Feb 17, 2011, I started running Couch to 5K for the second time ever and ran about 1.3 miles (ok, it was probably closer to 2 mile!). On Feb 26, 2012, I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon. I wrote this in the week after the race, using a bunch of other blogs as memory triggers. I'll be honest, finishing this entry made me cry. Like the Disney vacation post, pictures will follow soon! (or check facebook, they're all over there!)
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Princess race recap
I was way too nervous about getting up on time, so I was up at 11, 12 something, 1 something, then up for good by 2. The alarm went off 3, and then Todd's backup phone alarm at 3:15. I was up and dressed by around 3:30. I had a full change of clothes for the day, including sweatshirt, two containers of milk, and 3 gatorade bars, and put on my throw away sweatshirt.
They weren't kidding when they said it was a 20 minute walk from the buses to the corrals. First, we walked passed the finish line to the family reunion area. That's when I had breakfast. Then we moved through bag check, and I stuffed the extra milk and bars in my pockets. I hit the portapotties, and milled about.
On the walk to the corals, I chatted with a bunch of college kids doing the race, including a few guys. One was wearing a pink boa, and his friends were trying to convince him that one of the women was going to accuse him of making fun of the race and rip the boa off him. I lost them in the crowded when they stopped to take pictures on the old tram that was parted out back. We saw him in Epcot that afternoon, and the boa survived :) I then talked to a woman in corral A. She was injured and just as surprised at her placement as I was. She comes down to Disney every vacation to help her son's asthma, and decided to try the half. She injured something (ankle, knee?) and was having surgery after the race. Once we got into the corrals, I tried to escape to go to the bathroom again. The nearest one was in corral F or G and since they didn't want anyone jumping up in corrals, I couldn't get back there. I tried chalking it up to nervousness, since I also was queasy. Very queasy. And cold. My legs were shivering by the time we started.
Finally, Bibbitty boppity boo and we were off. It took me a bit to get my speed up, probably due to the chills, but it's better than coming out too fast. I got up to speed and realized I really did need to go. No problem, I knew there were plenty of bathrooms along the way. Honestly, I can't remember the sequence, everything is a little fuzzy. I remember seeing the pirate ship and taking pictures, I remember the woman lying in the middle of the road with a yellow jacketed volunteer diverting traffic around here, and about a half dozen runners with her. I heard her angry, injured voice yell "I don't know!" which I'm sure was in response to "how did you fall" being asked for the umpteenth time. Apparently, she broke her shoulder and upper arm in the fall. I remember seeing the 6 portapotties and short lines which didn't move at all. Then seeing a woman race past me from shrubs. I didn't want to lose too much time and the shrubs were pretty dense! Then I was back in the race, keeping my 11 ish min/ mile pace.
They really do up the route with pomp and circumstance. On the way to the Magic Kingdom, I remember seeing the pirate ship, a hot air balloon, stilt walkers, the "heroes" from all the movies with "I need a hero" blasting. The first 5 miles went surprisingly quickly. At mile 4, a cute little old lady in a wheel chair yelled "run Snow White" as I passed her. She was so cute! Before I knew it, we were going through the "toll booth" entrance to the magic kingdom and then, next thing I know, I'm running down Main Street! We zigged around to tomorrow land, behind the carousel and then you could see the castle. It got difficult, as everyone stopped to take photos. As I got closer, I could see the trumpeters above the arch. I didn't know if I should stop or run faster, it was exciting! Of course, my nose was runny, and in the video, you can see me wipe my nose coming out of the castle. Typical! We ran through frontierland, and I saw Jessie going on break, then, it was back out to the highway.
At this point, you know that it's 6 miles until the next park, and The On Ramp is still ahead, so it gets tough. At the half way point, the blast a power song, which you can hear for almost a mile. This year, it was Kelly Clarkson's "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger". Right as the chorus started, another girl and I started signing. It was the weakest, squeakiest, worse rendition I've ever heard. We made eye contact, blushed and stopped singing, which was probably best for everyone involved. Then the Prince Charmings were on the side of the road. Three or four guys in tuxes, holding pillows with shoes (I saw a flip flop, a sneaker and a pump) asking the runners to try on the shoes so they could find a wife. That made me laugh. They also had a fire truck (yeah, firefighters just don't do it for me... Dad was a firefighter...) and the cliff shots (I brought my honey stingers, way tastier!).
