Back from Disney!

Well, we survived our trip and made it home safely! We had a great time, even though the excessive heat and some rain tried to cause some problems. But we weathered it all (no pun intended) and had so much fun! Here's a rundown of what we did!

Day 0: We drove this day. 7 hours. It went by pretty quick. When we got to our hotel, the Best Western Lakeside, we played in the pool and just relaxed.

Day 1: We headed off to the Magic Kingdom!


We rode a bunch of rides and saw a bunch shows. The best moment of the day for Ella was meeting the Little Mermaid!


She wouldn't talk to her, or smile for the photo, but when we walked away she was so excited!! It was so cute. We took an afternoon nap break (thankfully the hotel was close enough for this) and it was much needed as evidenced by the photo below.


They were so hot and tired. It was in the 90's everyday we were there. It was very draining. That's why we took the afternoon breaks and went back in the evenings. When we went back that afternoon Ella got to meet Mickey Mouse. Again she was excited until we actually saw him, then she was terrified. The only way to get her up there was to carry her. Poor kid. But she was excited afterwards.


While she may be afraid of giant mice, she definitely isn't afraid of roller coasters. She dragged me on this little kid one and loved it!!


That night we stayed for the electric light parade. It was really cool and the kids loved it!


Lots of fun!

Day 2: MGM Studios! I really liked this park, but it was the hottest day yet. We thought that since there were a lot of indoor shows we would be OK, but no such luck. But we did manage to get some fun things in. Ella had a blast playing in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area.


And she was so excited to meet the Little Einsteins!! She was scared again, but was really happy to see them.


But we gave up after lunch and went back to the hotel to cool down and rest. That evening we took advantage of the hotels free mini golf. Ella got the hang of it real quick.


Then we went out for dessert at Fridays. They had a balloon guy there who made Ella a princess crown and she loved it!


Day 3: Sea World! We were going to just stick with Disney on this trip, but Sea World was letting military in free, so we couldn't pass that up! We were a little disappointed in the shows, they spent way too much time trying to be dramatic and too little time showing off the animals.


Half way through the day it began thunderstorming and pouring rain!! We waiting it out in the Ray Lagoon and in a circus show. Luckily we had ponchos. But we had to stick around because we had reserved a luau dinner show. It was a really cool show and the food was really good!


Day 4: Animal Kingdom! This was our favorite by far. That park is so cool! The kids loved seeing the animals and we loved riding the rides. (Can you see the kimodo dragon?)


The new Everest Ride is so fun!! Don't miss this one!

We got everything done in that park by early afternoon. That night we went to Universal City Walk to eat at Hard Rock Cafe. Anton collects their take home glasses and had to get one in Orlando. While we were there we picked up these cute shirts for the kids. I couldn't pass them up!


Day 5: Epcot! I thought this park would be slow and a little boring, but I think besides the Magic Kingdom, it had the most kid friendly rides and activities. And since it was 90% less crowded than MK it was a lot of fun. They have a Nemo ride that Ella loved. We rode it multiple times, of course.


Also while we were there the space shuttle launched. Unfortunately I was on a ride at the time and totally missed it!! I was so sad. But I got a picture of the smoke trails afterwards!


We stayed that night for the Illuminations fireworks and laser show. It was a little on the short side, but cool nonetheless.


Day 6: Drove home. This felt like the longest drive ever!!

Overall this trip was great. I want to go back, but when we do it will be in February, both for the weather and the crowds. The hotel was decent. It had 2 pools and mini golf and restaurants on site and you could buy your Disney tickets in the lobby. It was only 10 minutes from the parks which made it perfect for nap time. The rooms weren't fancy, but for $47 a night I'm not complaining. So if you are headed to Disney on a budget, check out the Best Western Lakeside.

The Makahiki Luau dinner show at Sea World was really cool. The kids were free and they got kid meals. The show itself was very similar to the show you can see at the Polonesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. Very authentic. They danced with fire, sang songs, all the good stuff. Definitely worth it.

Sea World was not our favorite, as I said above. It seems like they are trying to make the shows more artistic, but I just wanted to see the animals. We had fun in the rain though.

So to end a long post. We had a wonderful trip and can't wait to go again when the kids are big enough to ride the rides with us!! That'll be 4-5 years from now. It'll take that long to save up for it again!

If you stuck through this long I hope you enjoyed out vacation recap!

An awesome kit!!

The amazing Minna has come up with another beauty of a kit. Check this out:


I absolutely love the little stitched birds and the tag labels, and well, everything! You can pick this up at her store at Scraphead. And she has a matching freebie on her blog right now. I'm so excited to get to work with her!

