February Fun!

Let's see....

Well February has been a great month. We actually spent Valentine's Day in Disney! That was a lot of fun! It was a little more crowded than I had expected. However, is was Valentine's Day and President's day weekend so I think that contributed to some higher crowd volume. Luckily we are getting really good at working our fast passes for the rides we really want to ride. Our annual pass is really working out well and we are definitely getting our use out of it!! So here's a recap of our Disney weekend.

We met up with some friends from Pensacola that were in Disney also. We haven't seen them for about 5 years so it was great to catch up with them and in a fun place!!

Then later in the afternoon we headed over to Epcot to ride a few rides and check out a few attractions that we haven't experienced yet. I loved the heart photo op that they had set up.

 Of course we had to do it! The photographer was funny, because once we were done and handing off the heart to the next in line the guy says, "Next victim!!" Ha! I thought that was great because I'm sure the only reason those guys were in line was because their Valentine drug them into that line!!  Sunday we got up early and headed to Magic Kingdom. We spent most of the morning there and then headed to check into our resort. We took a little break and then headed towards the Polynesian resort where we had dinner reservations at Ohana. Yum...we love that place!! In fact, the boys do too and Bry even almost ate himself sick..he totally almost ate too much..poor thing! ha! But he was OK. Our dinner reservation was 8pm so after waiting to be seated and then eating and catching the bus back to the resort, it was pretty late once we got back to the room.

Monday we planned to check out the indoor arcade downtown called Disney quest. It was amazing! Wow, it was 5 floors of video, arcade and interactive games. A gamer's heaven for sure!!

Boys having fun!!

Even the big boy!!! Of course!

They had some pretty cool 3D interactive games that were a lot of fun.


 Later we headed over to Hollywood Studios for our dinner at the drive in. It was fun and the boys enjoyed it. Of course, we didn't get the car style that I wanted for us, (you weren't allowed to pick the car) but that's OK. It was still a great experience!

Gotta love that Disney is adding Starbucks locations throughout the parks! Love the Disney Starbucks cup!

So Dev decided he was going to ride Rockin Roller coaster this time. It would pretty much be his first time riding a coaster that goes upside down. Technically he rode one only one other time when we went to Busch Gardens, but in his defense none of us knew it was going to go upside and he was not happy at all when we got off the ride. That was probably 2 years ago. He is now ready to go for it again! He loved it!! He wanted to ride again but we only had 1 fast pass for it and the line was way too long to wait, so I know what's on the agenda for our next trip! I love that in the pic Mike, me and some other girl are screaming and Dev's face is almost one of shock...lol..

This picture was before he rode the ride, but he was ready!! Cool pre-teen pose...I guess...eekk!

We met up with cousin Len and we watched Fantasmic.

As many times as we've been to Disney we've never stayed to watch Fantasmic. It was Fantastic for sure!! Wow...it was worth it!! Len took us back to our resort which was nice that we didn't have to catch the bus back. Our last day we spent another 1/2 day back at Disney Quest. The boys loved it!
Our next trip isn't far off! We are headed back in May before the summer rush! I'm hoping the weather is good because we want to get back to the water parks. We only spent a 1/2 day at Blizzard beach awhile back because we got stormed out of the park by bad weather. So I'm hoping we can get back to blizzard beach and spend more time there, or even visit Typhoon lagoon. It will also be the end of the Epcot flower and Garden festival so we can check that out also.

It was hard for me to get Dev to pose for many pictures on this trip. Of course he wanted to pose for this one and stick out his tongue...lovely!! ha ha

We got a chance to watch a new parade that we've never seen at Magic Kingdom.  The fire breathing dragon was awesome!

They have some new food trucks at downtown Disney! Unfortunately we weren't there when they opened. They didn't open until 3pm and by that time both days we were other places. Too bad, because the menus looked really good. I guess that's on the list for next time too!

We also saw this cute little guy swimming in the small lake at the resort...wow..who knew that otters were in there??

Seven dwarfs mine train, the new coaster is fun! It takes your picture and you don't even know it until you get home and they send you an email. They even include a small video clip of you on the coaster. Very cool. Of course I kinda snapped a copy of this pic off the computer...ah hem...maybe...lol..

Oh yeah...so we were headed to ride space mountain and the ride was temporarily closed. So we rode one of Bry's favorite rides the people mover. Well it goes through an inside area where you can see the inside of space mountain. Normally all you see is darkness, an occasional coaster zoom by and you hear lots of screams. Well this time....THE LIGHTS WERE ON!! Wow! Since the ride was down the lights were on and we got to see all the winding track inside...very cool!

