at a such fun age now, I just can't wait for him to understand Christmas and Elf on a Shelf (yep, we're going to do it) and presents and all the meaning behind everything. I can't wait for him to tell us what he wants to do and what he likes to do!

 

Our tree!

Christmas Morning!

 

Looking at the photo album with Daddy

 

Presents!

 

The necessary mess picture

 

Stockings

 

We went over to my parents’ house in the afternoon to celebrate with them, my brother, and Grammy. Cinnamon rolls were eaten, presents open, naps had, and puzzles started and finished. It was such a good time. Although I said that Owen’s favorite holiday was Thanksgiving, I’m pretty sure Christmas is now. The awesome meal of thanksgiving combined with presents? He’s in.



Eating cookies and cinnamon rolls for breakfast is what Christmas is all about



 

There was a bag with Mickey on it that he saw from the other side of the tree...

 

Family.

 

One of my Christmas presents! Started and finished the same day!

 

Looking at the crazy street's Christmas lights

 I hit up Target clearance for the Christmas things and got more things to decorate with for next year! I already can't wait to get everything ready for next Christmas... And it's not even packed and put away yet! I actually really need to stop going to that area of the store because I keep finding awesome things and deals! 

 

Annual stuffed animal and chair picture

 Owen and I went to the aquarium on the 27th with my mom, Grammy, and Uncle Drew. Owen's absolute favorite animals are fish and anything that's in the water. He loves his fish stuffed animals and books and points to anything that has a fish on it or anywhere a fish might be. He's shown me fish in the background of movies, on the towels of book illustrations... Everywhere! So, the aquarium is one of his favorite spots! (Thanks, Granddaddy for letting us have your half of the membership!)

 

Fshhhhh

 

Being silly.

 

Petting the sea stars

 

Grandkids and Great Grandbaby

 

High ride with Uncle Drew

Andrew and I even managed to sneak away for a date night! Grammy loves sleep overs with Owen, so Saturday worked out perfectly to drop him off and then see him when we go over for church. They had a bunch of fun with him that night! And we had a lot of fun too! We couldn't really decide what to do, so I check the Disneyland park hours and we found out it was open until midnight! Score! (Especially since it was already 6pm). We grabbed a quick meal and made our way to Orange County. It was weird not having to wait for the elevator or push the stroller. The park was really crowded, but we managed to ride a few of the big kid rides that we don't get the opportunity to ride when Owen's with us.

 

My love and I in front of the castle

 

So pretty for the winter!

 

Matterhorn and fireworks!

 New Year's Eve was really never that big of a "holiday" for me. I know it has a lot more significance for others though. Last year we had people over, so we decided (extremely last minute) that we would do the same this year! The Kuglers and Tyler came down from Orange County and my brother and Melanie joined us later in the evening. It was a lot of fun eating a ton of food and playing Trivia Pursuit, especially since Michelle and I won! I kept checking the clock and before I knew it we only had 4 minutes left to pour champagne!

Ready for New Year's!

 

Happy New Year's!

2014 was kicked off in a great way with some of my favorite people and an awesome breakfast! We went to my parents' house for the traditional New Year's dinner of ham, black eyed peas (for luck), cabbage (for good fortune), and rice (for fun). We've already been to Disneyland this year, and I'm trying to think of something fun for us to do today.

 

SLTs

 

With our authentic Times Square glasses!

 The past few months have been so busy with fun activities, but also with work, and errands, and the busy day-to-day life. I'm going to do a post about my non-resolutions later, but I definitely want to focus on family and experiences for Owen.

Holidays in Review: Thanksgiving

Wow. I can't believe it. Well, I can believe that I didn't finish my November Thanksgiving posts. So, I'm sure I'll be getting back to those because I did create a list and there are a lot of people that are very dear to me on that list that deserve a shout out!

