Oh That California Adventure

On Tuesday morning, it was time to get up and at 'em again.  Somehow it is always easier the first day {snacks are already packed, stroller is already loaded as opposed to the second day where you've barely unpacked the stroller from the night before}.  But, we still managed to make it to the park and were in line for fast passes to Radiator Springs Racers before it had even opened!

Our first {and usually second} ride is always the Toy Story Mania ride.  It is my all-time favorite at California Adventure.  While David secured our CarsLand fast passes, we rode Toy Story Mania and then got in line to do it again when he joined us.  It was fun watching Sydney actually play the games inside the ride this time!

We let the guys ride California Screamin' a couple times while we hit up the carousel.  Olivia showed about zero interest in this - and it's something she used to love.  :(  She is growing up.  

After the carousel ride, we made our way into CarsLand where we rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, and grabbed a quick bite to eat before riding Radiator Springs Racers.  Sydney has a new obsession with potato chips thanks to the park. 

After winning our race in the Cars ride, we headed over to the Grizzly River Run.  Sadly, Sydney was about a half inch too short to ride the ride, so instead of getting soaking wet, we did a little hat shopping inside an air-conditioned store.  Olivia loved the ride and actually got to ride it twice. 

Thanks to a lost {and later found} phone, we got to ride the Ariel ride about 4 times back to back.  It's always such a quick line.  After David got his phone back, we headed over to the Bugs Life area and rode a few rides there.  We had enough time to see Sophia the First and ride the Monsters Inc ride twice before the watching the Pixar Parade.  {Thanks, Uncle Rhino, for saving us the best seats!}

After all of that adventuring, we still had three things left on our CA wish list - Ride Radiator Springs Racers at night, eat a sit down dinner {for Ryan}, take a birthday picture of Olivia in front of the Mickey wheel.  Thankfully, we were able to accomplish all of those!

As a bonus, we were able to see even more fireworks on our exit from the park.  Disneyland had closed early so they could practice for their 60th celebration, and we were able to see them!  We even made it back to the hotel in time to watch them from the pool & hot tub.  Such a great ending to our birthday trip.  

The next morning, we headed over to Downtown Disney to let the girls walk around and explore a little before our trip home.  Olivia had gotten a couple different gift cards to Disneyland, and hadn't spent very much in Disney, so we wanted to give her the opportunity to do that before we left.  She was so great with her money, buying gifts for friends before herself.  It made me very proud of her.

➹ The Lego store was SO cool! ➹

As {bad} luck would have it, our car got a flat tire in the middle of the desert on the way home, so we sat by the side of the road for 2 hours before driving home at 60mph with a donut tire on the car.  But, we made it home by 10p, safe and sound with one sleeping child.  I'll call that a successful trip any day of the week!

➹ Turns out we had stopped at this exact McDonald's restaurant when my friend Liz and I took our kids to Disneyland two years ago! ➹