Both boys begged for one of these giant doughnuts at Epcot! I should of took a picture while they were holding it because this picture doesn't do it justice! They were huge!! Almost the size of his head and I'm not joking!! I did give in....a Valentine's treat!  :-)

We love Disney and we are lucky to now live so close that we can just hop in the car and go almost any time. The thing I love the most is that we can enjoy our favorite things when we go and  enjoy brand new experiences almost every time also!

So soccer for Dev has been on a small break. He is still having practice but the games took a break over Dec./Jan. His games start back up this weekend. His team won the championship for the fall season! He was excited!


Bry will start back to soccer in a few weeks. We signed him back up for the recreational league and he will also be practicing with the pre-academy team that he spent 7 weeks practicing with over the winter break. We are about to get very soccer busy!

This past Sunday we went on a great trip to a place called Lion Country Safari. Our neighborhood organized a group event so we could get group pricing. It SAVED us around $24 per person!! yes...$24 per person!! wow!! So I'm really glad we could go as the group. It was a great place. The first part is a drive through safari that you drive in your own car. They also give you a CD that narrates as you drive through the park telling you about the animals that you are seeing. I really enjoyed that. The animals were very close to the road and our car! There was a pretty strong minded Ostrich that just walked all in between the cars. It was neat to see them up close. The rhinos were very close too and the CD warned you not to get too close because they weren't responsible for any damage possibly done to your car by the Rhino! yikes...ha ha... Then when the drive through was over there was a very nice park with many more animals, rides for small kids, mini golf, paddle boats, house boat ride, camel rides, and feeding the giraffes. Many more things too but you get the idea. It was a very nice place to visit and we all really enjoyed it. Mom went with us and Mike had to stay home to catch up on some work, he really missed out!!

As you can see Bry was enjoying himself as Granny and Dev were controlling the paddle boat!

Feeding the giraffes! Bry wasn't to sure..in fact I'm not sure if he actually did it or not. Maybe once??
I can't remember now...ha ha

Check out the Rhino crossing the road!

Rhino!!

I loved this Ostrich!!

I was trying to get Mom to lean forward into the picture but she was fighting the seat belt and I was driving trying not to run off the road. So here is the result...ha ha ha

So I joined a new Bunco group that started in our neighborhood. I figured I would check it out and see if I could meet some new peeps in the neighborhood. I kinda FB stalked the people that were RSVP'ing to make sure that they weren't all over 65! LOL...seriously, our neighborhood has many events that are well attended....by the older crowd. Nothing is wrong with the older crowd, don't get me wrong, but I was looking for a younger group to get to know. There were 16 of us that showed up and it was pretty fun. I had quite a few good laughs and met some nice people overall. I even met one girl that had lived in STL and even worked as a RN at some of the same hospitals that I did when I lived in STL. Small world!! The two girls hosting had Mexican theme snacks and even had Sangrias...yum!! I won some $$!! It cost me $10 to play for the night, and I won $20!! So that was a great bonus! We will play once a month until summer and then take a small break and pick back up in the fall. I enjoyed it and plan to go back next month so that's a good sign!! :-)

So this weekend our neighborhood is having a movie night in the large field behind the clubhouse and then an overnight camp out! They tried to have one last year but it was more in the rainy season and kept getting rained out so they are trying it again this weekend. The boys are saying that they do want to camp out. So we have two tents and will see what happens. They are skittish to any noises or animals so this should be interesting...LOL...at least I think the weather will be cooperating so that's a good thing.


Well that's about all for now.....Toodles!

What's up Wednesday

So I got a new food scale for Christmas and I really love it. It is so much better than one I had before. This is great for measuring out my food when I need help figuring out the portion size. This is really helping me keep track of my calorie intake, love it!

Yes...I did win the family fantasy football competition!! Oh yeah!! As a reminder I also won the final four Basketball bracket last year too....oh yeah ...and I'm the only girl in the family!! Ha..Love it!

I finally got my two new medal hangers hung up. My two running buddies each got me one for my birthday without knowing the other one had gotten me one also...funny. But it's perfect having two. I'm going to keep it divided between small distance races and 10 mile and longer races. I also want to add a frame with some race pictures in it and also maybe an inspirational plaque.