 

Thanksgiving and December have come and gone, as well as 2013! The holidays are my absolute favorite time of the year. I love all the preparation, decoration, and anticipation that the season brings, but also love when the festivity is over and I can sit back in my still-decorated house, watch Owen play with his new toys, and finally breathe!

 

Two days before Thanksgiving we were able to squeeze in a Disney trip and dinner with our favorite Jaime! It's such a treat whenever we get to see her! I'm so glad her dad still lives out in LA so she has more of an "obligation" to come out to the best coast from Florida. :) It honestly feels like we just saw each other last week whenever we do get together. She is one of my best friends from college, and I know I'm not the best at staying in contact with people, so it means a lot when she lets me know when she's in the area!

The Mouse himself!

 

Mommy & Owen on the carousel



Daddy & Owen on King Arthur's Carousel

 

With Jaime in front of the Grand California Hotel's Christmas tree!

 

Starting with Thanksgiving, we normally have "orphans" over. Ever since we've lived in San Diego my family invites those that we work with and go to school with who don't have family in the area or won't be going home for Thanskgiving with their families. This was the first year that we had no one else over! I think because of that we didn't do the typical things, like walk to the park and play touch football, but I was okay with that. I think Owen found his new favorite holiday, as well, since he had seconds of EVERYTHING! Like last year, I made him a turkey onesie out of his handprint. We would ask him where the turkey was and he'd look down and pull at his shirt. So precious. Especially since he still does that!

The creating of the onesie

After seconds

 

This year we did go over to some family friend's house before we ate our dinner. They were supposed to come over and have dinner with us, but since they had just brought their premature baby girl home, they were still homebound and not really given permission by the nurse to take her out in the world yet. They have another daughter, a three year old, whom Owen loved spending time with though! They played in her room... On her chalkboard, in her play kitchen, and reading books together! She did get a little tired of Owen and asked me if I could tell him to leave near the end of the visit. It was kind of cute and I couldn't help but laugh!

 

Holding hands while walking to her room

Playing in the kitchen!

 

Black Friday starts earlier than Friday for us, but is always spent going to Target with Annie and Scot! Amber came with us this year, too, and like usual my brother was kind enough to drop off and pick us up. Needless to say, we got a lot of good deals (bought 8 Keurig boxes for $8 each!) and got things kicked off for Christmas. My mom and I go to the mall on actual Black Friday; Victoria's Secret bag is always first on the list (and I LOVE it this year!), Bath and Body Works "Winter" candles, and then whatever else we want to check out at the clothing stores.

 

First Christmas toy of the season

Thanksgiving is always the kick-off to the holiday season to me, so I love it because of that reason. I think I'm loving it more as an adult because I love the food more (I was a really picky eater and only ate the cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes when I was younger) and also because I have an awesome family of my own to share it with.

 

My family!

 

Owen's First Birthday: Disneyland!

 To start this post, I just want to say that I have THE BEST friends ever. It's one thing to have family go with you to Disneyland... They're blood-related, so there's a hint of obligation to do anything you want for a birthday. It's another thing to have 6 friends spend a whole Sunday with you and your family at Disneyland. Especially when all of those people were celebrating almost all day with you the day before. And I warned them that we would probably be lame and just ride the rides in Fantasyland and wait in character lines. They stayed with us the whole time! (And we weren't that lame. We didn't ride a single Fantasyland ride!)

Anyways. I love my family, too! And I'm so thankful that Mike (Grampa) and Aunt Robyn were able to join us out in sunny So Cal too! (You were missed, Gramma!!!!!)

Also, this is a very long post... I'm hoping it's a bit helpful for anyone planning a trip to the parks with a baby! Of course, every baby is different, duh, but maybe our experience will help you prepare for your trip!

And now I fully understand how a family can spend 3 days and still not do everything! We had park hopper tickets, so we were able to go back and forth between the two parks (Disneyland and California Adventure). CA Adventure has changed a ton since I was last there, almost two years ago! There are about 50% more rides and cute shops... You could spend just a day over there. Plus we found out that the Disney Junior characters, like Jake and Doc McStuffins, hang out over there. Next time!

