Christmas started early in the Guingrich household this year... as it does pretty much every year :). But this year it started off with an unexpected phone call in early November. My cell rang and the screen read "restricted number"... I reluctantly picked up and the lady on the other end said, "Is this Andrea Gin-ger-ich?" still a bit annoyed I replied, "Yes". She continued, "Congratulations! You just won a family pack of tickets to Disneyland." Still thinking this was a classic telemarketing scam, I replied "I'm sorry, what company did you say you were with?" another moment and it dawned on me that she was connected to a drawing that our local grocery store was having. It was a drawing that I had thrown my name into. I got off the phone and trying to contain my excitement shared the news with Traever. We decided to keep our little upcoming Disneyland trip a secret from the kids until the day of. The day came soon enough and they were surprised and of course super happy for the opportunity to go to the "happiest place on earth". They were slightly confused as to why we were going at night but happy none-the-less :). The catch was that the holiday party tickets that we won only provided park access from 9pm-1am. Disneyland would shut down to the general public and only allow the contest winners in to the park from 9pm-1am. So Traever and I were taking our 4 very small children to Disneyland essentially at their bedtime. I covered the night in prayer that we wouldn't have tantrums and over-tired children. And we played it up to them by telling them they would get to stay up later then ever, that the whole place would be lit up with thousands of twinkle lights (it was) and that the park would be closed to the public so they wouldn't have to wait in long lines like if they would have to if going during the day. It ended up being all of that and more. It was an awesome night together. The kids got to ride on lots of rides with no wait at all.
If you look closely you can see Adalai and Remy sitting in front of Traever. Haha! They loved every roller coaster they had a chance to ride.
The kids got to meet some characters. The Mad Hatter told the kids that he loved "their chariot" (stroller) which the kids thought was hilarious.
They had a parade and with so few in the park we got to walk up just a few minutes before it began and had amazing seats.
After the parade a man and his wife pushing a stroller with triplets approached Traever and I and congratulated us for being the only ones at Disneyland that night that had possibly experienced less sleep then them in the past 5 years. Probably true :)
The kids did absolutely amazing. Adalai and Remy rode their last roller coaster at 1am and then we called it a night. And the kids slept soundly the whole way home.
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