Petersons Do Disney

December 23, 2021 - January 2, 2022

Christmas has always had an excitement and bit of a magical element to it for me.  My childhood Christmas memories are filled with visits on Christmas Eve by Grandma Sigrid, Grandpa Carl, and Grandma Marguerite where we would all enjoy a lefse and meatball dinner, a huge plate of Christmas cookies and then go for a drive around Eldridge, Iowa to enjoy the light displays put up by residents.  Somehow, Santa would always make a visit to our home while we were gone.  The excitement of arriving home, along with the hope that we would possibly be able to see Santa was almost more than I could take!  Soon after arriving home began the frenzy of opening gifts followed by midnight Mass at St. Anne’s Catholic Church outside of Long Grove, Iowa.  This candlelit celebration of Jesus’ birth was magical in itself.  The joyous carols sung by the choir, the beautifully decorated church and, of course, the thrill of being able to stay up past my bedtime made this such a special day! 

As an adult, Christmas has also been so very special!  I now have more of a giving than receiving focus on things and really enjoy seeing the joyful sparkle in others’ eyes.  This Christmas, however, completely blew all other Christmas memories away!

Our first gift arrived the morning of Christmas Eve.  Maggie, Luke and Norah had an early start to their day!  Their flight from Des Moines included a layover in Denver before arriving at LAX at 9:00 am.  What fun it was to have the day to ourselves with them!  It was a bit chilly outside, so we stayed mostly indoors, rolling a ball and playing games.  It was so fun playing peek-a-boo in person rather than on video chat!  Norah had been diagnosed with her first ear infection a couple of days before their trip and, although feeling better, was still fighting off the cough and congestion that go with ear infections.  Wouldn’t you know it, when changing a diaper, Maggie noticed a rash on Norah’s back and abdomen.  Sure enough, Norah is allergic to the antibiotic!  After finally getting through to the doctor and picking up a new antibiotic, we were off and rolling to the beginning of our week together.  On Christmas morning, we took a stroll to Walnut Grove Park where we played on the slide and swings before nap-time.

Early afternoon on Christmas day, our second gift arrived!  Brandon, Anne, Josh, Eva and Zoe met us in the parking lot as we were unloading to check into Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel!  What perfect timing!  They had a late night on Christmas Eve as Josh sang in the midnight mass choir at the Cathedral of the Madeline in Salt Lake City. We were even able to watch it virtually!  Fortunately, their flight was a direct flight from SLC to LAX and had no delays!  However, picking up their rental car at one of the busiest airports on the busiest day of the year proved to include a long line and a time-consuming wait!  Their patience paid off and they were soon settled in to the hotel, pizza was ordered and a lovely evening lay ahead of us!  

Our third gift required patience and perseverance!  The news stations had been reporting a lot of cancelled flights due to Covid and, sure enough, the direct flight Lauren, Adam, Emma and Eli were scheduled to take from Minneapolis to LAX was one of them.  Lauren and Adam made the Minneapolis news, having been interviewed at the airport by a reporter.  Eventually, they were able to find a path to LAX, but it was less than direct!  Their route took them to Seattle, Portland and finally landing at LAX at midnight.  You would think the rental car line would be a little shorter that time of day, but nope!  They finally arrived at the hotel at 3:00 am!  We had tickets for Disneyland Park for December 26th and I assumed they would sleep in and get to the park a little later in the day.  Nope!  Those kiddos were up and ready to go by the time we arrived to the hotel that morning!  

Several months ago, Maggie had created matching orange T-shirts for each of us that say “Petersons Do Disney”. Finally, our day to wear our shirts had arrived!  After eating a quick breakfast, packing a few snacks and grabbing water bottles, we were off to our very first trip into Disneyland!  Yes, the crowds were there, but thanks to “Lightning Lane” tickets, we skipped the long lines and made it onto Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance!  We were able to catch the Disney Parade, which I think was Norah’s highlight of the day!  She sat atop her daddy’s shoulders waving and blowing kisses to Santa and all of the princesses on the floats in the parade!  We took a family photo with our matching shirts, viewed the 9:00 pm fireworks, and took nighttime photos in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle.  After a full day of enjoying “The Happiest Place on Earth”, Anne surprised us with a last stop at Jolly Holiday Bakery Café for a Matterhorn Macaroon!  Delicious!  What a way to end a perfect day!  I have to say that wearing matching, bright-colored shirts made it easy to find each other.  I highly suggest this for groups going to Disney.

Our second day of Disney took us to California Adventure Park, which opened in 2001 (located on the grounds of the original parking lot for Disneyland!).  Once again, Lightning Lane tickets allowed us to skip the long lines (80-240 minute wait time was not unheard of!) and enjoy riding Incredicoaster, Guardians of the Galaxy: BREAKOUT! (Emma and Eli’s very favorite!), Radiator Springs Racers, Pixar Pal-A-Round, Silly Symphony Swings, Goofy’s Sky School, The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure and the Grizzly River Run. Along the way, I especially enjoyed walking around Radiator Springs.  Disney did an amazing job recreating the town and now I want to watch “Cars” again!  Norah’s highlight of this day may very well have been playing Peek-a-boo with none other than Minnie Mouse herself!  Emma and Eli enjoyed encountering Iron Man!  Marvel characters were scattered throughout the park for you to pose with for photos.  Eli was even able to alert Chewbacca to the location of nearby Stormtroopers, saving the day for all of us!  The Animation Academy offered fifteen-minute classes where we learned how to sketch Pluto, Piglet, and Tigger.  The day started out sunny and beautiful, but by early afternoon a light drizzle began and continued off and on the rest of the day.  Surprisingly, this really didn’t dampen our spirits!  You know the saying, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.”  We all pulled out our rain gear and kept right on going!  Although we didn’t have ideal weather, Disneyland did not disappoint!  Fun was had by young and old!  It was a delightful treat to be able to experience it for the first time, three generations of Petersons strong!

