Christmas, Disney-style!

Well, it was the week before Christmas and you know that means just one thing . . . time to head to Disneyland! I know some of you (coughcoughButzcoughcough) have been beefing about the Disney-centric nature of these entries sometimes but . . . well, tough. We had a lovely afternoon and evening at the park the other day. It is done up so nicely for Christmas that it is almost the only place in Southern California to find an abundance of Christmas spirit.

Our afternoon began with Genevieve daring to go on a high-speed roller coaster in California Adventure. She has never gone on a coaster like this, her first coaster experience having been the terrifying backwards Indiana Jones coaster in Disneyland Paris which I assured her would be no big deal. It took her a good half an hour to recover her wits after that thing, her first and only coaster ride. But after a few visits to Disneyland I finally persuaded her to ride Big Thunder Mountain, an exciting coaster to be sure but relatively unfrightening as coasters go. Well, she enjoys that now so much that she worked up her courage to ride the aptly-named California Screamin'’ at Disneyland itself. Microseconds after this picture was taken she was shot off at high speed. Way to go Genevieve!!

Jack seemed relatively unimpressed by Mommy'’s derring-do, focusing his attentions on a small stuffed cardinal.

For our next stop? Well, far more terrifying for most adults than any roller coaster are these four words: It's a Small World.

Lest there be any doubt about the target audience for this ride, parking the stroller was an adventure in itself.

Like Haunted Mansion, IASW gets a holiday makeover, with festive lights and special holiday goodies all over the place. The 50th Anniversary Mickey Mouse ears adorn all the rides, themed to match each one.

Jack was clowning around like crazy in the queue and cracking us up. As usual.

While we were waiting the E.P. Ripley steamed on through. I love the fact that Disneyland still has this wonderful fleet of genuine antique steam engines. Walt'’s love of trains led directly to the development of the parks, and I am a member of an historical society dedicated to these wonderattractionsions.

I mean, how sweet can a Disneyland picture be?

Once inside the ride, Jack was amazed! Blinking and swivelling his head around at the dizzying array of little dancing and singing children, all done up in bright holiday colors. He go a hkickkikc out of it. If you have QuickTimetime 7 you can click here to view a short video of Jack riding IASW and then trying to eat the camera.

So lemme tell ya, this ride is best enoyed with (and by) a little one! I remember when Genevieve and I rode it a couple of years ago, and it stuck at the exit ramp. We spent about 15 agonizing minutes listening to . . . that . . . SONG!!! over and over and OVER. We recovered though. Seeing Jack in such wonderment and pleasure really gave us a big kick.

Well after all that excitement it was time for some relaxation, so we moseyed over to Santa'’s Reindeer Roundup.

Santa keeps a nice little cottage here. We'll be sharing Jack'’s photo with Santa very soon . . .

I couldn't decide which of these two pics to post. They are both so cute!

Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the cookie-decorating they had in the corral. In the background you can see Jack holding forth on some topic of interest. Jack has become MUCH more vocal in the last two weeks. A steady stream of BLAH BLAH YAH YAH BUH BUH BUH in an authoritative voice gushes forth from him nearly constantly. Has us in hysterics!

Yep, Santa'’s reindeer were all rounded up. Cows, too.

The twilight is our favorite time at the park as the beautiful lighting starts to twinle on and the sunset adds nice colors. This picture is totally unretouched. This is just the color everything was, this kind of blue, just for a very few minutes, very beautiful, so I grabbed a shot of it and then got a nice photo of the Mark Twain coming round the bend. Very nice work if I do say so myself.

Then it was off to the Haunted Mansion. This has a huge and fantastic holiday theme each year based on the great animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Brilliant idea, and extremely well-executed. Jack loves this ride. Lots of crazy colors and things swirling around. On one occasion he stood up on my lap and was just shaking his head with a big smile on his face. Soooo funny.

Nighttime at Disneyland and it all looks extra pretty, with the holiday lights adding to the usual sparkle. This is New Orleans Square seen across Rivers of America.

At night, you can really see the work that's gone into the Small World Holiday display, just a crazy circus of colors.

Of course, it'’s parade time at Disneyland every night, and we got good spots on Main Street to watch the Christmas Fantasy parade.

These fat, dancing snowmen are Genevieve's favorite part.

At first Jack was having a hard time getting into it . . .

. . . but after a little tickling he warmed right up!

On the way out the Ernest C. Marsh was loading passengers at Main St.

Don'’t let the picture below fool you. When an exhausted Mommy and Daddy got "Mr. Sleepy" home he woke right up and proceeded to go berserk, babbling, rolling around, putting on a show for us for about an hour that had us almost passing out with hysterics.

I was on my way back from the rest room on our way out of the park when I saw Genevieve standing there gazing at Jack all by herself. It was kind of touching so I took a picture.
Backtracking . . . remember that historical society I mentioned? Well, they maintain Walt Disney'’s barn in Griffith Park. This is the actual barn Walt had in the yard of his home that he used as his workshop for his large-scale train that ran through his property. It houses several cars from that train, Walt'’s tools, notes, switchboard, all manner of wonderful memorabilia, and is located in a section of the park given over to model train enthusiasts who each Sunday offer rides on their large-scale trains through a massive layout. A great place. We visited there briefly on our way from seeing King Kong.

Speaking of King Kong, kudos to "“Auntie"” Beth from AFI who bravely volunteered to baby-sit Jack for us while we went to see the big ape. Only folks with a baby who don't have family around to cover for them can tell you how great a favor this was. He was a sweetie as always and Beth took these cute photos for us. What a great person. Thanks, Beth!

