Halloween 2021

Happy November! I know I've been MIA for a while now and holy cow...it's because life has been insane. Honestly, I know everyone's life is insane so it's not a legit excuse, but there it is. For me to miss not only my dog grooming appointment but also the appointment I rescheduled because I missed the first one...well, if you've been around here long enough, you know that's totally out of character for me! So in the early morning hours of this Thursday, I decided to take a few moments to sneak on here and share a little glimpse of our Halloween of 2021. 

As I think back on my blog and what I want to get out of it over time, I like to not only share our lives "in the moment", but also to look back on it as a resource and to reflect back on memories. So if I'm absent here or there, please be patient with me. I've said it from the moment I had Brayden and I'll say it again - life passes us by SO quickly. I'm trying to soak up every single moment I can with my sweet five year old boy!

Anyway, back to Halloween! If you remember from his birthday party this year, my child has been obsessed with Moana over the past year or so. When we were discussing Halloween costume items, he immediately jumped on Maui. Since we already had Maui's hook on hand from Brayden's birthday party, the rest was fairly easy to put together. His costume came from Amazon and the necklace from Etsy. For reference, I did purchase Maui's hook on eBay back in the spring. 

When I told one of my best friends about Brayden's costume, she asked her daughter if she wanted to be Moana and viola - their duo was born! We attended various trunk or treat type activities over the course of a couple of weekends and they were SO cute!! 

Jason was off work for Halloween weekend, so we had the chance to trick or treat together! Yay!

We attempted the Maui wig for about zero point three seconds, then it went away!

So, Jason took it! HAH!

On Halloween night, we visited several safe neighborhoods in our area. It's so much fun when everyone comes out and sits at the edge of their driveway to join in the festivities!

At one house in particular, they had the grim reaper there, giving out ramen noodles. Seriously the funniest part of the night!

We also spotted Santa again! He was the same Santa from last year and I told him he made our Christmas card from 2020! He thought that was too funny!

Our favorite photographer also did a little mini fall session of Brayden! We went with both a Halloween costume as well as a regular fall outfit.

I just love mini sessions and preserving the various seasons of his life. As you can obviously tell, photos are important to me!

I hope this has found all of you doing well and with a new season upon us, I wish you all the best and happy things! I will be back with more trip fun from our August WDW vacay as well as various upcoming running adventures! Stay tuned and Happy Halloween, Happy Fall, and Happy Thanksgiving!

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! :)