Then, Mile 10 and The On Ramp. In a car, they look harmless enough, but running up on is a whole other ball of wax! It's a nice flat course, only 69 ft rise, and the bulk of it is here. Plus, the road is angled. Half way up, Sarge from Toy Story was there, shouting "you can do it, soldier!" through his megaphone. I have to say, the sliding sideways made the hill even worse. But once you get to the top, you can see Epcot! But there's still a whole 5 K ahead of you, so the joy is a little short lived. As I ran over the 15K mat, I turned to the woman next to me, and said "We can do a 5K, right?" and she just laughed and said "I hope so!".
We went passed all of the displays we saw at the beginning. When we went past the balloon, they were playing very mellow music. I desperately needed some motivation, so I started talking to myself (come on, everyone talks to themselves when they run!). This I can remember clearly. I said/thought "come on, you're posting your times on Facebook, and you're family and friends are watching. What would they say right now?" before I even finished that thought, I heard my mom's voice yelling "Go, Nicoleeeeeeeee!!!!!". Needless to say, that was enough to keep me from walking past the mellow balloon.
Right before mile 12, there were the villainesses and a band playing Disco Inferno. I thought I was kind of mean, since ever time they said "burn, baby, burn" all I could think of was my legs burning. But we were running down hill, so it wasn't all bad. At Epcot was right past them. Running into Epcot was amazing. There was a woman in a ECV holding a sign that read "I'm a perfect stranger and I'm proud of you". I managed to not cry right then. I then saw the Mile 12 marker and yelled "holy shit, we're actually going to do this!" and got 2 or 3 very excited "I know!" in response.
When you get into Epcot, there are people everyone, and they're all yelling "almost there!" They're all lying. It's a full mile to get through Epcot. I sped up too soon and walked through the middle of Epcot. I got a high five from a Vietnam vet who called me honey as I was running out of Epcot. Then you see the families. People were around 6 deep, cheering, looking for people they know, yelling out princess names. I was looking for my guys, but didn't think I'd find them. Then, you make a right turn, and the choir is there. Still managed not to cry. Then the route straightened out and there it is: the finish line, the spectator stand, the announcer yelling out names, Donald Duck and the clock. 2:30- something. I couldn't tell you what it was. I just ran and tried not to cry. Apparently, I threw an arm up in the air when I finished (thank god for the photos and videos). As soon as I walked off the mat, I just lost it and cried. Justin was there, and I got a hug and sobbed on the poor kid.
I cried because I just ran 13.1 miles in 2:34, when 53 weeks before my average run was around 2 miles in 30 plus minutes. I ran 13.1 miles 2 months after hitting a wall at 8 miles and calling for a ride home. I ran 13.1 miles when I can still remember days that climbing stairs or running to a meeting would leave me breathless and overheated.
I got through to the family reunion area, dried my tears and looked for my guys. They were stuck on the bus and missed seeing me finish. I called my mom, but she was out and I didn't think to call her cell. But it didn't matter. My guys found me and I got my hugs. My mom and dad called me and was (and still is) thrilled and proud of me.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Disney Vacation 2012
Ok, I don't have any photos in yet, but I wanted to at least get the up before it was too out of date. Photos to follow!
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Day 1
Well, not only did we survive the trip to Florida, but the boys did great. No crying, arguments or meltdowns from 6 am till bed at 8:15. We got to the airport over 2 hrs early, which was significantly better than the family in line at security behind us. They showed up at 8 for an 8 am flight. They had 6 minutes to get through security. Surprisingly, they made it!
The boys were great waiting, on the flight and even using the bathroom on the flight. Pete's ears bugged him a bit during landing, but the iPad kept them occupied. The ride to the hotel was quick, and once we checked in we had a nice afternoon.
We can see the main Savannah from our room, and saw giraffe, zebra, cattle, red hog, and various deer already. Before we checked in we had snacks in the lounge for tea time (clotted cream on scones!) then checked in before pool time including a nice little slide. Then more snacks! (Todd ate goat cheese and sun dried tomato hummus, I enjoyed African stuffed bread and the boys tried corn cakes but weren't impressed). We wandered around and roasted marshmallows while watching the flamingos, played on the playground, where Pete managed to get stuck on the twirly fire pole. We wandered around until dinner, where Pete ate four chicken legs, 3 mini corn breads, 3 strawberries, 2 penne pastas, and 2 cinnamon chocolate mousse petite fours. Brian only had 2 chicken legs, but managed to keep pace with the corn bread and desserts (brownies instead), and a small pile of strawberries. There were different kinds of African polenta, my favorite was with spinach. The peanut soup was spicy and peanuty. Overall, a tasty dinner.
