Christmas Vacation in California continued with more Disneyland Resort, beach, and travel time.
On Monday, Eliza spared nothing when getting her breakfast. Have some oatmeal with your whipped cream there, eh?
We enjoyed some morning pool/hot tub time to start the day with cousins from both sides of the family.
We said 'bye to Grandma, Grandpa, and Alie and hello to Bryce and Elise's troop.
At around noon, we went over to Downtown Disney so some of the group could participate in a demonstration of the Mega Quest 2 and do some window shopping.
Quest 2 is VR, so it's actually not that exciting to see someone using the interface.
In the afternoon, we all headed to Huntington Beach. The kids donned wet suits and played in the cold water. It was actually not a great day to be at the beach due to the cold. Fortunately, it didn't rain. Getting Landon into a wetsuit was very funny, at least to everyone but him. You need to stop by 15th Street Surf Supply. Hallie got a great zip up hoody.
Lily even caught a wave and Hallie was able to catch it in photo. Wah hoo!
Chance got stung by a sting ray, and fortunately the life guard we flagged down was able to provide timely and accurate first aid.
Tuesday morning meant bidding a fond farewell and heading to California Adventure. The kids had a lot of fun together and Landon is not fond of pictures so we were happy to get this picture of the group.
Hallie and her brother Bryce. He is always stoked and a great guy to hang out with and loves his family.
Hallie thinks she spied the boys just chillin' on their tech (which, to be honest, did make the line-waiting more tolerable), but this shot shows Mike reading the Festival of Holidays Foodie Guide Hallie got for us. ;)
Mike was watching for the girls on the Ferris Wheel. We took separate cars. Hallie and Eliza wanted a car that swung back and forth. The boys did not.
This is an example of a food item from the festival. We enjoyed getting to try many tastes but probably would have chosen different items from those we had to choose from. Still, it was worth the experience.
Mike developed a strong appreciation for the many ways the good people at the Disney Parks managed to control the crowds. Here we were stopped by some Wakanda warriors while we were at the Avengers Academy.
And here we took some time to learn how to draw Baby Yoda (AKA Grogu). This was also a good time to rest our feet. Hallie was very impressed by the boys' art work. Very proud of them and wished they had gone back to draw other things.
Yet another festival food find. Not one of our favorite things. The donut was too spicy for Hallie.
Mike tried to get Landon to hold still to get a decent picture along with the pretty lights after nightfall. Yeah, right. Landon thinks it is funny to do everything but do what his dad asks to take a picture.
While making our last round through the park, the Klezmer band
Mostly Kosher provided us some Hanukkah tunes. They gave quite the show!
Earlier in the day, after we won some prizes on the midway we opted to eat rather than wait in line for the Incredicoaster. But then the line got longer and longer. Finally as the day wound down, we went back, and the kids finally got their ride on with a shorter-than-expected wait. Woo hoo! Also, Mike won that Bullseye doll right there, yes he did. Eliza stole it from his arms and has now taken it on as her own.
On our way back to the hotel, who did we happen to pass on the road but Santa Claus, himself?!! Our bus whooped it up as we saw him (accompanied by the Grinch), and he waved and let us take pics.
We took some time on Wednesday to recover from Tuesday's walk. After letting the kids sleep in for a bit, we went over to Downtown Disney. There is an amazing array of items over there for purchase. Sadly, not very many are actually made by hand or locally. At times, it felt like the stores were so many giant unpacked container-ship modules set out for display of whatever randomly came across the sea with a vaguely Disney theme.
Of course, the goodies were made on site, and we enjoyed watching the artisans at work.
Somewhere in there is an ornament we will likely use to commemorate our trip.
The girls chose to get Katrina LEGO Brick Heads. Isn't she adorable?
Hey there, sexy! Happy Holidays!
Thursday dawned rainy, so we donned our ponchos and braved the weather for our last day at Disneyland.
Hallie and Eliza managed to score some coveted hand-made candy canes (that Hallie only learned about by asking a well-timed question)! She and Eliza ended up getting onto the Indiana Joes ride only to get kicked off when it broke down. The upside is that the four of us got a Lightning Pass that we later used on Space Mountain. It was super dark, which made the ride super fun!
In the meantime, Mike and Landon raced through Frontierland to get a fairly short wait for Rise of the Resistance. They ended up meeting up with the girls after taking in a couple of rides in New Orleans Square. Hallie has heard how great the ride Rise of the Resistance is, but she never got to ride it unfortunately.
By lunchtime when we met near the Tiki Room, the rain really started to fall. Fortunately, we could comfort ourselves with over-priced food.
After riding some more classic roller coasters, we headed back one last time to Batuu for a late lunch/early dinner.
By day's end, we were wet and tired, but we had a great time. We made a slow journey from Tomorrowland through Main Street to the bus back the the hotel.
We had the chance to chat with a cartoonist and see his work. Most of the time Hallie is willing to talk to others/strangers. Sometimes it pays off as in the candy cane purchase. Landon is in a drawing class at school, so Hallie thought she should talk to the artist. We learned a lot, and hopefully Landon listened a little. Landon really hates it when Hallie talks to people out of the blue.
All in all, we had a wonderful time but were ready to head back home.
On Friday morning, we ventured back to Utah. Because we had rain, we also had rainbows.
We met up with Carly and Shad's family at Alien Fresh Jerky in Baker, California, as they were heading back to their home. The kids were impressed with the store (not really). Mike was impressed that they sold a wide variety of Argentinian treats. Hallie thought the store was fun and knew with 5 kids under the age of 15 that there would at least be something fun for the kids to look at or do. Hallie wasn't wrong. We spent nearly 90 minutes there.
We finally made it home, and Fergus promptly reasserted his rightful place.
Christmas morning dawned with Eliza having crawled into bed with the 'rents in the middle of the night and Landon wandering in at around 7:00. Merry Christmas, everyone!
Here we have the kids playing with the Savi's Workshop lightsabers. Woosh! Woosh!
Landon enjoyed his stocking gifts.
Eliza enjoyed the wreath Grandma Dorey made.
It eventually did make it to its rightful place.
We had a spaghetti dinner at Grandma and Grandpa M.'s along with peppermint ice cream pie for dessert.
Mike finished up his snowflake season with a last few to commemorate the snowy day.
Sunday meant a quiet day at home shoveling snow, playing games, coloring, and otherwise winding down from the excitement of the week.
All in all, we had a wonderful time but were ready to head back home. 
