90!

I know it’s hard to believe, but…

My g-ma turned 90 yesterday.  She acts like she’s decades younger so it’s kinda crazy.

We drove to LA to celebrate this weekend.  PARTY TIME!!!!

I wish we could have made the visit longer, but it flew by way too fast.  We left first thing Friday morning.  I was so proud of us for getting loaded up and off by 7:30 am!  But it didn’t actually matter in the end because we had to stop so frequently for nursing, eating, toileting, etc.  Having a recently potty trained toddler and a baby going through a growth spurt makes for a looooong road trip.  But that wasn’t even the most limiting factor.  The I-5 was closed due to the mudslides in the grapevine so we had to take the 101.  And it was basically a parking lot.  It was terrible.

Feel free to guess what time we arrived in Newport Beach.  No really…guess…

Needless to say, this was the HIGHLIGHT of the trip.

Did you guys know that my first job was at Jamba Juice?  I worked there when I was a senior in HS.  Jamba was brand new and a store had just just just opened in my home town and it was the coolest place to work.  It was where I first fell in love with soy milk.  I owe my mad smoothie making skillz to their training.  I’m probably a little biased, but I think they know how to make magic in a blender.

I got the seasonal almond milk smoothie, which featured (of course) pumpkin!!  Since I was trying to bulk it up I added kale and chia seeds.  The pumpkin base was pretty sweet but the rest of the ingredients in the smoothie weren’t so it ended up being perfectly balanced.  And it filled me up without making me feel full, which is key when you are road trippin.

I thought it was really cool that I could look up the menu online in advance (sped up our rest stop ever so slightly because usually I hem and haw over a menu for a solid 30 minutes before settling on an order).  And the menu has so much info – including allergens, ingredients and nutritional/calorie stats.

This was the first time I had Jamba Juice in foreverrrrr, but I couldn’t stop raving about it to Kyle for the rest of the drive and I’m pretty excited to hit up the local store in Davis now.  I want to try their fresh pressed juices.  Tell me your favorite Jamba orders????  What should I try next?  Energy bowls?

Oh and they were running this pink campaign while I was there too!  Ok, back to the LA trip.

The 30 minute car nap.  Womp womp.

Anyway, Friday sucked and was a lost day.  Saturday, however, was filled with family fun.  My sisters and their fiancees (yep, they are BOTH ENGAGED!) were there too, as well as my aunts and uncles and cousins and well, basically everyone.  We took soooooo many group photos.

All cleaned up for the birthday festivities.  Look at all my loves.  Weeeeee.

There was a taco truck!!  And a fancy cake from Downtown LA’s Ace Hotel pastry chef!  And my aunt’s seven layer bars!  Too many exclamation points.  I didn’t take pictures, just took it all in.

The next day was this…

I made a reservation at PCH Grill for a character breakfast several months ago and have been looking forward to it ever since.  P knows who all the main Disney characters are (Mickey and friends) but I still wasn’t sure he was ready for the full blown Disneyland experience (it’s also $$$$), so I thought the breakfast thing was a better option.  I prepped him (a lot) for it – explaining the characters would be big, etc. – but still expected him to be a little freaked out by them.  But he was SO INTO IT.

From the second we arrived he was overwhelmed in the best way.  He was taking it all in, talking nonstop about everything he was seeing and it was truly like watching magic happen through his eyes.  Disney does it right.

We saw characters walking around the tables while we were waiting to be seated and he was just bouncing out of his skin. We saw Daisy Duck, Minnie and Mickey, Pluto, and another one from a movie I didn’t know.  We took photos with them all and he interacted with them without hesitation.  Already skeptical, he asked Daisy to blink her eyes.  Ha.  But aside from that, he was just plain in awe.  “Oh hi!  So nice to meet you Daisy!”  <–dying

I could write an essay on the whole breakfast but I’ll save that for his baby book, rather than this public blog.

The best part is how seriously Disney takes allergies.  This was the FIRST TIME that pacman ate at a restaurant.  Ever.  I did research in advance and their website is so helpful, so I felt really comfortable.  I also talked to the chef while there.  The food was all labeled anyway with allergens listed on the label right there in front of each food.  Yes, the risk for contamination in serving ware (from the guests) is possible, but it’s actually pretty unlikely given how they do it.

P ate sausage, bacon and fruit without any issues (kids under 3 eat free off an adults buffet plate).  I brought food for him as well because I wanted to be extra sure he was covered.  He ate a (soy) yogurt with chia seeds that I brought too.

The whole experience was fantastic.

As if the day couldn’t get any better, I had a date with my mom and sisters after to do some wedding dress shopping.  Can’t post those pics but…!!!!!!  Once P woke up from his nap we all ate lunch and packed up to once again do the looooooong drive back home.  This trip was MUCH shorter – a mere 8 hours – which got us in just around midnight.  And now I am wondering how I’m going to get through this week without any sleep.  Oh wait!  I know how!  It’s my birthdayyyy!  That high will do just the trick.  🙂