It's all about the experience

Our trip to Disney involved a lot of eating. Now that I have been able to weigh myself and see that I have gained 4 pounds, I can see just how much eating I actually did. I am totally frustrated with myself. But man, the food was good!



We ate at the Crystal Palace which I have already told you about. It was a beautiful restaurant, lots of flowers and glass and of course, Characters. Its easy to get distracted and not pay attention to how much you are eating .
Monday, we had lunch at Epcot at a Moroccan restaurant called the Restaurant Marakesh. The food was ethnic but very good. The meal came complete with a belly dancer. She was beautiful and the music was great too. It will be an experience that I remember for a long time. Rick, of course, loved the belly dancer.

At MGM, We ate at the Hollywood Brown Derby. The dessert (yes, I had dessert), was probably the best I ever had. Rick and I got two desserts and shared. Yum. It was one of those places where, if it hadn't been in a theme park, you would expect everyone to be in white ties and long gowns. But, we just went in in shorts and t-shirts and were very comfortable. Our waiter was wonderful. His name was Stanley and he was from the Ukraine. That's the cool thing about Disney world. You get to meet so many people from all over the world.

On Thursday, we ate at the Garden Grill at Epcot. Its a revolving restaurant. It revolves very very slowly and you can see different scenes of America. The dessert, farmlands, etc. Very cool. The food is served family style and the Apple dumpling is out of this world! It is also a character meal. We were able to see Mickey, Pluto and Chip and Dale. Rick had his head rubbed by Mickey and Pluto. It was really pretty funny. For some reason, all of the characters rubbed Rick's head. Like he was a buddha or something and they were rubbing it for good luck. lol. He loved it.

Here are just a couple more pics for you to enjoy.

Romeo and Edna

October 25

Today was our last day here at Disney World. I must say I am so sad to be leaving tomorrow. I love it here.

We arrived at Epcot before it opened and were there for the countdown. Its always so exhilarating to hear the countdown. We were among hundreds of people who swarmed Soarin’ first thing. Soarin’ is the most popular ride in Epcot now and everyone wants to ride it. It was amazing just getting to the ride. They even had a mariachi band at the bottom of the escalators to greet all of us into Soarin’. Disney has this big marketing thing going on now called The Year of a Million Dreams. So while we were waiting in line, they came around and handed us these cool cards on lanyards that were to be used as fast passes for the whole rest of the day! They said that they were giving away a dream of not having to wait in line for the rest of the day. It was awesome. We were able to walk right on Test Track and Mission Space and even Soarin’ again. Very cool.


Soarin’ is an awesome ride. I can so understand why people wait 90 minutes in line to ride it. Its like a hang glider ride through beautiful California. We loved it. Rick doesn’t like heights but it was so cool, he wanted to ride it twice! Go Rick!

After lunch, we went to the world showcase and began our quest for chocolate around the world. It was fun finding the chocolate at the different pavilions. We now have chocolate from Canada, the UK, France, Morrocco, Japan, Italy, Germany, Switzerland. There was no chocolate to be found in China, Rick says just as well, it would probably have lead paint in it anyway. lol. When we went to the American pavilion, I thought, what could be more chocolate America than a Chocolate chip cookie, right? Wrong! I got the chocolate chip cookie, it came in this nifty package but as I got to looking at it, I discovered that it was actually made in CANADA! Go figure. America even outsources its chocolate chip cookies!



At the Italian pavilion, we stopped to watch a street show. There are these “world showcase players’ throughout the park and they put on these comedies throughout the day. So we stopped to watch and the play was a spoof on Romeo and Juliet but it was called Romeo and Edna. And guess what? They picked me out of the crowd to be Edna!
It was great fun! I had to say the famous line, “Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo?” I had to “platonic slow dance” with my Romeo and even play dead for the crowd (with my eyes rolled back and my tongue hanging out!). I loved it. The bad part is, I had the camera so Rick couldn’t take pictures! I guess we will just have the memories. They even gave me a little pin to wear that said “Honorary world showcase player”.

We have made so many incredible memories this trip. Disney does know how to do it up right. Rick has been wonderful. I can’t think of anyone I would have rather spent this fantastic time with. He really is an incredible man and I am so lucky to have someone like him. His jokes are a bit much to take when I am with him 24/7 ( and he is constantly joking). But I wouldn’t have it any other way.



Tomorrow we are off to spend a couple days with my mom and dad in Lake City.

Have a magical night!

Having a magical time

We decided to come down here to the clubhouse so Rick could do some things on the computer and so I can briefly write in my blog. The place we are staying is really very beautiful and we love it here. I'm not quite sure why they are so backward as to not have wifi in the rooms but here we are.


