I hope there's a Disneyland in Heaven

Part of our Christmas vacation this year with the Snow family was a 2-day trip to Disneyland and California Adventure! Matt's parents rented an enormous, roomy van for the six hour trip (necessary for the comfort and sanity of their super tall offspring), and our hotel was just a short walk from the parks. The weather was nice, the lines weren't bad, and the company was better than ever! We even wore matching colors so we wouldn't lose each other. So precious!

For some reason, this trip was crazy exciting for me! I felt like I was six years old again with my Snow White T-shirt, plastic pink visor, and fanny pack full of snacks and sunblock. Both times, I was positively giddy! (That's me on the left. I can't believe I found this picture!)

Matt's parents were so wonderful to take Josh around with them all day. It was such a nice break for me to run around with the other kids without anything/anyone to slow me down! (Sorry Josh, I can't think of a nicer way to say that. You know I love you!) Here they are at one of Grandpa's favorite Disney attractions: Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

Grandma and Grandpa also took Josh on Pirates of the Caribbean, which was too dark and scary for me as a little girl. Apparently, Josh loved it...

...just not enough to stay awake through the end. Luckily, we were so close to the hotel that Josh was able to go back for nap time. Once again, grandparents are the best!

Here's our picture from Space Mountain, my all-time favorite Disneyland ride! Funny how we were all closing our eyes for the camera. I can't figure out why, unless the flash blinded us. It kinda makes us look like wussies.

Our first ride of the day was actually Indiana Jones because I had never been on it before. (That's another ride I was too scared to do when I was six.) Loved it! Here we are standing in line pumped up with excitement!

The Snow Siblings!

Michelle ~ Andrew ~ Stephanie ~ Matt

The Snow Sisters!

(Question...Is it still cool to make peace signs for pictures? I'm pretty sure that if I've caught on, its time has passed.)

Outside of Splash Mountain. This is how scared we were!

Mostly because it was still morning and the wind was going to be very chilly on our wet clothes.

Gettin' a little friendly with Mr. Toad...

...Matt was enraged with jealousy. I didn't mind that at all.

We made a visit to Toon Town for the sweet photo ops.

The castle was beautiful all decorated for winter!

The next day, we hit up California Adventure. The favorites there were The Tower of Terror, Screamin', and Soarin' Over California. Grandpa was nice enough to take Josh on the spinning lady bugs at the risk of losing his lunch.

We ate at IHOP before the ride home. Andrew won the sympathy of our waitress for having a yucky-feeling tummy after the jerky rides. She even gave him some Sprite and saltines. On the house. Yeah. Doesn't that just scream "love at first sight"?! That's what everyone seemed to think. It was a fun little fantasy. (**Note: The woman in the picture is NOT the waitress. That's his dear mother. Although I'm sure she would've given him free soda and crackers too.)

All in all, it was a most wonderful trip! Family time is the best part of holidays! In my opinion, Christmas money could be spent on trips like this every year instead of presents and I would be perfectly happy!

Afterword:

I'm editing this post because I forgot to mention a memorable part of our Disneyland experience. When we were standing in line for the Matterhorn watching people board the ride, I saw that people had the option to couple up and ride in the same seat almost lap-style. Upon observing which couples decided to get all snuggly and which ones preferred to each have their own car, Matt said something semi-romantic (for him):

"Goal in life: Never get too fat to ride the Matterhorn with my wife in the same seat."

Isn't that sweet? (And just the tiniest bit insensitive?) Now whenever he thinks he wants a third serving of something at dinner, I'll only have to say one word -- Matterhorn. :)

Phoenix Zoo in the "Winter"

While we were in Arizona over Christmas, we took Josh to one of his favorite places -- the ZOO! I got a membership there last December when he was only six months old because it was a fun place to walk around with friends and Josh has always loved to be outside. Back then, he really only seemed to pay attention to bird noises and the duck pond (which we could find for free in plenty of community parks around Tempe). However, since he's become a big bad toddler who knows his animal sounds and everything, the zoo offers a whole new experience!

