Christmas

After Disneyland we spent Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa de Jong's house. All of Mommy's sisters and brother were there. That hasn't happened in a long time and who knows when it will happen again. So Mommy made sure to get lots of pictures.

This is my dog Kujo. Well, he's actually Uncle Mark's dog, but I call him my dog because I just LOVE him. I followed him everywhere the first day we were there and always had to be touching him.

Things are so laid back at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Everybody just hung out the whole time. Aunt Denise and Chris:

Aunt Kari:

Uncle Mark and Grandpa:

Ready to eat on Christmas Eve:

On Christmas Eve I got to open one present. Can you guess who wrapped it? (And what it could be?)

If you're not sure what my present was, look at the picture below.

Sneaking up on the Christmas tree on Christmas morning:

Checking out my stocking loot:

Mommy, Daddy and me with all of our stocking goodies:

Santa brought me a Thomas backpack and I wore it all morning.

Grandma and Uncle Mark:

Santa also brought me this helicopter! (I'm getting really good at saying "cheese" for the camera.)

Can you guess who gave Mommy this present that is wrapped oh so secretly? Mommy was really worried that she was going to have to pretend to like the giant purse Daddy got her...

but was relieved when he fooled us all and it turned out to be a backpack.

Mommy asked for matching pajamas for Christmas after seeing last year's Christmas pictures. (Paint stained sweat pants and a paint stained shirt that have been worn through two pregnancies detract a little from the magical Christmas pictures.) These purple jammies are much better.

Daddy got a new game that he would love to teach people how to play. Anyone want to play Ticket to Ride?

Another artfully wrapped present. If it's last minute (and it usually is in the de Jong household), grab some paper from an already opened present and twist around the present you're about to give someone. Works like a charm.

Check out all my new cars! You can never have too many cars.

The aftermath:

We all take turns opening presents (although my turn came up a little more often than everyone else's), so it takes us a while to get through them all. It can be exhausting. Where's Ty?

It's nice to just relax afterward and enjoy being together. (Notice I'm wearing my backpack still.)

Dinner: Daddy, me, Mommy, Karin, and Aunt Kari.

Kari (again), Grandma, Chris, Aunt Denise, Uncle Mark, and Grandpa. Thank goodness for being able to borrow church tables to fit everyone.

I love spending time with family. I hope we do it again soon! I was so tired on the way home that I feel asleep before the plane even took off.

And when we got home, I found out that Santa had stopped by our house too and left a few extra presents!

I love Christmas!

Disneyland

WARNING! We took almost 400 pictures at Disneyland and over 100 pictures for Christmas. Hopefully you don't get picture overload during the next two posts!

I think last week was the best week of my life!!! We started off spending two days at Disneyland. We saw this cool plane at the airport in Seattle.

Watching Toy Story 2 on the plane:

Our hotel room was so cool! I had my own bed in my own room. And during the day, the bed hid inside a couch!

Of course, even with my own bed, I still preferred crawling into Mommy and Daddy's bed in the middle of the night. They had a giant king sized bed. But even with all that room, I like cuddling up to Mommy. She doesn't need that much space anyway.

At night, we could see the Disneyland fireworks from our hotel room.

We spent Monday at Disneyland. It was sooooooo crowded. We could barely make it through the streets. And I was not in the best mood. I didn't get much sleep the night before and was a tad fussy in the morning. We started in Toon Town where I rode this super fast roller coaster with Mommy.

I was super bummed when the ride got over, but Mommy wouldn't let me ride it again because the line was too long. So I threw a little fit.

I saw Goofy and Donald Duck in Toon Town, but Minnie was the first person I really wanted to meet. She was standing right outside on her front porch. She was pretty cool from far away, but I was a little nervous when we got up close. After the picture, Daddy tweaker Minnie's nose and then she tickled me, which made me laugh.

Minnie's house was so cool! I pushed a button and made her dishwasher turn on.


But I wanted to spend most of my time at this weird place. There were loud popping noises and then smoke came out of the windows.

While we were waiting in line for the Buzz Lightyear ride, I fell asleep on Daddy's shoulder. I'm sure Mommy and Daddy were relieved. I think they were a little annoyed that I was so crabby in the Happiest Place on Earth.

Luckily I woke up in to ride Pirates of the Carribean. And I was definitely in a better mood during the afternoon.

Grandma and Grandpa de Jong met us at Disneyland. It was Grandma de Jong's birthday, so she got to get in for free. I tried to stay busy while we waited in line for the Nemo ride.

It was definitely worth the wait. We got to ride in a submarine and see Dory and Nemo!

Cruising around Tarzan's treehouse:

After it got dark we got to see a special Christmas parade. People started lining up for it over an hour before it began! We wanted a good spot so we staked out a spot and stayed there for an hour! Luckily Grandpa bought popcorn to munch on.

The parade was awesome! They had lots of Christmas stuff and a bunch of my favorite characters like Woody.

Check out the crowds:

The castle lit up at night and was amazing.

On Tuesday, we most of our time at California Adventure, with a short stop at Disneyland.


Daddy sure had fun on this Bug's Life ride. Actually, I'm on the ride with him. If you look closely above the "C" in Casey, you can see my thumbs giving the thumbs up sign.

Another two thumbs up ride.

I saw Handy Manny and was actually excited to stand next to him by myself! Of course, I had my blankie there, just in case I got too nervous.

After Handy Manny, I saw Pluto. I gave him a high five and a hug--without my blankie!

Two thumbs up for the Monster's Inc. ride.

Waiting in line to take a picture with Lightning McQueen. Mommy and I look thrilled.

I told Mommy that I wanted Lightning McQueen to look at me with his eyes and say hi, but she said he shy like me so he might just smile. I was still thrilled to be next to him.

I got to play on this HUGE playground at the end of the day.

What a blast! I wish I could go to Disneyland everyday!