[4th Birthday] Disneyland.

This past weekend we went to Disneyland to celebrate Mason's birthday. I had been thinking about it for a while - spending a day at Disneyland vs having a birthday party (and blogged about it here for the Anaheim Moms Blog). Ultimately, I decided to give Mason an experience vs a birthday party and I am so glad I did! Not only did we get to spend a fun day at Disneyland, but we also got to celebrate my niece and my sister in law as well. Annnnnnnd..... WE GOT PASSES. I'd been wanting one for a while but Seth wasn't 100% on board (they are pretty expensive). But after a little convincing and mayyyyyybe not really giving him a choice (hey, he didn't really object so I consider that an agreement) and we are now annual pass holders for the next year! I figured if we were going to do it, now was the time. Mason is still young enough where we can take him out of school to go on a weekday without feeling bad about it. Next year he should be in kindergarten and I don't want to take him out of school unless it's absolutely necessary.

But enough about that. We spent the first day of our new annual pass holder-ship bouncing between Disneyland and California Adventure and had the.best.time.

We got to the park a little bit before my sister in law, brother in law, and nieces, so we stopped by City Hall to get a birthday button (that Mason promptly ripped off his shirt as soon as I put it on), hit up Starbucks (I HAD to get a picture with my shirt and a Disney Starbucks!), went on Autopia, and stopped by the Disneyland mail box.

I let him drive. It was the worst decision ever. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. as we went bumping from side to side on the little rail that was keeping us on track. The kid was more interested in sight seeing than driving the car!

I saw this mailbox posted on an Instagram account that I follow and knew I HAD to have Mason mail a letter from there so I (I mean, Mickey), wrote Mason a letter for Mason to mail to himself from Mickey.

After we mailed Mason's letter, we headed over to It's a Small World, took some pictures, rode the ride, and then left to meet our family over at CA Adventure.

We met our family at CA Adventure and went on a couple rides in Carsland before heading down to the wharf to have lunch. The last time we were there, I got this WONDERFUL chicken, apple, walnut salad in a bread bowl at Boudin's (they put everything in a bread bowl whether you want it or not but the bread is SO GOOD that you're not mad) and I got the same thing this time. We ate, we went on the new Soarin' Over the World ride, the Little Mermaid ride, and a couple more rides in Carsland and then grabbed a churro (Disney has THE BEST CHURROS) before heading back over to Disneyland.

His hands in his pockets! All the heart eyes.

Once at Disneyland, we stopped by Starbucks (again) and hit up the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean before calling it a day. Seth, Mason, and I were hungry so we stopped by the corn dog cart to get some lunch. Mason had been snacking all day so we just gave him our chips while we ate the corn dogs. A few minutes later and...

The sign of a GOOD day -- falling asleep mid-chip eating. He is truly the funniest kid to watch while falling asleep because he is SO into eating that he tries to keep his eyes open SO HARD but eventually the sleepy-ness overtakes him and he just can't hang.

After we finished eating, I had wanted to stop by the World of Disney store to get a couple things and by the time we got to the store, Mason had woken up. He wanted out of the stroller and was ALL ABOUT shopping. He really is my son :) So we picked out a couple birthday presents and called it a day. We paid and headed back to the car.

Overall, it was HOT but so, so fun. It was really fun experiencing Disneyland through Mason's eyes. He would get so excited about everything and was just so happy to be there. It definitely solidified my decision to go to Disneyland instead of having a birthday party.

It truly was... the BEST DAY EVER. Happy 4th birthday baby boy!