We are having such a good time here. Its rained every day which is just incredible because Florida has been in the middle of a draught for the entire summer and now that we are here, its raining. Its really been okay though usually we are at the parks until the early afternoon and it rains when we are done. The first day, we were going to go to the Magic Kingdom and we walked outside and it was drizzly. So we decided to go to Walgreens and buy some ponchos and still brave the rain. But when we got to the park it started raining even harder and my hood wouldn't stay up and we were getting drenched. I was so disappointed and I even told Rick that we should just turn around and come back to the condo. But then we were arriving just as the park was opening and they were having the countdown on the loudspeakers and my heart started racing and I got tears in my eyes and I knew there was no way I was turning back then. I was so excited!!!! We weren't in the park 5 minutes and it stopped raining. We got off Buzz Lightyear and it was beautiful! Ahhhhhh, what a great day it was. That place really is magical, even for a 41 yr old woman. It was great to see all the little kids getting excited about the rides and the characters but most of all it was wonderful feeling the excitement for myself! We had lunch at the Crystal Palace which is a character meal. Rick was very enthused about the great buffet, I was excited about Pooh and Tigger and Eyeore! It was so fun! I even twirled my napkin above my head as they had the parade through the restaurant.


There has been so much that has happened and life has been good to us this week. I'll write more soon. Rick is ready for his daily nap so I guess we'll go back to our room. Tomorrow, we are off to Epcot and we will finish our quest for chocolate around the world. Yum. I'm ashamed to tell all that we have been eating this week. Disney really has some incredible restaurants and hey, we are on vacation. Today we had lunch at Caseys famous hot dog place in the Magic Kingdom. I personally think Five Guys is better, but at Disney, its the experience, not necessarily the food that you pay for. So anyway, we are off to sleep off all of those calories!!



Have a magical day!

can you believe there is no wireless here? We can use it in the clubhouse but not here on the condo. I'll have to blog when i get home as its too hard to do so on my iPhone. Just know that we are having a Fantastic time ! Love love love Disney!!!

So I'm off to meet a mouse

Can I just say YIPPEEEEEE!! I am on vacation. woohoo! Yay!! This has been a heck of a week at work,( all 2 1/2 days of it ) lol. So I am just so happy to be off for the next 11 days. Disney world here we come!! Rick was off today so he got most of the laundry done so I could pack when I got home today. I've read 2 tour guides three times, I have a notebook full of notes, I have my travel journal all put together just waiting for pics and journaling, my camera batteries are charged up and I am so so excited!! I'm not really much of a planner but when it comes to vacations, I could quote the tour guides frontwards and backwards. Its funny how that works. Usually, in "real life", Rick is the planner and I am just a random kind of girl. Its just the total opposite when it comes to vacations. I turn into a planning junkie. I just think its so fun to read about and dream about the trip and all the fun things we will see and do. The kids used to love it when they were younger because I would get so excited about our adventures we'd feel like we'd already been before we even left the house. So, I'm off to another adventure at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. I'll try to blog while I'm gone and write about all of the magical memories that we are making.

Have a very happy day!!!!!!!

Friday night was Don's birthday. Happy Birthday Don! He seems a bit sensitive about his age, as I am, but at least we are all getting older together and that makes it so much better. We all went out to this great restaurant called Seasons. The food was wonderful! Here is a pic of Rick's dessert. He said it was the best cheesecake he has ever had. I had the creme brulee and it was the first creme brulee I've ever had but wow, it was delicious. You all will have to try this place.


Sienna's car is still not fixed. Apparently when the guy got all finished, it wouldn't start and it turns out, she needs a new engine. Ugh. He's agreed to put one in for free but that just sounds kind of fishy to me. Her dad is handling all of that for her so there is no telling what we will end up with. So, it's getting up 30 mins early for me again this week. *sigh* I do enjoy spending more time with her, I would just prefer it to be at about 9 am. I'm really not a morning person.

We leave for Disney is just 5 days. So very excited! We will get to see my Mom and Dad as well as my sister and nephews. She has 5 boys and its always fun to see them. Here is a pic of a layout I did of the 3 youngest one morning before school. I used the I *heart* Candy Town collection at SIS. It has been a very fun collection to use.

Have a happy Sunday!

Nice

Do you know how nice it feels to step into last year's jeans and have them fall off of you? So nice. I've spent the morning trying on my fall clothes, after all it is October and surely we will see some fall weather soon. None of my clothes fit. That is very good for my ego but not so good for my pocketbook (or actually Rick's checkbook : ) ) . Usually I dread getting into my jeans because I usually wear skirts in the summer and in skirts there is a lot of room to expand! Not this year. Leeann has been a great source of inspiration for me this year. We have started going to Water aerobics again. Got to get healthy. My blood pressure is screaming that at me. And so, I think I'll listen. I started on a new BP pill and my pressure is lower but definately not low enough. I suppose it will take some time.

Only 11 more days til Disney World!!!!!! Yay for us!

Happy Sunday.