August 2021: Magic Kingdom

Happy Monday! Here I was, ready to begin a recap of day 2, when I realized day 1 wasn't finished yet! I know these things keep dragging out and I'm sorry - it's been a wild few weeks here since we returned home from our trip!

Hands down, one of our favorite parts of staying at BLT was the easy walkable access to the Magic Kingdom. In fact, we did it twice in one day - once in the morning, then again in the afternoon after our swim!

It's a fairly quick walk - and they have security there, so you don't have to worry about passing through them with a huge crowd at the MK itself.

Seeing the castle all decked out for the 50th Anniversary was a pretty neat thing, too!

Not long after we arrived, this little dude was worn out. Jason and I decided to eat lunch at Sleepy Hollow, and I ordered an extra set of chips for Brayden that we saved for later.

So good!

To give him an extra bit of sleeping time, we decided to visit Carousel of Progress. 

Poor dad was losing an eyelash! 

We were excited to see the TTA open, so after Carousel, we jumped in line for a ride!

Of course, Brayden requested two of his favorites - the Speedway and the Teacups. I think it's hilarious I avoided the Teacups all these years and it's really not that bad of a ride - you can make it what you want!

The next request was Dumbo, so that's where we went!

Quick story about those glasses on my face - I lost them.......in Dumbo.....in the play room. They slipped out of my book sack when I was reaching for something else. They are the Disney Ray Bans - Mickey's 90th birthday edition. When I realized they were missing, I panicked. We had just walked outside to queue up for the ride itself. Thankfully, the cast members let me walk back inside. I searched the room and wasn't able to find the glasses, so I asked the CM's at the table if anyone had turned in a pair of sunglasses. MUCH to my surprise, a wonderful soul had turned them in!! I was so so so grateful!! Those glasses are also now on a leash. And will never come off! HAH!

By mid-afternoon, we knew we wanted a cold snack, so we walked over to Adventureland. Jason's choice was the "backside of water float", and I ordered the kakamora float. Each float came from a different location in Adventureland and mine seriously took forever. Jason was mostly finished with his by the time mine was ready! Crazy!

They were both VERY good, though!

We also ordered Bray a little cup of ice cream. 

After our snack, we went back to Bay Lake Tower to swim, then returned to the Magic Kingdom for the evening.

This trail of ducks were the CUTEST! They were walking in a line into the entryway tunnel! 

Our dinner reservations that evening were at the Plaza Restaurant. 

I'd read mixed reviews about this place online, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect...

The inside of the restaurant was cute and quaint. I was honestly surprised at how small it was inside!

Brayden had chicken tenders and fries. Not gonna lie, the batter on these tenders was good!

I ordered the meatloaf which is one of the dishes they are known for...

...and Jason had the plaza burger. 

To be honest, I don't think we will be back. This was likely a one and done for us. 

After dinner, we walked outside and saw the crowds lining up for Happily Ever After. We still had about an hour and 15 minutes before the show, but I knew this would be one of our only chances to see it this trip and likely our last time to ever see the show.

So, we staked out a spot and Brayden fell asleep...again! Hah!

The fireworks were gorgeous and magical and everything I love about Disney nighttime shows. I'll be honest - I hated to see Wishes go and it took a while for Happily Ever After to stick with me. Now, I'm going to be sad to see this one go. There might have even been tears. Ok, there were lots of tears...

After the fireworks, we had 45 minutes to play, so we made our way to Tomorrowland for Brayden's new favorite ride - the Astro Orbiter!

We also stayed at the MK WAY past his bedtime but who cares...YOLO!

They were gearing up for their first Boo Bash of the season, so some pumpkin decor was already out. So much fun to see!

...and that's a wrap on day one of our August trip! Day 2 coming at you this week...promise! :)

Fitness Friday - 9/14

Long time no Fitness Friday!

This was our first full week back at work from vacation and we really got back into the swing of things! Brayden is doing awesome at Mother's Day Out and loves his little class! I was also able to get back into the groove with running and Orangetheory as well. Let's take a look!

Currently Training For:

• Dopey Challenge 2018 - Walt Disney World
• Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon 2018 - New Orleans, LA 
• Contraband Days 5 Miler 
• 4 on the 4th
• Castaway Cay 5K (Cancelled)
• Rock n Roll San Antonino Half 
• Fairy Tale Challenge 

Sunday - Rest Day
Monday - 3 Mile Run with Brayden
Tuesday - Orangetheory Endurance Workout
Wednesday - Orangetheory Strength Workout
Thursday - Rest Day
Friday - To be determined! :)
Saturday - 5 Mile Run

What a fun week we had!

Towards the end of last week, I had a small punch biopsy on my lower back which resulted in two stitches. All is well and nothing is wrong, but I was instructed not to work out for "a while". In my mind, "a while" translated to take it easy on the weekend and it's ok to resume on Monday...so yeah, that's what I decided to go with. Nurses are stubborn folks, I tell ya.

So, on Monday after work, I loaded Brayden up and we went out on a 3 mile run around the neighborhood! It had been a while since he'd gone with me and he enjoyed seeing familiar sights. About halfway through, I noticed the air in one of the tires was almost completely flat. Whomp whomp.

