Dragonflies and Badgers: December in California

Ryan's family were all getting together for Christmas, sort of an impromptu family reunion. It was a lot of fun. We flew into Arizona, rented a car, and then drove out to California all in one day. We drove with Ryan's parents and his sister Sheri and her kids. Most of his family who live in AZ were already out in CA and then his sister Rose joined us the next day. We were staying in the Palm Springs area because that is where the Christensen's have their time shares. The first night we celebrated Ryan's brother Dan's Birthday.

Jory and his cousin Chase

The next day we took off to see my Grandma who also lives in the Palm Springs area. The kids had a blast playing and swimming. Grandma and I mostly caught up with each other.

Eli at Grandma's pool

Renton making a fountain in Grandma's pool.

Jory having the time of his life in the water.

Jory and Grandma Steinkuhler

The next day the whole family headed out to Disneyland. It is a family tradition for Ryan's family to go to Disneyland on Christmas Eve. We had a lot of fun. Renton and Eli are just the right age for Disneyland. Jory even handled it quite nicely too! Some of the time we did things with Ryan's family, some of the time we did our own thing, and some of the time Ryan and Renton took off to do older kid stuff while Eli, Jory and I did the younger kid stuff. It worked out perfectly. They have this program for families where not all the kids can go on a ride called parent swap where the parents go individually but don't need to wait in line twice, but the parent swap card is good for 2, so Renton would go with dad, and then go immediately again with mom! He discovered that he loves roller coaster rides! Eli discovered that he didn't. He was very apprehensive at first, but with some help we got him on some rides that he enjoyed. His favorite was Peter Pan. I think Renton's favorite was Indiana Jones. Jory even had a favorite, he was mesmerized by the lights and sounds of Its a Small World. It was a great day!

Just before heading in.

First ride of the day!

Jory checking out the wishing well and the 7 dwarfs.

Check out this great suit of armor Eli found!

We checked out Tom Sawyer's Island, just to find that it is now a pirate island. This is in the tree house with the treasure map!

They also had this awesome cage of bones.

Of course we found the hidden treasure on the island!

I guess no King Arthurs today.

Outside Its a Small World

The next day was Christmas. We went to spend the morning with Grandma Steinkuhler and Ferman. We opened presents, had breakfast, and let the kids play as we visited. Then we went back to the time share and had lunch with Ryan's family. After taking a family picture we opened presents and also celebrated Rose's, Kristen's and Lorrelle's birthdays. It was a very fun family time.