So we weren't able to make our annual trip to Disney this year due to our long vaca in Cooperstown (so worth missing Disney). So this year for Christmas Santa was thinking that he would surprise the kiddos and give them tickets to Disneyland. We had heard that the week between Christmas and New Years was the busiest week of the year so we decided to avoid that traffic and be at Disney on the 23rd, 24th and 25th...
Bad IDEA! I'm not going to complain because hey... we were in Disneyland for Christmas right? What I will say is that I would highly recommend that you DON"T do it! Dec 23rd was the first day in 7 days it hadn't poured rain in Anaheim... therefore.. the people were out! Super busy!
Dec 24th wasn't as bad as the 23rd. The park closed early that night due to Christmas Eve so I think many people didn't want to spend the money when the park closed 3 hours early (that's actually what someone at Disney told me... lol). Christmas day..... ZOOO!!!! It was like a bunch of little ants walking around trying to get from point A to point B.
On a positive note... It was Murphy's first trip to Disney and he LLLLLLLOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEEDDDD it!
We have always been all about the Characters at Disneyland. We purchase the autograph book right when we get there and we try and get those puppies full before we leave! We have a collection of years in our bookcase and it is seriously my kiddos FAVORITE things to look at and show to family! The funniest thing about that is you need to notice Murphy in most of these pics. He didn't "not like" the characters... he just wasn't so sure about them. I had to constantly tell him to look at mom rather than crank his neck and make sure the character wasn't going to take him. It was great!
We left for our trip on Tues the 21st and stayed in Vegas that night. It's always nice to break up that 9 hour drive. The weather was a bit rainy for us but it was heartbreaking driving through St. George and southern California. They had just experienced tumultuous rain and I cannot tell you the amounts of water... flooding... mud slides... road closures that we saw. What an awful time to go through something like that. 
Which meant each child only had 1 sweatshirt... we knew this wouldn't work and of course I love an excuse to stop at the outlets so we took a little break there and then went on our way. We arrived in Anaheim fairly early and checked into our hotel.
It was awesome. We had a family suite with 2 rooms so in one room there were 2 Queen beds but in the kiddos room they had bunk beds, full on bottom, twin on top... a desk area and then a small kids table with chairs. It was their own little playroom! We did love the room!
This pic was Christmas Eve. The 4 little guys got matching Mickey and Friends PJ's along with their stuffed animal friends.
Oh... and then their is our rebel Mays. On his list to Santa was a Red Sox hat. How could I possibly bring myself to fulfill that wish? I will admit, I did it behind his fathers back and figured this was one of those situations it would be easier to ask forgiveness rather than permission. He sported that hat around the rest of the week like he was the coolest cat on the planet!
We surprised the kids again and did the Character Breakfast Christmas morning. We had originally told them that we wouldn't be able to do it this year due to cost but had done so well budget wise that we had enough the last day to do this. I am so glad we took the extra time to sit and have a good breakfast on Christmas! That's the hardest thing about this trip. I was talking with Eric after and we both felt like we missed out on the whole "Christmas Magic." I know that probably sounds corny but there wasn't a tree... the kids did wake up to stockings and a few small things to open but there was no time to sit and play or talk about our Saviour as we normally would... it was just hurry off to the park early before it gets packed. 
Bugs Life... this is always one of our favorites because we love going in and taking goofy pictures with our "BUG EYES." Murphy LOVED the 3D movie... Mays had just woke up and was a bit grumpy... and McGwire, who was not afraid to go on any ride and is my daredevil, started crying and refused to put on his glasses because he thought it was sooooooo scary! Kind of comical. You can tell that Maddogs thing right now is the rabbit finger ears behind the head. There is a picture of Macee somewhere here he is doing the same thing!
Murphy in his cute Santa hat and glasses. He didn't want to return the glasses.
We made it down to Toon Town the last night and got to hang with Mickey for a bit! When we were leaving Murphy turned around and ran and hugged Mickey. He said, "Mickey... thank you for letting us see your house."
I look at this picture and think... Holy Cow... that's alot of people!
Bad IDEA! I'm not going to complain because hey... we were in Disneyland for Christmas right? What I will say is that I would highly recommend that you DON"T do it! Dec 23rd was the first day in 7 days it hadn't poured rain in Anaheim... therefore.. the people were out! Super busy!
Dec 24th wasn't as bad as the 23rd. The park closed early that night due to Christmas Eve so I think many people didn't want to spend the money when the park closed 3 hours early (that's actually what someone at Disney told me... lol). Christmas day..... ZOOO!!!! It was like a bunch of little ants walking around trying to get from point A to point B.
