Day 5

         Sunday we relaxed at our hotel and let the kids play with their stuffed animals in the morning.  We had our own little Sunday School in our room and then headed over to a park where we met my cousin, his wife, their two cute little boys, and my dad for a picnic.   The kids loved running around and playing with L, who is three. There were more birds at this park then I have ever seen in one place.  My dad took the kids (minus the) down where they were and started feeding them.  When they ran out of food and headed back to the table and the mass of birds started following them.   I found this to be a little bit creepy, but the kids thought it was hilarious.  My cousin Dave had went to the car to get a bottle for the baby and when he came back all he saw was all these birds surrounding my dad and the kids.  He said, “I went to the car to get a bottle and come back to see my Uncle Dean (my dad) feeding my little boy to the birds.”  I wish I had gotten a picture of the kids and my dad running back with all these birds following/flying all around them. 

Playing with L in the sand.

            That evening we went to Disneyland to watch the candlelight procession, which is a tradition that has been happening on first week of December for over fifty years.  They have a celebrity (this year it was Gary Sinese, I think he’s on one of those crime shows)  come and read the Christmas story from Luke and there is the huge choir all holding candles who sing Christmas hymns.  It was beautiful and I’m really glad we saw it.  My favorite part was when they had the audience sing “Silent Night” with them.  There is something so powerful about music and I loved that in the midst of all the commercialism (because as magical as Disneyland is, there is no disputing that it is a money making machine) so many people came to see the show and listen to the real story of Christmas.  Mike and I really enjoyed it.  Kiwi fell asleep in the stroller and Little Man fell asleep on the cement (we were in the standing section) using the backpack as a pillow.  If you are going to sleep on the ground somewhere, Disneyland is the place to do it.  It is unbelievably clean there.  Little Man RARELY falls asleep anywhere other than his bed.  He is usually full speed ahead until he tell him it's time to go to bed and then he almost always says he's not tired.   I guess we found what it takes to exhaust him; just run him hard for four days straight and eventually he'll drop.  

            We had planned on staying for the fireworks that were happening later that evening, but as we were walking down main street afterwards, Kiwi crying she so was so tired (after his nap on the street Little Man had popped back up and was ready to go), so we bagged that plan and headed back to the hotel.  Little Man and I did catch part of it from our room through the windows later, which was fun.