If you remember anything about my lucky # 222...I am still seeing it weekly if not more frequent. Here's just an example. On my way to work I look down and...222 ! Notice the speed is zero..I did not take this picture while driving! :-)

I have been making some new recipes the last two weeks. This was my lunch yesterday. Now it wasn't a fancy recipe but it was something different. I just made thin long slices of cucumber and topped with cheese and meat and rolled them up and ate them, very yummy. You could even add some hummus, guacamole or mustard if you want, but I like them plain this time.

Both boys did really great in the soccer tourney a few weeks back. Both boys scored goals and played well. Neither of their teams advanced to the finals, but that's ok. They are both on fairly new teams and I thought they did pretty well against the very advanced teams that they played.

The boys have field day at school this week for Catholic Schools week. When I dropped them off this morning they were so excited to see all the obstacles set up in the school field. Dev has his day today and Bry is tomorrow. I'm so happy I was able to take off work tomorrow to help volunteer for field day. I should be able to get a few pictures while I'm there. It looks like it is going to be a lot of fun.

Dev has a soccer game this weekend and another tourney next weekend. Bry is on a break from soccer until sometime in March. 

Let me just say that this seasonal "snowbird" traffic is no joke!! Wow...it is crazy. It starts to pick up back around November or so, but I think it really starts to hit peak the end of January. I think the worse is still to come though because baseball spring training hasn't even started yet. We have spring training here for both the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota twins! Wow, We would of never guessed the difference in our city of in season and out of season until you spend some time here! It's amazing...I'll be glad when Easter gets here and the traffic gets back to a more normal off season volume!

Just a few funny things to end this post....

Also, saw this post on FB...this had me cracking up!! Not sure I would buy it! haha!!!

My final funny is from our hysterical Bry. You might of already seen this as I posted it on FB, but you gotta love a kids honesty! How would you of answered this question?? Now, it's true you might of even thought of something similar to this, but then your reserved adult self would pick something that seemed "appropriate" to fill in the blank right??? But, I say to take a moment to think about how serious you take things in life that are meant to be more silly or enjoyable. Don't let the thoughts or opinions of a few influence your true personality! Be who you are!! Who cares that they think! 

That's all for now...

HAPPY  HUUUUMMMPPP    DAY!!

10 Random things on Thursday

Well it's been awhile I know. So here's a short random 10 item recap of the last month or so.

1. We had a wonderful Christmas and our decorations were down in a record number of days since we were going to be out of town for New Years and I didn't want to come back to that chore.

2. I liked all my gifts but my favorite gift was probably my cell phone suction cup holder for my car. Wierd I know, but......

3. We brought in the New Year with family and friends in Mobile. It was frustrating though to see the gas prices at $1.86 there when we were still paying $2.44! Ouch!!

4. The boys enjoyed taking Granny and Gran J on walks into the woods looking for bird nests and other odd items. They even created walking sticks for everyone out of tree branches.

5. Not only did Alabama lose their game in the playoffs, but then Devin's Oregon team lost in the Championship! Boo!! It wasn't a good ending for college football for our teams.

6. Looking at my calendar for the next couple months ahead and I'm excited for another family Disney trip, a friend visiting in nearby Naples, Spring break at the beach with friends, a 1/2 marathon race in Louisville Kentucky, and a Disney obstacle course/scavenger hunt 5K race with my hubby!!

7. Both boys are in a soccer tournament this weekend. I hope they play well and have fun!

8. Back up and at it with my 4:30 am workouts. Not happy about it, but it is necessary for me to be able to keep up the routine.

9. I've still been trying to do a couple coupon grocery deals. I'm not like the extremers and I am only buying stuff we normally use. But I have gotten a few great cheap deals lately and even some FREE ones! yippee!

10. I've decided to make 2016 my year to run a marathon! Let me clarify that... finish a marathon! I won't be running the whole thing, I just hope to have the nerve to actually register, train, and then show up to attempt to complete it! I'm not getting any younger. Me and my Disney runner buddies are planning for the Disneyworld Marathon next January. It's several days of races consisting of a 5K, 10K, 1/2 marathon, and a full marathon. So if you'd like to join us in Disney and participate in ANY of the above races I'd love to have you join us! I will have the accommodations covered! Just send me a message and let me know. Come on...it's the most magical place on earth and you get to run around Disney and get Disney bling! I think registration opens in April so you have a little time to decide!

Well that's all I have for now. I hope everyone had a great New Years and you are planning to accomplish some new goals this year, or even old ones that you never completed!
Toodles!