Summer Vacation

 Finally a vacation!!! I love to travel and to get out of the house as much as I can, and I'm always scheming and daydreaming of vacations. Since cancelling our trip in May I had been pretty restless and needed a getaway so we decided we were going to make it happen, but on a budget, a STRICT budget...We donated plasma, I worked overtime, I sold old clothes to used clothing stores, we did everything we could to earn this vacation without taking too much money from our regular budget of bills, rent etc. It paid off! They're never quite as luxurious as I imagine, but they're still pretty awesome. 

Because our 2 year anniversary of when we met at Disneyland is in the middle of July, we felt compelled to make a trip there...for sentimental reasons :) And also, because we love Disneyland and would do anything to get some of those jalapeno cheese pretzels.

We started the day with breakfast at Holly Jolly Cafe, the line was huge, but it went pretty quickly and we had some of the most delicious egg, cheese and bacon breakfast croissants we've ever had.WORTH IT

It's Disneyland's 60th anniversary of them being opened, so their theme for the year is Diamonds. We just happen to be there on the actual day it opened 60 years ago, July 17th 1955 and they were handing out free cupcakes all day! As many as you wanted. Free cupcakes at Disneyland is pretty incredible, because D-land is pretty stingy and you can't anything for cheap/free there.

They were delicious, duh.

Fast passes for Thunder Mountain! One of most satisfying things at Disneyland is bypassing all the chumps waiting hours in line for a ride, while using your fast pass! We did that all day and never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride.

^The famous jalapeno cheese pretzels...

Since we were on a budget, we only bought tickets to one park, and decided to explore the heck out of it and do all the rides/attractions we'd never done before. We rode the steamboat, we rode Tom Huck's raft to the pirate adventure park, we tried the canoes around the lake. We'd both been to Disneyland dozens of times, yet there is still so much we hadn't explored.

PRAISE THE LORD for Dole Whip.

Sometimes I get annoyed that there are other people in our ride pictures, but this one is too great. 

Lunch at Cafe New Orleans! We shared the beef au jous with a mint julep. 

They had a live band performing and interacting with the crowd, it was so entertaining and such a nice way to take a break and enjoy your food without looking for a bench in the heat!

The R2D2 I designed and regretfully didn't buy to put on my desk at work...

Because it is the Diamond Celebration, they totally upped the ante on the fireworks show. It truly was magical, except I was reminded how much I hate crowds and standing so close to people for extended periods of time, haha! All I could think about was people breathing on me and how I hope I didn't get measles..

Until next time :)