Two of Matt's siblings (Michelle and Andrew) came along with us, so there was plenty of help with Josh. With my hands free most of the time, I got to play around with a super cool telephoto lens on my camera (a hand-me-down from my dad that I haven't had the chance to experiment with yet). So much fun! I got to pretend that I actually knew what I was doing and look all pro with my enormous lens. Ha. Someday I'll learn for real.

Here is Josh with his always lovely Auntie M.

The rumor is true...I CAN get orangutans to pose for me.

The picture below is the handiwork of my dear husband. Pretty good, eh? I love how you can see every wrinkle in his face, like a tired old man.

A natural halo for an angel boy?

Silly Uncle Andrew...Whenever Josh was in a goofy mood, he'd go to Andrew for a laugh. They became good friends this trip.

I don't think Josh ever met a guard rail he didn't climb. Half the fun of the zoo was trying to keep him from getting eaten.

This is his surprised/focused face. If ever he heard an animal sound or an airplane and needed to know exactly where it was coming from, his head would whip around with eyes and mouth wide open, ready to pinpoint the source.

Monkey butts!!! (You know you want to say it out loud and laugh right now.)

This little guy was one of my favorites. Can't you just see him walking right out of a cartoon, like he doesn't belong in real life? I haven't quite found the right name for him yet, but he's gotta be related to Rafiki somehow.

Can you tell he's Matt's brother?

Ostriches are so graceful! This little lady reminds me of the ballerinas in Disney's Fantasia. I wonder if I could Photoshop some slippers on her somehow...

Random thought: I have a strange urge to make a jigsaw puzzle out of this one with the flamingos. And what's funny is I snapped this shot by accident!

Just climbing over the fence to get closer to the tiger. No big deal.

"Grrrrrrr!!!!" By that point, Josh was getting a little tired of me wasting his time with pictures.

Michelle said it wasn't fair that I didn't have to be in any pictures, so here I am forcing her to pretend she likes me for the camera.

Did you notice that none of us was wearing any sort of sweater or jacket? I promise, these pics were taken in December. That's just how awesome the weather was. Are you jealous, my Chicago/Utah friends? Even though I'm finding snowy winters to be perfectly bearable, I think Arizona's got it right. THIS is how winter should be!

We're Back! (not the animated dinosaur movie...)

WARNING: This post is very much like a journal entry. Few pictures, lots of words, probably boring to you, but necessary for record-keeping purposes. Proceed only if you have nothing better to do.

After more than five weeks of enjoying family life on the beautiful, warm, heavenly west coast, we are back in Chicago! We all flew out to Redding for Thanksgiving and Matt returned a few days later to finish his last couple weeks of the school quarter. We figured it would be easier to burn himself out studying if Josh and I weren't around to distract him. Meanwhile, Josh and I got to stay in California and play with Grandma, Grandpa, Great-grandma, Aunt Julia, Uncle Steven, and even Aunt Melissa. It was so wonderful!! I got to sew, watch movies, crochet, do puzzles, cook, shop, eat junk food, play the piano and guitar, watch Julia's basketball games, and taxi kids around all day every day. It was a much needed break! I know I sound like a total nerd admitting all the lame things I like to do for fun, but after so much time working on school every free moment, the creative part of my brain needed an outlet. I finished a lot of cool projects while I was there, which I'm sure I'll brag about later.

After finals were over, Matt met us in Tempe to spend Christmas break with his family. Spending time together without any schoolwork (for either of us) or interviews or schmoozing events was absolute bliss! And with Grandma Snow taking over pretty much all of our childcare responsibilities, we were able to enjoy every minute of it. This freedom just makes it that much harder to accept the start of a new quarter this week, but somehow we'll manage. Arizona fun included two awesome days at Disneyland, hours and hours exploring new games on the Wii, seeing the super cool new Sherlock Holmes movie, a surprise family graduation ceremony for me in Matt's dad's court room downtown (very fancy!), lots of sunshine and family time, seeing Matt's friends from high school, Josh reuniting with his best friend (Aunt Stephanie's dog Bailey), and me desperately trying to fit all of our Christmas presents into our luggage without exceeding Southwest's weight limit. As always, a grand old time.