I had set up breakfast at the Plaza Inn so that we could kick off our day with some character time! Owen absolutely loved them and their noses! The characters were super friendly, went around to almost all the tables, and were great at interacting with kids... And putting up with babies hitting their noses and grabbing the autograph book when they were signing.

And we met our favorite gal, Minnie! Along with Rafiki, Chip and Dale (our new favorites), Fairy Godmother, Tigger, Eeyore, and Max. The only one we missed was Captain Hook, since he came by and probably thought he saw us since there were a lot of people sat in our area. And one of the Cinderella mice had just started her rounds when we were leaving, too. All in all, totally worth it to get some good food and see Owen with the characters! And to thank everyone for coming out with us!

My brother has an app (I'll have to ask which one) that tells the wait times for the most popular rides. After brunch, he pulled that up and Space Mountain (one my favorites) was just a 20 minute wait! Now, the app was a little off, and was for almost every ride, but it was still a helpful reference around both parks.

During the day, we were able to use the Baby Pass, which is like the Switch Rider pass. They're offered on the popular rides and can be used in conjunction with Fast Passes. Basically your whole group goes and waits in either the Fast Pass line (if they have them) or the regular line for the ride like usual. Then they ask one of the cast members working the ride for the Baby Pass. The cast member has to see the stroller and then gives your group a lanyard with a card saying that you can get the Baby Pass. Your group continues through the line and then they exchange the lanyard for the actual Baby Pass with the last cast member for the ride. You know, the one that asks how many people are in your party. They ride the ride, trade you your Baby Pass for the baby, and you get to go through the exit! You basically walk right on the ride! And it's so nice because the other two people waiting with the baby can do other things like shop or get Fast Passes for the other rides!

We were able to ride Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear (Owen friendly), Indiana Jones (twice, since it broke down with us on it!), Pirates of the Caribbean (Owen fell asleep on this one!), Woody's Round Up (Owen friendly, but I forgot how much it jerks you around), California Screaming, Soaring over California, and Tower of Terror.

While in line, we met Mr. and Mrs. B from The Bees Times Three. I guess Mrs. B noticed our t-shirts (kinda hard to miss when there are 15 of us wearing the same thing!) and Mr. B asked for a picture on her behalf. So cute and definitely something Andrew would do for me, too! Let me know if you need any help, Mrs. B! :)

Owen did take a nap during our lunch time for about an hour and a half or so. I couldn't believe he lasted that long without napping... He woke up at 6:30am so we could leave, didn't sleep in the car, and was going until he passed out around 1/1:30pm. He didn't nap again until we were in the shopping phase, around 10:15pm. 

We ate over by Soaring over California, since Pizza Port was oddly closed when we tried to get lunch over there). After our time in California Adventure, we hiked back over to Disneyland to try and get into Toon Town before it closed (due to fireworks preparation). Luckily we had an hour there and more than enough time to meet Mickey! Robyn was also excited to go and explore Toon Town, so I'm glad we got there for her sake too!

By the time we worked our way back to the front of the park, the fireworks show was in full swing. We went ahead and exited with everyone and everyone went their separate ways back home around 9:30pm. My mom and I had talked about them or Mike and Robyn taking Owen back to our house so that he could get to bed and we could be kids and ride rides longer. Since we hadn't shopped yet and Andrew and I really wanted to take Owen shopping, we decided to be those parents and keep their baby out late. He loved the store, claimed a Chip and Dale stuffed animal set as soon as we walked in, and met got to meet Mickey & Minnie again!

We didn't get home until about 1:00am... But Owen was sleeping for about 2 and a half hours by that point! It was such a great trip and Owen was a champ through it all! Granted, it did take about a week to adjust after a weekend of so much fun and so little naps :)