Girls Disney Day 3 & Heading Home

After our late night at the parks, the air conditioner didn't bother us as much. They had worked on it but it was still really loud. We were just too tired to care and both slept well.

I awoke the next morning with both anticipation for todays fun in Disneyland and dread at the thought of leaving. We really had seen and done everything we wanted to in the last 2 days so today was just cake, but I also hated to leave. I did miss my husband and my kids though, and was happy to be returning to them soon. While Bek and I had fun, being at Disneyland did remind me of the fun of having your family to share this with. Now I'm even more desparate to get my family back to Disneyland soon.

But I digress. We woke, prettied ourselves up, packed the last of our stuff and toted our luggage down to Bek's car. Then we headed off for the park. It opened early this morning, at 8am, and we were in the gates about 8:30am.

First up was a quick stop at the partners statue, featuring Walt and Mickey. It was pretty empty this morning so we were able to take pics of a family and then get some of our own without other random people in them. I love this statue and want a copy of this statue for my house... I love it!

We headed straight for Pixie Hollow in search of a visit with the fairies. Not too soon after we got in line they opened it. There was this adorable older gentleman with a New Zealand accent who was the cast member when you entered the tall grass of Pixie Hollow. He was so funny! Kept talking to us all like he was a fairy and saying that Tinkerbell doesn't like to wait for anyone, so she'd be seeing us and the other fairies would join her shortly. Well, that was fine with Bek and I as we were really just here to see Tink.

I love how you enter Pixie Hollow and become miniature, like the fairies. How the grass is so tall, how the flowers are so big and all the little details in between. I had to snap some pictures of the incredible details. First is the big banner for the "Fall Revelry" that hangs in Pixie Hollow. Next is a beautiful flower that stood about 4 feet tall.

Usually some of the other Pixie Hollow fairies are here and this is one of those spots where one stops to greet guests. No fairy though, just Bek and I. ;)Then it was time to see Tink! I was so sad my photo didn't come out crisp. :(

And here's Bek with Tink.

Then it was time for both of us. Tinkerbell instructed us to stand like her and be "sassy" so we did. I love that I can be such a goofball in Disney. LOLThat was the big plan for Disneyland so Bek and we turned tail and headed to California Adventure.

It was a long hike from Pixie Hollow all the way to Paradise Pier, but we took our time and enjoyed the Disney feeling, knowing we were soon leaving.

Next up was California Screamin'. Time for one last ride, right? So we jumped in the line and waited the 15 minutes to get on the ride. Thankfully this time it actually did work and we screamed and yelled the entire time. This is a horrible picture of the screen showing us on the ride, but had to share it anyways. Bek and I are in the back row...

We had yet to go on Toy Store Mania so that was our next goal. When we got to Paradise Pier we saw that the line was really long outside the ride. We didn't have anything else we had to do so we decided to go for it, especially because we saw that they'd just opened the attraction and there was a huge gap in the line. Sure enough it did move pretty quickly and we ended up only waiting about 15-20 minutes. This is always a fun ride and I beat Bek in point total, though I must admit her hurt hand didn't help her out.

The only other major attraction on our list today was to see the full production of Aladdin. Since that didn't happen for a while we headed for one of my must-dos for today - the Animation Academy! Here a young animator taught us to draw Donald Duck.

He was hard! Much more difficult than others I've drawn, with lots of curves and lines. The animators go pretty quickly too, so it was a rush to keep up. I loved every second of it! Here's my take on Donald...

We also learned stayed to learn how to draw Mickey and Grumpy. We spent so much time here today but I loved it! If I were a youngster I'd want to be a Disney Animator some day. It was so fun and I really loved the results.
It was now time for Aladdin and Bek and I went plenty early so we could get a good seat. Standing out in the sun wasn't very fun, but we found a tiny bit of shade and sat down there while in the line. We got great seats about 15 rows from the front, so I had a much better chance of getting some great shots without the flash. Thankfully the entire show went off without a hitch so Bek was able to see it all. The music was fabulous and the genie was hilarious. It was soooooo worth the wait!

*sigh* That was it for California Adventure. We walked by Soarin' to see if we could sneak a ride in but didn't feel we had time to do that and still get to Cafe Orleans for the beignets that we just had to try. So we big California Adventure a fond farewell and headed back to Disneyland.

Our whole plan here was to hit Cafe Orleans and pick up all those last-minue souveniors we hadn't yet grabbed. Bek went to the nearby store to get a cool sweatshirt she'd seen for Kayli and I checked us into Cafe Orleans. In only 5 minutes we had a table, again outside. We ordered another order of the scrumptious Pommes Frites and an order of Beignets. Holy moly, I could sit here and eat these foods forever and be perfectly happy. SOOOOO yummy! That berry puree was pure heaven. We tried the vanilla anglaise sauce but both of us preferred the berry puree, so we ordered more and sat back and enjoyed. YUM!

After stuffing ourselves on fries and beignets we sat and people watched. We soaked in the last bits of California sunshine and Disneyland magic and then grudgingly bid Disneyland farewell. We had a fabulous time to share with one another but it was now over.

Thankfully we still had a plane ride home together. Bek was coming back to Oregon with me as stop on her way to her hometown of Forks, Washington where she was looking for a HOUSE! Bek is moving back! They really aren't enjoying Arizona and miss the Northwest. In just a month they will be home for good! Unfortunately they won't be as close as they were before, when they lived in Battleground. But she'll still be just a 4 hour drive away, close enough to go visit on a weekend and close enough to once again see each other more than once a year. YEAH!

Bek and I both flew JetBlue home and she was as impressed as I was. The captain actually came out and said hi to passengers. We enjoyed some TV while we flew, watching some thing about mothers and their little girls being beauty pageant queens. It was one of those train wreck shows that you couldn't help but watch yet at the same time you had to roll your eyes at the ridiculous parents in them.

When we arrived home I was due to ride with Bek, who was staying the night at our house before heading to Forks. She was sooooo jazzed to go and got more and more excited as the minutes ticked closer to touchdown.

Imagine my surprise when I came out of the gate area and found my husband and kids waiting for me with a big sign that said "We missed you Mom!". Awwwww... They all hugged me and I was so, so glad to be home!

In the end, Bek was too keyed up to come home with me instead deciding to just drive the 4 hours to her hometown that she missed so much. We bid goodbye at the airport, knowing that in just a month we would see each other again.

I'm so glad I took this vacation with her and got to spend some time doing stuff for me, but I had missed my family dearly and I was glad to be home.