Surprise Saturday

A few weeks back, Aaron told me to keep December 19th open. That's just about all he said so I figured maybe we were going ice skating or something special since he would be done with finals and we would be leaving to go up north that week. So, last week, he started telling me that we needed to be sure to get enough sleep before Saturday because it was going to be a long day...hint #1: an all day event?! He offered to let me guess a few more things about what we would be doing on Surprise Saturday so by Friday, I knew that we would be leaving early, driving somewhere 45 min to 1 hour away, coming home in time to sleep, and that I should wear comfortable shoes but not workout clothes. In my heart of hearts, I *hoped* we were going to Disneyland. I have never been at Christmastime and I have always wanted to see it decorated for the holidays. Also, Aaron and I have talked about Disneyland a lot and I knew that going just "to go" was not at the top of Aaron's life to-do list...so, it would truly be a sacrificial gift on Aaron's part.

Fast forward to 6:45am on Saturday when our alarm clock went off. Aaron looked at me and said, "are you ready to wake up, are you ready to go to DISNEYLAND?" There was screaming, high pitched shrieking, dancing, etc etc etc. We ate breakfast and hit the road by 7:30. I was grinning the whole way to Anaheim...only stopping to tell Aaron about all the things that we had to do while we were there. He laughed when he asked me where we should eat lunch and I answered that it didn't matter because "everything tastes better in Disneyland". (It really does, by the way, if you were wondering) After parking, buying our tickets, we were in the park by 9:15am, ready to go!

The decorations along Main Street (and throughout the park) did not disappoint. It was prettier than I could have ever imagined...those Disney people do not skip a beat. Every detail was holiday-fied.



Our first ride was Pirates of the Carribean and after that we checked out the Haunted Mansion, holiday style...





On our way to have lunch in Fantasyland, we walked right into the middle of The Princess and the Frog's Princess Tiana's Jubilee...

After lunch, we decided to digest a bit before we tackled the teacups with a quick trip to Mr. Toad's.

I felt no shame in taking this picture of this dude hogging up the photo-op buggy.

And then, it was us and a red teacup.



Aaron spun that sucker fast. I was woozy. Dark picture but you can see the mischeivous look on his face.

We braved the line for the Matterhorn (my favorite) next.

As you can tell from the pictures, we were there on a truly beautiful, warm day. We needed a bit of a breather after all that walking and waiting and riding so we decided to sit and watch the Honey, I Shrunk the Audience presentation with these uber-cool glasses:

Autopia was next up in our Tommorrowland tour. We laughed that this is the only time you'll see me driving with Aaron in the car.

After about an hour wait, we rode the new Space Mountain. I was a little bit nervous but my "bravery reward" (ice cream) was waiting on the other side of this ride so I sucked it up.

Typical that Aaron would have his hands up and I'd be clenching to the bar. And yes, I took a picture of the picture. They want you to pay $15 for those and everyone else was doing it with their camera phones!
As we headed out in search of my bravery reward, we ran smack into the first run of the Holiday Magic parade.



The best part of the parade is watching the little kids' faces as the characters wave at them. They get SO excited--I worry some of them will just pass out.




Aaron is still talking about how uncomfortable these dancing reindeer made him:


I wanted to make sure we got a picture in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle before it got dark. Too bad you always take a gamble when you ask a stranger to take your picture.

Before we knew it, it was dark! We were planning to be in a spot to get "snowed on" at 9:30, but surprise, surprise! The castle lit up and snow fell twice before we thought it would! It was an awesome experience.



Before dinner, we were able to sneak in Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters ride. Look at how that turned out. Goodness, that is pathetic, space ranger 2!

We tried to get on It's a Small World one more time before dinner but the wait was an hour! So, this is as close as we got...

After dinner, we decided to go on one more ride before parking it on Main Street to grab a good seat for the fireworks show.


Can you see the 12+ hours of Disneyland on my face?
Like I said, it snowed one more time before we thought it would. Pictures don't do it justice but I tried!

Sadly, the show was canceled after about 5 minutes because the winds were too much at higher altitudes. I thought there might be a riot but people took it pretty well. One more attempt at the snow pictures...


A magical end to a magical day! Aaron's polishing his "Best Husband" trophy as we speak...hope y'all had a great weekend. 4 days til Christmas!

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." Matthew 5:9