Being the older kid, Annabel has gotten to do some pretty cool things without her brother. Now that James is four, he’s finally at the age where we feel like he’ll appreciate some of the things we haven’t brought him along to in the past. Last week, I was invited to preview some new things at Disneyland, and with it only being a few days before James’ birthday I thought it was the perfect opportunity to do something special with him. On Thursday, my mom and I loaded him into the car and surprised him with a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth.

He couldn’t believe it when we arrived. “I’m going to Disneyland?? Without Annie??” Yep buddy, this is just for you.

His delight only increased when we got him a birthday button. “Everyone will know it’s my birfday!” he exclaimed.

James at Disneyland

birthday boy at Disneyland

When Annabel goes to Disneyland, she wants to meet characters, shop, and eat. She could never go on a ride and be perfectly happy. But not James. James is my crazy daredevil, and he wanted to go on every single ride he saw. Luckily, he was tall enough for most of them, including my personal favorite roller coaster, Thunder Mountain.

on Thunder Mountain

He LOVED the roller coaster, and actually cried when he found out that he wasn’t tall enough to go on the biggest roller coaster in the park (“I wanna go on the loopy-loop!”). But we got him on plenty of other rides, where he shrieked with delight (and even put his hands up in the air)! I’m so excited to finally have a roller coaster buddy.

on radiator springs racers

When we weren’t on rides, we were eating. And since it was his birthday, we let him pick what he wanted. Luckily for me, he wanted Disney’s famous Dole Whip frozen…ice cream? Yogurt? Fruit juice? IDK but I love it and so does he.

He also got in some character meetings:

it's mater!

it's Mickey!

And as you can see, he got his face painted to look like Captain America. The face paint lasted for…maybe 45 minutes.

It's Captain America!

captain america!

With all the time Annie’s all star team has taken up this last month, I know James has been feeling really left out. I am so glad that I was able to take him along with me to Disneyland so he could have such a special time there that was all about HIM — especially since he got sick on his actual birthday and still isn’t feeling 100%! Even though the two of us spend a lot of time together alone while Annie is at school, it was so great to go do something like this with my sweet little guy.

I love my little superhero.