never a dull moment

the hub surprised us one saturday morning when he got up and said "you know, i kinda miss disneyland.  i think we should go today and ride some rides!"

he's the lone wolf in this family with the fact that amusement parks aren't really his thing.  he happily buys our disney annual passes every year knowing how happy it makes us, but he hasn't bought one for himself in ages.  but we weren't going to give him any time to change his mind, and so we bought him a one day, one park ticket online and hopped in the car to head down to anaheim.

given the choice between the two parks, he decided he wanted to visit the california adventure.  the old lady and her special friend were already there, celebrating their 2-year anniversary, albeit in the disneyland side of the resort.  and so when we got there, we took this and sent it to them so they'd see what we were up to for the day.

because daddy was there for a change, the bean took advantage and managed to squeeze an ice cream cone in right as we went through the turnstiles.

and then while she spent some time running around through the redwood creek play area, we hung out and took selfies.  you know, the usual.

the bean is no stranger to photo ops, either.

it was a really warm day, and without the old lady to complain about not wanting to get wet, we talked the bean into going onto the rapids ride.  she's always pretty leery of it because of the sizable drop you can see when standing near the ride, but she sucked it up and off we went.

we managed to get just a little bit wet, which made everyone happy.  next up, tower of terror.  the ride is going to be closed down at the end of the year for a while as they work on re-theming it to "guardians of the galaxy," and so we're trying to ride it as often as we can while we can.  i was a little surprised to hear singing coming from inside, and we found this group performing for the crowds in line.

the bean's expressions always crack me up on this ride.

in cars land, we headed right for luigi's rollickin' roadsters.  it's a cute little ride that rarely has a long wait and he'd never been on it, so he let us drag him there.

radiator springs racers always has an insane line - usually around 60 minutes or so.  but the single rider line often goes much faster than that, and since the bean is okay with riding it solo we usually go that route.  we got lucky this time though, because not only did we get placed in the same car but the family we were sitting with decided to rearrange, letting us sit together.

we caught the second half of the pixar play parade, which we hadn't watched in forever.

and the hub decided to grab himself an adult beverage...or two.

it was fun to watch them together as the bean soaked in the experience of having her daddy at the 'land.

she took this for us...and a few more.

for dinner, we'd made a reservation at wine country trattoria.  the hub was a little less than impressed with his "flight" of wine.

and then on our way out, we stopped at the lego store in downtown disney.  i'm not gonna lie, i would kind of love this disney castle set.  don't know where we'd put it, but it sure would be fun to put together.

we sure do love unexpected disneyland days with the hub.  maybe one day he'll get a pass again...but probably not.  heh.

fabulous day date

life has been so incredibly hectic over the last month or so, even more than usual.  i think i've dropped the words "fucking cookie season" more times than i care to admit.  and the hub, whose life is always super busy between his day job and the lounge, is just crazy like always.  as a result, we hadn't spent any decent amount of time together in at least a solid week - not since the wedding on valentine's day.

the other day, he found himself with a calendar that was shockingly wide open.  no conference calls, no meetings, no lunch appointments - nothing.  and with the bean having hit her cookie sales goal at last, i was in a great position to spend almost the entire day catching up with my husband.  and so after a leisurely morning at home, we hopped into the car and drove down to the beach.

we ended up in laguna - at the surf and sand hotel for a great view and some lunch.

not a bad view for a monday lunch date, wouldn't you say?

we ate at splashes, the restaurant at the hotel.  neither of us had been here in years - not since i worked at the commercial real estate office where we first met.  the food was delicious, starting off with perfectly chewy wedges of bread and tapenade.

i was amused when my lobster bisque arrived - the bowl was empty aside from the little clump of lobster:

and then the server took a little silver pitcher and poured in the actual soup.

my flatbread had braised short rib, caramelized onions and bbq sauce.  so good.

and although the dessert menu looked promising:

we took a quick selfie before heading out to drive the coast a little.

after walking off our lunch strolling around fashion island, looking at watches and shoes and all sorts of other fun stuff, we made one last stop for dessert.

best monday i've spent in a very, very long time.  i love my husband so much.

just a walk in the park

on labor day, the bean and i were treated to a rare trip to disneyland WITH the hub for a change.  he's not a huge fan of amusement parks in general, but since he's also got an annual pass we're able to talk him into joining us every now and then.

usually, when i take the bean to the land it's like this:

but this time, it was like this:

and we did something else we don't usually do - we caught a ride on one of the horse-drawn carriages that took us up main street towards sleeping beauty's castle.

group selfie in front of the castle (although you can't really see it back there)!

the bean wanted to see the recently refurbished alice in wonderland ride, so we got in line.  as we waited, she seized the opportunity for another photo op.

one of the hub's friends was at the parks with his family that day too, so we met up with them and hung out a little.  they wanted to see the alice ride too, and the bean had enjoyed it so much that she went with them.

in the time it took for them to get through the line and ride the ride, the hub, his friend and i were able to hop into the single-rider line for matterhorn and take a turn around the mountain.  and then after that, they decided to go for a whirl at the mad tea party ride.  i'm not a big fan of spinning in circles, so i sat that one out too.  the bean looks pretty happy, though, huh?

since they had fastpasses for other rides, we decided to part ways for a bit and head over to the california adventure side to grab some lunch.

i'd told the hub about the fabulous lobster nachos i'd had at the cove bar, so that's where we went.  as we waited in line, an old friend showed up to say hello to the bean.

our long wait in line paid off with a table that offered a pretty fantastic view.

the hub was pretty happy with his nachos:

and the bean opted for the trio of sliders with everything on the side.

our friends met up with us as we were finishing lunch, and so we offered to take their older son with us to the toy story ride.

the cars in that ride seat two people, and the kids really wanted to ride together.  except that we'd already learned that most of the attractions require both kids to be at least 7.  the bean - well, since her birthday is in a couple of weeks, she already has it in her head that she's 7.  as for her little companion, he's just five.  but he's a crafty little kid.  the hub and i had to stifle our guffaws when the cast member asked him how old he was and he looked right at her and said "i'm seven."  she shot us an amused look as she asked him again, and she just shrugged and said "hey, if he says he's seven, i can't argue with him."  and that's how the hub and i managed to sneak a ride together (albeit with the kids in the very next car).

it was stupid hot that day (as it has been ever since), and so they decided to stop at the ice cream stand at the top of the pier.  i wasn't in the mood for ice cream (i know, i know) and decided to go and cool off inside the souvenir shop just next door.  i'd never really paid attention to the little details in there, but there are some really cool vintage boardwalk-y decorations in there:

when i came back out, the bean was happily tucking into her cup of soft serve.

we even caught a glimpse of duffy the bear, who was making his final appearance at the parks before being shipped off to disneyland tokyo.  i think he's got a much bigger fan base in japan than he does here.

i think the hub's ice cream cone was about as tall as he is.

and then we were outta there.  it was a short and sweet visit, but we managed to get onto some fun rides, enjoy a lovely lunch, and even walked it off.  not too bad, not bad at all.