We got to take our first family trip with Hudson last month! Brandon's family had planned a trip to San Diego earlier in the year, but we hadn't planned to go because we weren't sure what life would be like with Hudson…
Read MoreI feel like it has been a minute since I've put together a travel post! We hadn't gone on a trip since October, and it was so nice to get out and go somewhere different! Brandon left late Monday night to go to California for work, and...
Read MoreThe Saturday after Carter's birthday, we spent a quick (very quick) 24 hours in California. We flew out of Salt Lake at 6:30 that morning, landed at 7:20 in Long Beach, and were at Disneyland and in the park by the time they opened at 8:00. I was still a little sick, so we almost weren't sure if we were going to go, but I am so glad we did!! The first thing we rode...
Read MoreOur final day of vacation was so perfect. We headed straight to the beach first thing in the morning, and it was seriously such good weather! It was only an hour drive from our hotel, so it was probably 10:300 or 11:00 when we got there. The sun was shiny, it was warm, and there was hardly anybody there! We walked on the sand, flew the drone some more, and checked...
Read MoreThe second full day of vacation was so much fun! We left Stowe relatively early, and started to make our way down to Connecticut. Before we left for the trip, Brandon had found an article about the best drives to take to see fall foliage in New England. He worked his magic and pieced our drive together, making it so we could take three of the seven suggested routes! We...
Read MoreOur quick trip to New England was so much fun! We flew in to Burlington, Vermont and headed straight to Stowe, where we stayed at the Golden Eagle Resort. We stopped at the Ben & Jerry's factory on our way to Stowe to take a tour and sample some ice cream, then got dinner before going to bed. It got dark around 6:30, so by 8:30 (still only 6:30 at home...
Read MoreLet's be honest, one of the best parts about Disneyland and Disney World is the food. There are so many great choices for meals and drinks, but when it comes to snacks, Disney always outdoes itself. We have a few snacks that we get every single time we go to the park: a Mickey ice cream bar, a Mickey Pretzel, a dole whip, and a churro. And we usually get popcorn too, because no matter how hard we try to resist, those dang carts basically throw the smell of buttery-goodness at our heads and it's really hard to ignore.
Anyway.
I had a fun new shirt to wear to Disney this last time, and I felt like I needed to actually live up to what I was advertising. My goal was to eat as many Mickey-Shaped foods as I could find in one day. I'm sure I missed a few, but I went with what I could find! If you know of any other Mickey-shaped foods, let me know!
Mickey ice cream bar - sold at nearly every single ice cream stand
Chocolate Chip Cookie Hot Fudge Sundae - Gibson Girl Parlor in Disneyland
Mickey-shaped Beignets - Mint Julep Bar in Disneyland (they currently have blackberry for the seasonal flavor and it is SO GOOD)
Mickey waffles are served at just about every sit-down breakfast place. Disneyland - Carnation Cafe. Disney World - The Plaza Ice Cream Parlor and Crystal Palace
Mickey soft pretzels are honestly so much better than any other soft pretzel. They can be found at most pretzel carts in every park!
Our weekend at Disney was ridiculously wonderful.
We left Salt Lake Thursday afternoon and flew into Long Beach Airport (which I love, by the way. never flying into LAX again), then went directly to our AirBnb to drop off our things. We called an Uber, and got to Laguna Beach around 6:00. Neither of us had ever been to Laguna Beach, as far as we could remember, and it was BEAUTIFUL! We took way too many pictures of the sunset, but it was unreal. We hung out there until it was dark, then stopped for dinner at Urth Cafe before heading back to our Airbnb. Shortly after, our friends Sam and Jennika showed up with their kids! The kids were already asleep, but the grown ups stayed awake for a while and caught up. They just moved to Arizona, and even though we didn't see each other all that often before they moved, I had missed them so much!
