I should have just saved this until tomorrow then it would have been a 7 day anniversary of completing the race. I didn’t get a PR…didn’t even stay close to my existing PR. I even gained a minute from my pooty performance at the Tinkerbell Half this January. BLEAH! Guess I need some motivation –
You gotta love the creativity behind those eCards. Not sure if I totally need to have the bloody knife – the clown alone would freak me enough to make my legs keep moving while my brain kept telling them to slow down. I did get my Coast to Coast medal at the end, pretty dang cool.
I promised you all a photo montage of the race and our family trip to Florida – so here it is. Enjoy – we sure did. 🙂
This was the first trip to Disneyworld for 13yo and 11yo. Sometimes it was hard to figure out if they were having a good time or not. Teen & Pre-teen boys are on their own communication wave length. HunBun gets more out of 13yo than I can…11yo likes to talk about randomness all the time so I have the patience to figure my way through and out of conversations with him. 😀
13yo’s favorite park was Epcot. He loved the countries and Living with the Land. He wants to be a scientist of some sort when he grows up. I keep reminding him that Disney has really cool intern opportunities, so maybe when he’s old enough he’ll get into Disney (so I can reap all the benefits of 13yo being a future employee – WHEEE!)
11yo’s favorite park was Animal Kingdom and Epcot too. They both loved visiting all the countries – although we didn’t get to all of them even with being at the parks for 5 days. Weird.
We spent a day and a half at the Magic Kingdom. There is a lot of similarity between Disneyland in California and the MK in Florida. We do like the Haunted Mansion better in MK – the entrance is super cool and we totally loved the Escher-esque stairwells. We took the boys to the Hall of Presidents – HunBun and I think that’s a great “ride” that has a great place to wait when you’re trying to escape the parade crowds.
Yes. That’s me and the 13yo at MK. Sometimes I can’t even believe how tall he is. I have to remind myself he’s still my baby. 🙂
It was a great mini-vacation for us. If you go to Disney World be sure to download the Disney My Experience app for your phone or iPad (although I think lugging an iPad around would be annoying after a while). It’s like a lot of apps where you can see ride wait times and places to eat – the bonus is that if you sign in you can make dining reservations. It was really helpful since the first time we tried to eat in France (Epcot) we were told we needed a reservation – DOH! So I used the app and got us a reservation for the next night, much to 13yo’s great satisfaction.
Oh yeah…DISNEYLAND! We’re so ridiculous I know. 🙂 HunBun was down south for a work meeting all last week so he suggested I fly down Friday after dropping 12yo off at school for a quick weekend trip. I of course said “eeeeeeee” – then got mature and said “yes, let me plan that”. I travel a lot for work so was able to use Southwest points for a one-way to Orange County and Hilton points for 2 nights at the Hilton Anaheim. SWEET!
Our first stop once we got in the park was to Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe for their Chicken Salad Sandwich and the Turkey Sandwich with Gluten Free bun for HunBun. They have the best kettle chips – so thick and crispy. YUM!
I grabbed a picture from foodspotting since I crammed that thing in my piehole so fast I didn’t even think of docu-blogging it in a picture. Of course HunBun got all annoyed at the lady at the counter – if you get gluten free anything at the park be prepared to wait at least 10-15 minutes for your food after you order it; well he went to check on his sandwich and she completely ignored him while helping everyone else – as he sees his sandwich sitting right next to her. So he finally says, “um excuse me – but I’m waiting for my sandwich right there” and she says “oh, well I’ve been waiting for you to come back”. (Insert angry fist shaking here). It’s little stuff like those things that make having dietary restrictions such a pain in the patootie when you leave your house. So after that awesome start we headed off to my favorite ride – of like ever…
Nightmare Before Christmas style. Whee!
We rode this one 3x in a row before getting on some other stuff they got over there. HA! Indiana Jones was closed – refurbishing or something or other – big sign on the fencing said it’ll be back Winter 2012. Our Jungle Cruiser was really punny on the trip – it’s always nice when they go off script a little to include what’s happening in the boat. The ones who just recite the puns and jokes get a little boring.
I just can’t ride Space Mountain or Star Tours anymore – I try – then regret my attempt as soon as they start the rides up. I seriously have to keep my eyes closed and my mouth clamped shut or else the folks around me will be hating life…and me until they can buy a new change of clothes and some water for their hair. I did try Expedition Everest when we went to DisneyWorld this summer – bad move on my part. I can do Tower of Terror though – so bizarre. So unless 10yo comes with us, HunBun is relegated to all the easy rides unless he goes by himself.
