bonding with the old lady

the old lady and i headed down to anaheim on thursday to grab our bibs for the disneyland 5K, cruise around the expo, walk around the park a little and check into our hotel.  since a lot of schools are back in session, it was pretty quiet that afternoon as we parked and headed through the security checkpoint.

it took no time at all to catch the tram and get ourselves to the disneyland hotel.  this is pretty much old hat for us by now, but i was glad to see that they'd actually taken the time to add the fun graphic to the carpet this time around (since there was nothing for tink a couple of months ago).

we took a second to check out the course map for the run.

and then we headed over to grab our bibs.  the staffers at the expo are paid temp employees now instead of volunteers, which is a little sad.  the volunteers were always so cheerful and excited for us, and while the temps were friendly enough it wasn't quite the same.

then it was time to head back upstairs for the expo.

we stopped to check out the new balance booth, especially since they had a BOGO 50% off promo.  interesting.  the shoes must not be selling like hotcakes anymore.  here's this year's versions, themed after space mountain, alice in wonderland, toy story and the haunted mansion.

 t-shirt pick-up.

this caught my eye just off to the side - these adorable minnie-themed honda vans are being used as transportation at disney world in florida.  not sure why they're bothering to show them to us here since we don't get to ride in them, but they're very cute nonetheless.

we got in line to spin the wheel at the abc booth, but remembered last year when we landed on a show we knew nothing about and couldn't answer a single question and got right back out.  instead, we took advantage of the fun photo op for american idol, coming to abc in 2018:

then we were surprised again at the lack of line to get into the official merchandise area.  there's usually a crazy queue winding around outside the ballroom and even upstairs in a holding area, and this time we walked right in.

these are usually sold out pretty quickly, but there was a whole display of them just kicking it.  maybe it's because it was so early in the weekend.

i liked this medal display, but as the old lady reminded me - all of my medals wouldn't fit on here and none of them are pixar-themed, either. womp womp.

we decided we were over it and headed out to hit the park and grab some grub.  after all...

the old lady hadn't eaten anything all afternoon and was starving, so we stopped here and grabbed a fruity pebbles-flavored churro.

we stopped at the art gallery to ooh and aah over the fun stuff and checked out this cute little lineup of vinyl figures that represent all sorts of fun disneyland favorites.

i still can't believe they're closing build-a-bear in favor of opening new restaurants.  i realize they need more dining options, but this was probably one of the last things i would have expected to see disappear.

inside the park, we were serenaded by the dapper dans as we walked up main street.

and we spotted the biggest gathering of disneyland ducks we'd ever seen.

like her sister, the old lady loves the plaza inn.  and we were so flummoxed at the total emptiness of it, where in the past we've had to stand in line just to get inside.

mmm, more fried chicken!

we giggled at the sign that simply says "mountain" - the ride is closed as they work on placing the "ghost galaxy" overlay for the upcoming halloween season.

as we headed through fantasyland, we decided to ride the storybook land boats.  hadn't been here in forever.

the park closed at 9:00 that evening, and so we got back in the car and drove across the street to our hotel - the same one the bean and i had just checked out of days before.  the room was just down the hall from where we'd stayed too, and looked exactly the same.

and that was that.  we got our stuff for the next morning ready, hopped into bed and caught some shut-eye in preparation for an early morning.  after all, we knew that 3:45 alarm was going to come REAL fast.  eek.
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bonding with the bean

the morning after fight night, the bean and i decided to drive to the parking structure so that we didn't have to go back to the car after we were done playing at disneyland.  there had been a charity 5K walk that morning, and along with the shortened post-summer break hours the parks didn't open until 10:00.  that's pretty late, and the typically easy breezy sunday rope drop was a lot less so with people getting to sleep in, go to church, what have you.  the lines at the security checkpoint were pretty massive:

no worries, though.  we managed to get through them and onto a tram without having to throw elbows.