Jack's First Christmas Tree

Well another grand and exciting event and as you can see Jack is as unflappable as ever! Sunday night it was off we went to get Jack's first Christmas tree. Once he realized how special this was he brightened considerably.
But first it was a stop for hot chocolate despite the balmy 60 degree temperatures and a drive down Christmas Tree Lane here in Long Beach to put us in a Christmas mood. Basically this is one long residential block that has a center median that is filled up with quaint (sometimes odd) Christmas displays sponsored by local shops and businesses. It's very nice and the folks on the block go all out decorating their own homes. A slightly odd Santa sat mid-block ready to leer in the window at unsuspecting children; we avoided him, and a dozy Jack was none the wiser.Then it was off in search of a tree. After an early false start we found a lovely, small Douglas Fir at the Snowy Pines tree lot, right next to . . . well, the marina full of bobbing pleasure boats. Turn left at the palm trees. Anyway, the very nice Norman helped us narrow our choices down, and we let Jack choose. He giggled a lot twice at one of our choices, so that sealed the deal.
While I got the tree prepared to squeeze into the Honda, Jack helped Mommy pick out a wreath.
Then it was home again and only just tonight, we started decorating the tree -- the school schedule and work schedule for me and Genevieve both has been brutal. Jack got first dibs, placing the "Baby's First Christmas" Ornament his Nanny got him as the first ornament of the year. Then it was outside to visit the snowman family who visit us each season to enjoy the extremely pleasant but nonetheless still somewhat bemusing climate for the winter months. Jack scanned the skies for Santa Claus but he will just have to wait another week and a half.
Mommy and Daddy put Jack-Jack to bed and stayed up late drinking cocoa and having cookies and decorating the tree. I think it looks lovely, don't you?

Ramble On Rose

We interrupt this Jack-Jack Blog with news of the recent arrival of his new cousin.

My brother Teige and his dear wife Becca were blessed with the arrival of little Rose Lorena Sheehan at 7:57 pm Sunday 12/4/05. The usually reliable Teige informs me she weighed 16 pounds at birth! Now looking at these pictures that is hard to believe, but you need to understand the scale, both Teige and Becca are about 17 feet tall. You can't really tell in this picture.

Or maybe it was a typo.

Anyway, love to them both and we can't wait to meet the new youngest Sheehan! Don't you love how she seems to be smiling?

Elfin Magic

First of all, be sure to hold down your shift key and press the reload button on your browser's menu bar to enjoy the new festive holiday banner for the blog (if you're seeing the old Jack Jack cartoon header, this means you) . . . and now, for Jack's first Christmas update!


Yes, when Christmastime comes to sunny Southern California, there's only one thing to do, and that's saddle up and head on over to Santa's Reindeer Roundup at Disneyland. And after Mommy got out of work the other day, that's just what the Sheehan posse did! Jack was psyched to meet the big red guy and was not disappointed -- though you might be to learn that the official Jack/Sheehan Family Santa pictures will have to wait for your Christmas card, and a special Christmas Day posting. But so you don't feel totally left out of the fun, here's a quick recap of Jack's Christmas Adventure at Disneyland!


The Reinder Roundup thing is new this year. Used to be Santa was down in the Town Square on Main Street, and to tell the truth, I kind of preferred that Victorian-style Santa. But the Reindeer Roundup is a cool and fun idea too. It's in the Big Thunder Ranch, a sorely underutilized piece of the park, and you can pet the reindeer, decorate Chiristmas cookies and of course, visit Santa in his rustic log cabin.


Mommy and Jack were having a heck of a good time. And for entertainment, there's a country swing band playing country-fried versions of holiday favorites.


The whole reindeer squad is there -- all eight of them.


But, where's Rudolph, you ask? Well, a special guest plays that role, and keeps Mrs. Claus company.


As usual at this time of year, Disneyland looks especially pretty at night with the holiday lights going up. This weekend the Mickey wreaths and a whole load of garland and filigree will go up, and there is a big candlelight ceremony with a choir and everything which we'll be attending. Thank goodness for our annual passes. We can all have fun together, and get out of the house on those rare days when my school or Genevieve's beastly work schedule permit.


The Christmas tree in the Town Square is extra-special this year, bedecked with tons of gold in honor of Disneyland's 50th anniversary.


Speaking of which, the 50th fireworks presentation is just so absolutely jaw-dropping, as I've noted in these pages before. So funny to think Jack has been to Disneyland around a dozen times in just his first seven months on the planet! (More if you count the times we came here when mommy was carrying him). Here is a little snap of the laser display during the Star Wars sequence, and it hardly does it justice. Lasers start blasting out of the castle and "explode" when they strike their targets around the park.


Jack looks as stoic as ever here, but when the Haunted Mansion part of the display came on he got fired up (no pun intended). This was the first time I've noticed him actually tracking the course of the fireworks across the sky, and in this show they literally zoom everywhere, out and all around the park.


Just to show you how incredibly bright these pyrotechnics are, this photo was taken without a flash and with the exposure wide open -- so it's a little blurry, but sheesh!

Of course, after the fireworks, the kind folks at Disney make it snow. That's right, snow, right there in Anaheim. Jack alternated between ignoring it and reaching out to catch the "flakes."



Of course, all those activites make a little boy verrrry sleepy...


And thank goodness. I am happy to report that after a few tortuous nights Jack seems to be sleeping through till morning! Time will tell if this is a permanent change, or a flash in the pan, but Mommy and Daddy are pleased to say they got decent nights of sleep the last two nights.

More holiday updates as they become available!!