On a positive note... It was Murphy's first trip to Disney and he LLLLLLLOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEEDDDD it!
We have always been all about the Characters at Disneyland. We purchase the autograph book right when we get there and we try and get those puppies full before we leave! We have a collection of years in our bookcase and it is seriously my kiddos FAVORITE things to look at and show to family! The funniest thing about that is you need to notice Murphy in most of these pics. He didn't "not like" the characters... he just wasn't so sure about them. I had to constantly tell him to look at mom rather than crank his neck and make sure the character wasn't going to take him. It was great!
We left for our trip on Tues the 21st and stayed in Vegas that night. It's always nice to break up that 9 hour drive. The weather was a bit rainy for us but it was heartbreaking driving through St. George and southern California. They had just experienced tumultuous rain and I cannot tell you the amounts of water... flooding... mud slides... road closures that we saw. What an awful time to go through something like that.
Ok... back to positive. We stopped in Barstow because I had forgot to grab the pile of sweatshirts in the laundry room before we left.
Which meant each child only had 1 sweatshirt... we knew this wouldn't work and of course I love an excuse to stop at the outlets so we took a little break there and then went on our way. We arrived in Anaheim fairly early and checked into our hotel.
It was awesome. We had a family suite with 2 rooms so in one room there were 2 Queen beds but in the kiddos room they had bunk beds, full on bottom, twin on top... a desk area and then a small kids table with chairs. It was their own little playroom! We did love the room!
This pic was Christmas Eve. The 4 little guys got matching Mickey and Friends PJ's along with their stuffed animal friends.
Oh... and then their is our rebel Mays. On his list to Santa was a Red Sox hat. How could I possibly bring myself to fulfill that wish? I will admit, I did it behind his fathers back and figured this was one of those situations it would be easier to ask forgiveness rather than permission. He sported that hat around the rest of the week like he was the coolest cat on the planet!
We surprised the kids again and did the Character Breakfast Christmas morning. We had originally told them that we wouldn't be able to do it this year due to cost but had done so well budget wise that we had enough the last day to do this. I am so glad we took the extra time to sit and have a good breakfast on Christmas! That's the hardest thing about this trip. I was talking with Eric after and we both felt like we missed out on the whole "Christmas Magic." I know that probably sounds corny but there wasn't a tree... the kids did wake up to stockings and a few small things to open but there was no time to sit and play or talk about our Saviour as we normally would... it was just hurry off to the park early before it gets packed.
Anyone that has gone to Disneyland know that it is very worth it to wake up early because between 8 - 10 am it's soooooo much slower than the rest of the day. The prior 2 days we had spent the entire day in the park and then left for the hotel at around 8 or 9.
The park also slows down after 10 pm so we decided since it was our last day and so crowded 
we would go early.... go home for naps and then go back late. We figured we could wear the kids out so they would sleep well on the ride home the next day.
we would go early.... go home for naps and then go back late. We figured we could wear the kids out so they would sleep well on the ride home the next day.
Well... the plan would have worked perfectly had it not started down pouring about an hour after we got back to the park that night. The rain wasn't bad but getting wet and then being in the cold just wasn't going to cut it for anyone so we retired early again that day and called it a trip.
So I will say the lights and decorations were unbelievable! I cannot believe that I didn't spend more time and take pictures of all of that but I was too worried about capturing these smiley happy faces!!
Bugs Life... this is always one of our favorites because we love going in and taking goofy pictures with our "BUG EYES." Murphy LOVED the 3D movie... Mays had just woke up and was a bit grumpy... and McGwire, who was not afraid to go on any ride and is my daredevil, started crying and refused to put on his glasses because he thought it was sooooooo scary! Kind of comical. You can tell that Maddogs thing right now is the rabbit finger ears behind the head. There is a picture of Macee somewhere here he is doing the same thing!
Murphy in his cute Santa hat and glasses. He didn't want to return the glasses.
We made it down to Toon Town the last night and got to hang with Mickey for a bit! When we were leaving Murphy turned around and ran and hugged Mickey. He said, "Mickey... thank you for letting us see your house."
I wish I would have been quick enough to get that on camera because it was too cute! We were actually just going through Mickey's house and didn't know that we would get the chance to see him at the end! It was kinda fun!
I look at this picture and think... Holy Cow... that's alot of people!
So the nice thing about this year was that Mick and Macee had their phones so we would fast pass rides for them and either Eric or I would go and then the other would stay with the boys.
Gwy and Mays were tall enough to ride everything except for Indiana Jones and Screaming and McGwire was all about doing it all. Not Mays... He HATED most every ride there except for Buzz Lightyear!