Then, we went to the night vision, and saw some small and large deer with night vision goggles. Super cool! It's now 826, everyone's asleep, and the alarm is set for 630 to hit the magic kingdom.
Day 2
We did the magic kingdom. And I mean the whole thing! Except for Tom Sawyers Island, the train and the river boat. We hit adventure land first. Pirate of the Caribbean did not go over well with Brian. At all. The jungle cruise was a surprise hit, but things starting going really well after splash mountain. That's when Brian declared he liked all the rides so far, except the pirates. We finished adventure land and frontierland with barely any lines. Then came "hell alley" between It's a small world and peter pans ride. Stroller parking, skinny walkway and way too many toddlers. We got a fast pass to avoid the 1 hr wait on peter pan and waiting 20 minutes for small world. The boys loved it. Their mouths were hanging open, it was adorable. Somewhere in between we had lunch. The Peter pan ride was not worth an hours wait! Thank goodness for fast pass. Actually, we skipped snow whites scary adventure,since the lines were worse than Peter pan. Pete and I did space mountain together. When we got off, the quote was "I did not like it at all". I was slightly more favorable, but Todd concurred with Pete. Which means we don't have to wait in line for Everest on Thursday! We saw the presidents on presidents day, which totally tickled Pete! Buzz's ride was fun, Todd got double my score (lucky shot on Zurg at the end. Before the last room, I was up by 10K). We bought tons of ride photos and Brian wanted a woody Mickey ears. Which I ended up wearing, much to everyone's enjoyment. Later bed time by an hour tonight, tomorrow might be tougher, but theres extra magic hours for Epcot from 8-9, and after having the longest wait be only 40 minutes, the boys are already spoiled. Pete loves his fast pass!
Day 3
Up early. Really early. Todd woke up around 4 and noticed a sleeping giraffe outside our room. So, what does he do? Take a few photos. Unfortunately, the amount of noise to take a few photos sounds like a small ruckus, so, me, Pete and the giraffe woke up. By 8, the humans had arrived at magic hours at Epcot. Getting in was a bit long, but once we were it, we went to soarin' in the land. Take off was a bit surprising, but we managed to get Pete to open his eyes and we all really enjoyed it. I can understand why the line gets to over 100 minutes. We then hit the gentle green version of mission space. Well, Pete a d Todd did, while Brian and I solved problems with our space team and won the race to mars! I went on mission space after Pete's ringing endorsement of "I don't want to do it again, but you should do it." My car was 4 adult women, on the green side, but it was fun and no barf bags needed. Then we went to the seas with Nemo, which was cute. And the test track, which I think is probably Brian's favorite given his laughter when we hit 60 on the straightaway. Pete, was screaming on all the turns and at the end managed to say "I want to get off this thing!" not exactly a ringing endorsement. We hit captain eo to appease mommy. 3D was cool and the added 4D of alive sneezes was cute. Then we hit Ellen's Energy. Best part was Bill Nye the science guy. Brian was not impressed with the extremely loud dinosaurs. I think this is tied with pirates as his two least favorite rides. Then we went over to La Neuba. The clowns hit Pete's funny bone. His laughter with a bad timing of lemonade from daddy resulted in Pete snarfing the lemonade all over the woman sitting in front of him. Of course, he then had to go to the bathroom with 15 minutes left in the show. We weren't the favorites of our neighbors. The show was amazing, but very teen oriented with two trick bicyclist (one on a dirt bike, one on a street bike) and two jump ropers. I missed the shear feats of strength that the first show I saw had. We had a late dinner at a chip shop in downtown Disney and the boys passed out on the bus ride home. Fortunately, Hollywood studios doesn't open till 9, so maybe we can sleep in.
