Monday, July 1, 2013

Vacation Pics!

Hey guys!

Happy July!  We celebrated the end of June with a summer storm here that happily dropped the temperature for the night.

So my hubby and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary at the end of May (right before I started my blog, actually!) so this year for our vacation, we decided to re-create our honeymoon.  Five years ago we went to Disneyland, but didn't have a whole lot of fun because I had food poisoning the day before the wedding (!) and he got sick the day after.  (We still went, though, because we had nonrefundable tickets through a travel agency.)  Plus we haven't had a proper vacation in a few years since we've done so many important things like buying a house and replacing my husband's 27 year old car instead lately.

It turns out that Disneyland is sooooooo much more fun when you are actually healthy!  Who knew?!?!

Here are some of my best pictures from our Honeymoon Do-Over Trip:

 
When we first got there, my husband insisted on going to Town Hall in Main Street.  One of his co-workers told him that if we went in and told them it was our anniversary, they would give us something special.  It turned out to be big "Happy Anniversary" buttons that we wore around throughout the trip.  The buttons themselves weren't that great, but they turned into a lot of great stuff.   Pretty much the ENTIRE park staff wished us a happy anniversary and we got free dessert at lunch one day!  Plus, the ladies running It's a Small World even put us on our own boat to go through the ride by ourselves.   The mechanical clock was just striking as we pulled into the ride and I got this great shot from the boat!
 

 
We had dinner one night at the Blue Bayou Restaurant.  It's the restaurant you see when you first get on the boat for Pirates of the Caribbean.   It looks out over the "bayou" (which is really just the ride) in the twilight and boats glide past occasionally.  It's awfully romantic and the food was really great too.  I had a salad with great dressing, salmon with spinach, and split the Crème Brule with Hubby.  I also got a lemonade drink with a light up ice cube in it that glowed in the dark restaurant. 
 

 
I actually took this picture for my mom.  We HAD to go get mint juleps for her!  If you've never done this, they sell them by the train station in New Orleans Square at a little window.  They're non-alcoholic versions of the Southern classic and a fantastic summer treat.  I think they've also my mom's favorite part of Disneyland. 
 

 
We also got a chalk drawing done in New Orleans Square.  My parents have had one of the two of them on the wall at their house as long as I can remember.  I was so excited to go get one with Hubby five years ago and it came out just TERRIBLE!  He didn't look so bad, but I looked like a cartoon with a huge nose and chin!  So this is another re-do and it turned out fantastic!
 



 
We also caught a parade with a princess float.  :-) 
As Disney heroines go, I like Arielle from The Little Mermaid and  Merida from Brave since they're redheads, but I'm also partial to Jane from Tarzan, since she's a scientist.
 

 
And got to see the new Cars Land in California Adventure.  It lights up at night with neon signs just like in the movie!   Hubby is a big car guy, so he loves the movie and was so excited about this whole thing.  I think the Radiator Springs Racers was his favorite ride. 
 

 
We also majorly splurged and had dinner at the Napa Rose inside of the Grand Californian Hotel.  I had soup and a truffle risotto dish that was amazing and Hubby actually ate Donald Duck.  We split a pistachio cherry cake for dessert.  I adored the experience of eating somewhere so fancy and I think his favorite part was the wine list.  He doesn't even really drink wine, but he had a ball checking out the $10,000 bottles of wine.  Who actually orders something like that??

 
Our ride is here!  Nothing like a cruise on the Mark Twain when it's hot out in the afternoon.

 
There are probably the cutest caramel apples ever.  I really wanted to get a graduation one for my baby cousin who graduated from high school this year, but I couldn't figure out a way to get it home in one piece!
 
 
 
This picture is from after we got  back home, but you can see the finished chalk drawing on the wall of our living room behind Big Boy.
 
We did the Bugs Life Show,  all the new rides in Cars Land, and the Muppets Show for the first time.  The Bugs Life was especially good: super interactive!  I also liked the new Star Tours in Tomorrow Land.  My all-time favorites are probably split between the rides in New Orleans Square (Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion) and all the classic fairy tale rides in Fantasy Land.
 
What are your summer plans??
 
Stay cool!
 
Amy
 
 

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