BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS.... DISNEY STYLE!

I can hardly believe it has been over a week already since we were at Disneyland! I (and my kids) have spent the days since returning home sick in bed nearly every day. I am just so glad we were not all sick when we were there.

Anyway, I do not have much of an appetite these days, but that certainly was not the case the previous week!

Take a look at what I had one morning for breakfast at the Storyteller's Cafe in the Grand Californian Hotel's restaurant:

Is that great, or what?! It's pretty much the way I remember breakfast when we went to Disney World and stayed at Disney's Wilderness Lodge. Great food and great fun! It's so exciting to me to now live co close that we can just drive up there for breakfast any time we want!

This is one of the restaurants where the characters come by while you are dining and they sign autographs and do their silly little tricks and skits. Chip & Dale have always been among our favorites. Not sure where Dale was at the time???

We had SO much fun and the food was so good, I talked my husband into going back for dinner that night. I know he was super tired and would have been happy just ordering room service (a couple of the kids did just that). But he knew how much fun it was for me so agreed. One of our sons came along, too and we also had our daughter come join us there after she got out of work as well.

A few shots of the hotel lobby. Very similar to Wilderness Lodge. It's beautiful! We did not stay there (only because we could not bring the dog), but I have a feeling I may be booking a room in the not too distant future. It would be a great little overnight or weekend get-away! I just LOVE this hotel!

Despite having temps in the mid to upper 70's all week, they always seemed to have fires in the fireplace. It's so pretty and totally adds to the feel of the hotel's architectural style which was based on the arts and crafts movement of the early 1900's.

Some more views of Storyteller's Cafe; this time at night.

Don't you love the lights?

Casual enough for kids, but formal enough to feel "special". Mike and I had dinner here a few years ago on our anniversary and I have not stopped craving the 4-cheese ravioli since! It is stuffed with spinach and asparagus and is absolutely the best ravioli I have ever had. I was so excited about it I totally forgot to take a pic, lol!

As we left the front of the hotel, this is what it looked like outside. It was beautiful and somewhat cold (I'll bet it must have been in the 50's) and I was glad I had brought a warm jacket and gloves. But it was a nice little walk we took over to our daughter's car so she didn't have to walk alone- and she could drive us over to our hotel :-)

I know it may sound silly, but even though we have lived close to here for over 12 years now, things like just looking up and seeing this street sign still thrill me. I am sure it's no big deal to most people around here. But after growing up in a little state in New England where I always complained there was "nothin' to do" and no excitement, or inclement weather that would keep me indoors, I am still thrilled about the mere fact that there is so much fun stuff to do here- especially Disney related! It used to be just a dream for me to go to a Disney park, and we hoped to be able to save up enough money to take a trip there once every 5-10 years (if we were lucky!). Now we can pretty much go any time we want. I just hope I never lose appreciation for this. But somehow I think the "Disney Magic" has left it's mark on me enough that I won't. I seriously can not imagine it being anything but the "Happiest Place On Earth" for me.

I'll probably have more pics to share later. I am off to bed again in hopes of getting rid of this illness altogether! Thanks for stopping by; I'd love a comment and to hear any Disney stories you might share as well! :-)