A Halloween Disney Birthday

The timeline of this post is sort of out of order. Meaning, we did go to Disneyland for my birthday (because at 27, this was my adult wish). However, my request was that we go before the Halloween decorations were taken down for the Christmas ones (that go up before my actual birthday). So we actually went a few weeks before my birthday.

It was actually a rather nice day- Cameron and I went by ourselves (Gambit was able to enjoy the park from the doggie day care at Disneyland) and we did the rides we wanted, took our time and just enjoyed the day (well, as much as you can once the hordes of people descend on the park circa 11am we found out.) The doggie boarding is first come first served, so we always try to get to the park when the boarding facilities open, because once they fill up, that's it and it's not like Gambit can ride Space Mountain with us. Honestly, we probably got more rides done in the first few hours we were at the park and once we went out to take Gambit for a walk around 11, the lines became longer and longer. As such, we weren't able to do the Peter Pan ride, which is one of my favorites, or many of the ones we missed last year in Fantasyland since the lines are always longer there. However, in the grand scheme of things, it's a loss I'm willing to take for all the other things were able to do.

Since this was the first time it was just Cameron and I, we got to look at things and take our time rather than trying to hit all the major rides. For instance, I actually stopped and looked at the storefront windows on Main Street. This was the first time I've ever noticed the small window recreations of classic scenes from the movies- usually we're bulldozing our way down to TomorrowLand to hit Star Tours and Space Mountain, so we never stop to look at windows. (Forgive the poor lighting and glare in the photos- this was right around 8am so the sun was in the most inconvenient location ever).

Ratatouille

Mulan

Pocahontas

The Lion King

The Fox and the Hound

The Rescuers

101 Dalmations

Last year, when we went the Christmas decorations were fantastic, so I didn't want a repeat since Halloween decor was up for a very limited time. Boy, Disneyland does not disappoint. There were pumpkins everywhere!

Minnie, Donald and Pluto above the main gate

Mickey and Goofy above the main gate

I'm so excited! 

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One of the areas of the park we went to for the first time was ToonTown. Usually, it's for younger kids with not a lot of rides (mostly it's an area to meet Mickey and Friends- we were not inclined to wait an hour to take a photo with Mickey or Minnie so we did a quick tour).

I wanted this Minnie Mouse hat so badly last time we went to California Adventure and they were literally sold out of it in both parks. Needless to say, it was my first purchase of the day at 8am. 

The Chip and Dale treehouse! I think we were too tall for it :[

In keeping with our plan of the most laid back Disney trip we could manage, we took a cruise on the Columbia, a pirate ship, that circles the river (?) around Frontier Land and New Orleans Square. Usually, it's the Mark Twain steamboats, but those were being repaired. I've actually never done this in all my times at Disney, so it was fun to see parts of the park you can only see on this ride.

It has a working cannon! 

My only specific ask for our trip to Disney was to have lunch or dinner at the Blue Bayou, which is a plantation style restaurant that is located on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Ever since I first rode Pirates, I've wanted to eat there, but it's a sit down restaurant and not conducive to a quick meal so you can ride more rides. Cameron surprised me in getting a reservation, as earlier in the week he had tried and they were full. Having a Type A personality makes surprises hard-- at 11am after we walked Gambit, I wanted to go and see if they had any openings, which made Cameron tell me rather than surprising me at out reservation time. Dinner was so nice- it's themed to be on the back veranda of a southern plantation (they have stringed lights, a huge oak with spanish moss, and it "sits" on the Louisiana Bayou (Pirates is located in New Orleans Square) so you could hear crickets and the water and it was set right when it become dark so there were fireflies in the distance. Too bad eating outside in the South isn't like that in the summer! The photos we got aren't the greatest, but hopefully you get the idea!

I had a really good time and I think Cameron did too- though Disney is not one of his favorite places in SoCal. We agreed we probably wouldn't go back for a while though we haven't seen California Adventure decorated at Christmas time :]

Gambit turned into a horse for Halloween!