our first order of business was to snag some fastpasses for the guardians of the galaxy ride.  mission accomplished:

we'd really hoped to have some breakfast that morning, but because it had taken us so long to get through the entrance process, there wasn't any to be found.  we decided to go to flo's v8 cafe and grab something there - and that something ended up being a roast beef & cheddar sandwich with a side of their creamy mac & cheese.

britney spears posted a picture that she took in this same exact spot.

and i took this to show off my new park gear - this hat and tee is from a cute website run by family members of an old friend.

we decided to head over and get into the single rider line for radiator springs racers, which usually gets us on the ride pretty quickly even if we don't get to ride together.

and while we were in cars land, we figured we might as well ride luigi's rollickin'' roadsters too.

as we walked through bug's land on our way elsewhere, we stopped to cool off a little underneath the sprinklers.  rumor has it that this area is slated to be demo'd in favor of more marvel-themed attractions, which is kind of a bummer.  it's a super cute area for the little kids and the sprinklers and water play area are always so welcome on hot days like this one.

when we got into the hollywood studios area, i remembered something that i'd promised the bean a couple of visits ago - free face painting was available as part of the "summer of heroes" celebration.  the line was fairly long, but we got in it anyway.  here were some of the choices:

she was pretty excited when it was finally her turn to sit down.  because it was so hot and she's a sweaty monkey like her mother, she decided not to have it on her face but on her arm instead.

awwww, baby groot!

more water play as we headed over to the little mermaid ride.  a lot of the things we did that day were centered around the fact that we could cool off in some way, heh.

and yes, i totally brought my parasol.  i didn't care how ridiculous i looked, i did everything i could to stay cool.  that also involved bringing a foldout fan AND my battery-operated fan.  whatevs.

can you spot us on the guardians ride?  so much fun.

just around the corner was the animation academy, another way to suck up some A/C and have some fun in the process.  we got to draw sally from "nightmare before christmas," a new-to-us character.

we'd also managed to snag a fastpass for the grizzly rapids ride, which we saved for last because while it was blazing hot, nobody likes to walk around in wet underpants and shoes.  when we finished our drawing, it was time to head over.

the line went fairly quickly, and we were on the ride in a flash.

while we didn't get soaked by any stretch of the imagination, we did get splashed a good bit.  it felt great on that super hot day, although poor baby groot didn't fare too well.

another super fun (hot!) day at disneyland, check!  and a pretty awesome bonding weekend with the bean.  it's not often that we get to do an overnighter like that, just the two of us.  i love getting one-on-one time with both of my girls, making memories we'll get to share forever.  awwwwww.

weekend musings

okay, so by the time you read this the old lady and i will most likely be done running this year's disneyland 5K.  the theme this year for the race weekend is pixar, with "the incredibles" being the focus for the 5K.  we thought long and hard about what sort of costume to wear, but there really aren't that many choices unless we want to be two more in what will likely be a sea of red incredibles outfits.

and because we were putting this together at pretty much the last minute, we opted for something that's a little obscure but still somewhat recognizable.  if you saw "monsters university," you'll remember these ladies:

it took a trip to party city, plus two basic pink tees and some heat transfer vinyl to get this done:

yup, those are some fuzzy leg warmers.  and yes, we're still in triple-digit temperatures right now.  but the race starts at 5am, and so we're hopeful that the temperature will be at least in the 70s at that early hour.  if not, you're going to find pink and purple fur laying in the street along the course somewhere between disneyland and california adventure.  heh.

also happening this weekend is the l.a. county fair, as i mentioned yesterday.  if you just happen to be heading out there for opening day and find yourself in the culinary competition display areas, see if you spot this year's cookie entry:

i really want that pink 4th place ribbon.  i'm thinking that i'm either not going to place at all, or if by some miracle i do manage to win anything it'll be 4th place.  at least i hope so.  i don't know.  and i'm not sure when i'll get in there myself to check it out.

like, i don't really care THAT much, but i care.  you know what i mean?

no, scratch that.  I REALLY CARE.  dang it, i hope i get to find out soon.

also...it's september 1st!  you know what that means...

BIRTHDAY PRINCESS MONTH HAS BEGUN.