Yesterday we took a day off from theme parks. We rented a car and headed down the coast highway. We went through some beautiful towns - Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point. It was kind of a rainy day. But the drive was lovely, and it did stop raining long enough for us to do some beach combing. It was a welcome change from the over-stimulation of Disneyland!

Amelia's Birthday at the Happiest Place on Earth!

Amelia turned 5 years old today. At Disneyland. Holy cow. What an amazing birthday for her!!

It all started at breakfast with Lilo & Stitch at the Paradise Pier Hotel (one of the Disney Resort Hotels). As it turns out we also had Goofy Jr., Pluto and Minnie Mouse joining us at breakfast! The first pictures are of the walk to the Paradise Pier Hotel from our hotel. It was a beautiful, quiet morning.

The picture below was taken in front of the huge Lego store in Downtown Disney. The guy that Dean is sitting next too (the guy in red, not Brodie) is totally made out of Lego. He looks like he's sleeping and he has a snoring soundtrack. It was great!

At breakfast Stitch tried to steal Mickinley's biscuit and he actually stole Amelia's juice (but then he gave it back!). Lilo taught them all how to hula and there were other games for the kids. And on top of it all, the food was amazing! The meal ended with Lilo and some of the wait staff singing a special birthday song to Amelia and the kids eating Black Forest cake at 9:30am!

After breakfast we went to Disneyland where Amelia was greeted by everyone that worked there with 'Happy Birthday' and 'How old are you, Amelia?'. Disneyland gives birthday kids (and adults, too) Birthday pins, and everyone makes a point of making them feel extra special. It was lovely.

Below are pictures of the many characters we saw and rides we went on.

Mickinley got to meet her favourite Disney Princess, Jasmine. Amelia got to dress up like her favourite Disney Princess, Cinderella (thanks to a birthday gift from Uncle Brent) and I got to see my favourite Disney Princess, Mary Poppins!!

Waiting for the parade to start...

So, it was a lovely, lovely way to spend Amelia's 5th birthday. She was treated like a little princess...which is exactly the way she likes it!

Going to Hollywood to be Discovered!

Hey everyone - sorry we didn't get any pics up from Sunday. The internet connection at the hotel was down. So tonight, you will get a double dose of pictures!

The picture below was actually from Saturday night. After I posted Saturday's pictures, we went back to Disneyland to watch Fantasmic. It turned out to be a bit late for Brodie...this picture was taken while we were waiting for the show to start. And Brent took this picture, he and Brodie went back to the hotel. Poor guy!!

On Sunday we went to Universal Studios. Our day started with an attempt at navigating Los Angeles freeways! Yikes! But Dean did a great job and got us there and back in one piece.

Below you will see some pics of the great characters we saw at Universal Studios. Speaking of characters, you will see my brother Brent doing some weird moves with Shrek - they broke out into some sort of jig. It was priceless!! Oh, and Shrek picked his nose and wiped it on Brodie.

We also met Donkey. He had a waffle stand. (If you've seen Shrek (the movie) then you will understand the significance of Donkey and waffles.) He was so funny. He was interacting with everyone coming up to his waffle stand. He and Amelia had a great chat.

The girls (Amelia and Mickinely) weren't really interested in seeing Shrek. But then Princess Fiona showed up. This is Princess Fiona showing the girls who to give the 'See Who is Boss' look.

We also saw superheroes (I think the kids were in awe of Spiderman), Dora & Diego.

On the studio tour we saw some great special effects. AND, for all you Desperate Housewives fans out there, I got to go onto Wisteria Lane!! The real one!! We were allowed on it because they weren't filming that day since the SAG Awards were that evening. Meaning that everyone had the day off work. It was very exciting for me! We also saw the sets for King Kong, War of the Worlds, Jaws, and more!

disneyland - that place wears me out!

Today we spent the whole day at Disneyland. The WHOLE day...

But it was wonderful, the kids loved it! I am just going to post a bunch of pics instead of boring you with a commentary!

And in case you were wondering, Dean and I spent an hour in a line up so that the girls could get their pictures taken with the princesses. Are we dedicated or what?

And Brodie is a roller-coaster maniac!