The Big 3-0!!

I know I promised more about my travels, but this was easier and faster.  I'll do that later...


Well the day finally came and now it has gone.  I am officially done with my 20's and am already enjoying my 30's.  :)  The big day was spent in Huntington Beach with my older and wiser sister, Tara.  I really didn't want to be in Utah, and even though my trip to Europe was also to celebrate my 30th, I still felt the need to go somewhere fun and magical.  And what is fun and magical to a 30 year old?  Disneyland of course!!

We decided to do Disney on Friday to hopefully avoid some of the crowds.  It was of course still busy, but we got to go on all the favorites without too much waiting in line.  Since there were no children with us, we didn't even cross under the castle into Fantasyland.  I think that's a first for any of my trips there.  I got my birthday button 

and wore it proudly all the day long.  

The first person to wish me a happy birthday wasn't even a Disney cast member, just a random person also enjoying the magic of Disney.  We got off to a bit of a rough start because we didn't know about the single rider lines.  For those of you who haven't been there in a while, this is Disney's new best way of serving those who don't have children to ride with and don't care who they sit by on the rides.  Not all of the rides have this option, but after standing in line for Matterhorn for nearly half an hour in the blazing sun at the hottest time of day only to find out that we could have gone in the single rider line and been on in 10 minutes, we took advantage of all of them that did.  We walked on to Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain in 10 minutes.  We got fast passes for Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain railroad.  We ate delicious chicken and veggie kebabs for lunch and ice cream for dessert.  Though we were secretly coveting the yummy looking corndog of the child sitting next to us.  Tara and I both came out of Space Mountain in agreement, it really is the best ride.  It has been my favorite since I was little, and I still love it.  I think it has gotten even better.  The music is louder and it's darker inside.   I just love it all.  

After that we went over to California Adventure where we had the best birthday/Disneyland miracle of all.  Anyone who is in touch with Disney would know that in June the new Cars Land opened.  One of my BFFs from college, Lisa, was there with her family the week after it opened and it was chaos.  The line for the ride was something insane like 4 hours.  Because of this, we had kind of decided that we might not ride that particular ride while we were there, but we still wanted to see it.  So we walked through Hollywood and A Bugs Land into Radiator Springs.  They seriously built Radiator Springs, just like it is in the movie.  It is AWESOME!  We loved just walking through the town and seeing all the neat details (one of the things I love about Disney, they always do the small things).  So we walked over the where the ride started and there was a crowd of people waiting.  This was what we expected.  But we soon found out that the ride was actually temporarily closed.  We made the decision to stand around and wait for a bit.  We had been standing there all of about 3 minutes, when they opened the gates and we rushed forward with the rest of the crowd.  We were the first in line for the single riders line and we were on the ride, zooming through the dessert in a race car about 10 minutes later.  Everyone needs to go on this ride.  I don't recommend standing in line for 2 1/2 hours like the family who was in the car I ended up in, but it is a must ride.  After that huge miracle, the rest of the day was made. 

I went on Tower of Terror, which I also love (see my face in the photo for proof) and California Screamin'.  

We waited in line for Toy Mania which was also very fun.  And I just realized that I'm giving you a play by play which is really not necessary and you might not even have time to read this.  But the day was amazing and ended with the light show and fireworks of course.  I am such a sucker for fireworks.  It doesn't matter where they are or I am, I love them.  Whenever I find that mysterious man I'm going to marry, please feel free to tell him I would love to be proposed to by firework light.  :)

The weekend goodness continued on Saturday (my actual bday).  Thanks to all those who texted, called or Facebooked.  It's nice to feel loved on your bday.  We slept in a bit, worked out, went and got massages with our friend Christy and then headed to the beach.  I ordered the perfect beach weather, another birthday miracle.  After a few relaxing hours there, we went home to get ready for dinner and the Orange County fair.  Dinner was deliciousness called True Food.  I had pan seared sea bass on a bed of mushrooms, asparagus and purple potatoes.  It was YUMMY!  

And after having some healthy food, we overdosed on Funnel Cakes at the fair.  They were probably the most amazing funnel cakes I've ever had.  And this will be the second time I have celebrated my bday over funnel cake.  The first time was two years ago at Kings Dominion with some dear DC friends.  Which is perfect because those who know me know that I am not a fan of regular old birthday cakes.  This year we had a red velvet with bavarian cream and chocolate chips, one with ice cream and strawberries and another cinnamon one.  

That was our first round of the night.  We then went of a few of the calmer rides, the slides and the ferris wheel.  None of us girls would do the spinny rides like the boys wanted to do.  

While we were waiting in line for the ferris wheel, we met these really nice people from Houston who actually owned the funnel cake stand right next to the ferris wheel and after we got off, they offered to get us all whatever funnel cakes we wanted.  So we had round two.  Yikes.  That pretty much sent me over the edge.  But these people were so nice.  And they do the Houston rodeo and livestock show, so all my family living down there, you need to go find them.  It's called Penn. Dutch Funnel Cakes.  They had fresh blueberries and chocolate covered strawberries as well.  So much goodness and sugar.  We closed up the night with the fair at midnight and headed home to put our tired older bodies to bed.  :)  And this morning we went to church where I got to catch up with a few more friends and then I headed to the airport.  Where I saw another friend who I have known since Ricks College who I always run into in the most random places.  

The whole weekend was just as magical as it could have been.  Thanks for all who participated, especially Tara.  You really made it special and a birthday that I will not soon forget.

P.S.  I also need to give a shout out to my dearest friend Christina who sent me 30 birthday presents in various shapes and sizes and all sorts of goodness.  Including some new fun baking toys, 80s apparel and patriotic decor.  She knows me too well.  Thank you my dear!