30th Birthday Trip

Sorry for the radio silence for the past couple weeks. We've been busy with the move and getting things set up at the new place. It's going about as well as can be expected -- that is, slowly. As long as I get something done every day, I count it as a success.

Last weekend was a big one -- a trip to Disneyland to celebrate my 30th birthday, and our first night away from Lucas! My mom flew down to visit and stay with the baby, and we drove up to Anaheim on Friday morning and were home by mid-afternoon on Saturday. My mom and Lucas did great together, although my mom didn't get much sleep on Friday. I missed Lucas quite a bit, but mostly just when I saw a crying baby at Disneyland.

Disneyland is one of my most favorite places ever! Poor Brandon mostly tolerates it, but he has fun too. I grew up in a family that "did" Disneyland about once a year -- hardcore, 8+ hour days of intense Disney-ing, no breaks. Brandon definitely would not enjoy that, so we do a more relaxed version now. We got into the park around mid-morning on Friday and grabbed some breakfast before heading over to check out Cars Land, which is new since we were here in 2010. It looks great! Although our first day didn't get off to a great start because Radiator Springs Racers, the new "big ride," shut down when we were only a few people away from getting on the ride. We wasted another hour in line hoping it would start up again, but eventually bailed and went over to Toy Story Midway Mania. It's such a fun ride, but the line was 45 minutes long. This meant that by the time we got on a ride, I'd already been in the park for three hours! Unacceptable. We managed one more ride (California Screamin', an awesome roller coaster) before heading back to the hotel so I could pump (the glamorous part of traveling without baby as a still-nursing mom!).

In the afternoon we went to Disneyland so I could see the new Star Tours, which was great! We went on it twice, and "traveled" to the Wookiee planet and the Death Star the first time, and to Hoth and Gunga the second time. I definitely approve of the updates, the new videos were very cool. Then Brandon kicked my butt at Buzz Lightyear, and we went on a tour of most of my favorites in the park, although Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain were both closed while we were there.

We left the park for dinner around 7pm, and had a wonderful early birthday dinner at an outdoor bar/bistro in Downtown Disney. I had a glass of sparkling wine to commemorate the occasion. We planned to go back into California Adventure after dinner, but when we checked out the lines to the rides we wanted to go on still, we realized how crazy busy the park gets on Friday nights! So we headed back to the hotel (we stayed at Paradise Pier, the most casual/cheapest of the Disneyland Resort hotels), and enjoyed nine glorious hours of uninterrupted sleep.

In the morning we got to sneak into Disneyland an hour early as hotel guests, so I got to go on Peter Pan and beat Brandon in a rematch at Buzz Lightyear before the park opened for real. Once 9am rolled around, we rushed back to Radiator Springs Racers before the line got too long. What a cool ride! Definitely a new favorite. We also tried out the new "flying tire" ride (fun, but way too long/slow-loading a line for the payoff), and the new Little Mermaid ride (I love that it's continuous loading! They should re-do all the Fantasyland rides to be this way), as well as Tower of Terror, which is hilarious to ride with Brandon because he gets so nervous. After a nice leisurely lunch and some shopping, we headed back to San Diego to see our baby. It was the perfect way to say goodbye to my twenties!

For my actual birthday on Friday, Brandon is going to bring home sushi from our favorite place back in Point Loma and we'll have some wine and birthday cake as well. Then the focus turns back to our Biggest Boy, who will be turning one in just over two weeks!