For my 26th birthday in May 2021, my sister Shannon, my mom, and I went to Muir Woods for the day. It was so pretty to walk around and see the redwoods and how old the trees are. Then when we got home, we got dressed up to go to Simply Fondue in Livermore, California. Fondue is one of my favorite types of restaurants, my go-to. My mom and Shannon split a caesar salad and I got a traditional swiss chalet cheese fondue. The cheese fondue was so good- dipping all the veggies and bread was fun and delicious. For our meats, the cooking style we picked was the grill, and we picked lemon pepper chicken, coconut shrimp, and Korean-style beef. They were all very good! It takes a little time to cook the meat because you don’t want to have cross-contamination with the raw food and your utensils. But overall, it was really good and probably a little healthier using the grill. After we ate our dinner, we ordered campfire chocolate fondue, which is basically s’mores. When it got to the table our waitress gave us all a marshmallow to roast like a campfire. When the fire went out, we got to dip yummy things like strawberries, graham crackers, brownies, and pound cake, etc. in the chocolate. Yum!
Because my birthday was close to Mother’s Day and other birthdays, our family had a party to celebrate. So we went to my aunt and uncle’s house on Mother’s Day to celebrate and eat good food. My grandfather was 98 at the time, and he asked my aunt to make lamb chops and potato gratin. But my aunt also made peas. The lamb chops were so good and the potatoes were great too. For dessert, my sister made a chocolate ganache cake by Ina Garten. This is one of my family’s favorite cakes because it’s easy to make, but it’s rich and chocolaty to eat. We handed out birthday presents and I got lots of great gifts. I was so excited to find out that my mom and Shannon had surprised me with a trip to Disneyland and two new pairs of Mickey’s ears (and some Disney-themed masks because it was still during Covid). I was ecstatic!!
In June, I went to Disneyland with my mom and Shannon. On the first day, we flew from Oakland to Orange County. When we got to Orange County, we called an Uber to drive to our hotel, the Fairfield Anaheim Resort, which is right across from Disneyland. We checked into our room and grabbed the wheelchair we rented because it’s easier for me to get around the parks. After we settled in, we went to DownTown Disney to go shopping and eat dinner. We ate at Ballast Point Brewing Co , which you need to get a reservation for because it is popular. After we ate at Ballast Point we went into Marceline's Confectionery to get yummy treats for dessert. We shared a big Mickey Mouse-shaped chocolate chip cookie and churro toffee. We walked back to our hotel so we could get up early to go to Disneyland park.
The next day we got up early to get in line for our temperature check for Covid symptoms, which was required at the time. When we got in the park, the first ride we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean- the line was so short, we walked on. I love the smell of the ride and all of the detail that the Imagineers put into the design. Next, we went to get a return time to go on Indiana Jones Adventure: the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. The return time is only in Disneyland park- some rides have queues that are not ADA friendly, so they give you a time to come back, which is around the same waiting period as the line length. Indiana Jones is my favorite ride because of how fun it is, and the details, and it just makes me smile.
After we went on some rides, Shannon mobile ordered from the Disneyland app some coffee for my mom and gray stuff gateau from Red Rose Tavern for us to share. The gray stuff was delicious, as they say. The white chocolate cookies and cream mousse was nice and creamy around the red velvet cake, on top of a sugar cookie. When we finished, we went on Peter Pan Flight. It was nice and cold on the ride, a great break from the hot weather. After Fantasyland, we went over to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to pick up our Ronto Roasters wrap that we had for lunch. Then we went on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. I got to pilot our ship- but I may have crashed just a couple of times. Whoops!
We then headed to Frontierland and went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which is the wildest ride in the wilderness.I like the part where the rollercoaster goes through a mine with dynamite. Then we went to find water and a spot to try for a virtual boarding pass for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. The ride was brand new, and you needed the pass to get on it. When it was noon, Shannon immediately went on the app and we got a boarding group 229. We were bummed because this is a “backup” boarding group and might never get called. We shopped around, and Shannon found a really cute pair of Mickey ears inspired by Disney Pixar Coco.
Throughout the day, we kept checking the boarding groups for Rise of the Resistance,to see if we might make it- fingers were crossed!
We ate dinner at Bengal Barbecue- always delicious. It looked like our boarding group was approaching, so we started walking over to Galaxy’s Edge, and finally they called our group! We were so excited! The ride is 3 parts- the third part is a trackless vehicle…I don’t want to spoil anything else because you will want to experience this yourself.
