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Mickey Mouse’s House ~ Fall ’15

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Well, HELLO!

I’ve been a terrible, terrible blogger. The summer came and went and we are now knee deep in my favorite season….FALL! I have grabbed all things pumpkin and pumpkin spice at Trader Joe’s, lit my Pumpkin Donut candle every evening and am so close to getting my Uggs out of hiding as the weather seems to be cooling down…knocking on wood. One day it’s rainy here and the next it’s in the 100s. So weird.

In June Elliott got a 3-day park hopper ticket and only used 2 days so we had her Minnie Mouse Disneyland ticket staring us in the face and decided to go as a family before it expired. The kids had last Wednesday off due to parent/teacher conferences so Jay took the day off and we headed down I-5 to Mickey Mouse’s House. We hadn’t been sine 2012! Again, where does the time go?

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I had resigned to the fact that there are no more “uncrowded” Disney days and was prepared to wait in 1+ hour lines for the main attractions. Well, boy was I wrong. We were able to hit 7 big rides before lunch ~ all with wait times under 20 minutes. I was blown away.

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The longest we waited was for Splash Mountain which is one of my faves. It was a rather warm day so we dried off in no time.

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After lunch I demanded that we only do low key rides since my roller coaster threshold is a lot lower these days. We hit up Autopia, Small World, the carousel and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride before enjoying our first Dole Whip! I can’t believe I have never gotten one of these before. I think we waited in line about 10 minutes, but it was well worth it.

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The park closed to the general public at 6:00pm which was perfect as the kiddos had school the next day.

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Next year we’ll definitely try to get tickets to Mickey’s Halloween Party. How fun would it be to dress up and trick or treat your way down Main Street and through the rest of the “Lands”?

I must say, it was the most perfect day. The 2 hour ride there and back could have been a little shorter, but……hello….L.A.!!!!

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We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. ~ Walt Disney

Birthday Bash With Mickey

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Last week we celebrated my dad’s 80th birthday {his actual b-day is in January} at the happiest place on earth. It was his wish to experience Disneyland with his grandkiddos and I think the trip was just as he imagined.

I loved having my iPhone for this trip because it was easy to capture special little moments quickly that we may have missed with our bulky DSLR.

1. Grinning ear to ear

2. Hibiscus Cutie

3. Popsi of The Caribbean

4. The path to Fantasyland

5. Bumpiest Autopia ride ever

6. Ice Cream snack on Main Street

7. Blue Bayou Lanterns

8. Me with The Birthday Boy

9. Silhouettes ~ A Disney tradition

10. Best Day Ever {any Phineas & Ferb fans out there??}

11. Out

12. Mini travelers

13. Day 2

14. Waiting for Buzz & Woody

15. Mama & 3D{aughter}

16. Drunk {on Disney} bumper car driver

17. Giggles

18. Disney Jr. Live on Stage

19. Mermaid/Mickey collaboration = genius GOLD MINE

20. Souvenir

*****

This trip was an extra special treat as we stayed overnight and were able to see California Adventure for the first time. We were also able to make reservations at The Blue Bayou months ago for a nice celebratory dinner {if you’re going for the Monte Cristo, be sure and make lunch resos…not served at dinner!}. Our meal was excellent and it was so neat to sit {outside under the stars} and watch the P of the C boats go by!

A BIG thank you to Popsi for coming down from Seattle to celebrate his special milestone birthday with us. We all had a fantastic time and I know that the sweet memories will be held close for a long, long time.

Season’s Greetings

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{Thank you to the random woman in Toon Town that offered to take our picture for this here Christmas card!}

*****

Santa has come and gone.

Gifts have been wrapped and unwrapped.

Elliott has been face timing me all afternoon on her new iPod Touch.

Holden has mastered his Batman Lego Wii game.

Turkey is out of the brine and on the Weber.

Side dishes are prepped and ready to go in the oven.

Paula Deen’s old fashioned sweet potato pie is cooling on the counter.

It’s sunny and 70* here today ~ the kids both dressed themselves in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt.

Another typical, yet oh so special, Christmas Day.