For Halloween, I've become one of those parents that dresses up the dog in a costume. In my defense, this one was just too perfect not to put Gambit in it. I've called Gambit a "pony" for the longest time, and lo-and-behold, Target had a "Knight Rider" costume for dogs. Essentially, it's a blanket you velcro together over the dog and it has a knight sitting in a saddle on the back. Maybe I'm not describing it well enough, so here are some photos. Sorry they're not the best quality, he was busy showing off to our friends. He's also not a fan of photos so that can be tricky in and of itself. But there's a movie too!

 

For Halloween, we drove down to Santa Ana to see our friends-- apparently, there were some good times, but I passed out on the couch at 9:30pm after some pizza and Stella Cidre. It should be noted that I was out until 3am when Cameron woke me up. I do remember waking up a few times (once to say good-bye to a friend leaving), but for the most part I was oblivious. They carved pumpkins and I had no idea. So the general consensus is that I'm old.

Excuse me while I overload you with Gambit photos.

In case you were wondering what the cutest pooch in the world has been up to these past few months.

Summer Is Over :(

Ok, so not really. Summer really isn't over in LA until Novemberish (or at least that will be the case if this terrible drought keeps up). But the traditional summer months are over. And I hate it. Immensely. Summer is by far one of my favorite seasons (which is a good thing if you live here and don't like the cold. Sorry, Cam.) However, traditional summer activities are coming to an end--baseball, lazy beach days (not that we've done any. I know, we have literally no excuse for not going to the beach when it's 45 minutes away), outdoor movies/concerts, ice cream! So, here's a summer wrap up for our summer (ok, so technically the first day of fall was Sept. 23, but I'm gonna ride on the last waves of summer for as long as I can, especially when it's going to be 90 degrees at the end of this week).

The Highlights:

1. I graduated in June! Le Familia came to visit.
2. We moved to a better/more wonderful place in June a week after graduation.
3. I started working at full-time status through September while I job searched.
4. We caught a comedy show at the Ice House in Pasadena and had gourmet hot dogs at the Dog Haus (Delicious!) 
5. Spent the 4th of July with friends in Santa Ana. Gambit does not like fireworks. At all. 
6. We caught a few Dodgers' games, including the Hello Kitty game and the Star Wars game. 
7. Gambit got a fashionable harness that doubles as a seat belt and hiking harness.
8. We've discovered how difficult it can be getting packages delivered to our apartment...
9. We made a spontaneous trip to the LA Tall Ships Festival to see a GIANT INFLATABLE RUBBER DUCK after our lunch at the Long Beach BBQ Fest. 
10. In August, we went to the Orange International Street Festival with some friends from Santa Ana. So many people. 
11. I GOT A JOB. 
12. We celebrate said hiring down at Redondo Beach at The Shrimp Lover (we both agreed that The Boiling Crab is way better and didn't have so much garlic in it that we kept smelling it for the next couple of days after.) 
13. Our friend, Jenna, came to visit the week before Emily's wedding in Oregon.
14. Emily got married!
15. I started working at my new job.

He looks so thrilled to be wearing my LA Dodgers Hello Kitty ball cap. Yes, it has ears and a bow :]

THE GIANT INFLATABLE RUBBER DUCK. Not gonna lie, a little anti-climatic, but still fun.

Gambit's new harness. Cam and I have both managed to put it on backwards... Poor dog.

We found a taste of home! And yes, we got a dozen original glazed since the Hot N Ready sign was on.

When we were in Portland, Cameron wanted to get a haircut and beard trim from this barber shop. They serve beer while you're getting trimmed. He was happy, needless to say. 

In Portlamd. we stopped at Rogue Brewery's Pub House and Cameron got to drink all the Rogue beer he could possible dream of. Now he's super happy. 

The Brewhouse does a "Hoppy Meal" during lunch hours, where you can get an entree and a pint for $2-3 (the beer, not the whole meal). But, as part of the "Hoppy Meal" you get a free toy. These were ours. 

The only photo of us at my friend's wedding. My dress, unfortunately, got damaged on the way back to LA. Cameron bought two bottles of whiskey and one broke in my checked bag and the dress now has red/pink stains down one side... It will probably be dyed black over Christmas so I can still use it!