Thanksgiving with the Kang-Weyants!

Uncle Emil ("Samcheon"), Aunt Lisa ("Sook-mo"), and Cousin Emma came to visit from North Carolina for the Thanksgiving holiday. Kate couldn't wait for Cousin Emma to get here. "Is she coming now? Is she here yet??" They hit it off immediately, playing and running around like two excited puppies.

On Tuesday, we went to the zoo. The weather was cool and overcast, perfect weather to see the animals in action.

Kate and Emma preferred the fake, climbable animals in the playground.

Finally, autumn arrives in LA, just in time for Thanksgiving.

Lisa Sook-mo's birthday is next week, so we took the opportunity to have an early celebration. While Lisa and Emil were out getting last-minute Thanksgiving dinner stuff, Kate and Emma got busy drawing pictures and making collages as presents. When they heard the car pull in outside, they hid in the closet. Lisa Sook-mo walked in, heard all the giggling, and opened the closet door. They jumped out and shouted, "SURPRISE!"

The Kang Weyants celebrated Thanksgiving Day Dinner on Thanksgiving Eve. Since the forecast called for heavy rain on Wednesday, we decided to spend Thursday at Disneyland. On Wednesday, we hid from the rain and went to the mall to see "Bolt." Kate and Emma liked it, but I think the adults enjoyed it more. Afterwards, Kate and Emma rode the train and the carousel, and then we headed home to put together a turkey dinner.

Kate and Mom had the case of the blinkies in these shots.

After sitting and eating for two minutes, the cousins ran off again to pretend they were ghosts and jungle animals and vampires. Chris called them "The Buzzin' Cousins" because they never sat still, but Emma and Kate corrected him and said, "No, we're the VAMPIRE COUSINS!" and then tried to suck the blood from everyone's arms.

Being two years older, Emma dictated all the games, and since Kate thought that every one of Emma's ideas was brilliant, it worked out just fine.

The rain cleared up by Thursday morning, leaving the weather cool and cloudy and lovely. Perfect for Disneyland.

Kate wanted to know whose castle this was and why it didn't look like the blue and white Cinderella castle on the DVDs. None of us knew. I like the family from Wyoming in the background of this shot.

First up was the Dumbo ride. I think it was Kate and Emma's favorite ride in the entire park.

Tea cups! Kate is a big fan of anything that spins and makes her dizzy.

Another big highlight was the "Princess Fantasy Faire," where Kate and Emma lounged in the royal salon and had their faces painted and glittered while their Dads dutifully stood on line for them to take pictures with Belle, Sleeping Beauty, and Pocahontas. Samcheon felt bad for Pocahontas because nobody wanted to pose with her. Chris assumed it was because she was "of color," but I thought it was because she doesn't have a fancy outfit or any "bling," like Jasmine and the others do. It's not very thrilling to dress up in a loin cloth.

At the salon, a girl a few seats down from Kate and Emma was getting the whole Snow White/Jon Benet works, complete with updo, beauty queen makeup, and gown. I didn't see her mother anywhere.

Kate and Emma were very pleased with their salon service.

We watched Kate and Emma's favorite princesses -- Sleeping Beauty and Jasmine -- dance and sing in a little show. Kate was disappointed she didn't get to see any of the Princes or Maleficent or the mean Octopus lady. I agree -- I think it would've been far more interesting to see a parade of evil witches going toe to toe with the princes.

Kate and Emma doing a maypole dance with the princesses. Kate was a little star-struck when Jasmine smiled at her and said, "Hi, Cutie!"

Kate went on her very first roller coaster ride. She was a little hesitant at first, but when she saw how eager Emma was, she decided she was all over it, too.

Kate was okay as we headed up the hill...

...but then she started having second thoughts as we zoomed down the hill and zipped around a turn... ...and then Kate started really worrying as we continued to pick up speed and careen around the tracks.

When the ride finally stopped, Kate had a version of the face above but she didn't cry. She turned to me and said, "Mom, I didn't like that because I thought I was going to fly out of the door and fall into the pond." Then later on, she said, "I liked the roller coaster. It was a little scary and a little fun."

Visiting Mickey Mouse's house and meeting the Big Mouse himself wiped away all the bad roller coaster memories. There was a huge line waiting to meet him and the poor guy in the Mickey suit had probably been there for hours. I said to him, "Wow, they really make you work for your money, don't they?" Mr. Mickey gave me a BIG NOD. Which cracked me up.

Kate and Emma really loved the It's A Small World ride. The adults loved it because it was a long, slow boat ride, and the visual and aural madness notwithstanding, was extremely relaxing.

We were happy to see a tiny shout-out to the motherland in the Asia section. Korea's in the house!

Afterwards, Emma braved Space Mountain and The Matahorn while The Weyants went on the Peter Pan ride. It was a little scary as the car flew around in the pitch dark (even for us), but Kate was very brave, and we had just received the one of the greatest random acts of kindness beforehand. A Disney employee ("Sarah, from Lakewood, CA") we had spoken to earlier about suitable rides for Kate suddenly appeared next to us as we were standing at the end of the very long line. She whispered, "Come with me," unhooked the rope, and ushered us to a secret side entrance where she put us at the front of the line! Chris and I were floored. Cynical New Yorkers that we are, Chris and I both thought, "What's going on? Why is this woman doing this?" Then she said she was "grateful" that we had cured her hiccups by talking to her and wanted to do something nice to thank us -- !?!? Well, all righty! But wait, there's more! She then told Kate that "all fairies need a little pixie dust" and whipped out a Tinkerbell pin for her. And Kate loves Tinkerbell. Wow. I wanted to marry this woman. After having spent the entire morning standing in long lines, this was an immeasurable gift. Sarah, from Lakewood, CA was definitely a fairy godmother-in-training.

Towards the end of the day, the girls earned a Driver's License in Autopia.

After a spin around King Arthur's carousel, it was definitely time to go home.

This is a shot of Emma and Kate sitting on Main Street, delirious from hours of overstimulation and exhaustion, and giddy from having just chomped off the heads of their gingerbread men. The Buzzin' Cousins hamming it up in a photo booth.

It was a jam-packed and joyful visit with the Chapel Hill Kangs. Watching Emma and Kate play so easily together like two sisters was a beautiful Thanksgiving reminder of how precious family is. On the last day, they kissed and hugged and even got teary-eyed, not wanting to say goodbye. Kate promised to visit Emma at her house very soon, and Emma asked her Dad if they could move to Los Angeles to be closer to Kate. Aww. Cousins are the best!