Why not celebrate my baby girl's birthday in Disneyland?!
When you think of Disneyland, you think of magic and miracles and for me, it is no exception. My latest trip to Disney was to celebrate my daughter MaKaela’s third birthday . My husband, Michael and I consider both of our children are miracles from God for completely different reasons. My daughter was conceived through IVF and I’ve never prayed for anything so hard in my life. August 9, 2015 she was born and I would never forget that moment. As she approached her third birthday I wanted to do something that was just as magical as she is, Disneyland was the perfect trip. Her birthday being during training camp is always a little challenging but once again, God worked it all out. We were already close by in Irvine visiting Michael at camp and that is only 30 minutes from the park in Anaheim. Since Michael had an away game and we didn’t plan on attending the open practice, we took a three-day Disneyland celebration with her baby brother, Nana, Uncles, Aunt and her nanny.
The trip wouldn’t have been complete without staying at one of the Disneyland resorts and for this trip we stayed at Paradise Pier. The amazing two-bedroom deluxe suite could have fit 11 people so we were very comfortable.
When we arrived, MaKaela was so excited! Seeing her light up, made the entire trip worth it. She is growing up so quickly and even knew the characters she wanted to see as well as the rides she wanted to go on. We toured downtown Disney and even got an artist to sketch all of us (Nana and her uncle Jay excluded).
Our first full day at the park was amazing. In order to make sure the kids had fun, we let them nap with Nana in the morning while the adults went to the Park to enjoy the faster rides. The Grizzly Bear Water Ride was so fun, we had to ride it twice. When the kids joined us later the very first ride MaKaela wanted to ride was the Mad Tea Party Ride or in her words, “Teacup Ride.” Clearly, this was her favorite ride because she asked to ride that again for the rest of the day!
The highlight of our trip was the MaKaela’s birthday of course. Getting eight adults and two toddlers ready in the morning was hectic but we had an amazing breakfast at the Plaza Inn Restaurant at Disneyland with Minnie and other characters. The Princess even got a special happy birthday call from Goofy himself. Her and Khi also got to hug and get autographs from Minnie, Tiger, Pooh Bear, and one of the mice from Cinderella which was her favorite that day.
Even thought Khi is younger than his sister, he was fearless on the “scary” rides. He wanted to do everything even if his sister refused! Our day ended with an amazing Pixar Parade featuring characters from Finding Nemo, Toy Story and A Bug’s Life.
We left the park exhausted but when we arrived back at our hotel, we were immediately and very pleasantly surprised. The hotel staff had completely decorated our suite. They had already gone above and beyond for our entire trip so this was such a special treat. She received a card signed by Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Daisy and Donald as well as more snacks then she needed! She also received a birthday pin, light-up necklace and chalkboard but I think the snacks made her most happy. The night was complete because her Uncle Izzy and Auntie Precious got her very special unicorn cake. I think this meant more to me then it probably did to MaKeala because in all my running around, I know it was the last thing I was thinking about.
Our final day started with MaKaela waking up cranky but I know she had so much going on so I wasn’t surprised. Since we all needed a slower day, we decided to have brunch at Jazz Kitchen. This restaurant is owned by Ralph Brennan and it was amazing!
We tried to ride a couple more rides but the kids were really worn out so they weren’t cooperating and I thought it would be a good idea to let them nap in their strollers but that didn’t last long either. By the time she woke up, MaKaela was still demanding to go home and I knew it was time to head back to Irvine. Though we could have definitely done without the last day it was a success trip and most importantly my baby girl felt the magic of Disney.