Early Christmas at Disney

After only being home for 1 week after our Thanksgiving trip, we were off again. This time down south to Anaheim. We decided to stop at Six Flags Magic Mountain on our way. Our entry was included with our season pass, so it was a fun little break on our road trip. 

Our first family selfie of the vacation. On the Gold Rusher roller coaster.

We spent probably 4 hours or so exploring. There are so many BIG roller coasters there. It would have been fun to try them all. At least for me. Everyone else, besides maybe Chris, would be too scared. Then we headed off towards our hotel through the always busy L.A. traffic.

After checking in we met up with Uncle Calvin and Aunt Jill. It was so fun to spend our time with them. We hit up The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co for dinner. It took forever and we were very ready for bed when we were done. 

Sunday was our day 1 in the parks. Originally we weren't even going to go that day, since I figured it would be way busy. Thankfully we chose to do it anyway. We had a fantastic day! Started out on Big Thunder Railroad twice in a row. Just walked on. It was great. That entire morning was great. 

We all loved the Christmas decor. It was very festive!

Although it was generally chilly in the mornings and evenings, the sun came out in the afternoon. 

Neil was really excited to have his own driver's license, and to drive the car. Thankfully for me he was a fast learner.

The parks were both so beautiful at night. SO many lights! We had plenty of time to enjoy them too since they stayed open until midnight every night!

Day 2 was Monday. You might have thought it would be less busy, but you would be wrong. Monday was our worst day. There were crazy amounts of people there. It didn't help that I woke up with a terrible headache that lasted most of the day. We managed to get our fast passes and watch some shows. It was nice to have more days still to come.

We enjoyed the update Hyperspace Mountain. No more scary monster.

Love those dole whips!

We had one reserved dinner at Cafe Orleans. At the end we had to have the beignets! I should have just ordered them for my dinner. 

Day 3 was Tuesday. It started out much nicer. It was also our magic morning, so we woke up extra early to play. Neil LOVED the "Mattelhorn". We went on it more than anything else I think.

Had to do Cars Racers everyday. It's pretty fun. I also really enjoyed the Tower of Terror. None of the kids wanted to do it again.

Jill's photo bomb.

Look at all of these delicious treats! This was a little shop by Winnie the Pooh. I wanted to try everything. I settled on a caramel and chocolate covered marshmallow with candy cane sprinkles. It was amazing. I even had to eat it over the next couple of days and it stayed good.

 Day 4 was Wednesday. We were on our own that day since Cal and Jill had to head home. We had a fun day trying to get in all the things we needed to do again.

We love holidays in the mansion. They do such a great job using The Nightmare before Christmas.

At 11:40 PM on our last day we decided to be crazy and did Splash Mountain. There was no line and it was freezing! We had the boat to ourselves, which I think made a big difference. We only got a tiny bit wet. It was great! The girls went again with Chris. They have become much more brave. Neil was good with once. :)

This last selfie was on Main St. as we walked towards the exit to go home. It was our fourth night of staying up til midnight and getting up early everyday. The kids were troopers and we had a great time! We are so glad that Cal and Jill were able to come too. It was really fun! Until next time Disneyland.

Thanksgiving and Anniversary

This year was a little bit different. Chris and I were invited to a friend/coworkers wedding in Virginia that just happened to be on Thanksgiving day. Since it was also our 15th anniversary, we decided to make a trip out of it.
First things first, we drove up to Oregon to settle the kids with their grandparents. I'm so glad that my kids have a good place to go where I don't have to worry about them. We hung out with all of the family, played some games, and even checked out the new Top Golf. It was really fun.

Then, just like that, it was time for Chris and I to head out. It had been a really long time since we had travelled anywhere together. It was really nice! We stopped and had some breakfast before our flight, and just did whatever we felt like. After an uneventful nonstop flight, we were there. Back to the same airport that we had left from a year and a half ago. It was really good to be back. We have both missed Virginia.

It took a bit to get our car and check in to the hotel. Since we also had to add 3 hours with the time change it was already dinner time. We found food at Sweetwater Tavern. Gotta love those Great American Restaurants. 

The next morning we opted to be a little crazy and get up at 5am in order to get to DC in time to stand in line for the new Smithsonian Museum of African American History. Since it was brand new they only let so many people in each day. You had to get a timed pass to attend. We arrived in line at 6:40am and were basically at the very front of the line. We froze our booties off but it was worth it. We were among the first people to get in and we got to watch a beautiful sunrise over the mall.

We spent almost five hours walking around the museum. There is a ton to see and read in there. Our brains were fried or else we could have stayed longer for sure. Afterwards we enjoyed the outside sunshine for a bit and walked around. We walked over to the American History museum for a bit. It is one of my favorites. The best part is seeing the great flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner. It's really impressive to see. There was also a new display with old puppets that I remember from TV. They had the original Snap, Crackle, and Pop.

A sculpture of George Washington. It was meant to be outside, but people felt he was too scantily clad.

After lots of walking around we headed to our dinner reservation at Founding Farmers. It was a delicious anniversary dinner. It's hard to believe that 15 years have already passed. We still love hanging out with each other!

Since it was plenty dark out after we ate, so we opted to walk down to the Lincoln Memorial. It's one of my favorite places to visit. It is gorgeous at night, and the views did not disappoint. What a perfect way to cap off our anniversary date. 

The next day was Thanksgiving day. We got up fairly early to be at the wedding around 8:30am. They gave us a program that explained the plan of events and what would be happening. Even with that guide we still found ourselves lost a few times. It was all very interesting. Neither of us had ever been to an Indian wedding before. There was a ton of ceremony and lots of chanting and music. It was really hard to get decent pictures, but we had a good time. It lasted almost four hours and then they served us a buffet lunch. The food was good, but nothing spectacular. 

The bride was carried in on this chariot.

After lunch we headed back to our hotel to take a wonderful nap. It felt so amazing! Changing time zones really is hard to do. After we slept forever we were hungry. There was going to be a dinner at the reception, but not until about 10pm. We looked all over for some food. It was Thanksgiving and everything was closed. Sadly we ended up at McDonalds. I splurged and got an apple pie.

We got ready and headed back for the reception. There were speeches and dances done for us. Then they served the buffet. The food was similar to lunch. We had a good time and it was fun to get all dressed up. The decor was beautiful.

The next day we hit the city again. We headed to the Supreme Court first. They didn't allow any cameras inside the courtroom, but we were able to go inside and sit while an intern talked to us about how the court works. It was very interesting. 

Afterwards we had burgers and shakes for lunch and then walked over to the Library of Congress. It was a huge building with an incredible number of books. The building itself was ridiculously ornate. We didn't spend a ton of time there, but we did see Jefferson's private collection as well as some really old bibles from the 1400's.

We spent the rest of our day enjoying being outside. We walked around the Capital and all over the city. It was great to just do whatever we felt like. 

We went back to Virginia and had dinner at a place called Kona Grill. It was really good too. Another great day!

The next morning we were able to sleep in til almost 11. Then we took ourselves to brunch, did some shopping, and headed to the airport. We were able to relax the entire time. No rush. It was great.

We made it back to PDX late that night and unfortunately had to make the drive back home first thing in the morning. We wish we could have had more time in Oregon, but we had a really great trip. 

Thank you to everyone who helped make it possible, especially my parents and in-laws. We have the best family, and I'm so thankful for all of them!