Opa's 60th Birthday ...at Disneyland!

My opa is my rock, he was my father figure growing up and everything in a grandpa that a little girl could ask for. To this day we've remained best friends and I take comfort in being able to count on and confide in this special man.

Last Tuesday was the big 6-0 and I wouldn't have missed it for the world! It just so happened that some of my family planned a Disneyland vacation that week so I met up with them for two days.

For his gift I made him a beer sampler from Trader Joe's (Utah doesn't have a Trader Joe's *yet* nor a wide array of beers, so he was excited!)


i know nothing about beers


mid-birthday song at dinner




















disney finally made my favorite laptop case in my size!


opa's homemade salsa

Happiest Place on Earth

These past few weeks have been run around hectic, but I had to take a break for Disneyland before my pass expires next week!


Day maker.


Space Mountain, favorite ride.


Thunder Mountain, close second.


Met the whole gang.


The new Little Mermaid ride was adorable, to say the least.


Kiss the girl.


Matterhorn, the jerkiest ride out there.




Dinner break to Del Taco.




Inappropriate, Disney.


Am I the only person who LOVES the dentist?




\mm/


Space Mountain, at night.




Fireworks to end a perfect evening.


And you know there was a stop at Cafe Rio!

May Favorites

Sorry this is a few days late, but better late than never!!


[click image to make bigger!]

oh yes, i need this digital cat camera :: a frame houses, swoon :: future office :: the dainty squid's oh so cute nails :: i'm not usually into multi-colored hair, but i loveeeee this :: shoes with bows! :: wonderful piece of art :: tres gentlé by dan christofferson :: wooden owl coasters :: i heart marty :: wonderful photo :: minnie skirt! :: need this shirt from romwe :: bookcase one :: bookcase two :: i want this all day

side note: everything without a link I either took myself or found via tumblr.
If they are your photos, please leave a comment, as I would love to give credit where it is due :)

Disney World (3/3): Hollywood Studios & Magic Kingdom

Thursday: Hollywood Studios & Magic Kingdom

Yay, we've finally made it to my personal favorite day of our vacation! Even though it was a monsoon and the worst weather of our entire trip, I had an absolute blast at Magic Kingdom.



First, we took a shuttle to Hollywood Studios in the POURING rain. My umbrella even broke the second we jumped off the bus, so I immediately bought us ponchos (goodbye $17 for a piece of plastic).



obligatory jumping photo #3



Since Hollywood Studios is mainly outdoor attractions and everything was closed, we only stayed for about 2 hours before heading back to the hotel to dry off and wait for the storms to clear before heading to Magic Kingdom...



Finally, the rain ceased!







Space Mountain and The Haunted Mansion were even better at Disney World. I loveeee Disneyland (I actually prefer it over Disney World), but these two rides blew it out of the water. So much fun!


Friday: Heading Home



While at the MCO airport, we randomly passed this awesome arcade! If you haven't seen The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, I highly recommend watching it; it's one of my favorite documentaries and available on Netflix!





Bye Florida! and Virgin America, whom I will never fly through again if I can help it.

Disney World (2/3): Animal Kingdom

Wednesday: Animal Kingdom

We slept in pretty late since Jon suddenly (and randomly) got really sick and was up all night. After taking it easy, we headed out for another rainy day adventure. Luckily in Florida, even when it rains it's still warm. In fact, it's almost just as warm at night as it is during the day. I blame the humidity, but I'm also not complaining.





My breakfast. Werther's caramel chewy bar leftovers from Karamell-Küche, located in the Germany pavilion at Epcot.



obligatory jumping photo #2



Dinosaur was pretty much the exact same layout as Indiana Jones in Disneyland, but fun nonetheless. I love that Bill Nye (the science guy!) talks to you overhead while you wait in line.





So many awesome animals and plants on the Kilimanjaro Safari. This tree can live up to 9 months without water, so cool!



After the Safari ride we grabbed some lunch at seemingly the only place with vegetarian options, Rainforest Cafe. What a headache that was and probably definitely my worst experience at a restaurant ever. Let's just say that our waitress didn't speak English very well, argued with us when we tried to order what was clearly written ON the menu, didn't know or understand what a vegetarian was (come on, it's 2011), couldn't comprehend our simple order after 10 minutes of explaining and then proceeded to completely mess up our order. Something I hope to never relive.



Expedition Everest was the last ride we planned on hitting before we left the park. We were next in line when a big storm hit. They shut the ride down, but allowed us to wait for the storm to pass. Since we were covered and next in line, we waited it out; an hour later and we were off! By far the scariest/highest drop roller coaster I've ever been on. I don't do big roller coasters and I don't do drops, but I sucked it up for Jon on this one (and I'm glad I did).



See ya tomorrow!