Disneyland wasn’t very crowded for being a Friday afternoon. We got on all the rides we wanted to with very little to no waits. We usually FastPass rides while we wait in the lines – so we get a FastPass for Haunted Mansion then wait in line to ride. By the time we get through the line it’s time to use our FastPass. So smart right? 🙂
I spotted this on the “Times flyer”… and that dictated where we were spending Saturday morning.
Yep. We spent the morning over in California Adventure instead. Since that park doesn’t open really early we got to sleep in a little before heading over for a day of line-standing. We got into the park relatively quickly (because you know time is relative in Disney) and while HunBun headed over to the Carsland FastPass line I headed over to get this little beauty…
Marriage made in Heaven
Yes. Starbucks has landed…in California Adventure’s Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Cafe. I got my now go-to drink a Soy Misto along with a cup of berries to go with my Cashew Cookie Larabar. Got to get at least 1 “good for you” meal in a day while on vacation. I grabbed HunBun a Skinny Caramel Machiatto…to which he said “oh, you should have just grabbed me a coffee” (insert angry fist shaking here) 🙂
So now we had time to kill and rides to find until our 1220-120 FastPass window opened for Radiator Springs Racers. The park was not crowded at all! We jumped on ride after ride and even gave The Little Mermaid ride another chance (not for us). We just think they could have done so much more with that ride than what it is…
For lunch we ate at Award Weiners where I tried the FrankenWeenie.
Disneygeek.com
It was tasty…but looks very Frankenstein-ish. I thought I was going to have a massive belly ache after eating it but it wasn’t so bad – must be the bacon right?!? Of course no photo – BOOT! So I stole one of the interweb from the OCRegister.
Doesn’t that look healthy? Not really.
Right after we ate our weiners we walked past Tower of Terror to get to Carsland to use our FastPass and saw that ToT only had a 13 minute wait (spooky). So we jumped on and I screamed as we went up then down then up then down then down then up then down….. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
Even with a FastPass you still have to wait in line to ride the Radiator Springs Racers…BUT the line employee up front asked for 2 people and we jumped! They directed us to fill in a car for someone who was in a wheelchair…and while we were waiting we noticed a Disney employee with a visitor. Well it was one of those Backstreet Boys (the dark haired one)!
It was this one – Kevin
Then as we were leaving Carsland we saw him again with the other guy…this one.
We knew his name – Brian
We didn’t take photos…cause we didn’t really care (and think that’s rude). Although I did make a funny (I thought so) post about seeing them and that they were “Incomplete”. Get it? Like their song…Incomplete? Bwahahahah!
We wandered around California Adventure until about 230 then headed over to Disneyland where hopefully the taping of the Christmas Parade was winding up. Instead of wading our way through the crowds lined up along Main Street U.S.A we jumped on the train and rode our way to New Orleans Square to hit up the Haunted Mansion, again! For those of you who haven’t seen it decorated for the holidays…here’s a vicarious ride along for you!
We did a FastPass line wait/ride again. It was so crowded at the park and I don’t think just because of that parade taping. So we stopped at Mint Julep Bar so I could eat some Mickey shaped beignets and stare at people (I mean people watch). To suit the holiday season, they had pumpkin flavored beignets. I didn’t really taste the pumpkin – they just tasted like a less sweet version of the originals. Didn’t photo (as usual) but this was more because my fingers were covered in crack sugar. So I grabbed a photo from The Disney Food Blog.
From Disney Food Blog
This was my sweet treat from the Parks. I didn’t get a Dole Whip this time, the lines were ridiculous on Saturday and Friday was too chilly to get one.
We did go to Storyteller’s Cafe over at Grand California for dinner Saturday night and ate the buffet. I did grab a bunch of desserts – which my eyes liked more than my belly. I ate so much to the point where I said “if I eat one more bite I will literally puke”. 😦 I had 2 plates: green salad, potato salad, roasted veggies, fruit salad and 2 cups of chicken corn chowder. Then the plates of dessert. Whoo whee! We certainly got our money’s worth there! Took a few photos after the fact, when my brain registered it should’ve done that.
Overall we had a super nice time, just HunBun and me. We left the hotel at 440am to drive home. We got to Anderson’s over in Santa Nella a bit before 9am for our regular breakfast stop. We reached home around noon. Hoorah!
Hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as I did! I’m back to normal living this week – starting a Green Smoothie Challenge (I got from Vedged Out) and hopefully going to yoga every night this week.