Day 4
Well, sleeping in is relative. I got up at 630 and went for a 20 minute run. Felt good, but it was hot inside. I hope it's not that bad on Sunday. We did everything we wanted to do n Hollywood studios, which wasn't a whole lot. We went right to toy story and got the fast pass for 1 ish. It broke down first thing but was running fine. Walked over to star tours for a 10 minute wait. Bribed Brian by promising him an ewok doll when we got off. The ride was fun, we went to wookie planet and jar jar binds planet. Only down side was the girl behind Todd threw up. Of course, we hit the gift shop and went crazy. Of course Brian got his ewok doll. Todd caved and got Pete a darth goofy (he almost caved for Mickey obi wan). Then there was Pete's R2D2 ears, Todd's bobba fett shirt and my star wars 77 varsity tee shirt. When geeks go wild... We saw the muppet show, the Pixar parade, lightning McQueen stunt show, Indiana jones stunt show and the toy story ride. The entry to toy story was incredible, it was Andy's room! The game was fun, Todd only beat me by 9K points, but Brian had double Pete's score. We went back to Epcot for dinner at the corral seas. The app was real good, the food was ok. The boys had fun watching the divers and sharks. We hit spaceship earth, since it didn't have a wait then hung out in the lounge for a bit. Early morning tomorrow, safari breakfast, character lunch, then safari dinner.
Day 5
Warning: I'm writing this right after a dinner safari, with 3 different wine pairing...more on that later.
We woke up at the crack of dawn to get ready for the breakfast safari. We took a bus over to animal kingdom, and got to see the "behind the scenes" stuff, like the employee parking lot and borrowable bicycles (since the lot is that far away from the park) and the barns for the animals. Then we got on the ride aka safari and saw pretty much every animal. The rhino was running around, the lion wasn't totally asleep, all in all, it was pretty cool. Then we went for breakfast, which was good, todd loved the banana French toast I liked the peri peri omelet. We hit the Kali river rapids first thing, which was a good idea, until Todd and Pete were aimed down hill and Pete got drenched. He started crying because he thought his "favorite" sweatshirt was ruined. Once we calmed down, we saw Dino-Sue, which thrilled Pete, and the triceratops ride for Brian. Then we went on dinosaur and managed to terrify both boys. The picture is classic, Pete with his eyes closed, Brian with his hands over his ears, Todd hugging Brian and me giving the carnosarius a dirty look. We then went to the bugs movie, which was fun, although the smoke, spiders and grasshopper freaked out Pete and Brian. The "beetles" running in the seat was funny though. The tree of life is pretty cool. We didn't get to see a lot of the animals, since we had the jiko dinner, we left at 2. Spent some time at the pool, which was great once the boys got life jackets. Then, dropped the boys off at simba's cub house (after a bit of confusion regarding 345 vs 430 start time) and we went on safari. The evening one was just around the hotel, and we saw running zebras and a very confused ostrich trying to get out of the way. Huey Lewis the Gnu, a giraffe that didn't notice a truck with a dozen people on board. Then to jiko for the tasting menu. The food was incredible. Fortunately, we got to keep a copy of the menu. The beef crispy rolls, and chicken were both deemed really good by the 2 of us. The 3 wines were great. And the creme brûlée was pretty much like my pumpkin pie (ok, ma's pumpkin pie).
Day 6
Went back tithe magic kingdom today. It was tough getting the boys out of bed, but we managed. Had to get a fast pass for splash mountain, since it wasn't working when we got there. Saw Tom Sawyers island and Peter told Brian a little about the book. Took the ferry boat and saw the construction on thunder mountain railroad. The construction workers all waved to the boys, it was really cute. Finally got to go through the castle, and danced withe the parade again. This time, the gorilla from Tarzan danced with Pete. We spilt a waffle with nutella and fruit for snack. Then, since it was hot, instead of going to epcot after lunch, we came back to the hotel and hit the pool. We went to kadani village, which has a bigger water slide and played on that all afternoon. Then we went back to Epcot for pasta in the park. The food wasn't great, but I got my picture with snow white and we had the best seats in the park for the fireworks. Before they started, we were harassed by a family of ducks. Brian fell asleep about 15 minutes before the show started and saw the first volley, but that was about it. We had to carry him all the way back to the bus, and to the room.
Day 7
Went to the Mara for breakfast, discovered bobotie is pretty darn tasty. Then over to espn for packet pick up,and the boys race. The line was long, but I got ears, a shirt and hoodie. The boys did great on their race, Pete won by a nose. Then over to animal kingdom to see the animals. Kinda cool, but a little rushed since we had the luau at 5. We did see all the animals and begged jay to get the boys last stamp on the discovery tour without doing the activity. The luau was nice, Pete ate a ton of chicken again and even went on stage to learn a dance. Other than tucker house and jiko, the food hasn't really been much better than pretty good. Oh, and boma's peanut soup. The traditional dance was good, but it was Disney-fied to the point I expect Lilo and stitch to show up. It's not quite 9, Todd is snoring, the boys are asleep and I'm packed for the race. The alarm is set for 3.