Oh well, we still kept a good cadence and pace! I was happy with it!

After work on Tuesday, I stopped by Orangetheory for an endurance workout.

This. Workout. Was. So. Tough.

We did mini bands along with other crazy things on the weight floor. The treadmill workout wasn't easy either. I've also noticed a huge change in my splat points since this new formulation they've come up with. My calories and average heart rate stay about the same, but I'm in red a LOT more. I used to feel like I had to workout to the max in order to just get in the orange zone and now, I'm hitting the red zone when I work out in the same manner.
 

So, I took that idea into account on Wednesday when I returned for my next Orangetheory workout and I dialed it back just a smidge. To be honest, I felt kind of tired from the previous day's workout, but by dialing it back a little, I actually felt great! I also love that no two days are the same movements, so where we did a TON of squats on Tuesday, we did mostly upper body on Wednesday. You'll notice my red zone time is much less, but my average heart rate and calories burned are close. I think I'll continue to take this approach from now on.

Thursday was a rest day because I was seriously sore from three days in a row of pretty hard workouts/running. I am pretty sure I haven't done anything like that since Dopey's Challenge in January!

Other fun things this week included a Disney Cruse Line inspired dinner of Jerk Chicken and Dole Whips for dessert. These "dole whips" are super easy to make and relatively low in calorie! I was shocked to see that this ranged about 70 calories per serving!

I'll definitely share this recipe in an upcoming post soon!

I also enjoyed a lot of fun Brayden time this weekend since Jason was working nights! We spent Saturday morning at the mall, playing with a friend!

He LOVES being around other kids and he especially loves the little playground in the mall. It's so much fun and a great way to spend a gloomy Saturday morning. Auntie Anne's pretzels might also be right across the way and they get me almost every time. Dangit.

Seriously, though...how grown up is he?! I just love it!

Well, that's my week in a nutshell! I hope to do some yard work this afternoon/evening and plan on a distance run tomorrow. I'll have to bring Brayden along, so air in the Bob tires will be necessary this time around!

Have a great weekend! Do you have any fun plans?

Disney at Christmas Day 5: Animal Kingdom

On our final day in Disney World, we definitely made the most of our park hopper passes! We began the morning at Animal Kingdom, took a short afternoon nap, had dinner at Fort Wilderness, took a bus to Hollywood Studios to say goodbye to the Osborne Lights one last time, then ended the evening in the Magic Kingdom for the Electric Light Parade and Wishes. All of that and I was in my second trimester of pregnancy! It was by far our highest mileage/step day of our trip walking wise....WHEW...I'm tired reading all of that!


If you're interested in the other aspects of our trip, here's previous recaps:

• Exploring Orlando Area/Grand Floridian Gingerbread House
• Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
• The Osborne Lights 
• Epcot  
• Animal Kingdom
• Hollywood Studios & Magic Kingdom at night
• Beignets at Port Orleans French Quarter

The morning spent at Animal Kingdom was a busy one! It took forever for us to get through bag check...insanity!

I loved seeing the Animal Kingdom tree all together! Last year during Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5K, this tree was located "behind the scenes" in several large pieces on big truck flats.

Our first stop was Everest for Jason to use his fast pass. I offered to let him use mine as well but he didn't want to go on a second ride. Oh well.

I might have enjoyed a pastry and some coffee while waiting! :)

I hadn't been to Animal Kingdom since the new Harambe area opened up! It was really nice and I loved the attention to detail. We did check out the menus in the Harambe Market but decided on our Yak and Yeti favorite instead.

With my being pregnant, we also happened to check out a few attractions we don't see on a regular basis...like Flights of Wonder!

It amazes me that the tour guide guy Cast Member is still there! Wonder how long he's been a CM? As long as I can remember, for sure...he's been at every Flights of Wonder I've ever seen dating back to 1999, I believe! (Edited to add...I found out that he's been a WDW CM for 26 years! Awesome!)

Our afternoon treat consisted of a Dole Whip! I was so excited to find that these were sold in Animal Kingdom!

Our last stop at Animal Kingdom was at the Festival of the Lion King!

This was my first time to see the Lion King in it's new theater in Africa and I loved the new location and setup!

After leaving Animal Kingdom, we returned to our resort for an afternoon rest. Our dinner reservations were at Trails End at Fort Wilderness, and we had plenty of time before we had to leave again! I am starting to love afternoon WDW naps! :)

We decided to take a bus to the MK, then a boat to Fort Wilderness which definitely turned out to be the best option! I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching the sunset over Bay Lake! So pretty!

I snagged a "first visit" button for Baby Seal from our resort lobby and wore it the rest of the evening! Corny, I know but it was fun!

Dinner was delicious as always and we will definitely be back! It's so worth the trip over to the campground if you haven't been in the past!

Well, that's enough for now. Since this day was rather long, I'm breaking this recap up into two parts.

Up next: Our evening at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom!

Have you ever eaten at Trails End? What are your thoughts?