Friday morning we all woke up and went to Disneyland!! Brandon and I were so excited to go with the adults, but we were also really excited to do Disney with kids. The first thing we did when we got in the park was take the kids to meet Moana, and seriously, it was so precious. We had some pretty tender moments with the kids all day, and even though it made us ache a little for our own, we had a blast with them. This was our first vacation ever with Sam and Jennika, and on like, the third ride of the day I was already trying to talk them into planning more. So hopefully that will be happening again!
On Saturday, Brandon and I went to California Adventure by ourselves. We got a lot of the big rides done quickly, and realized that we were bored without Sam and Jenn and their kids haha. But we rode the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride (and only waited 15 minutes in line), Toy Story, Cars ride, Little Mermaid, Soarin', and California Screamin' all before 1:00. We contemplated waiting to watch the Frozen show, but we had seen it before, and both of us wanted to go back over to Disneyland, so we did! And it was the best decision. We rode Autopia, Splash Mountain, and Pirates, and just soaked up some last Disney magic before having to leave. We bought Sam and Jenn's kids bubble wands before we left the park, because we had been wanting to the day before and just didn't do it. Luckily, they were still up when we got home, so we all a little pre-bed bubble party. It was so much fun! When we go visit them in Arizona, I fully intend to steal their children and bring them home with me.
Our flight the next morning left at 7:20, so we left the Airbnb in the 5:00 hour, and spent a good chunk of our time in the airport trying to wake up. I woke up with a cold, but it was so worth it for Disney! Once we got home, we unpacked, took a nap, then just rested for the rest of the night. We're already trying to figure out how we can swing a trip in October. The park was partially decorated for Halloween already, but we want to go when it is the full-blown Halloween Celebration! So we'll see.
We really did have the best weekend though, and it was a perfect lead-in to a great week! You can watch a recap of our weekend on the vlog, and you can watch Sam and Jennika's vlog here!
Before we left for Disney, I had the idea to do a drink tour. There are tons of posts online about drinking around the world at Epcot, and the best places to get beer at the parks, but we kind of had to sift through a lot of posts to compile a list of the best non-alcoholic drinks. I'm sure there are a ton more, but we had to alternate our specialty drinks with water (and obviously Mickey pretzels), so our list isn't extremely long. And sorry we didn't get a picture of every single drink (thanks to The Disney Food Blog for providing some of these!). I promise they are all worth it! If you know of any that aren't on this list, put them in the comments!
Lefou's Brew - Gaston's Tavern (by Be Our Guest restaurant) : Tasty frozen apple juice (and a hint of marshmallow!) topped with passion fruit-mango foam. Enjoy it while you gaze with wonder at the antlers Gaston uses in all his decorating.
Dole Whip Float - Aloha Isle (Adventureland by the Magic Carpet Ride) : Pineapple soft serve in pineapple juice and it's so good. And a classic.
The American Dream - Fire and Drum Tavern (America) : Honestly my favorite drink of the whole trip! Blue Raspberry slushie, soft serve vanilla ice cream, and Strawberry slushie layers will make you feel patriotic even when you're dying from the heat.
Kaki-Gori - Kabuki Cafe (Japan) : They might look like your typical shaved ice, but everything is better in Disney World! A variety of flavors and a sweet milk topping!
Shangri La Berry Freeze - Warung Outpost (between Africa & Asia) : A strawberry smoothie that's fit for any animal (except don't really feed it to the animals, okay?).
Night Blossom - Pongu Pongu (Pandora) : A mixture of limeade with apple and pear, topped with Passion Fruit boba. The glowing Unadelta Seed is optional, but I recommend it just out of sheer coolness.
PB&J Milkshake - 50's Prime Time Cafe (near Echo Lake) : It tastes just like the classic sandwich, but with ice cream, which makes it that much better. (And I'm really not kidding, it tastes just like it!!)
Wheezy's Breezy Freezy - Hey Howdy Hey Takeaway (near Toy Story Mania) : A frozen drink in your choice of Coke, Wild Cherry, Lemonade, or Watermelon. After standing in line for Toy Story Mania, you'll need one!