Day 8
Didn't get to do this last night... Anyway, I woke up at 2, which was an hour before the alarm. Got up at three with the alarm. At 3:15, Todd's phone when off (aaawwww) and I was downstairs by 3:30. Did the race (more on that later) then hit Epcot for the day. We got the boys all of their Duffy country stamps, and more photos with Duffy, Pooh and Tigger. Went on the Mexico ride again, and Norway. Visited figment, talked with crush the turtle (that was super cool, the talked to the kids. Pete thought it was funny). We also went to the lion king environmental movie and watched Japanese candy making, more of carving, it was impressive. Pete wanted her to make an elephant, but I don't think it was on her list. We went to Canada for an early dinner. The steak and risotto was excellent, the boys loved their chocolate moose, and the maple creme brûlée was out of this world! They even used maple sugar on top. Then we went for a nap, thinking the fireworks at the magic kingdom were at 10. Instead, they were at 8 and we saw them from the bus. Back to the hotel for some tv, a few gifts for the boys since Pete isn't chewing his clothes. This morning, we bought almost all of our left over snacks, and got shirts for ourselves and the boys from the gift shop. At the airport now, with a bunch of women from the race. Everyone is still wearing their medals.
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Day 1
Well, not only did we survive the trip to Florida, but the boys did great. No crying, arguments or meltdowns from 6 am till bed at 8:15. We got to the airport over 2 hrs early, which was significantly better than the family in line at security behind us. They showed up at 8 for an 8 am flight. They had 6 minutes to get through security. Surprisingly, they made it!
The boys were great waiting, on the flight and even using the bathroom on the flight. Pete's ears bugged him a bit during landing, but the iPad kept them occupied. The ride to the hotel was quick, and once we checked in we had a nice afternoon.
We can see the main Savannah from our room, and saw giraffe, zebra, cattle, red hog, and various deer already. Before we checked in we had snacks in the lounge for tea time (clotted cream on scones!) then checked in before pool time including a nice little slide. Then more snacks! (Todd ate goat cheese and sun dried tomato hummus, I enjoyed African stuffed bread and the boys tried corn cakes but weren't impressed). We wandered around and roasted marshmallows while watching the flamingos, played on the playground, where Pete managed to get stuck on the twirly fire pole. We wandered around until dinner, where Pete ate four chicken legs, 3 mini corn breads, 3 strawberries, 2 penne pastas, and 2 cinnamon chocolate mousse petite fours. Brian only had 2 chicken legs, but managed to keep pace with the corn bread and desserts (brownies instead), and a small pile of strawberries. There were different kinds of African polenta, my favorite was with spinach. The peanut soup was spicy and peanuty. Overall, a tasty dinner.
Then, we went to the night vision, and saw some small and large deer with night vision goggles. Super cool! It's now 826, everyone's asleep, and the alarm is set for 630 to hit the magic kingdom.
Day 2
We did the magic kingdom. And I mean the whole thing! Except for Tom Sawyers Island, the train and the river boat. We hit adventure land first. Pirate of the Caribbean did not go over well with Brian. At all. The jungle cruise was a surprise hit, but things starting going really well after splash mountain. That's when Brian declared he liked all the rides so far, except the pirates. We finished adventure land and frontierland with barely any lines. Then came "hell alley" between It's a small world and peter pans ride. Stroller parking, skinny walkway and way too many toddlers. We got a fast pass to avoid the 1 hr wait on peter pan and waiting 20 minutes for small world. The boys loved it. Their mouths were hanging open, it was adorable. Somewhere in between we had lunch. The Peter pan ride was not worth an hours wait! Thank goodness for fast pass. Actually, we skipped snow whites scary adventure,since the lines were worse than Peter pan. Pete and I did space mountain together. When we got off, the quote was "I did not like it at all". I was slightly more favorable, but Todd concurred with Pete. Which means we don't have to wait in line for Everest on Thursday! We saw the presidents on presidents day, which totally tickled Pete! Buzz's ride was fun, Todd got double my score (lucky shot on Zurg at the end. Before the last room, I was up by 10K). We bought tons of ride photos and Brian wanted a woody Mickey ears. Which I ended up wearing, much to everyone's enjoyment. Later bed time by an hour tonight, tomorrow might be tougher, but theres extra magic hours for Epcot from 8-9, and after having the longest wait be only 40 minutes, the boys are already spoiled. Pete loves his fast pass!
