Disneyland at Christmas

A few days after Christmas, I thought it would be fun to take the kids to HK Disneyland. It's been kind of a tradition to go at Christmastime, and it has been several months since the last time we went. (We don't have annual passes anymore.) After looking back through all of my photos, it seems the last time we went was last February! So almost a whole year. We were very excited to go. I love seeing it all decked out for Christmas!

We got there right at 10am, when it opened, and as you can see it really wasn't too busy. 

The first thing we did was head to Toy Story Land, just behind Fantasyland, but when we got there we found out that it would open a little bit later. So we went back to Fantasyland and rode on Dumbo because the line was only 5-10 minutes long. Any longer than that and the ride is so not worth it. :) After Dumbo, we actually split up. Maya and Zoe went back to Toy Story Land to ride a couple big rides that the twins are too small for, and I took the twins on the carousel, and Winnie the Pooh. 

After those rides, we met up again and got in line for the Mickey and the Wondrous Book show. We timed it just right so that we actually didn't have to stand in line, we went right in to the theater, and the show started about 5 minutes later. It was great! (On a normal busy day, you have to line up about 30 minutes ahead of time!) It's great going on a slow day! 

After the show, which we LOVED, we went on It's a Small World, the Spinning Tea Cups, and then.... 

what Mason has been talking about for weeks... we rode the train! We rode it all the way around the park. Unfortunately Mason fell asleep during the last five minutes, so I had to carry him back down to where we parked our stroller. Man, that kid is getting big! I won't be able to carry him much longer! 

After the train ride, we walked through Toy Story Land to get to Mystic Manor. 

The twins rode on Mystic Manor in the past with no issues, but this time they were both terrified, and both had their eyes closed and heads pressed against me the entire time. Poor babies. :( 

Then I had a period of time where I took no pictures, lol. We walked over to Grizzly Gulch and got lunch. The twins took forever eating, so Maya and Zoe went on the Runaway Mine Train rollercoaster ride (next door to our lunch place) while I waited for the twins to finish eating. Maya and Zoe came back right when the twins finished. :) 

We then walked through Adventureland and went on the Jungle River Cruise boat ride. (By the way, we rented one stroller since we don't own one anymore, and the twins had to figure out how to share it. Sometimes they would both ride, but fight over who got to sit in back. Sometimes they would take turns with one riding and one pushing. Sometimes I really wish we still had our double stroller!)

After that, we headed over to Tomorrowland. Maya and Zoe went to check on the line for Space Mountain, (now renamed Hyperspace Mountain, rethemed for Star Wars), but it was really long, so they got Fast Passes for later. We went on the Buzz Lightyear ride, and then Maya and Zoe went on the new Iron Man ride while the twins and I rode Buzz Lightyear again. It seemed like the ride would be too scary for them. Maya and Zoe LOVED it. They said it wouldn't be too scary for the twins, so we all went on it together. It was fun! And Mason and Olivia loved it! They actually said it was the best ride of the day! 

We then went back to Fantasyland to pass some time before the big girls had to use their fast passes. We rode the carousel again, (Mason had been begging all day), and then saw Mickey's Philharmagic 3D show. Finally, Maya and Zoe went back to Hyperspace Mountain and the twins and I walked through the Fairytale Gardens. 

Finally, the sun was setting and we started walking back to Main Street for the "Twilight Snowfall" and the lighting of the Christmas tree. 

Maya excused herself and went to the Animation Academy for an art lesson, while we had fun on Main Street. Mason and Olivia LOVED the "snow", and Zoe and I loved all the projections on the Main Street buildings. Really brings it to a whole new level!

We ended up leaving Disneyland at about 7pm, even though it was open for a few more hours, because we were all tired. I wanted to beat the crowds, and I also wanted to get home before the twins fell asleep. Well, unfortunately Mason fell asleep in the stroller during the tree lighting! I mentioned before how big that boy is getting... I had to carry him all the way back to the MTR. It was torturous. And because Mason was being carried, Olivia thought that entitled her to also being carried. Poor Maya had to carry her all the way to the train. (It is about 10 minute walk between the park entrance and the MTR). Our backs were killing us. Thankfully we didn't have to wait long for the train to come. And thankfully the little kids both got their second wind and didn't need to be carried the rest of the night.

