I took the last 10 days off of work because I had paid vacation days to take. 10 DAYS! The best part is I still have 2 more days. I had planned to have a birthday dinner with my family on sunday, spend the day with Jonathan and the rest of the week enjoy Thanksgiving, some shopping, Netflix watching and catching up on sleep. It turned out even better!
The first day I had off was Saturday and we went to Forgotten Carols with Jonathan's family and friends which is always fun. When we got home Jonathan asked if he could give me my birthday present a little early. Of course I said yes. He pulled out two legit 3 day-hopper passes to DISNEYLAND! We went back and forth between "Is this real or a joke?", "Do we have money to do this?" and all of that! Jonathan had packed a majority of the my stuff earlier while I was showering and got ready. Also during a very long nap we took earlier. (Which now I know he didn't sleep that long) We finished packing, hopped in the car and off we went! We love driving through the night. We feel like we don't waste a whole day and we don't use the A/C and can go any speed we want. He drove the first half and I drove the second. We were able to check in early to the hotel sunday morning so we could shower before we went to the park. Jonathan even packed our matching Disneyland shirts and we wore those first! I can't even begin to explain to you what a great day it was!
We are HUGE disney fans anyway so being there on my birthday and to see the Christmas decorations was seriously the best. Jonathan made sure I got my Disneyland button and ALL of the cast members told me Happy Birthday! We enjoyed some of my favorite treats and meals and rode all my favorite rides and saw my favorite Disneyland show, Fantasmic! For anyone that has been to the parks know that the next two days were filled with so much walking, picture taking, singing, waiting, smiling, quoting rides (Tower of Terror), and magic! I keep saying it was magical but it really was! The parks were open from 8am - 12am and we felt it. Especially my knee which unfortunately has been hurting lately but certainly acted up on this trip. I already can't wait to go again but I think this time it will be a longer wait.
I was so proud of Jonathan! He really has no element of surprise in his body and anytime he has tried to do anything in the past I totally nail him before he gets to do it. But he got me! He also bought the tickets through my work which is a nice discount on the tickets and got a really cheap hotel (only for 2 night since we drive through the night) close to the park which means no paying for parking! $17 for 3 days add up! Our little car does so great getting around 40MPG when we drive straight freeway so we filled up 4 times total when gas prices are so LOW! We didn't pay over $3/gallon even in California. I am so grateful that Jonathan and I have the opportunity to get to do so many trips, for the time we have off together, for our great running car, for Jonathan loving Disneyland as much as I do and everything else. We told ourselves that before we have kids we would enjoy our time together and we have! We hope next time to enjoy the trip in September again when it was so slow the first time we went and with lots of our great friends!
After we got back, we had my birthday dinner at my parents and had my favorite dinner Hawaiian Haystacks and played games with my siblings and nieces. Then we spent Thanksgiving with both sides of the family. We were SO full! On Friday Jonathan caught up on homework while I decorated for Christmas then Jonathan's parents took us out for my birthday to Tepenyaki. It was my first time and it was delicious food and a great show along with it. Saturday we went shooting and later that day my dad got us tickets to the Jazz game. That brings us to today where I finally have some time to sort through pictures and catch up on a few things. Jonathan is back to work tomorrow but not me. :) I have until tuesday. It was such a wonderful and well worth time off!