It’s a business travel week and after a short work week last week post-Half Marathon/Holiday and no travel before, I guess my heart wasn’t in it. Post-run shower, Sunday morning, I started laying out all my clothes for the 3 days I need to pack for. I don’t know about you other travelers, but when I pack for business travel I usually have to try on my bottoms (never my shirts – odd). My legs are really long and I always need to make sure my pants haven’t shrunk between uses or that they don’t flop around like 70’s era bell bottoms (what is up with work pants that do that???). So I tried on my planned outfit bottoms (I should have taken pictures – der) and had my pants/tops folded and ready to be put in the carryon. Then I decided to try on a dress that I probably bought 2 years ago and put straight into my closet – I mean it still had the tags on for goodness sakes! I decided that I’d wear dresses and sweaters to lead my meetings this week instead of my normal pants & tops ensembles. I thought it’d be less clothes to pack – but it’s exactly the same number – 1 dress & 1 sweater per day. I only liked 2 of the dress/sweater combos so I packed my favorite Ann Taylor LOFT capri pants and an Ann Taylor striped dolman-ish sleeved top. **Self reminder: Take AM photos with each outfit so I can start a fashion post like my favorite blogger PBFingers!
I also laid out 3 exercise outfits, my Garmin & iPod Nano – anticipating that I would keep my pinky swear to exercise while traveling. Couple of t-shirts, capri jeans for afterwork and pj’s and my clothes were ready. They all got into my carry-on. I love my carry-on bag. It’s a Diane Von Furstenburg (is that how you spell her name) that I got from TJMaxx. I like it because I have not seen anyone with this bag on all the trips I’ve been on.
DVF Carry-On
You think no one carries it because it’s ridiculously bright and girly? 🙂 There is a ton of room and I can shove it in every overhead bin on every plane I’ve been on. That’s the best part.
I finished packing up toiletries this morning and told HunBun “Hey, if I forgot anything I’ll just go to the store..hahahaha”. Der! On the way to the airport my brain finally registered that I FORGOT TO PACK DEODERANT! Major oopsie. So I’ll be CVS‘ing in Westlake after work tonight.
Morning Eats
One of the pains of business travel is the ease in buying/eating not so healthy food. Although I will say the airport shops have gotten better with having the one tiny section of healthy snacks (which are ridiculously expensive, so beware). It’s also easy to pick up a Starbucks since you’ve got time to kill while waiting for your plane. To minimize my eyeballs telling my brain and tummy that it needs that snack/Starbucks…I started my morning off right! 3-ingredient pancake with Peanut Butter & Co White Chocolate Wonderful PB (OMG!!!! Wonderful is an understatement!!!) and STUFT Mama‘s Cherry Mocha Smoothie. Here’s a step by step of the smoothie…the “pancake” cooked while I zipped this up.
See ya later!
Cathy
All you need for a Cherry Mocha Smoothie
Put the powdery stuff after the almond milk
Cram that spinach and those cherries on top
30 seconds of loud noise later…Smoothie Deliciousness
We left the house super early Friday morning…I think we closed the garage door at 4:45am. The boys snuggled up in their blankets and tucked in for the ride down to Disneyland. The moon saw us off…it’s amazing how bright it is when it’s pitch black outside.
Good morning sunshine
I-5 wasn’t too crowded when the sun finally joined us for the trip. It was absolutely gorgeous to watch the sky brighten up and color with the morning rays.
We got to into Disneyland around 10:45am…the trip seems to take longer and longer every time. I mean it’s not like they added any roads or anything so not really sure why the car GPS told us it was a little over 6 hrs to get there when we were pretty sure it was a little over 5 hrs a couple months ago. We spent the entire first day in Disneyland – hitting up all the rides. Seems everyone was over in California Adventure waiting 2 hours + for the new Carsland rides. Good grief! We all headed to bed early as 12yo and 10yo were joining me for the Carsland 5K in the morning.
AM to PM in 4 pictures
Saturday was California Adventure day…starting the morning with the Carsland 5K. 10yo took off running right after the start while 12yo and I took a jog/walk approach. 12yo’s not as into fitness as I’d like him to be but I was so proud of him for sticking to the j/w plan. We crossed the finish at 41 minutes – which is not too shabby for his first foray into racing.
We got fast passes for Carsland – can you believe HunBun and 12yo waiting 20 minutes for the fast passes? 10yo and I rode Tower of Terror twice while they were waiting AND got pictures with the Incredibles and Minnie!
Minnie’s adorable!
Check out those guns!