The next day we went over to Disney California Adventure Park. The first ride we did was Radiator Springs Racers which is one of our favorites. Then we stopped for some yummy breakfast at Starbucks, and went on Soarin’ over the world, which is so nostalgic for us. After the ride, we were going over to Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! But as we were walking over, my mom really hurt her knee. She has an injury and tweaked it while rushing to the ride. It was so bad that the Guest Relations had to take her to the emergency room! Because of Covid, we weren’t able to go with her, so we stayed at the parks. It was really sad and hard to have my mom leave.
It was around noon, and Shannon was trying for a boarding pass for the new ride at Avengers Campus called WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure. The Guest Relations cast member that was helping us out with my mom said that he would give us passed for any time to go on the new ride, which was huge for us. At the time, the only way you can get into Avengers Campus is if you had a boarding pass for the new ride. When we first walked/rolled into the Campus, it made me almost in tears because it was a new land, the Avengers theme song was playing, and I love the Marvel movies. The land was so cool and the characters too- loved seeing all of it come to life. When we’re in the land we got one of the new foods from Terran Treats- the Sweet Spiral Ration. The treat was a blue churro flavored with pineapple- there was not a strong flavor of pineapple, just a hint, but overall I liked it. We were so glad to be there, but also so sad that our mom wasn’t there with us.
After we were done in Avengers Campus we moved to go over to The Incredicoaster on Pixar Pier. This is the craziest ride I have ever done before, because I am not a huge rollercoaster person. We then went to our reservation at Pixar-themed Lamplight Lounge for a cocktail and a bite to eat. We got to share Angus Beef Sliders and the Final with a Fix cocktail. The burger was meaty with tomato jam and cheese sauce. The cocktail was very good but a little strong- Shannon said after two sips that she felt like she was already “tipsy”.
We went over to Toy Story Midway Mania for our return time. We rode the virtual carnival game ride, but Shannon beat me- I don’t have good hand-eye coordination and it’s a little hard with my balance. Then we got off the ride and went to get a time for The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel's Undersea Adventure. We went shopping for a bit, and bought my mom a Mickey necklace to surprise her and make her feel better. Then we went on the Little Mermaid ride- it is always a nice cold break from the heat. We love this ride because of the storyline, details, and how colorful it is. As we were about to get off, one of the cast members asked us if we wanted to go again, and we said yes- Disney magic!.
We headed back to Avengers campus to eat at the new Pym Test Kitchen- the food is peculiar sizes because of the use of Pym technology from the Aunt-Man and The Wasp movie. We texted Mom to come over because she was coming back from the hospita! Shannon can’t push two wheelchairs at the same time, so Mom had to rent a scooter and they strapped her crutches to the back. It was kind of funny as she zoomed toward us in her scooter. She met us at dinner, and we all split the Quantum Pretzel, Pym-ini Sandwich, Not-so Little Chicken Sandwich, and Celestial-sized Candy Bar: Choco-Smash candy bar. It was a lot and rich, but it was really good. The pretzel was my favorite thing we ate- so soft and huge.
After we finished our food we went on Mission Breakout, which my mom and Shannon love. We headed for the new Spirderman ride- the queue had a lot of turns so someone roling themselves in a manual wheelchair or a scooter would be difficult. My mom ran into a wall, which upset her at the time, but now we laugh about it.
On the ride, you use your hands like Spider-Man to hit the small spiders- we were hitting them so fast my 3D glasses came off and flew across the floor, so I missed half of the ride. Remarkably the cast asked if we would like to go again and of course we said “yes”, so I could see the whole ride. Good thing they did not come off again! To end the night we finished on the Inceredicoaster. My mom’s knee was so stiff, but she squeezed in bent to fit on the ride because she loves it!
Our last day was a no-park day, we got reservations for brunch at the Storytellers Cafe in Disney's Grand Californian Hotel. It was appetizing, but your typical type of breakfast. But due to Covid-19, the Storytellers Cafe was not its usual buffet. After our bunch, we went shopping til we had to go to the John Wayne Airport. When we go to the airport we checked into Southwest and there was a lot of confusion about gates because the computers were down. We had to switch twice! We made it home safely. This was a great birthday, and this was one of the best presents that Shannon and my Mom have gotten me!!