I am already {sad} that the season is coming to a close…looking forward to 2012, though, and all that it has to offer.

Twelve months to mold into whatever we want them to be.

There will be busy days and lazy days, laughter and tears, ups and downs, meeting new friends and spending time with the {old} ones, trying to remember to live each day to the fullest and with conviction & purpose.

THANK YOU to all who come here daily, weekly or monthly and flop around with me. I truly appreciate each and every one of you!

The merriest of Christmases to you and yours.

XO

Under The Spell

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We were under the magical spell of Disney on Saturday.

12 hours of fairy dust, smiling faces, skipping, jingle bells and feeling like a kid again!

There is nothing like Disneyland at the holidays.

It’s MAGIC {to infinity and beyond}.

It’s our little family tradition that we go during the holidays right after they set up the winter wonderland and right before it gets super hectic ~ usually the week before Thanksgiving. We’ve found that this works great and the crowds are still doable. We were able to go on a record 14 rides with 6 of them being new to the kids so that wasn’t too shabby. Holden was tall enough for the Matterhorn, but still isn’t too sure how he feels about the {snow monster}.

We were able to catch the holiday parade which I love {if that won’t put you in the holiday spirit, I don’t know what will!} and also the fireworks display and {snowfall} in the evening.

It was so so wonderful.

{NOT my favorite ride!}

{cuties on the carousel}

{this is ALWAYS how Holden exits the park}

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A magical time had by all!

I want to thank Jay for working so hard to make this little day trip possible for us.

These are the memories that the kids will have forever and it is so fun to relive Disneyland with them and see it again through their eyes.

Until next time….

The Happiest Sandwich On Earth

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I remember years {and years} ago my Mom ordered a Monte Cristo sandwich at The Blue Bayou Restaurant at Disneyland.

At the time I had no idea what it was, but once I took a bite, I knew it was something special. Like a mash up of french toast and ham & cheese. With powdered sugar. And maple syrup.

Julie over at Joy’s Hope introduced an updated, much healthier version of this ‘wich and I immediately knew it was on our Saturday lunch menu.

All you need is a tube of crescent rolls, some ham or turkey {or both} and queso of choice. I used honey ham and swiss. I finished them off with a light dusting of powdered sugar and seedless blackberry jam.

{Just follow Julie’s easy tutorial to put these sammies together}

I served it with some mini banana & blueberry skewers.

These were fantastic and I could close my eyes and imagine sitting {outside} at the Blue Bayou as park goers climb on the Pirates Of The Caribbean boat ride.

This may very well be the {happiest lunch on earth}.

Enjoy!

House of Mouse

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Jay surprised us and is taking the day off on Friday. We’re heading to Mickey Mouse’s House! It’s the first day with the halls decked, the stockings hung, the trees trimmed and the lights strung. I love, love, love Disneyland during the holidays! It’s even MORE magical (if that’s possible).

Last December we had our maiden voyage to D-land as a family. We went on a Friday and it was packed. We only made it on a handful of rides. However, Jay came across a website that tracks attendance patterns and supposedly this is a “good” time to go. Who wants to go to D-land on Friday the 13th? We may be the only ones there. We will let you know!

Our first visit was interesting. We didn’t get into the park until after 2:00p.m. The parking lot was full and we parked off-site and walked into the park as there were no shuttles. We arrived at the front gate, waited in line for tickets and finally made it into the park. It was magical…seeing the expressions on the kids’ faces was, for lack of a better term, priceless. We immediately headed to the newly re-opened It’s a Small World. Eyes wide and dropped jaws the whole ride. It was precious. Elliott and Holden were finally under the Disney spell and it was beautiful.

It got dark and cold quickly.  We swiftly forked over $70-something for sweatshirts. Followed by personalized ears and ice cream while we watched the parade. We stayed to the bitter end – midnight. We changed the kids into their jammies and brushed their teeth before we headed home. The following day I felt like I was hit by a train. But of course it was ALL worth it.

This time I’m hoping we end the day at the Happiest Place on Earth with SMILES instead of this:

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This is NOT the picture Disney Marketing wants you to see!