Back to the gym and back to the blog!

Yikes! My last post was in May. MAY! And I realized this today and then realized the last time I went to the gym was also in May. MAY!

It's now July.

Yikes.

So here's what's been going on since I last posted (and did side lunge presses).

Started out the summer kind of solo. Memorial Day weekend, Hubs headed to a golf tournament (that his team won!) and the kids and I headed to Disney. We had plans since we found out we were moving to meet some friends in WDW that weekend, so the kids were already pumped. Hubs got the invite to the golf tournament, but I figured I could meet my buddies down there and we'd be fine. Buddies found out they were moving to Cali, so we headed to see the mouse on our own!

And because we were using leftover days on non-expiration tickets, we decided to get the most out of our money. That means 4 parks in TWO DAYS!

We drove down on Friday and checked into our hotel. Some friends of ours here happened to be down for the weekend, too, so we met them at Downtown Disney for Dinner. The kids were excited to eat at Fulton's, but Nugget fell asleep in my lap waiting for our salads. He woke up later and said, "We waited all dat time on the boat, and we didn't eat nuffin!" Bless his heart!

The kids were excited about "riding rides" as soon as we got there, so I told them we could take the Disney bus from the hotel to DT disney. BIG mistake! After the big meal, and while carrying a still asleep Nugget, we huff it to the bus stop, hopping on JUST as the bus is about to pull away. Whew! I was feeling good about it until the bus made it second stop at DT Disney; right in front of Fulton's. Where we had just run from. Awesome. The bus driver then shut the bus off because at that time, it was the changing of the drivers. I've been to Buckingham Palace. I've seen the changing of the guard. That was like a high five compared to this. 25 minutes later, we were FINALLY heading back to the hotel. I managed to get both kids up to our room and at this point, Nugget emerged from his power nap. I remembered I left my razor at home.

I called the front desk only to find out that they have no razors at a value resort. So I looked at the kids and looked at the clock. We were approaching midnight. The next day was going to be an early start anyway, so why start it with a trip to CVS?

"Ok kids! Who wants to go for a ride?"

"I'd rather go swimming."

"Well, put on your suits and well go to the store. When we get back, we'll hit the pool!"

I called the front desk to confirm the pool hours (all night as long as you're not too loud -- so glad I didn't pay extra for a room facing the pool!) and we headed to the store. I was NOT spending the weekend with scratchy, velcro legs. We had a midnight swim then showered off and were out for the night.

The next day we headed to Animal Kingdom. Hot, hot and HOT! Every ride line is outside, every path is uphill and every road is paved with random groups of people, stopping in the middle of the road and staring at something. We started with the dinosaur ride.

Yup! That's us! In the back row. Nugget looking terrified and Strip with her head in my lap. GREAT start to the day! We hit all of our must do's, then hopped back in the car for a snack on our way over to the Hollywood Studios. We rode the Tower of Terror twice, headed over to the Toy Story ride, walked into The Voyage of the Little Mermaid right when it was about to start and then walked across to see the new Playhouse Disney show. They had JUST closed the door, so we scooted over to a snack stand and grabbed a box of popcorn and some water to snack on while we were in line. The new Playhouse Disney, well now Disney Junior, show is the same, but they took out Pooh and put in Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The kids loved it, but we had a nice family from France who kept telling my kids (in the front row) to sit down so their kid could see. I looked around and motioned to the 100 other kids standing and dancing. This was not the symphony. It's Disney World! Get up and move!

We wandered back over and did ToT one last time and the kids got hilarious Mater Teeth Suckers. I found them at World Market before we left

They almost look like pacifiers, but they are suckers with Mater teeth on the front. HILARIOUS! I noticed the Beauty and the Beast show was about to start, so my Maters and I scoped out a place to sit. We got half-way down the aisle and noticed some seats open on the other side. I asked the girl working there if we could cross over the very front row by the stage to get to the other side and she said, "Sure! But you could just sit in the front row if you want!" AweSOmE!

Mini Maters and I plopped down just as the show was about to start, and while it's nothing compared to Broadway, it was fun sitting right in front and watching the singers/dancers attempt to keep a straight face whenever one would catch a glimpse of my Maters!

It was getting close to Fantasmic time, so we grabbed a bite to eat and started walking up the big hill. The show starts at 9 and people had been standing in line since 6:30. That is just INSANE! The other option is to get a dining package where you eat at one of 3 restaurants (at 3:00 pm or something) and you get preferred seating. But the cost for the 3 of us to eat would be around $100. Cost of the three of us splitting snacks and a dinner? About $10. We were going to try our luck and see what happened.

Once we got to the top, the guys with the lights said it was standing room only. Ugh. I asked if we could walk down and come back if we weren't going to be able to see and the guy said that was fine. We got half-way down the hill and I thought that was silly and we'd just go back, get some ice cream and catch the 10:00 show. Just as we were walking back down the hill, or friends texted us that not only had they just walked in, they were sitting in the 3rd row and were looking at a spot in the first row! SCORE! We had great seats, and the kids loved the show. I loved it, too, just not $100 or 2.5 hours out of my life! We did a couple of more rides, then headed back to the hotel.