Sunday was Disneyland day…and RACE DAY! I will admit I was a little worried about my run. After 3 early mornings and 2 full days in the park my ankles and legs were feeling a little woogly. I woke up at 3:45am and got dressed in the bathroom – while trying not to wake everyone up. SMART TIP: Always set up your running doo-dads in a pile where you can just grab & go. I had my clothes all set up on the dresser and my Garmin, Nano and Mickey Mouse visor right next to it. That way I didn’t have to fumble around trying to find everything I needed. I also put my Smucker’s PB&J pre-made sammy and bottle of water next to my pile of stuff. I always eat a Smucker’s Uncrustable PB&J frozen sandwich before my Half’s – it works for me.
I headed over to the start at around 4:15am…we stayed off-resort this year so my walk was a little longer than usual. This may have worked to my favor – got to warm up the legs a little with my trek across the way. I did a lot of stretching and a lot of port-o-potty visits. I’m always worried about having to stop and stand in long lines while on the route…so I visit the port-o’s a TON! They changed the corral set up…I think it lost some of the excitement because instead of a long line of corrals they had a U shape…so A,B,C were in line with the start while D to the end were around the corner. There was less screaming and cheering this year.
They had a lot of car clubs on the route this year…old cars, corvettes, mustang cobras – maybe to fit into the Carsland theme. It was really awesome to see all the locals supporting folks they don’t even know. The bands, cheer groups and dancers are always big energy boosters. It was really hot this year so I stopped for water at every station…did my swish and swallow with the Power-ade and water to cut the sweetness. I don’t know why they always choose blue Power-Ade…weird.
My Beans, Power-Ade and Water got me through the race and I finished at 2:11! I was super happy with myself as I only walked during water stops (I tried running with water the first time and almost drowned myself with the water sloshing up my nostrils – definitely not attractive).
I’m a Winner!
I love the Disney races. They are a ton of fun and I’m always ready to go to the parks. I can’t wait to do the Disneyland Tinkerbell in January then jet off to Disney World for the Princess in February. Hope you enjoyed this quick jaunt through our long weekend.
So it’s been dead quiet on this bloggedy blog because the whole family was in Disneyland for their Half-Marathon weekend! Wahoo-ey!!!!
I’ve got a bunch of photos to load up for sharing. I haven’t entirely got the hang of mobile posting so I may need to read a primer of some sort. I also don’t fully understand all the fizzy whiz-bangedyness of the iPad (I am using for this post now) so if I want this bloggedy blog to be what I know it can be I gotta get up on it.
Enough moaning and groaning right?!? Think of this as a wet-your-whistle kinda post until I get on the old home PC tomorrow.
By the way, in case you were wondering, I improved my time with a new PR. Da-da-da-dah…..2:11:25 (according to Xact event alerts in my in-bin). Some room for improvement to get to my goal of 2:00, but overall totally stoked I did that well after 3 very early mornings and 2 full days in the parks.
So today is a REST day…it was yet another early wake up for the 6 hour drive home (with a stop at Anderson’s Pea Soup in Santa Nella – best apricot pancake syrup – for brekkie with HunBun, 12yo and 10yo). Catching up on emails, DVR tv and vacation laundry.
This will be a visual post…and a limited “eyeball” into my “there and back again” trip to Westlake Village, CA for a work meeting. **I need to remember to photo journal now that I’m starting this blogging adventure – so bear with me on this first one. I’m sure you’ll be fascinated by peeking into what my day was like yesterday.
Let the vicarious viewing begin!
Cathy
What the airport looks like at 5am
Sitting at the gate…so quiet and dark
Sun’s up in LA
Capicola Ham and Provolone sammy (I chowed the first half down before I remembered the picture)
Hi! My name is Cathy and I'm working hard to balance health and life. Sometimes it's hard, especially with work, family and my own interests competing to fit into the 24 hours a day we've all been blessed with. This blog is a place where I can share what I'm doing to move - with direction and magnitude...on the vector.
Literature, more than anything inspires me to be the greatest version of myself. Through this blog and my teaching, I hope to share the love of literature that can only come from understanding that great literature is not just read, but demands to be felt.
You gotta love the creativity behind those eCards. Not sure if I totally need to have the bloody knife – the clown alone would freak me enough to make my legs keep moving while my brain kept telling them to slow down. I did get my Coast to Coast medal at the end, pretty dang cool.
11yo’s favorite park was Animal Kingdom and Epcot too. They both loved visiting all the countries – although we didn’t get to all of them even with being at the parks for 5 days. Weird.
We spent a day and a half at the Magic Kingdom. There is a lot of similarity between Disneyland in California and the MK in Florida. We do like the Haunted Mansion better in MK – the entrance is super cool and we totally loved the Escher-esque stairwells. We took the boys to the Hall of Presidents – HunBun and I think that’s a great “ride” that has a great place to wait when you’re trying to escape the parade crowds.
onthevector 