Rock stars, royalty and rain

I started my morning off with a Crossfit workout. I decided to work out every other day since this is a vacation! I did a warmup (sit ups, push ups, weights, stretches) and then did the Crossfit.com WOD (three rounds of 400m run with 3 minute rest in between each run) on a treadmill. It was the best I could manage this morning.

After a quick shower, the girls and I were off to Libby Lu's for their make over. We met my sister, niece and mom there. The two older girls wanted to be Hannah Montana. Rose wanted to be Lola, aka Hannah's best friend Lily. They all dressed in rock star clothing, had their nails done, make up put on and hair styled with wigs. So cute. They then learned a dance to a Hannah Montana song and preformed it. Once that was over, my mom, daughter and niece all had their ears pierced. A big day for them!

Something really cute happened at Libby Lu's. A four year old named Maddie and her mom were watching the girls get their ears pierced. Maddie's mom wanted her to get it done, but the little girl was hesitant. But after seeing Mackenna and my niece have it done, Maddie said she wanted to get hers done. (Rose, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with ear piercing!) The girls stayed and watched her get her ears pierced. Maddie's dad videotaped them and thanked them for helping out!

We headed to California Adventure. We had 11:40 reservations for lunch with the princesses at Ariel's Grotto. Since we had some time to kill, we took advantage of my mom's Disney Visa and went to the special character meet and greet they offer cardholders. We got to see Chip and Dale. As we were getting ready to walk out Mickey Mouse and Goofy showed up so we got autographs and pictures with them, too. The girls were thrilled.


We met Ariel on the way in. Rose was so excited after we sat down, she barely touched her lunch ($15.99 for a kids' plate but it was a character lunch so you're paying for the personal time with the princesses.) She had a hard time staying in her seat whenever she caught a glimpse of another princess. She finally realized they would come to her and liked that concept.

Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and Sleeping Beauty all paid a visit to the table. Cinderella asked Rose to give her a high five. It was so sweet. Sleeping Beauty was so wonderful with the girls and paid extra special attention to Rose by getting down to her level and giving her a special hug. I wish I could show you the pictures, but Rose isn't wearing her wig in them. The wig and the bobby pins bothered her too much so we had to take it all down within an hour of her hair being done!


Once the princesses were done visiting all the tables, the staff at Ariel's Grotto brought Rose her dessert with a candle in it. They also sang Happy Birthday to her. Yet another magical time for Miss Rose as the princesses called her.

The kids wanted to swim after that so we skipped going on any rides. The two hubbies took six of the kids swimming while the rest of us went shopping in Downtown Disney. I bought five balls called Bath Bombs at a store called Basin. My sister told me the kidlets would love them in the bathtub. I also bought Engish Toffee (my fave) and some other sweet treats at the candy store.

I did find something I want at the Department 56 store. It's a sledding hill with a sled that actually goes down. I'd seen it in a Baby Einsten DVD and the kids have always wanted me to get one. I haven't asked hubby yet. I'm waiting until the perfect moment to tell him I need to spend $70 not including tax on something that will come out for a month a year.

While we were shopping it started to rain. And rain. And rain. It's supposed to rain for the next three days. Bummer. But we're from the Northwest. Rain won't stop us.

We headed to dinner at the Trattoria restaurant. Boy, did that glass of Chianti taste good. They made Rose a special handmade birthday card, gave her a bowl of ice cream and a Disneyland gift card. They were out of their normal birthday favors. Seriously, this little girl of mine is coming to think she's an honest to goodness Disneyland princess!

After dinner, we headed to the park. My parents and my part of my sister's family didn't want to head out in the rain so went back to the hotel. Hubby and I, our three kids, one of my nephews and niece headed to Disneyland. The rain was really pouring down. As people streamed out of the park, we made our way in. It was wet with puddles everywhere, but we walked on all the rides.

In less than an hour and a half, we rode the following: Star Tours, Finding Nemo Submarine ride, Matterhorn, Autopia, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. Not bad considering a couple of those rides have had really long lines since we arrived. By the time we got back to the hotel, our coats were drenched along with our shoes, but we'd all had a really fun time in spite of the wetness. I hope tomorrow is better though, but if it's not we'll make do!

We've been having a family debate. One person does not want to go to the park in the rain. The other four of us still want to go. Maybe not to stay all day, but at least get a few rides in. Do you mind doing stuff in the rain even if it means you'll get soaking wet?