A little over a month ago Ben and I got annual passes to Disneyland! We were so excited to make 2009 be a year of playing together and taking trips to Disneyland :) We got the idea to take our sisters to Disneyland on their birthdays as it worked out for each one. The first sister to have a birthday is Hailey so we thought it would be fun to plan a trip and surprise her with it! We decided to wake her up at midnight on her birthday and tell her we are taking her to Disneyland so pack and let's go! The few people that I told...the ones that needed to know Ben or I or Hailey would be gone...all were so excited for her and said how much fun it would be. Ben I just took that as affirmation that we were doing a great thing. We set everything up with her parents and were really excited to go wake her up.
Ben and I snuck into her room, turned her light on and slowly nudged her awake. She was NOT happy at all to be woken up and did not want to talk to us at all. Ben and I kinda looked at each other not knowing what to do and he started to tell her that she was going to Disneyland...that we were there to take her Disneyland right then. She tells us that she does not remember any of this but when she finally sat up she just kept shaking her head like "no, I'm not going to Disneyland." We were like.."Actually you are...that is our birthday present to you."
Then she kinda woke the rest of the way up and realized that this meant she wasn't going to school to get the balloons and a cake from her friends, she wasn't going to see Sean, her boyfriend, and that she wouldn't be with her mom and dad. She started crying and saying...but I was going to go to school!
What Ben and I did not think through was that Hailey does not like it when the plan changes, she does not like change at all. If the furniture is rearranged she gets upset! We didn't think through that she had planned what her 16th birthday was going to look like and although we were taking her to her favorite theme park we were changing her plan. And that was really upsetting to 16 year old Hailey who was woken up from her sleep.
We were kinda holding our breath as Brenda talked to her about how change is ok and that she will have a good time...Hailey slowly packed and we were on our way soon enough. We decided to pick up Hannah Kleven, her best friend, so that she would at least see one friend on her birthday. Hannah was excited to get a call at 1am inviting her to come...and 20 minutes later we were at her house to take her with us.
We...actually Ben drove through the night (he had slept from about 1pm-8pm) and I who normally can sleep in a car did not sleep hardly at all! I think I slept for about 20 minutes at a time but only a few times. Man was I tired!
We got to Anaheim around 6:30am and went straight to IHOP, Hailey's favorite breakfast place, where I had about 5 cups of coffee and we had a delicious breakfast! After that we went to our hotel (they let us check in at 8:30am!) We were able to set all of our stuff up instead of leaving it in the car! We decided to head over to the park eventhough it didn't open until 10am. After getting the girls' tickets we went to the gate and they let us in for the Magic Hour! We got in early! That allowed us to see the characters and get pictures with the ones we wanted and we were able to walk around such empty streets of Disneyland! So cool!
Here is Hailey infront of Sleeping Beauty's Castle...
Hailey and Hannah :)
Hailey decided this would be her new car!
Yummy yummy Disneyland Ice cream!
On Thunder Mountain...they screamed at the top of their lungs and at the top of their range for the whole ride! I got a video of it and will try to post it at the end of the blog if you care to hear their ear piercing screams!
On the monarail taking us to dinner at the Rainforst Cafe!
The trip was a great one and I think Hailey did enjoy her birthday afterall! We just will never wake anyone up and surprise them with anything ever again!
I can't figure out the video but if I do I will post it!
This is our living room...newly arranged! Ben was gone all morning for work and then went out in the evening with his friends. So I decided that since I didn't like how it was arranged before that I would move everything until I liked it! I'm learning to love my house for what it is and it helps that we have plans now that will allow for it to feel way more like a home! 