Although we’ve been in California for four months, we’ve been waiting to add the California sticker to our map until the grandkids could help us!  It was fun having them over to Anaheim Harbor RV Park to finally get California filled in!

With Disneyland behind us, we headed to the beach.  Seal Beach was 20 miles away, so that’s where we went.  Our timing was good, as Seal Beach made the news a couple of days later.  The beach was closed due to a massive sewage leak!  Again, weather wasn’t ideal, but Emma, Eli, Norah and Zoe got to see an ocean for their first time!  A bonus to going to Seal Beach was being able to see Lance and his children.  Brandon and Lance met in their undergraduate years at Notre Dame!  Lance is now a dermatologist and lives in Long Beach.  It was great to see him and meet his three children.  The big news is that Lance and Tony are now expecting baby number four!  This little guy will be born in June.

Who can be this close to Hollywood and not visit the Walk of Fame?  Again, it was a rainy day, but that’s what ponchos and umbrellas are for, right?  

We did make a trip back here a couple of days later, when the weather was a bit more conducive, to hike to the Hollywood sign!  The original sign was erected in 1923 and read HOLLYWOODLAND.  It was an advertisement for a housing development located beneath the sign.  The hike included an option to hike above the sign, which offered stunning views of city skyline and ocean.  It also offered an option to hike to beneath the sign, where you gaze up at the forty-five-foot-tall letters!  We did both!  

During this portion of the trip, the kids and their families all stayed at a VRBO, located a couple of miles from our campground!  It was a perfect home for us to gather at!  Plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms, a well-supplied kitchen, large dining room table (allowing for home cooked family meals together), laundry room, a swimming pool and a spa!  The spa had a glitch but, eventually, a handyman came and got it running.  Lauren brought a couple of games for our evening entertainment, including Monikers!  Super fun for adults!

Aquarium of the Pacific was 20 miles away and provided us with a mostly-indoor experience that kept us out of the rain.  Although we were out of the rain, we didn’t quite manage to stay dry as there was a touch tank, allowing us to experience hands-on sharks, sting rays and other sea life!

Eventually, it was time for families to start their journeys home.  Maggie and Luke were the first to head to the airport, the next day Lauren and Adam headed home.  Brandon and Anne stayed for a couple of extra days, giving us time to have the kids over to the campground for a game of Jenga and to view Disney’s fireworks one more time!  Anaheim Harbor RV Park is only a mile from Disneyland and has an amazing view of the fireworks!

I’ve been seeing In-N-Out Burger all over California and Brandon picked up burgers for all of us on our last night together.  It’s not on the menu, but if you request “Animal Style”, they mustard cook the beef and add lettuce, tomato, pickles, extra spread and grilled onions!  Definitely something to give a try!  In-N-Out Burgers originated just outside of LA in 1948 by Rich Snyder.  In addition to their signature sign, crossed palm trees are a symbol Rich Snyder included at most locations.  Rich’s favorite movie was “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” where the characters hunt to find buried treasure under crossed palms.  Rich felt each restaurant was his personal treasure, so he included the palms to mark the location of his treasure.  Pretty cool!

Our last day together with Brandon and Anne found Anne, the kids and myself taking a quick trip to the Orange County Zoo.  The kids completed a scavenger hunt, learning facts about many of the animals in the zoo.  It was a nice activity, enticing the kids (and adults!) to read the information and learn some cool stuff!  The Utes were playing in the Rose Bowl, so Brandon and Dick skipped the zoo to watch the game.

Have you heard of the Crystal Cathedral (or Christ Cathedral) and the weekly broadcast of The Hour of Power?  This church was built in 1980 and hosted The Hour of Power until it ran into financial troubles in 2010.  In 2011, Christ Cathedral was purchased by the Diocese of Orange and is now a Catholic church.  We were able to celebrate Mass there Saturday afternoon with Brandon’s family before their departure the next morning.  The church houses one of the largest musical instruments in the world, the Hazel Wright Memorial Organ!  We were even treated to a short concert by the organist following Mass!

We had our first campground reservation snafu while in Anaheim.  We somehow had not booked a place for us to stay for the night of January 1st.  Oops!  Funny how things turn out!  After calling around and feeling a little bit of stress, we found a spot at Orangeland RV Park, only a few miles from Anaheim Harbor RV Park.  Praise God!  They happened to have one campsite available for one night.  Other than that, they were completely booked.  What a treasure this place was!  It allowed us one last day with Brandon and his family, in addition to being a very nice RV Park!  The ground was purchased in 1972 and had been an orange grove prior to that.  Careful planning of the RV park allowed for many of the citrus trees to remain.  We had a fifty-year-old orange tree at our site, filled with ripe fruit we were encouraged to pick!  At the activities building, they had a map marking the location of all the various citrus trees.  Before we left, we harvested white grapefruit, ruby grapefruit, oranges, tangerines, lemons and limes.  It was so fun helping Josh and Eva harvest the fresh fruit too!

It’s been a whirlwind of activity in and around Anaheim.  As with all good things, you spend so much time anticipating and planning it and, before you know it, it’s over and you are headed to the next thing.  The time we had with family was absolutely the best and completely filled our buckets with love and joy!  We ended 2021 on a high note and ushered in 2022 on an even higher note!  God has indeed blessed us!

Next stop:  Bonita, California (outside of San Diego).