We had a great time at Disneyland, but I have to be honest, it didn't seem as "magical" as it has in the past. Maybe it's because we've been there so many times that we are just too used to it? Waking up the next day was really, rough, too. We all slept in (even though we were all in bed by 10:30pm), and I had a headache most of the day. It's kind of making me rethink our idea of a big WDW trip in 2018, even though it's something we've been planning for 2 years already. I guess we will see. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be going back to HK Disneyland any time soon. We need time to build up the anticipation of the "magic" before our trip in 2018.

Merry Christmas!!

Well, since it is officially 2017 (!!!), I figured I might as well write about Christmas. :)

We had a great Christmas this year. We got to do some fun activities, help with some service projects, (see my previous post), eat lots of Christmas cookies, AND I got all the wrapping done early so that I wasn't up until 2am on Christmas Eve!! :)

But first, a few pre-Christmas festivities... This is right outside of our building. I kind of like how obvious it is that they don't hire professionals to decorate. :)

The entrance to our building: 

Inside the lobby of our building:

We decorated gingerbread houses! I bought the kits from IKEA, and then glued them together with melted sugar on the stove. They held together very nicely! :) I let Mason and Olivia share one house, each doing one side. They LOVED this activity!

Zoe got very creative with hers... 

Maya's was very neat and a bit artistic. Unfortunately the only pic I took of the three houses together came out blurry, but they all looked great. :) 

One thing that I was very excited to do was to hear Maya's choir performance and a local shopping mall. The day happened to be very cold, so I imagine it was hard for the kids to stand out there for an hour without jackets on!! The choir sang several songs, then the chime "team" came out and played a couple songs, and the harmonica (!) "team" came out and played a couple songs, and then the choir sang some more. Between songs, there were some speaking parts (incl. Maya). One thing that I love about Hong Kong is that they aren't afraid to talk about Jesus in relation to Christmas. I guess it helps that Maya's school is a Christian school. :) Anyway, her school does not do a Christmas concert for parents and families to come see, so I was glad that she actually told me about this performance, and that I was able to attend! Took me back to my own choir days in middle school and high school.

 Later that weekend, Mason & Livy's kindergarten had a games day where they play little carnival games with their teachers and win little prizes. They won things like stickers, spinning tops, etc.

There was also a "lucky draw" (raffle), and Mason won one of the biggest prizes! He and Livy were so excited! They opened it as soon as we got home. Unfortunately it was very cheaply made and there were literally a million pieces... They enjoyed playing with it for a day and then it quietly disappeared from our home. They don't even miss it... ;) 

 I have always wanted to learn how to make spritz cookies ever since I was a kid. I loved receiving plates of cookies from friends, and I was always amazed at the spritz cookies because I didn't know how they made them into those shapes! It wasn't until a couple years ago that I actually looked up how to make them and saw that you need a cookie press, but I had no idea where to find it in HK. Well, imagine my surprise when I was out shopping (at a fancier store that I had never been to before, looking for some specific ingredients), when I saw a spritz cookie press!! And it was less expensive than I had imagined it would be! So I bought it!!! And I made these lovely cookies! As you can see from the varying sizes, I ought to practice some more to get the technique just right. ;)

We also made some sugar cookies, and the kids loved decorating them. (By this time, the gingerbread houses were gone.)

On Christmas Eve, I really wanted to ride the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour to see the Christmas lights. Unfortunately, about 45,000 other people had the same exact idea! (That number is just a guess. There were probably more!) I have NEVER, EVER had to wait in line to ride the Star Ferry before, and we were in line for at least 20 minutes. They had crowd control measures in place so that the ferry terminal would not get overwhelmed with people. Anyway, we got some Subway sandwiches and brought a few snacks from home, crossed the ferry, and attempted to get past the crowds so that we could see the harbour lights. Unfortunately, at a certain point there was absolutely no way to get through. So we had to turn around and find a place to sit on the ground in front of the TST cultural center to eat our sandwiches. It was so noisy there, and very chaotic. About every 10-15 feet apart from each other were musicians all playing their guitars or whatever instrument they had, and they all had microphones that were very loud... There were SO MANY.