Now, here we are in our cozy little apartment, settling back into a routine, close to great friends, and happy to be home. As wonderful as vacations are, especially with family, living out of a suitcase gets kind of old. What surprised us all was how much we appreciated reconnecting with our shabby little place. We are happy to be happy to be home, if that makes sense.

There's nothing like being back with your own STUFF again. A magical moment occurred when I sank down into our enormous Tempurpedic bed for the first time in over a month. Matt and I will both tell you it is our most prized possession (and that includes our car). And my kitchen! My tiny little kitchen that I've cursed so many nights for its nonexistent counter space, lack of a dishwasher, freezer that doesn't seal, and too-hot oven...I was even happy to see that! It had been so long since I was able to cook in my OWN little workspace that I actually forgot where to find the bowls the next morning.

Josh was equally as excited to be home. We got home late at night and he was asleep in my arms as we walked in. But as soon as we closed the door, his head popped up, he smiled, kicked his legs until I put him down, and ran to his old toys. I could just imagine his funny little thoughts as he tried to greet each toy as fast as possible and play with them all at the same time, while still a little unsteady and groggy from his nap on the ride home. The next day, I asked if he wanted to go visit Campbell (his same-aged second cousin down the hall), just to see how much he remembered. Immediately upon hearing her name, he looked up, dropped what he was doing, and sprinted to the front door. (He's gotten pretty fast in the last month.) He knew exactly where to go and knocked on the Clives' door until we figured the girls must be napping. (Sorry if we were too loud, Mardee!) Josh didn't get to play with little kids very much over the break (except in Nursery, which he started a few weeks ago and LOVES), so he's been pretty spastic upon seeing his old friends lately.

Now I know what you're thinking....Mimi, stop sugar-coating everything! Don't you miss your family? Isn't it hard to go back to doing all your own laundry and cooking and cleaning and changing all the dirty diapers yourself? Isn't it unbearably freezing in Chicago? Here are my answers: OF COURSE we miss our families -- it's impossible not to! I've found that I actually enjoy doing all the mom/housewife stuff now that I don't have school weighing on me constantly. And Chicago is surprisingly not as freezing and snowy as I expected. Yes, the wind is killer to exposed body parts, but it is possible not to freeze if you cover yourself up like an Eskimo. And that's only for long walks. Quick skips out to the car are pretty bearable so far.

My only worry is if Josh is warm enough when we're outside. (Our apartment is like a sauna!) He can't really tell me what part of himself is cold or uncomfortable yet, so I just have to guess. He's been pretty funny when we've gone out the past few days. I'll get him all bundled up and carry him so we can share body heat, but when we step outside, he gives this little chuckle and says "Ooooh, cold!" like it's fun. Then after a few seconds, he squints his eyes like his face is hurting (which it is, from the biting wind), and eventually burrows his face into my neck until we reach the car. He hasn't seemed whiny about it yet, or turned blue, so I feel like I'm doing my job.

Matt, on the other hand, walks to and from school. A mile each way. In the negative temperatures sometimes. However, even being the Arizona boy that he is, he assures me that he doesn't really get cold. We bought some good winter gear and he has been pleasantly surprised with how bearable winter has been. (Probably because we set our expectations so low that anything would've seemed alright.) His first class starts tomorrow, and I guess we'll see if he's still happy once another storm hits.

Matt has one less class this quarter than last, but also a TON of information sessions, lunches, applications, and interviews to worry about in the next few months. Not to mention PRESSURE to secure a solid internship for the summer that will most likely affect his entire life's career path. Yikes! (I'm glad it's him and not me.) Business school is crazy, especially here, where the University of Chicago is known for its rigorous curriculum. But he does a great job keeping up and making me proud. We're excited for all the opportunities this year will offer!

Coming soon: I have a disgusting amount of pictures from Arizona. I'll try to filter through them to post only my favorites...buuuut I have a really cute kid. So there might be a ton. Just be excited!