Things that Happened: Old Man Shelton

Since, during my blog-hating hiatus, some interesting things actually did happen, I have taken the liberty of making a series (in true Mormon Mommy Blog fashion) dedicated to catching up on some of those things.  Don't worry, it shouldn't be too long of a series. But it will be in chronological order, so that should make you feel better.

Let's begin.

On March 3rd, Brad turned THIRTY! Lucky for us, it was a Saturday and we both had the day off (miracle of miracles!) I decided we had to do something special.  And I knew just the thing!  So, I called my friend, Amanda, and she hooked us up big time (Thanks again, Amanda!) and got us into the exclusive Club 33 at Disneyland! (I know, I had never heard of it either until I married into the Shelton family.  But trust me, it's amazing, continue reading..) 

I tried to surprise Brad, (which I'm terrible at) so although we were already planning on going to Disneyland, I didn't tell him until that morning that we were going to have lunch at Club 33.  I found out later that he had a sneaking suspicion, he always knows!  So, we got dressed and headed off to Disneyland to give ourselves plenty of time - you're just not late to lunch at Club 33, people.

Well, when we got to Disneyland (an hour before our reservation, and a good two hours after the park had opened) the parking attendant informed us that the park was not yet open, and that the tram was not running to the park.  This does. not. happen. at Disneyland! It's Disneyland, for Pete's sake!  But he did say we could wait at the parking structure until further notice.  What the?  So, we parked and decided to walk over to Downtown Disney and see what was going on.  This is what we saw.

It was literally packed, shoulder to shoulder, all the way down the mall, which is pretty massive.  We could not stop laughing, because of course this would happen on the one day we actually have something important (to us) to do at Disneyland other than sit on the park bench and people-watch.  We started inching our way up through the crowd, and Brad starts texting his friends at work (at Disney) to see what the reason was for the hold up.  Their answer?  Oh, just your typical, every day BOMB THREAT.  Happy Birthday Brad!

Well, we started inching our way up to the front, because if the park did open we were going to make it to our reservation if it killed us!  We got as close as we could get and decided there was nothing more we could do, the park just wasn't opened yet and surely the restaurant would understand that.  While we were standing there, we decided to start the wave with everyone around us, which actually turned out to be pretty magical.  It helped that one of the men behind us was at least 7 feet tall.  Here's the thing though, we weren't there more than 15 minutes when all of the sudden the crowd just erupts. Literally, I thought there might have been an earthquake because it was so loud.  It started at the gates and rippled down the entire mall - they had finally opened the parks, and people were ecstatic.  I genuinely can not describe how electrifying it was to be standing in that crowd when the park finally opened.  It still gives me chills to think about.

When we finally made it into the park we walked straight to City Hall so Brad could get his birthday badge, of course!  Then we took the absolute most magical walk down Main Street I will ever take in my entire life.  Because we had made our way to the front of the crowd there were considerably less people on Main Street than would otherwise have been there.  Plus, because the park was opening two hours later than normal, they had sent every spare employee out to Main Street to wave and welcome everyone into the park.  (Disney is SO good at customer service.) Since Brad had his birthday pin on every single person we walked by on Main Street was like "Happy Birthday, Brad! Welcome to Disneyland!"  Seriously, every. person.  Brad beamed like...well, like a kid at Disneyland!  Thank you, bomb threat!

Finally, we made it to our reservation and Brad pushed the secret button, as documented below:

We were the first to arrive that day, and had Club 33 all to ourselves, for ten whole minutes! (At Disneyland you don't have anything to yourself!)
   

Everything in Club 33 was so lovely. Brad was giddy to be having lunch in Club 33, and I was thrilled that I actually succeeded in making this an awesome thirtieth birthday! Win. Win. Win. 

Well, then the food came out.  Ohhhh the food.  Don't even get me started on the food.  We honestly tried every single thing on the buffet, just to say we had, and because it was so delicious we couldn't stop.   We stuffed ourselves to the brim with our entrees and when the dessert came, we just. kept. stuffing!  Here's a few of the desserts we tried:

After dessert, Brad was presented with a special birthday dessert which, according to Brad "was so good it must have been made with magic, sprinkled with fairy dust, and blessed by all seven dwarfs".  So..I guess it was ok.

After dinner, we relocated to the balcony to let our food digest and soak in the ambiance of New Orleans Square - probably my favorite part of Disneyland.  We were just in time to watch the Princess and the Frog parade. (Also, my fave!)

Finally, we decided we could leave, but we weren't about to step onto a roller coaster just to throw up the most delicious food we have ever eaten.  So we casually strolled around the park - truly the BEST way to experience Disneyland.  Some friends of ours joined us for a while, but then we decided it would be best to just go home and take a nap.  (It's one of our favorite ways to celebrate, what can I say?) 

And that concludes the longer-than-I-intended post about Brad's thirtieth birthday!  We all know what happened when I tried to insert the sentimental ending to the last post I attempted to write, so forget about that.  But I will end by saying this - Some people dread the day they turn thirty, say their twenties were the best years of their lives.  But I'd say, if that day was any indication of how his 30's are going to go, we're in for some of the best years of our lives!

Happy (belated) Birthday Bradley!