The next day, we headed to Epcot. We took the monorail, which was having some problems, so it took us a while to get over there, but we made it! Rode all the rides, walked around the world and enjoyed the nice day. The Must Do chick (looped show in the Disney hotel) always stops in Germany for Pretzel und Bier, so naturally, my 6 year-old wants a snack when we get to Germany. "Can we get a pretzel and a beer??" Thanks Disney!

We were heading over to Test Track when I remembered that Disney Visa card members get a special meet and greet and free photo, so we grabbed an autograph book and asked where to go. Surprise! LOTS of people at Disney world are Disney Visa card holders! So the line was kind of long, but we saw Minnie and Goofy in a room with just us, the photopass guy and the characters, so that was fun! When I went to get the picture, every one with Nugget, his eyes were closed. Thinking out loud, I said, "Geeze, you'd have thought they could have snapped ONE with his eyes open..." to which the photopass dude said, "Well, they took THIRTEEN!" Whoa. Someone's not having a magical day! And yes, that proves my point exactly. 13 pictures and not a single one with the kid looking at the camera with open eyes? So I just got one of Strip and Minnie. Because Visa was paying for it. And I went ahead and slapped a border and a date on it for good measure.

We hoofed it back up to the monorail which was, again, not working. So we did a quick change at the top of the ramp while we waited (my cousin opened her own sewing/embroidery/applique shop, so we had something to wear to every park!). We finally made it to the Magic Kingdom at about 7:00 when I realized I had the extra magic hours time written down incorrectly. They weren't open until 2 AM. They were open until 3AM!!

Nugget has always loved trains, and all the times we've gone, we've never ridden on the train before, so we did that first. We then hit all of our favorite rides. At the front of the line for Splash Mountain, they had to shut down the ride. No one would tell us why, just that they weren't sure how long it would take to get it working again. MAN some people get ANGRY about not riding the log! Lots of unhappy people around us! We hopped over to ride Big Thunder Railroad and then went back over to Tomorrowland to see if Nugget was tall enough for Space Mountain (not yet!). We were going to get ice cream and the kids were starting to fade. I asked if they wanted to call it a night, but NO!! WE WANNA STAY OUT UNTIL 3! As we stood in line, Nugget started swaying, so I picked him up. When I went to pay for the kids' cones, I set him down on the glorified granite check-writing ledge where he promptly curled up in a ball, leaned over and fell asleep! He perked up as soon as he saw the ice cream and they were ready to ride some more!

Sometime around 1, we went back to splash mountain which was working. Yay! Normally, after closing, they turn the big sprayers off, so I wasn't too worried about getting wet. I should have been. After the big plunge, I was sitting in a puddle so deep , the kids could have gone swimming in it! Nugget screamed, "I'm soapin' wet!!" We were all three drenched! My dress was so we, I could wring it out and as we walked, I could feel it stretching lower and lower in the back! We decided to start heading to the exit, but needed to do pirates for my little Captn Jack. NO line at all, so we hopped right on and BOY was that boat cold on our wet booties! We walked by Aladdin's magic carpet ride, and since it also had no line, we hopped on it. Then we let the camel spit on us and I suggested we head back to the hotel.

Strip: But what time is it??

Me: Almost 2.

Strip: But we were going to stay up until 3!!!

Me: Yeah, but mommy's tired! How about we head back and you can stay up at the hotel until 3?

Strip:Fine, but we really wanted to stay here until 3...

Me: I know, but I bet you $20 you'll both be asleep before we get to the monorail.

Strip: Nu uh!

One minute later, both kids are out cold. SO glad we had the double stroller! I managed to get them out to the car, loaded up, back to the hotel and up to our room.

We got up the next morning and spent and hit DT Disney for some shopping. Both kids had spending money burning a hole in their pockets. We had an early lunch at Rainforest Cafe then did some shopping. Both kids managed to spend their money on the things with the most small pieces. Yay. I told Strip I might as well put $20 in nickels on the floor and vacuum them up! But it was their money to spend, so we are proud owners of Tangled polly pocket-type set and a Captain Jack Sparrow/Barbossa action figures. I thought the pirates were ok until we got home and Nugget pointed out that the sword comes off! And the gun! And the hat! And the other hat! and the puppy! and his scarf! Ugh!

And while everyone thought I was crazy for taking 2 kids to 4 parks in 2 days alone, I must say it was the most relaxing and enjoyable disney trip we've taken! I hate that Hubs missed it, but it was fun just hanging out with the kids and taking things at their pace. It was also a nice reminder to me that this was totally doable with 2 kids. But if we had 4+ like I always wanted, there would have been no way it would have been relaxing and enjoyable. Win-win! Can't wait to do it another long weekend!