Happiest anniversary date

Two weeks ago, Matt took the day off work and we headed South for an anniversary date at the Happiest Place on Earth. Since it might just be our last visit to Disneyland before the baby comes (I was 26.5 weeks pregnant at the time and refuse to go during the busy summer season), we indulged in all the Disney treats magic that our hearts desired.
It was a perfect day!

The new Little Mermaid ride -- Ariel's Undersea Adventure, if you want to get technical -- had just opened the weekend before so the line was crazy all day. We decided to knock it out of the way first thing and enjoyed our 90 minutes in line with the cutest nuns ever. The ride itself was really cute and brought back memories of stealing my Lori Mama's copy of A Little Mermaid a million times before it was officially released and happily playing with my Eric and Ariel wedding barbies. Those were the good ol' days.

The highlight of our anniversary date at Disneyland was eating lunch at the Blue Bayou. You know, the restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean that looks like this from the boats:

I've wanted to eat there since I was a little girl (again with the childhood memories, right?), but it's not exactly cheap so Matt and I have been saving it for a special occasion. We made our reservation weeks in advance and were so excited when 1:30 rolled around and we were escorted to our table. The atmosphere was every bit as cool as we had anticipated, the service was excellent, and our Monte Cristo was delicious! It was such a great lunch date.

Naturally, we rode Pirates immediately after lunch and then kept with the theme by exploring the Pirates' Lair (Tom Sawyer Island) before heading back to California Adventure for a few more rides.

As we were heading back up Main Street, we gave into the tempting aroma of freshly baked waffle cones and stopped into Gibson Girl's Ice Cream Parlor for a yummy treat. (And while I'm confessing, we also ate a churro later during fireworks. I told you we indulged.)

Another highlight of the day was my new personal record on Buzz! Definitely worthy of a celebratory picture.

We grabbed gumbo and clam chowder in a bread bowl as a late dinner while we waited for the fireworks show to start. If you can't tell, this is our favorite go-to meal at Disneyland.

And last but certainly not least, we sat and cuddled and enjoyed watching the fireworks over the castle. It was a sweet ending to a wonderful day!