the magic is real

my actual birthday started off with a 6:30 wakeup call courtesy of the bean, who came to my bedside full of excitement and birthday greetings.  while i did my best to get myself fully awake, she disappeared and returned with her sister and a gift and card in hand.  they promptly hopped into our bed while i blinked a few times trying to focus.

lemme tell you though, that early wakeup was well worth it...because as i ripped off that hello kitty wrapping paper and found what was waiting for me - well:

after getting dressed for the day, i hopped into the car with the girls to drop the bean off at school for the day.  while the old lady chauffeured us around, i admired my fabulous new toy.

of course, you know where we were headed:

and that disney magic was in full effect for the day, because not only did we finally figure out how to use the "flyover" for the entrance to the parking structure, but we scored on a sweet front-of-the-aisle spot.

happy birthday tram selfie!

since i hadn't been to the california adventure side in a long time, that's where we headed.  we split off as soon as we got inside so that i could head into the "chamber of commerce" to pick up my birthday button while the old lady secured our fastpasses for the radiator springs racers ride.

we met back at the starbucks cafe, where we got in the super long line and checked out the outfits people were wearing.  somehow, the semi-annual "dapper day," an event planned by disney superfans for attending the parks all decked out in fashionable and typically vintage attire landed on my birthday and it was really fun to see all the outfits people were wearing.

yay for birthday coffee!

we took lots of pictures that day, somewhat reluctantly on the old lady's part.  heh.

 while we were in line for the tower of terror, we caught a glimpse of sully from monsters, inc.:

the usual silly ride photo.

and even sillier hats.

i paused to admire my fantastic birthday present some more.

birthday lunch:  a bacon mac & cheese cone and a golden icicle lemonade that tasted like a liquid jolly rancher candy.  delish.

since the "aladdin" show is going to be replaced by yet another rendition of "frozen" in the coming months (ugh), we decided to stop and watch one of the performances.  that show never disappoints, and we're really sad to see it go.

time for the racers ride!

we decided to head over to the disneyland side to do a little more dapper day peoplewatching before it was time to leave.

the last treat of the day - delicious disneyland popcorn.  i read somewhere that their longstanding contract with orville redenbacher seems to have come to an end, with pop secret taking its place.  i don't know when that starts, but i sure hope it doesn't ruin one of my favorite park snacks.

till next time, disneyland (which is actually in just a few days as we return for an early celebration of the bean's birthday)!