Celebrating with Mickey

This year, instead of buying one another Christmas presents, Sophie, Jenn, Becca, Kernie (our stuffed monkey) & I decided to go to Disneyland for a day, which turned out to be a fabulous idea! Yesterday turned out to be the perfect day for Disney--not boiling hot (actually quite chilly), and school wasn't out yet for Christmas break, so the lines weren't bad at all--the longest line we stood in was for hot chocolate before the parade! Here are some of the highlights of the day captured for all the enjoy...

Of course Disney goes all out for Christmas decorations...

Kernie is all set--he wore his cookie monster t-shirt, his sunglasses, and of course, safety first--his seat belt!Becca and Kernie figuring out our plan of attack...Becca looks like her shirt is right--she needs a hug! Good thing Sophie is right there to fix that!And Kernie's ready to go...his aunts took turns carrying him, and other times he got to ride in his mommy's or his aunt sarah's purse--he made a lot of people smile as he wandered around the park! Our first ride of the day--Splash Mountain--maybe not the greatest idea, we got SOAKED and then were wet and cold the rest of the day. Post Splash-MountainBecca & Pocket ready to take on the Matterhorn"Bearian" on Thunder Mountain RailroadKernie and I riding Thunder Mountain--it was his first real rollercoater, he was so brave!

Pocket & I on Thunder MountainSophie & I flatly refused to ride the Teacups, but we had a great time laughing at Jenn and Becca as they didI'm not sure whether it was Becca or Pocket that was scared on the Haunted HouseI'm not really sure what Becca is doing....Kernie wanted to take some special photos throughout the day for his Uncle Sam who lives in Texas and really likes Pirates. Kernie said that he wishes Sam could have been at Disneyland with all of us, because as hard as us girls tried to be pirates, Sam just does a better job...so these photos were taken for him...Kernie had fun trying on clothes in the gift shop, but no matter how small of a shirt we found we just couldn't find one small enough. Kernie got VERY excited about riding on Pirates of the Caribbean.Kernie with his mommy & aunt Sarah--Kernie borrowed Aunt Becca's hat for the pictureBecca brought us Pirate tattoos, so here are mine and Sophie's....Pocket and Becca look absolutely authentic--I think they're ready for the high-seas...In fact, they looked so ferocious and authentic, that a real pirate showed up to tell them that all they had left to do was to drink a lot of alcohol...to which we responded "it's Disneyland, is he allowed to say that??!"They were a little afraid after getting the advice from the pirate, that we were going to cause a little too much trouble...so they threw us in jail....

Jenn got a little tired, good thing Sophie doesn't mind!

We ended the night at the Rainforest Cafe and because there was such a long wait, we opted to be seated on the "outdoor but heated patio"--which was fine for most of the meal but by the end, we were FREEZING! So the waiter moved the heater closer, but it still wasn't warm enough, so here are Becca & I hugging the space heater trying to get warmer....