Day 1

I mentioned in my Christmas post, the packing frenzy that went on Christmas morning. Owen knew something was up, and he didn't like it. As I rushed from room to room trying to gather everything, he followed me crying.


(Trying to put on a brave face.)

Just before we were ready to go, we realized that Owen hadn't opened his presents yet (he'd slept up until time for church). So we sat down and let him open his Christmas presents.





At one in the afternoon, we took Owen over to our neighbor's, then loaded into the suburban to drive to the airport. We stopped off at the hospital on our way, and gave Grandma Jo and Grandpa Mike a quick hug as Grandpa Mike was getting discharged (he surprised Jamie and Marc later in the day by being home for Christmas dinner).

The flight was short and uneventful. It was a small plane, just three seats in each row, so Josh sat on one side of the isle, with Sara and Savannah on the other side. The next row had Aaron and then me and Nate. And Scott got to sit back by himself and sleep the whole way (while I entertained the kids).




The flight was just under 2 hours, and the kids were so good the whole time. Savannah brought markers and paper and let everyone use them to color. (I spent the whole time handing markers back and forth from Savannah to Aaron). Don't let Nate's expression fool you, he really did have fun on the plane (till he fell asleep on my lap for the last hour of the flight.

We got to LAX, got our luggage, then met our ride. We didn't have any traffic, and made it to our condo in just over half an hour. We got settled, then walked down to Downtown Disney to look for dinner. It was so crowded. It was our first taste of just how crowded Disneyland would be the entire week. We went in a few stores (the boys loved the Lego store), but realized that if we wanted to eat at any of the Downtown Disney restaurants, we were in for at least a two hour wait.


So we headed back towards our condo, and stopped to eat Christmas dinner at a cute little restaurant not far from our condo, called "Tiffy's". Scott splurged for their prime rib (it was Christmas dinner, after all), but the kids were happy they had mac and cheese on the menu. Then we headed home to collapse. It had been a LONG day. The kids all instantly fell asleep (all except Nate, who had napped on the plane).



(The boys slept in the living room all week--we did move Josh to the bed and Nate slept on the short little couch, a better fit. The girls had their own room with each in their own double bed. This was a real treat for them because they have to share a bed at home.)

I went to bed as soon as the kids were all asleep. Scott stayed up and ordered our groceries online (till like 2 in the morning). It made up for him sleeping on the plane while I entertained the kids.