Churros, "Boogers," friends, and storm troopers.

The day after Thanksgiving, Dave's friend called him and asked what we were up to the Saturday after Black Friday. Dave looked over at me, and I shrugged as if to say "I don't know--nothing yet." All I heard Dave say after that was, "Yah, man...that might work." So I asked Dave what the plan was. Dave just said, "Ohhh, just to hang out with them (Ryan and Sherry)," and I could tell there was a sneaky tone in his voice.

Then...in the depths of my gut I had the strongest suspicion and I semi-yelled, "DISNEYLAND!!!!?!"

I was right! A last minute Disneyland trip?! I was so excited. I hadn't been in a few years, and I know Dave hadn't been since he was a kid! And on top of that--we were going with our good friends to celebrate his birthday and for ourselves as an early Christmas gift. Oh! And--none of us had ever been during Christmastime either, so the snow and all the decorations were going to make it that much better. Disneyland boils down to having to go with great company. And we did! We made a quick note of what we wanted to do that day, and a few of us said we had to get churros --check!, go on star tours twice--check!, get on the matterhorn--check!, and go some place delicious to have dinner for Ryan's birthday--check! (all you can eat BBQ!! Reasonably priced and scrumptious!). We went on more rides than we thought we would, didn't have to wait it too long of lines, and the weather was beautiful. So good!

None of the rides were closed--definitely a first!

 Dave and Ryan got so excited when this guy walked in:

 Dave and Ryan making joyful noises:

 I had no idea this "ride" existed:

 The waiting in line that day wasn't that bad considering that it was a pretty busy day. 

The longest line was Indiana Jones:

 My view of the parade. My view for most things where there are crowds:

 By far one of the best fireworks shows we've ever seen--it was amazing. 

These pictures do it no justice:

 Yeah, we know what these look like in the picture; in real life, they looked like shooting stars:

 Snow!

 Take one: Perfectly landed snow booger.

Take two: a very, very thankful duo

 

and the castle of course:

 

 So I guess it's true, it is the most magical place on earth...