Today is our final day to get ready for vacation. Which means we have a lot to do. Laundry, grocery shopping, packing, cleaning, and so on. We're really excited to go though. I will be taking my computer so I shouldn't be too AWOL. I've got to have something to do while the kids are napping in the afternoons. And yes, we plan on taking nap breaks. I'd rather do it all slowly and maybe miss some things then try and see everything with cranky kids.

Anyways, off to get crackin' on my to do list. Have a great day!!

Got my scrappin' done early!!

I got a layout done during morning nap time today! This one is for Weeds and Wildflowers using Patricia's Sunflower kit.


Credits and journaling here.

I ran last night in my new shoes. Much more comfortable. I don't feel sore at all today. This was my 3rd run in the Couch to 5K program. It's amazing to me that after just 3 runs I can feel a difference. Running is easier and I have more energy. I just hope I can keep this up while we are on vacation next week. There is a fitness center in the hotel, but who knows how I'll feel after trucking around Disney all day long.

Today we went to Wal-mart and got a bunch of stuff we need for our trip. Sunscreen, diapers, comfy cool clothes, and so on. Tomorrow will be the food shopping trip if I can manage to make a list. I hate making grocery lists. Tonight we are going to some friends' house for dinner. They've got a bunch of old toys that they're going to let us go through and a play kitchen, which I might snag for Ella's birthday. So that's us for today!

P.S. It's the last day to vote for the Queen of the Crop contest, so click the link in my side bar, <------over there, and vote!! We find out the winners tomorrow!! Can't wait!

A new LO, some sickness, and a new CT!

So I completely neglected to make my exciting announcement! The wonderful Minna of miradesigns fame has started selling her designs at Scraphead!! And that's not all, she's asked me to be on her creative team!!! I'm so excited because she makes the coolest, funkiest, freshest kits and I love scrapping with them. So be sure to go check out her store! Here is a LO I did using her Spring is in the Air kit:
Credits here.

I've run into another bout of the flu. This one seems to be more short lived than the 2 week version I had last time. I just need to be better by Sunday when we leave on our vacation. Being sick also kept me from running Week 1 Day 3 of the Couch to 5K program. But I'm determined to do it tonight. I haven't gotten to use my new shoes yet!

We've just been hanging out around the house today, making lists of all the things that need doing before we leave. Wal-mart is going to love us before we get done. So that's the news from my world. Hope you're all having a good one!

Shoes and scrapping.

I finally made it to the shoe store today and they were open this time! I got these:

Lots of good arch support for my rolly polly feet. I haven't gotten to try them yet because today is my rest day. But tomorrow they will get some runnin'!

I've spent a ton of time on this layout today. Another one of those where I just keep tweaking and it's never quite right so I just quit. Here 'tis:

Credits here.

We didn't do much else today. We've ammended our vacation plans. Still going to Orlando, but we're just going to stay 5 days and only do Disney. I was feeling too stressed about how much we were trying to do before. I feel much better about this. The thing I don't feel better about is the 90 degree weather forcasted. Yuck. We still have to find a place to stay. Any suggestions? I also have a fun announcement but it has to wait until I'm allowed to give it! Now you'll have to come back to see what it is.

A new LO!

I did another Weeds and Wildflowers layout. I used one of their older kits that is temporarily not in the store, but just you wait, it's worth having! Here's my page:

Credits here.

I got to use some of my recent purchases that hadn't gotten any use yet. Had fun with this one.

We went to a really fun BBQ today. Lots of fun people and even more yummy food. My family, hubby, kids and all, jumped in the river with their clothes on. I didn't have my camera so no fun pics.

Afterwards I drove into town to try and get some new running shoes, but the store was closed, even though they said they were going to be open. Argh. I was forced to stop at DQ and get a blizzard. I felt much better after that.

I ran tonight. Week 1 Day 2. It hurt a lot more than day 1, but I think that has to do with my cruddy shoes. That will be remedied soon.

Anyways, off to watch some TV.

A funny pic and some motivation.

So I found this website that lets you personalize church signs. Pretty fun, huh? I'm not Baptist, but there were limited sign choices. So you'd better listen to God and vote for me! :o)

I've started a program call Couch to 5K. It's a running program that is nine weeks long and gets you from a non-running state (aka digiscrapping 24/7) to being able to run a 5K. And since I didn't want to do it my self I invited people over at Digishoptalk to join me. You can see the thread here. I've done the first workout and now, 2 days later, my legs are still killing me. I desperately need new shoes but there are no shoe stores around here. But I'll keep going in my cheap ones for now. But here's the program details if you want to check it out.

Today we are heading to another BBQ. This time with people from Anton's class that he just finished. I've never met any of them so we'll see. Other than that we don't have much planned. Anton has the next 2 weeks off so we'd better plan something or we'll get really bored. Still trying to make up our minds about the Disney vacation. Are we going or not.

But time to go get going for the day. Happy Memorial Day!