I remember when Britton was born in 2001 and Adam and I sat down to figure out the year he would graduate from High School. Back then the year 2020 felt sooooo far into the future I couldn't even fathom it, but here we are. Welcome to 2020! 😀
The beginning of a brand new year means its time for Jameson to celebrate his Birthday. We had a HUGE surprise for him for his 8th birthday, but since it was a surprise until his actual birthday we ended up throwing a simple friend birthday party together for him at the last minute so he wouldn't think he was being forgotten. He invited a lot of boys and they ALL came. 😑 It was soooooooo crazy and out of control I think Adam and I both came to the conclusion that this would be the last birthday party at our home with such a big group of boys.
The sunset on January 6, 2020 during his birthday party didn't disappoint. It was gorgeous.
So, what was his HUGE Birthday surprise? A Trip to Disneyland with Mom!!! Jameson and I left on Wednesday, January 8th and met up with Aunt Heather and cousins Quinn, Elsie and Anna at the airport in SLC for our flight to California.
Everything just kind of fell into place for this quick trip to Disneyland and we had such a great time! Heather and I both used points for the flights, then Heather hooked us up with a 2 bedroom Worldmark Condo near Disneyland and California Adventure and we were able to plan it so we would miss all of the big holiday crowds. A few months earlier Jameson had randomly asked if he could go to Disneyland for his Birthday, but sensing that it was a little too big a dream he let it go pretty quickly. I decided that sometimes its OK to dream big and set out to make it happen. Needless to say Jameson was VERY surprised when he opened his one birthday present from Mom and Dad and found a piece of paper that said, "You're going to Disneyland (with Mom) in 2 days!!" Talk about dreams coming true! I'm so happy that it all worked out. It will definitely be a trip we will never forget!
On the plane to California.
After checking into our hotel we walked to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Yum!
Jameson showing off our cool condo.
Heather and I are definitely compatible when it comes to amusement parks! We want to be as efficient as possible and beat the crowds whenever possible. The first hour at the park is magic hour and yes, we get yelled at by employees telling us to "please walk." At first Elsie and Anna, being teenagers and all, talked about going off on their own, but after listening to Heather and me discussing our plans for the day they decided that we knew what we were doing and it would be in their best interest to stick with us. They chose wisely. 😀 We got to ride everything we wanted multiple times and had a blast.
Heather and Hilary- Partners in crime.
We went on the Guardians ride twice. Jameson is like me and LOVES big roller coasters and rides, but Guardians was the only ride that he didn't like the first time he went on it. He decided to ride it again, however, and liked it a lot more the second time.
Jamo loved the stuffed Wall-E he won playing a game in California Adventure. A few of his friends had given him cash at his birthday party a few days before and Jameson just couldn't rest until he found a way to spend every cent of it.
Getting ready for the show Frozen to begin at California Adventure. Disney knows how to put on a show, this is for sure.
Everyone had a riding buddy: Jameson and Quinn, Heather and me, Anna and Elsie. It worked out perfectly.
Jameson was a trooper. We walked over 26 miles during our 2 days at the parks. It was a little colder at night than we had planned so we bundled up as much as we could for the "World of Color" show at California Adventure the first night
We really loved Cars Land and went on the Cars ride 4 times while at California Adventure for the day. Photo op with Mater!
We were exhausted at the end of Day 1, but were still up bright and early the next morning to get to Disneyland in time for the rope drop.
We were able to see the new Star Wars land and ride on the new ride which opened less than a year ago. Yes, it was amazing! We had the perfect number to have our own ship. Quinn and Jameson were the pilots, Heather and I were the gunners and Elsie and Anna were the engineers and it really felt like we were flying through the Galaxy on a special Star Wars mission. We loved it! We missed the opening of the 2nd big ride in Star Wars land by only 1 week, but I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have wanted to deal with the big crowds anyway.
Getting ready to board our own Star Wars ship.
Splash Mountain was closed the last time I was at Disneyland back in 2011. Even though it was a little chilly to go on a water ride, I was prepared with ponchos.
Jameson did NOT get wet. 😜😜
Thunder Mountain was a favorite.
Teacups are a must.
We had such a fun day and got to see and ride everything on our list and more.
One last picture before leaving for the night.
By the end of the 2nd day Jameson was sooo tired that he fell asleep outside of our room as we waited for Heather (and the room key) to get back (they caught the shuttle after ours). I literally had to drag him into the room when they arrived because he wouldn't wake up and walk inside on his own.
Jameson sleeping on the floor after being dragged into the room.
The next morning we were able to sleep in and swim in the pool before checking out at noon. It was little cold for me, but the kids had no problem jumping right in.
Our plans were to check out at noon and grab lunch before going to the airport for our afternoon flight home, but our flight kept getting delayed so we found ourselves with a few hours to kill and no place to hang out. We left our luggage at the hotel, walked a few blocks and found a movie theater to pass the time before going to the airport. When we bought our tickets to the Jumanji matinee we had no way of knowing that we were about to experience the most luxurious movie seats ever! We each had our own full size recliner with a lot of leg room to stretch out seat heaters just in case you got a little chilly in the theater. Yeah, there are worse ways to wait out a flight delay.
It was late when we got to SLC and it was snowing so we decided to be safe and stay at my parents house in Murray instead of making the late drive home. Heather and her kids missed their connecting flight to I.F. so the airline put them up in a hotel and they were able to get a flight home the next afternoon. It wasn't ideal, but eventually we all made it home on Sunday.
January 25th was a special day for Jameson. He was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by his Dad. He had a LOT of family members who traveled from far and wide to support him on his big day.
Our family with Grandma and Grandpa P.
Everyone from Adam's side of the family.
Family from Hilary's side of the family. Aunt Tiffany even came from Texas for the occasion!
We had a full house at the luncheon after his baptism.
The cousins had a lot of fun sledding and playing together all weekend. We missed Gramma and Grampa C who were unable to come at the last minute when Gramma got sick right before they were planning to leave. They were really sad they had to miss the big event.
We also spent some time in January painting some bedrooms and walls on the main floor that have needed to be painted FOREVER. Yay for progress!
1 comment:
Great recap! You were more thorough than I was about our trip - and I need to get a few of those pics from you. Thanks for the memories!
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