My family’s favorite vacation spot growing up was Disneyland and even though we are all grown up now, it is still a favorite spot of ours. This year for our family vacation we decided to go to California to hang out at the beach and take a stop at our favorite happiest place on earth.
I teamed up with Mixed Bag Designs on this trip to share with you the amazing items they sell that are perfect for your upcoming vacations. We are also having a summer giveaway going on over at my Instagram account. You can enter here. They also want to offer my followers a 20% off discount when you use code: “teachshoplove”. Yay for discount codes!
Gotta love a good snapchat picture on the plane ride! California here we come!
The first day was a beach day! It was overcast, which made the water really cold, but hanging out on the sand was a blast. We played volleyball for the first part of the day and when we were done the sun came out and we were able to lay out. Kyle and Thomas got really sunburned and it was pretty funny to see their bright red bodies by the end of the night.
My beach bag for the first day is a reversible aqua and white, faux leather tote from Mixed Bag Designs. I love how the straps fit so well over my shoulder and how big the tote was for carrying all my beach essentials. The blue striped coverup that is coming out of the bag is from SwimZip. You can see a blog post I did about that coverup by clicking here.
I knew I was going to forget to pack something and it just so happens that it was my pajamas. Luckily Kyle brought an extra swimming suit, which is what I ended up wearing to bed with one of his t shirts as well. I thought it was so funny that I had to take an awkward bathroom selfie! Do you like how we hate stepping on the tile floor of a bathroom so we put down a bunch of towels?
While I’m on the subject of bathroom (woah that is awkward right? haha), I have to show you my new travel cosmetic bags. They come in a set of 3 and are black and white polka dots (which made me love them even more). The biggest one was perfect for holding my bigger items such as hairspray and makeup wipes. The second bag was perfect for holding my makeup and keeping it all in one place. I loved not having to search through multiple cosmetic bags for the lipgloss I needed. I knew exactly where it was going to be and I love the how they are clear making it easy to find exactly what I need. The smallest bag was great for my smallest items and it fit inside the other two perfectly. These are the best cosmetic travel bags I’ve ever owned and used. Definitely recommend them!
The next day was a Disneyland day! We started off in California Adventure where we were able to hit all the rides with short wait times. We headed back to Disneyland where it was pretty packed. Luckily we’ve done Disney so many times we knew how to avoid any long lines and how to work the fastpass system in our favor. While we were there we realized it was Grad Night, which was a big part of the reason there were so many people there. It was still everything I loved about Disney though!
The second day of Disney we started in Disneyland and were able to ride the rides we wanted to without any long lines. It didn’t get too busy until the late afternoon and by that point we had already been on all the rides.
This drawstring backpack is so cute right? I love the black and white color scheme because it can go so well with anything I’m wearing. The front zipper pocket was great for holding smaller items I needed to get at easily. I wore it around Disneyland the second day and my mom wore it the first day. It was a great size. The straps weren’t as sturdy as I would’ve liked for a full day around Disneyland, but if I ever need a backpack for a couple hours at a time, this would be a great go to bag! I will definitely be taking this on my hiking trips this summer.
My mom, Stephani, and I wanted to get cute Disney shirts for the trip that weren’t too pricey. I was so excited when I found these shirts! It says, “You had me at Let’s Go To Disney”. I got them from this company I found on Instagram called “All About the Tees“. They do customized shirts for any occasion. I loved working with them. They originally told me that the shirts run a little small so I got a medium, but it ended up being too big for me. I wish I had gone with a small, but I still love my shirt!
We love a good Disneyland churro!
We played Heads Up while waiting in line and it was the perfect game for waiting. It helped the lines go super fast. Playing that game with Thomas was hilarious and I think I ended up laughing more than playing.
When Stephani doesn’t go on Splash Mountain with you and some random guy ends up in the back of your boat it only feels appropriate to stare at him for the picture. Also doesn’t Thomas look just like Woody?
While we were on Big Thunder Mountain the ride broke down while we were heading up a hill. It was honestly better than riding the ride, especially because I have been on the ride so many times in my life. After waiting about five minutes, they finally came and helped us off. We were lead off the ride through the back where we got to walk through the tunnels behind the scenes. It was fun. When I was younger we got stopped on Splash Mountain right before going down the big drop and that was what this reminded me of. Plus they give you 2 extra fastpasses, which make it even better.
Thursday was also another beach day. The weather was still colder at the beginning, but gradually warmed up. We played volleyball and hung out again. Also I’m loving my new swimsuit from Cherished Impressions Boutique!
This beach bag is a different style than the first one I used and it is from All For Color. It has one big strap that is perfect for throwing the bag over my shoulder and leaving my hands free. It has mesh sides which helped me to see what was inside and where, but also helped with getting sand out, which I actually didn’t get much sand inside. I also love the designs on the outside of the bag and it is my favorite color….pink!
The polka dot bag is an insulated poly cooler. We brought grapes to the beach and besides the fact that it was great for taking to the beach, it is absolutely adorable. Polka dots are my jam! It has a great shoulder strap and has a great mesh pocket in the front. My favorite part was how easy it was to fold up and place in my beach bag once we were done using it. This made everything that much easier to carry around!
We missed our little Lou pup (aka the squirt), but we were so grateful for Kyle’s family who took great care of him while we were gone. Thank goodness for snapchat so I could get fun pictures of Lou from Kyle’s brother, Morgan. Thanks Morgan!!
Later that evening we went to Downtown Disney again where Kyle and I were able to get our traditional Disney Game (we bought Candyland this time) and ornament. Every time we go to Disney we buy a Disney version of a game. So far we have Uno, Monopoly, Clue, Candyland, and Spot It. The ornament we bought this year was blue with silver glitter and had a picture of the castle decorated for the 60th anniversary. It was really pretty and will work perfectly with our “Snow” themed Christmas Tree. We also bought a postcard where we write down our favorite memories from the trip. We buy one every vacation spot we go on and put it in a big combined book of all our travels.
Friday was our last day so we slept in and hung out around the hotel. After we checked out we went to the pier and walked around. For lunch we went to this AMAZING taco place in LA (the second time for this same trip). They have the greatest tacos I’ve ever had in my entire life. I wish we had one in SLC. The trip was the perfect way to start off my summer vacation and I already can’t wait to go back!
Disclaimer: I received these bags from Mixed Bag Designs and All For Color to review. All opinions are mine alone. I would never recommend a product to my readers that I didn’t truly love and use myself.
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I love this! I’m so jealous of your trip (and that you won tickets to go again!). Still wishing for the day we get to go together!
YES!!! We NEED to go together! I’m so excited to go! I just love that you love Disney so much!