the tinkerbell race weekend.

its a few days late i know, but there were so many posts this week, i got a little caught up! back to last weekend we go! the friday before the race i was able to score off so i could sleep in and spend some time with richard before leaving for the weekend. im really starting to dig taking the friday off, it gives you that extra day of relaxation and able to get ready for the fun. this one was an especially good idea since richard wasn't coming with us to disneyland. we spent the day cleaning together and watching things on our dvr, it was perfect.

my mom came to pick me after she was done with school and we headed south to the happiest place on earth! we actually met my dad for dinner in barstow since he was also headed to southern california for a guys golf weekend. traffic was pretty easy and we made it to our hotel around 930p. we stayed at a different hotel than we did last time because my mom decided she wanted a change. the hotel looked great online, but when we got there we decided the pictures were a little deceiving and we should have stayed at the original hotel. mental note, dont let mom pick the hotels, stick to what you know.

the next morning was one of my favorite days of the weekend, expo day! we woke around 830a to be out the door by 930a to take the shuttle to the park and walk to the hotel through downtown disney. we planned to stop at the la brea bakery on the way to pick up a pastry to eat while walking but found they were under construction and luckily remembered about the coffee shop in the bookstore near the movie theater. downtown disney was packed with people headed into the parks and runners!

to get your bib you must go underneath the disneyland hotel to hand in your waiver, my line was of course the longest and mom was able to pick up her bib and our park tickets in the time it took to pick up mine. we headed back up stairs to take our picture with the cool backdrop and head inside to the expo. the line wasn't long but seemed to take forever. we took our pics which came out great and moved out of the way for the next group. unfortunately my mom was so worried about the pic on her phone she didnt clear the prop on the floor and fell smack on to her hands and knees in front of everyone! she was ok thank goodness, just embarrassed.

the expo was good, but didn't seem to have a lot of runner things. it had lots of clothes and tutus you could buy for the next day but not quite the expo i was used to. the absolute best part was the pixie dust we got on the way out for luck! afterwards we met my brother for lunch at tortilla joes. he came all the way up to have lunch, hang out, and get some things mom had brought down for him. it was cool to just hang out and lunch was delicious! we wandered into the big disney store and the lego store of course before we decided it was time to head out.

dang, they can put mickey on anything!

man i wanted that churro.

once we said goodbye to kyle and got some ice on moms knee we headed up to the grove in la. i had been wanting to take my mom here forever but it never worked out because it was always so far away. it was super busy and fun to watch all the people after enduring mass la traffic. the main reason we headed up there was for the american girl place. i had a kiersten as a kid (ok, I still have her) and this place has everything ever made for their dolls. literally each girl has her own room full of all the clothes, accessories, travel items, and books. now american girl has evolved quite a bit, ok a ton, since i was a kid. my girl is now retired and so she no longer has a room:( we wandered in and out of the other stores and settled on maggianos for dinner. we tried a few other places but they didn't have the pasta few were looking for or the food was a little more out there then we were hoping for. it was delicious and we were very full heading back to disneyland.

source

we set our alarm for a very early 3a for the next day and fell asleep after finishing up the last of my homework. check out my race recap for full details of the super fun, all women's race! the rest of the day was filled with post-race glory and disney. once we finished breakfast at ihop across the street from our hotel we hobbled back for showers and naps.

delicious!

once back at downtown disney we headed straight for haggen daz for some much deserved ice cream before heading into the park. we got into the park just in time for the afternoon mickeys soundsational parade! it was sooo cool and different then any of the other parades ive seen.

we spent the rest of the night in the park riding only the good rides and enjoying the post-race glow with churros! there were so many people in the parks with their medals or t-shirts from the race. we were constantly congratulating each other, plus anybody hobbling along you could pretty much tell ran that morning too haha. we probably would have stayed in the park longer but the matterhorn and small world were both closed and the fireworks got cancelled because of the imaginary wind.

i should have warned the people
around me that i scream haha!

that night i finally got a good night of sleep and could have slept the whole day away if we didn't have to go home. i was super sore and wasn't sure how i was going to sit in a car for 4 hours, but we stopped a few times on the way home. it was such a fun weekend to spend with my mom! we had a great time and really bonded together, if thats even possible, we're already really close lol. im glad we decided to make it a girls weekend and leave all the boys at home :)

no trip is complete to the magic kingdom
without a mickey sighting!