Turkey and Disney Adventures

Well, we definitely had a very memorable Thanksgiving this year! On Thanksgiving morning we left early and drove to Ben's aunt's home in Upland, California. Upland is about a 45 minute drive from Disneyland. We had a very yummy Thanksgiving meal with them. My favorite, of course, was the mashed potatoes! The Tuttle home is very busy with 11 kids and a dog! Wow! Between their family, ours (including Ben's parents and his sister's family) and the missionaries, it was quite the little crowd. Emma and her cousin Adam looked so cute dressed up as a pilgrim and an indian. Ben's mom made the pilgrim dress and it turned out adorable! After dinner and visiting with them, we took off to our hotel across the street from Disneyland (my FAVORITE place!!). We played for two days in the two parks there and we were soooo exhausted after it all! We hit every big ride and most of everything else. I was a little disappointed that we didn't ever get to ride the new Nemo submarine ride. However, every time we walked by it was an hour and a half wait or more. We just didn't want to wait that long with all of our little ones. So, maybe next time. Hopefully they will someday decide to have some fast passes available for that one. Goodness sakes! On the first Disneyland day, we had some special passes that would allow us to get into Toontown an hour before it opened to meet Mickey and watch a little show with all his friends. Emma just loved this! When we got to see Mickey she went right up and hugged his legs. It was super cute. I was a little surprised at how scared Emma was on some of the rides... I was hoping she would be more brave! She did NOT like any of the 'dark' indoor rides... we couldn't get her to go on Peter Pan or anything. It was a real struggle to convince her to go on Winnie the Pooh or Small World, but she ended up enjoying both. She whimpered the whole time on Pirates and Monster's Inc. However, there were many rides that she wanted to ride over and over again, like the teacups, Dumbo, Astro Orbiters, all of the rides in the Bug's Life land and also the big Ferris Wheel in California Adventure. So, overall, she had a really good time. Of course, we weren't able to convince her to ride the Matterhorn. She said it was too scary because she could hear the "snow monkey". That's what she called the Abominable Snowman. What a funny girl. We also got away with hardly having to wait in any lines, because while part of our group was at Toontown on the first day, Ben's parents and sister were surprisingly given Dream Fast Passes (part of Disney's Year of a Million Dreams thing) that allow you to get on all the big rides without a wait. You just have to show them your special passes that wear around your neck. So, between those and baby swap passes, we hopped on a bunch of rides without a wait. How pleasant! I also enjoyed the little arrangement we made with Ben's sister, Emily and her hubby (also named Ben). The kids were exhausted after dinner on both days, so we swapped taking the kids back to the hotel to go to bed while the others continued to play. This worked out well. The second night was Ben and my turn to play late, so we went on California Screamin' and Tower of Terror. We also got some ice cream and shopped for some souvenirs for Emma and Becca. What a fun date! Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone!