Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2012 December 31

We went to Disneyland today. It was really crowded, but it must have been more of an adult crowd (which makes sense) because the adult rides were SO long and the kiddie rides weren't too bad. We went on Dumbo, the carousel, Casey Jr, and one last shot at it's a small world holiday. Then we took the train to New Orleans and had some Mickey beignets. We went on Pirates, the Haunted Mansion (also last shot for the holiday version - and we were smart and got fast passes), and Winnie-the-Pooh.

The kids each got a $5 gift card in their stockings, to pick out a treat. Dalton got a Mickey cake pop. I let the kids pay for their treats with their gift cards. He clearly knew it was his, but when we got it out after lunch, he walked around sharing bites with all of us, so generously. It was delicious, too! Maggie got an M&M covered chocolate caramel pretzel rod, which we saved for after dinner.

We went to the Jingle Jangle Jamboree where the kids got reindeer masks to color and we saw Mickey Santa. I'm really pleased with the picture we got of all of us. Mickey made time to get down and say hi to Sienna and got her to smile at him. I love that the characters take time to make your kid's day.

After dinner and baths, John got out a selection of movies we hadn't seen recently (so the adults didn't get bored) and let the kids pick. I made popcorn and got out the sleeping bag. They snuggled and colored their reindeer masks from Disneyland while we watched Ice Age.

After the movie, I sent Maggie upstairs to get her drum to make noise for New Year's. She came down with the drum, the xylophone, and the leis from the ward Christmas party. The kids got ready, we counted down from ten and they made their noise. Then we brushed teeth and went to bed. Yes, it was only 8:20, but they don't know the difference and we did let them stay up quite a bit after bedtime!