Did you all have a cozy Christmas? We did. As you can see, Clark loves to cozy up on the couch on cold evenings. He's so cute that I can never resist taking tons of pictures.
We had some very cold nights and mornings in the week before Christmas. One morning we went outside at 8am and there was still tons of frost on the deck. The little frost crystals were so pretty on the table:
Dog paws on a frosty deck:
Even in the rain and cold, Clark and I have kept up our running routine. A few days before Christmas, Logan and I decided to go see a double feature of "A Christmas Story" and "White Christmas" at the California Theatre, which is a restored 1920s movie house in San Jose. Clark needed some exercise before we left, so despite the rain we went for a jog. Here we are at the end of our run- damp and tired:
As usual, we had a very busy Christmas this year. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner at Logan's Aunt Jyl's house before attending the 11pm service at our church. On Christmas morning we woke up and headed straight over to my parents' house for breakfast and to open presents with them. Of course we took Clark with us, and he had a great time opening his presents. This is our first Christmas with him, and it has been so much fun to include him in our celebrations. We came back to our house for a few hours to open our presents to one another before leaving again to go to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner. In the evening we were happy to come home and relax, and we enjoyed watching a movie together.Here's our tree with presents and the train underneath:
Logan was excited to receive a tent heater from my parents- now we can do some cold-weather camping:
And the excitement continues...Logan always loves to get toys:
Okay, so Clark doesn't look so excited here- but he had a great time playing with his new soccer ball:
The day after Christmas we had a group of our friends over for dinner. It was so nice to see everyone. All of us girls went to high school together:
On the Saturday after Christmas the weather was so beautiful that we decided to take a hike at Fremont Older Open Space Preserve, which is near my parents' house in Cupertino. We had clear sunny skies and fresh air- so nice! My parents came along and we had a really nice hike.
Clark is very photogenic...
...except for when I want to pose for a picture with him. Look at that stink face! (I think he was licking his lips.)
And here he is in one of his favorite spots- in my dad's chair on his lap:
Just before New Year's Eve we drove down to visit my in-laws near San Luis Obispo. We had a nice few days with them, including a relaxing New Year's Eve night watching "Mamma Mia!" On New Year's morning we drove down south to Disneyland to spend a few days taking in the decorations and special holiday entertainment. We had never been there at Christmas time before, and the park was so pretty all lit up:
They had wreaths on every light pole throughout the park. I especially liked this nutcracker wreath near "It's a Small World":
Although our first afternoon there was warm and sunny, the rest of the trip was cold and overcast. So cold that no one wanted to go on Splash Mountain. There is always at least an hour wait for this ride. But while we were there, the wait was FIVE minutes!:
No trip to Disneyland is complete without taking in a showing of Fantasmic, which is the "night-time spectacular" (Disney's words). It really is spectacular, though. Waterworks, pyrotechnics, costumed characters, the whole shebang. But to get a good seat you have to arrive early- it's first-come, first-served. We had a cold 45 minute wait for the show. Brr!:
Although we much prefer Disneyland to the newer park across the way- California Adventure- we ventured over there on Saturday to ride the newest attraction- Toy Story Midway Mania. We really enjoyed the ride, and then stopped at the "Corn Dog Castle" for lunch. Logan loved his hot link corn dog:
Decorating is what Disney does best. Throughout our trip I kept wondering- where do they store all of those decorations the rest of the year?!
The Christmas tree on Main Street must have been at least 50 feet tall. Logan took this shot looking up at it- a "Clark's eye view"- we imagine this is what our tree at home looks like to Clark!
One of the interesting parts of our trip was getting stuck on the Jungle Cruise when it broke down. It's never happened to us before. I wondered if they were going to bring ramps out so we could cross to dry land to leave the ride. But instead the boat ended up going backwards through the ride to get us back to the dock. It was strange to see the animals all sitting completely still- rather eerie, in fact!
We enjoyed seeing the Christmas parade, despite being packed like sardines next to thousands of our closest friends.
I have seen the toy soldiers in the Disney parade on TV for years and always wanted to see them in person. Very cute! I wonder how they march without tripping over those big feet?
Logan's favorites, Chip and Dale, were being silly as usual in their little toy car:
A really unique part of the trip was getting to see real reindeer. We watched them eat dinner on Saturday night. They look so soft:
I've been to Disneyland many times now, and have never had a pair of the original Mickey Mouse ears. So I decided this was the time to do it. They say my name of the back too! But it was so cold at night that I had to wear the ears over my fleece hat. Not a bad look, according to Logan:
Of course, Clark was very happy to have us home when we returned. He was lucky enough to get to stay with my parents and sister while we were gone. They took excellent care of him, of course! His weird new habit is licking the top of Logan's head while he lays on the back of the couch. I swear- he's got more than a little bit of cat in him! He looks like he's laughing at some joke, huh?
That's all for now. Until next time...