Eventually they had a funny little video projected up on the side of the TST Cultural Center. It was about an Elf who felt out of place and wanted to find a new job, or something like that. I'm not really sure. The twins loved it.

A little while after the video, we tried to walk down the waterfront again, and thankfully they had removed all the barriers that were previously blocking the way so that we could actually go see the lights.

Olivia absolutely refused to turn around. 

It was fun to see the lights, but I don't think we will ever go on Christmas Eve again. It was too loud, too crowded, and too stressful. It was very nice to go home and partake of a favorite family Christmas tradition.... Opening of the new Christmas Eve Jammies!

Everyone loves their jammies. Mason, the train fan, has locomotives on his! (Thank you, Old Navy!)

The stockings were placed on the sofa with care....

Looks like Santa has been here!! (Don't mind the laundry hanging in the background... that's HK for you!) We were very blessed this year, and maybe bought a few things extra that weren't really necessary, but a lot of those gifts under the tree are from other family and friends, too. We certainly felt spoiled this year! 

On Christmas morning, we have a rule that you can open your stocking when you wake up, but you can't open any presents from the tree until the whole family is there to do it together.

 And since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, the poor kids had to wait until after our 9am church to open gifts! So they woke up, opened their stockings, had a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausages, and fruit, and then got ready for church. Usually church is 3 hours long, but on this day we only had our Sacrament meeting, and then they told everyone to go home to be with their families. (Sorry, no pictures of everyone in their church clothes, but I promise that we really did go!) ;)

When we got home, everyone was quick to change back into their jammies, Sam wrapped a few last minute gifts, and then we read the story of Jesus' birth together as a family, all taking turns.  Finally, our kids couldn't stand it any longer and it was time to open gifts.

 Zoe's first gift that she opened was from my brother Rob. He sent her a Ravenclaw (Harry Potter) hat and scarf. No joke, she screamed/squealed when she opened it. She was so excited!

A few other favorite gifts received. (Note to family... I didn't take pics of everything, but please know that we all enjoyed ALL the gifts we received, even if the ones you sent are not pictured here!!!)

The biggest surprise of the day came when Maya and Zoe opened their presents from Sam. He and I decided that they were ready for some techie upgrades in their lives, so Zoe finally got a new iPod touch, which she has wanted for years. And we bit the bullet and gave Maya an iPhone. (She got my old one, which was still in perfectly good condition, and I got a new one... ) They were both shocked because we had told them repeatedly for months that they were not getting it. Sam wrote them both letters explaining why we decided to do this and the responsibility that it would be to take care of these items and to not abuse their privileges. So far so good. :) 

The aftermath.... Everyone really enjoyed all their gifts. We made sure they knew that this was a good year for us, and that they shouldn't expect that many gifts every year, or those kind of expensive gifts every year. 

Zoe spent hours working on Lego projects. She built her Star Wars one first, and then got to work on this Christmas set. I thought this set would be fun to have with our Christmas decorations, and put it together every year as a family. This year, Zoe did it all on her own.

We got some fun games, too. Life, Splendor, and Ticket to Ride, all of which Zoe and I have played numerous times this week. (Poor Maya has been so busy with all of her holiday homework that she hasn't had much time to play). 

Sam's parents came over for our Christmas dinner. (How did Maya escape this photo??) We tried to keep things simple for dinner, and for the most part we did. We cooked chicken in the crockpot, I made some hame and cheese rolls from a recipe that I saw on Facebook, we had IKEA veggie medallions (sooo good!!), rice, gravy, corn and rolls. Sam's parents also made a couple things for our dinner. We really could have done without the corn and rolls. I don't think anybody touched them, haha. I'll remember that for next year. :) 

All in all, it was a really wonderful day. We enjoyed our time together as a family, and we loved playing with new toys and eating good food. Most of all, we are grateful for this time of year that we can remember the birth of our Savior, and celebrate the babe in a manger. Merry Christmas!