So that did make it a little difficult because whoever wasn't riding was with Murphy and Mays and with it being so busy it was a bit stressful to make sure you had a grasp on both. I've never been a fan of those little backpacks with leashes that people put on kids but there were a few times I wished I had one for a few minutes. We were also able to let Mick, Macee and Maddux go fast pass a ride while Eric and I took the boys to do something else. The kids love Tower of Terror so the little boys and I (or Eric) did Monsters Inc probably 20 times!
This was Murphy waiting for our shuttle after a long day playing at the park!
Here it is... Maddux at work! We tried another fun project with Macees hair the first night we got there and this is pretty much the "do" for the week. We didn't have to do anything with her hair the entire trip except for fix the messy bun daily... which I am a professional at because a messy bun is my hairstyle of preference! I'm so lazy right?
We had originally thought we would wake up early Sunday (the 26th) and drive the entire way home. Well... we missed the entire wake up early but still figured we were fine to go all the way home.
That was until we went 10 miles and couldn't get out of California. It literally took us 9 hours to get from Anaheim to St. George. This is a 5 hr drive max. I had noted at one point we had driven 120 miles in 4 hours. I know ridiculous. The crazy part about it was that there were no accidents. I think that the entire world that was at Disney decided to drive home the same time we did! If we would have known that we would drive this slow in the entire time (20 - 30 mph) we probably would have done something different.
We just kept thinking that eventually it would pick up... Oh no... we were very.... very.... wrong. So by the time we hit Mesquite we decided we would surprise the kids and stay in St. George. We called and booked a room and then decided to break the news. The response was, "No... I want to get home" and "Ahhhhhhh we can make it... let's just drive home" and "Mom... I already made plans tonight." Seriously... I was shocked.
Eric and I just laughed and decided oh well... we are the drivers and we were very done after 10 hours in the car. Murphy had been screaming from Vegas to Mesquite... he was very done! So we stayed in St George anyway!
We woke up the next morning and got on the road early. It was an easy drive and we returned home safely.
(McGwire hiding in the BIG ornaments)
So as much as I didn't LOVE the trip.... the kids had fun... we made some memories. We've done it once so we don't ever need to worry about doing it again LOL!!!
So that did make it a little difficult because whoever wasn't riding was with Murphy and Mays and with it being so busy it was a bit stressful to make sure you had a grasp on both. I've never been a fan of those little backpacks with leashes that people put on kids but there were a few times I wished I had one for a few minutes. We were also able to let Mick, Macee and Maddux go fast pass a ride while Eric and I took the boys to do something else. The kids love Tower of Terror so the little boys and I (or Eric) did Monsters Inc probably 20 times!
This was Murphy waiting for our shuttle after a long day playing at the park!
Here it is... Maddux at work! We tried another fun project with Macees hair the first night we got there and this is pretty much the "do" for the week. We didn't have to do anything with her hair the entire trip except for fix the messy bun daily... which I am a professional at because a messy bun is my hairstyle of preference! I'm so lazy right?
We had originally thought we would wake up early Sunday (the 26th) and drive the entire way home. Well... we missed the entire wake up early but still figured we were fine to go all the way home.
That was until we went 10 miles and couldn't get out of California. It literally took us 9 hours to get from Anaheim to St. George. This is a 5 hr drive max. I had noted at one point we had driven 120 miles in 4 hours. I know ridiculous. The crazy part about it was that there were no accidents. I think that the entire world that was at Disney decided to drive home the same time we did! If we would have known that we would drive this slow in the entire time (20 - 30 mph) we probably would have done something different.
We just kept thinking that eventually it would pick up... Oh no... we were very.... very.... wrong. So by the time we hit Mesquite we decided we would surprise the kids and stay in St. George. We called and booked a room and then decided to break the news. The response was, "No... I want to get home" and "Ahhhhhhh we can make it... let's just drive home" and "Mom... I already made plans tonight." Seriously... I was shocked.
Eric and I just laughed and decided oh well... we are the drivers and we were very done after 10 hours in the car. Murphy had been screaming from Vegas to Mesquite... he was very done! So we stayed in St George anyway!
We woke up the next morning and got on the road early. It was an easy drive and we returned home safely.
(McGwire hiding in the BIG ornaments)
So as much as I didn't LOVE the trip.... the kids had fun... we made some memories. We've done it once so we don't ever need to worry about doing it again LOL!!! I love these kiddos so much and Mick and Macee where such HUGE helps. In case you are wondering... we did fill up our autograph books and are already enjoying looking at everything. You will notice Mick wasn't super thrilled about taking pictures with the characters so he did get out of a few photos. I bought Macee and Maddux little photo albums that they will be able to just fill up with pictures from the trips without the autographs! They think they are too big for that.
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