The MultiPark Birthday Spectacular!

A good friend of mine was lucky enough to spend her birthday last year at Disneyland. This prompted me to jokingly ask Mr. Bear if we could do the same for my birthday this year. Proving he is the world's best bear, he not only said yes, he planned the most epic park-hopping birthday extravaganza ever!

Day 1: Vegas!

Blue Man Group!

Day 2: Still Vegas, baby!

Front row tickets to Phantom of The Opera at the Venetian!

Such a wonderful surprise on my actual birthday, he kept the show a secret until we actually arrived at the theater. Sneaky Mr. Bear...

Day 2: Universal Studios

It was raining that day, so we did all the indoor rides we liked over and over!

Day 3: Universal Studios

Luckily the next day was absolutely gorgeous and we did all the outdoor rides and the studio tour.

Day 4: DISNEYLAND!!!

Burlesque Minnie ears! So perfect.

Last time I was here, twenty years ago, the Indiana Jones ride was still in construction. It was nice to finally get to enjoy it!

We got to almost everything we wanted on our first day at Disneyland, and made a list of what we wanted to do the last day.

Day 5: California Adventureland!

Dug is a good dog. Don't tell Ponyo!

Mr. Bear won me a Dumbo and a Bullseye on the midway, and then I won him a Dumbo.

Other highlights included Turtle Talk with Crush(I can't believe Finding Nemo is ten years old!) and The Wonderful World of Color, which was the most incredible light and water show I've ever seen.

Day 6: Disneyland AND California Adventureland!

We spent the last of our three Disney days between the two parks, checking out everything we missed the first time around.

Boozin' it up at Ariel's Grotto, where the princesses come around to your table and take pictures. All the women playing the princesses were adorable.

And of course Belle is my favorite, being a bookish brunette.

The last day at Disneyland is always so sad, but we had an absolute blast and it made me feel full of childlike giddyness.

Day 7: Sea World!

A spectacular ending to the most amazing vacation and the most perfect birthday I could ever have imagined. By the end of the week our feet were killing us and we were dead tired, but it was so completely worth it.

It was amazing. I am soooo incredibly lucky to have such an incredible partner. I am so touched that he planned this entire vacation to make me happy. I am so ready to spend the rest of my life with this man.

4th of July Tiki Lounge Party

Mr. Bear and I have become quite the party animals. Our beautiful house, dubbed Ft. McAwesome, has become the entertaining house in our circle, something we've worked for. We threw a 4th of July/birthday party for our friend this past Saturday, and it was a blast. The theme was 1960's Tiki Lounge, and people were encouraged to dress up.

My potting bench was cleaned and brought inside to be set up as a bar for one of our friends who is a professional bartender and had offered to work the party as a birthday gift to Jana. Crystal brought her collection of tiki-themed barware to serve drinks in and came up with a drink menu for guests to order from. I supplied her with fresh mint from my garden for the mint juleps.

Early in the evening, when everything was more or less organized and fully-stocked.

She's one of the best bartenders in the city, and I don't just say that because she's a friend.

The swizzle sticks were a big hit.

Many, many drinks later...

The menu.

Butters got some love early on in the evening, but she got way overheated later in the night and I moved her downstairs in Ponyo's kennel. It's much cooler in the basement. Butters is going to get sheared here pretty soon. Ponyo loved all the attention she was getting, but the disappearance of her kennel left her a bit agitated.

Jana, the birthday girl, in pink, and surrounded by stylish ladies.

All told, I think we had around 35 people. I'm happy our house was able to accomodate that quite comfortably. Much better than the tiny house we lived in previously. The back deck is perfect for barbeques. Mr. Bear brought my cutting table down from the craft attic and set it up like a buffet table outside, while the kitchen table held dishes, silverware, and buns. We went through dozens of burgers and hot dogs, meat and veggie alike. Mr. Bear is very good about keeping the veggie and meat foods separate.

Everyone got into the costumed spirit of the evening, most having obtained somewhat-retro styles at the thrift stores earlier that week. The hair was amazing in of itself.

Both these women are hairstylists and have awesome color in their coifs.

Even the badass Goths among us got into the retro action.

Mr. Bear, having his first alcoholic drink since we've known each other.

I spent a large chink of the evening shucking a dozen ears of corn for the grill, after which I indulged in quite a few drinks prepared by our awesome bartender, and the evening is a bit blurry. I remember hula hooping and playing the ukulele at the same time, which no one had a good picture of, and everyone playing Just Dance 2 on the wii. I also discovered a myriad pictures on my camera that were taken by many guests and paint a colorful, if disjointed picture of the rest of the evening. I leave you to piece together your own narrative:

Happy 4th of July!

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