Day 3
Up early. Really early. Todd woke up around 4 and noticed a sleeping giraffe outside our room. So, what does he do? Take a few photos. Unfortunately, the amount of noise to take a few photos sounds like a small ruckus, so, me, Pete and the giraffe woke up. By 8, the humans had arrived at magic hours at Epcot. Getting in was a bit long, but once we were it, we went to soarin' in the land. Take off was a bit surprising, but we managed to get Pete to open his eyes and we all really enjoyed it. I can understand why the line gets to over 100 minutes. We then hit the gentle green version of mission space. Well, Pete a d Todd did, while Brian and I solved problems with our space team and won the race to mars! I went on mission space after Pete's ringing endorsement of "I don't want to do it again, but you should do it." My car was 4 adult women, on the green side, but it was fun and no barf bags needed. Then we went to the seas with Nemo, which was cute. And the test track, which I think is probably Brian's favorite given his laughter when we hit 60 on the straightaway. Pete, was screaming on all the turns and at the end managed to say "I want to get off this thing!" not exactly a ringing endorsement. We hit captain eo to appease mommy. 3D was cool and the added 4D of alive sneezes was cute. Then we hit Ellen's Energy. Best part was Bill Nye the science guy. Brian was not impressed with the extremely loud dinosaurs. I think this is tied with pirates as his two least favorite rides. Then we went over to La Neuba. The clowns hit Pete's funny bone. His laughter with a bad timing of lemonade from daddy resulted in Pete snarfing the lemonade all over the woman sitting in front of him. Of course, he then had to go to the bathroom with 15 minutes left in the show. We weren't the favorites of our neighbors. The show was amazing, but very teen oriented with two trick bicyclist (one on a dirt bike, one on a street bike) and two jump ropers. I missed the shear feats of strength that the first show I saw had. We had a late dinner at a chip shop in downtown Disney and the boys passed out on the bus ride home. Fortunately, Hollywood studios doesn't open till 9, so maybe we can sleep in.
Day 4
Well, sleeping in is relative. I got up at 630 and went for a 20 minute run. Felt good, but it was hot inside. I hope it's not that bad on Sunday. We did everything we wanted to do n Hollywood studios, which wasn't a whole lot. We went right to toy story and got the fast pass for 1 ish. It broke down first thing but was running fine. Walked over to star tours for a 10 minute wait. Bribed Brian by promising him an ewok doll when we got off. The ride was fun, we went to wookie planet and jar jar binds planet. Only down side was the girl behind Todd threw up. Of course, we hit the gift shop and went crazy. Of course Brian got his ewok doll. Todd caved and got Pete a darth goofy (he almost caved for Mickey obi wan). Then there was Pete's R2D2 ears, Todd's bobba fett shirt and my star wars 77 varsity tee shirt. When geeks go wild... We saw the muppet show, the Pixar parade, lightning McQueen stunt show, Indiana jones stunt show and the toy story ride. The entry to toy story was incredible, it was Andy's room! The game was fun, Todd only beat me by 9K points, but Brian had double Pete's score. We went back to Epcot for dinner at the corral seas. The app was real good, the food was ok. The boys had fun watching the divers and sharks. We hit spaceship earth, since it didn't have a wait then hung out in the lounge for a bit. Early morning tomorrow, safari breakfast, character lunch, then safari dinner.
Day 5
Warning: I'm writing this right after a dinner safari, with 3 different wine pairing...more on that later.
