Disneyland & Christmas

Welcome to Disneyland

1st day and raining.

Of course she had to get a picture in front of the castle.

Lola was such a trooper and G-ma Ellen was a great helper!

Lola in her baby stroller cave.

Staying nice and dry while the rest of us were drenched!

Braving the rides!

Andrew and Bella...they were crazy drivers!

Bella and Brynn...BFF's. Bella has really missed her since the trip.

This was the last day and it was worse than the first. We were so wet and cold!

This was another favorite ride of Bella's. Small World was also loved by Lola.

Grandma and the grandkids.

Lola loved Small World and was actually singing along to the music.

Bella and Ms. Monica (her preschool teacher). She has grown quite the attachment to her. She is so sweet with Bella and I am so glad that she is in her class.

Her preschool's class Christmas party.

Christmas morning and she is pumped.

Lola had so much fun with the wrapping paper and watching Bella's excitement.

The week before Christmas we were very fortunate to be taken to Disneyland by my mom. We of course went the week that Los Angeles had severe rainstorms. It rained every single day that we were there, but we had so much fun. We were all so excited, because Disneyland is the happiest place on earth :). Rick thought for sure that Bella would love all of the big rides and so for her first ride he took her on the Matterhorn. Not such a great idea. Bella got really frightened and was afraid to go on most of the rides after that. In fact, on the Buzz Lightyear ride she hid under the seat and wouldn't come out. She was afraid of the rides for most of that day. One ride she was definitely looking forward to was the Haunted Mansion (I know you are thinking she was afraid of the Matterhorn, but not afraid of the Haunted Mansion?? yes that is correct). She loves the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas and is in love with Jack Skelington. Disney changed the Haunted Mansion for the Christmas season to have the Jack theme. This by far was her favorite ride and we went on it numerous times. Afterwards we went to the New Orleans section and she picked out an "I love Jack" tee shirt. Lola survived the torrential rain very well while hiding out in her well plasticized stroller. Amazing what you can create with a little plastic and duct tape.

What a great Christmas season we had! Bella was finally at an age where she truly understood what happens during Christmas time and why we celebrate Christmas. Every time she heard someone say "giving is what Christmas is all about", she would reply "no it's not, it's about Jesus!". Although Bella was very good this season, coal almost made its' way to her stocking a couple of times. The night before Christmas we loaded up the car with blankets, hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls and drove around to look at all the lights in our area. To our surprise, when we returned there were presents that the elves had left behind on their pre-Santa recon mission. Who would've thought that the elves would pay us a special visit ;0. Both of the girls fell asleep during the drive so we had to wake Bella up to see what the elves had left. She woke up on Christmas day and ran full speed to the site of Santa's leftover cookies, she yelled in disbelief "Santa came!" It was also fun to watch Lola roll around and suck on wrapping paper. She had some new toys from Santa and a few toys that Bella got in years past. We were blessed to have great friends here to spend the holiday with. We enjoyed time with the Camps and the Kraus's. It's always nice to have good friends when you're far from home.