nonstop birthday princess fun

birthday princess day 2014 was phe. nom. en. AL.  for real.

in order to enjoy as much of it as possible, i went to barre class at 5AM.

as i was wrapping some cookies to ship out around 6:15, the bean came out, groggy and rubbing tired eyes with a sleepy but cheerful "happy birthday, mommy!"  after a run to the potty and a stop somewhere along the way, she came back out and presented me with a sweet homemade card.

then i peeked at my phone and noticed this, which was comical in its lack of enthusiasm (but hey, i was super grateful for the huge drop in temperature, so it's all good):

not long after that, the teen scampered out (also slightly groggy and bleary eyed) with her own birthday greeting.

she and i took the bean to school while the hub stayed behind and got ready for a day of fun.  about an hour later, we were here:

after entering through the gate at california adventure, they left me to grab this (and yes, that is indeed a frozen-themed dress i'm wearing - see anna's upside-down head?  elsa's there too):

while they headed off to snag three of these.

the plan was to hop onto as many of the fast rides as we could before leaving at 1:30 to be back home in time to pick up the bean from school.  she refuses to ride any of them, so this was our chance to smoosh them all into one fantastic trip.  first stop - the tower of terror.

as we stood in the short and fast-moving line, i saw some decorating details in the "lobby" that i'd never really noticed before, like this creepy ass doll sitting on a cobweb-covered couch:

the hub decided that as the birthday princess, i deserved to have fireworks following me everywhere i went.  although the jazz hands stopped about ten seconds after they started.  boo.

the ride was super fun as always, although he totally missed my cue to assume the sleeping position at the top.  oh well, 2 outta 3 ain't bad.

with a few hours left till our fastpass for radiator springs racers, we decided to head outta there and across the esplanade towards disneyland.

by the way, this explained the short lines and low attendance that day.  apparently, a special event for the resort's cast members was planned for that evening.  hey, that's cool with me.

so what if there's still a good 40-ish days till halloween?  disneyland does it up nice and early.

that includes some of the rides, like space mountain.

it was a beautiful day.

even more beautiful was the short wait time:

i mean, if you can't be okay with looking dumb in ride photos at disneyland, where can you?

sadly, matterhorn was closed when we strode past it.  and so the next mountain to conquer was big thunder.

and after that...splash mountain.

although the two drops in "pirates of the caribbean" really aren't very steep, the bean absolutely abhors it.  so duh...it was on the roster for the day.

we were super bummed to find that the indiana jones ride was also unavailable.

having only downed a starbucks drink and pastry on the way to anaheim, we were ready for a snack.  this right here is the most delicious one there is.  oh yes, that's right:  bacon-wrapped asparagus on a stick.  mmmmmm.

when we were done, it was time to head back across the way to cash in our fastpasses for the last ride of the day.

birthday churro!

and that was that.  we rode the tram back to the parking structure, hopped into the car, and jammed on it.  after we scooped up the bean, who was super excited to see her daddy in the car line, we loaded up on a bit more caffeine to take us through the rest of the day.  or, as the bean called it, a "fra-cap-accino."

seems that my birthday dinner venue has become somewhat of a tradition:

which is fine by me, because this place never disappoints.  hello, ribeye steak with buttered baked potato and mushroom gravy on the side.

back at home, there was just enough time for me to open some presents - like this super cute barbie bag stuffed with items carefully selected by my very own forever 21 personal shopper.

and...this.

i mean, come on.  new iPhones are ALWAYS released around my birthday.  although it's on backorder for a few weeks, i'm super duper excited for my very own soon-to-be silver iPhone 6.  SO EXCITED.

a day full of family, fun, love, and presents.  does it get any better than that??