We woke up at the crack of dawn to get ready for the breakfast safari. We took a bus over to animal kingdom, and got to see the "behind the scenes" stuff, like the employee parking lot and borrowable bicycles (since the lot is that far away from the park) and the barns for the animals. Then we got on the ride aka safari and saw pretty much every animal. The rhino was running around, the lion wasn't totally asleep, all in all, it was pretty cool. Then we went for breakfast, which was good, todd loved the banana French toast I liked the peri peri omelet. We hit the Kali river rapids first thing, which was a good idea, until Todd and Pete were aimed down hill and Pete got drenched. He started crying because he thought his "favorite" sweatshirt was ruined. Once we calmed down, we saw Dino-Sue, which thrilled Pete, and the triceratops ride for Brian. Then we went on dinosaur and managed to terrify both boys. The picture is classic, Pete with his eyes closed, Brian with his hands over his ears, Todd hugging Brian and me giving the carnosarius a dirty look. We then went to the bugs movie, which was fun, although the smoke, spiders and grasshopper freaked out Pete and Brian. The "beetles" running in the seat was funny though. The tree of life is pretty cool. We didn't get to see a lot of the animals, since we had the jiko dinner, we left at 2. Spent some time at the pool, which was great once the boys got life jackets. Then, dropped the boys off at simba's cub house (after a bit of confusion regarding 345 vs 430 start time) and we went on safari. The evening one was just around the hotel, and we saw running zebras and a very confused ostrich trying to get out of the way. Huey Lewis the Gnu, a giraffe that didn't notice a truck with a dozen people on board. Then to jiko for the tasting menu. The food was incredible. Fortunately, we got to keep a copy of the menu. The beef crispy rolls, and chicken were both deemed really good by the 2 of us. The 3 wines were great. And the creme brûlée was pretty much like my pumpkin pie (ok, ma's pumpkin pie).
Day 6
Went back tithe magic kingdom today. It was tough getting the boys out of bed, but we managed. Had to get a fast pass for splash mountain, since it wasn't working when we got there. Saw Tom Sawyers island and Peter told Brian a little about the book. Took the ferry boat and saw the construction on thunder mountain railroad. The construction workers all waved to the boys, it was really cute. Finally got to go through the castle, and danced withe the parade again. This time, the gorilla from Tarzan danced with Pete. We spilt a waffle with nutella and fruit for snack. Then, since it was hot, instead of going to epcot after lunch, we came back to the hotel and hit the pool. We went to kadani village, which has a bigger water slide and played on that all afternoon. Then we went back to Epcot for pasta in the park. The food wasn't great, but I got my picture with snow white and we had the best seats in the park for the fireworks. Before they started, we were harassed by a family of ducks. Brian fell asleep about 15 minutes before the show started and saw the first volley, but that was about it. We had to carry him all the way back to the bus, and to the room.
Day 7
Went to the Mara for breakfast, discovered bobotie is pretty darn tasty. Then over to espn for packet pick up,and the boys race. The line was long, but I got ears, a shirt and hoodie. The boys did great on their race, Pete won by a nose. Then over to animal kingdom to see the animals. Kinda cool, but a little rushed since we had the luau at 5. We did see all the animals and begged jay to get the boys last stamp on the discovery tour without doing the activity. The luau was nice, Pete ate a ton of chicken again and even went on stage to learn a dance. Other than tucker house and jiko, the food hasn't really been much better than pretty good. Oh, and boma's peanut soup. The traditional dance was good, but it was Disney-fied to the point I expect Lilo and stitch to show up. It's not quite 9, Todd is snoring, the boys are asleep and I'm packed for the race. The alarm is set for 3.
Day 8
Didn't get to do this last night... Anyway, I woke up at 2, which was an hour before the alarm. Got up at three with the alarm. At 3:15, Todd's phone when off (aaawwww) and I was downstairs by 3:30. Did the race (more on that later) then hit Epcot for the day. We got the boys all of their Duffy country stamps, and more photos with Duffy, Pooh and Tigger. Went on the Mexico ride again, and Norway. Visited figment, talked with crush the turtle (that was super cool, the talked to the kids. Pete thought it was funny). We also went to the lion king environmental movie and watched Japanese candy making, more of carving, it was impressive. Pete wanted her to make an elephant, but I don't think it was on her list. We went to Canada for an early dinner. The steak and risotto was excellent, the boys loved their chocolate moose, and the maple creme brûlée was out of this world! They even used maple sugar on top. Then we went for a nap, thinking the fireworks at the magic kingdom were at 10. Instead, they were at 8 and we saw them from the bus. Back to the hotel for some tv, a few gifts for the boys since Pete isn't chewing his clothes. This morning, we bought almost all of our left over snacks, and got shirts for ourselves and the boys from the gift shop. At the airport now, with a bunch of women from the race. Everyone is still wearing their medals.
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