Race Report: A Royal Family Weekend

It was a Fit Family Birthday Weekend at Disney. The 26th celebration of my 21st birthday was on February 21st and Princess Cara’s 9th Birthday was on the 22nd, so we decided to celebrate our birthday by playing the Mickey & Minnie and ALL of the other Princesses, Princes and assorted characters at Disney.

 

We had a blast.

 

But let me tell you, it’s a racket and Disney has this business down to a science. From shuttle buses to the expo (since parking was limited at the resort where the expo was) to brochures outlining where to park, where to spectate down to the CHear Squad (EXTORTION, but well worth it for your Spectathlete crew that gets up with you at 2am) – where for a mere $100/person you can have private seating, buffet breakfast etc etc. Mmmm Hmmm. We also went to the Pre-race Pasta Dinner at Epcot where for $40/person (cash bar) you got a pretty decent meal, DJ, dancing, activities, pictures with the princesses (we saw Cinderella, Tiana and Belle), access to the park just in time for the fireworks & light show. Princess Cara was in Disney heaven.

 

Ron and Princess Cara ran the Royal Family 5k on Saturday morning. Princess Cara had a stellar performance for her first 5k running the 1st 1.5 miles non stop, doing intervals for the next mile and running it in like a champ for the last .6.  The FireMarsall refused all attempts to get him in costume opting for the all black secret service look as Princess Cara’s Royal Guard.

             

After the race, we made it back to the hotel in time for our free breakfast which was included in my hotel package and the Princess was ALL ABOUT going to the pool. At the pool she made fast friends with a lovely girl named Evie and fanangled her way into going to SeaWorld with Evie and her mom. That required me to get up off my lounge chair and play meet the mom, break bread & libations while talking about our daughters all the while both girls are floating to the edge of the pool with “Please, Please, Please!” every 5 seconds.

 

Off to SeaWorld the girls went and once back…inseperable. Quick to change, dinner and then we HAVE to go to the poolside movie. The FireMarshall is such a good sport as I had no interest in seeing Hercules with a bunch of kids.

 

Early to bed, early to rise as I had to be in Epcot for the Disney Princess Half Marathon NLT 4:30am to park (for free) and get into my corral by 5:30am. Team Spectathletes were AWESOME and up with me at 2:30am with not nary a complaint. Of course I got them a CHEar Squad package, so once they dropped me off, they were off to get their viewing seats and hot cocoa at the 5.3 mile mark in Magic Kingdom

                

9000 – NINE THOUSAND RUNNERS – mostly women almost all in costume (and some AWESOME MANLY guys dressed as Princesses, Mr. Incredible and I saw a couple of Princess Leah’s and Wonder Men – LOVED IT) lined up to run 13.1 miles. I was, of course, adorned in fairy wings, tiara and glitter ready to see if I could get ‘er done despite not running for the prior 2 weeks trying to heal a foot injury.

 

At 6 am the first corral was off…corral E probably got going around 6:30am and at 3 miles in I knew I was in trouble. That bruised bone or whatever it is in my foot started up with shooting pain and I was hobbled into a shuffle. I kept moving though, bummed that I was not keeping a pace that would allow me to stop for all the photo opps with all the Disney characters out. It was so cool. To be honest, this is not a race to get a PR on. This is a run for fun, grins, giggles. Definitely a race to do with a bunch of friends and just have a great time.

 

I had a terrible time in this race because I had to walk a lot and stopped at the med tent to get some more Tylenol and BioFreeze, but I finished, walking away with some awesome BLING!

After the race, we went back to the hotel to hang out and I immediately scheduled myself some spa time at the Ritz Carlton Spa followed by max pool side time with some frozen umbrella type drinks. My version of relaxing and hydrating!

 

I put together a little video slide show from the weekend.

Have you ever done any of the Disney Races? What’s your favorite? Which one’s would you recommend?

Travel & Friends

"I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them." -- Mark Twain

The Pollhein's and The Steptoe's survived the journey and are still best friends - maybe even a little closer. We loved, hugged, laughed, fought, argued, invested, shared and more together for a week. We waited a long time to do this together, and now Joe & Terri own a little piece of paradise too and are already dreaming and planning for what we are gonna do together (and separately) next year.

Terri put together some pics from "The Florida Experiment" - Go check it out:
http://homeatlastfarm.blogspot.com/2008/07/im-not-great-photographer-but-here-is.html

Perfectly Princess Tea Party

On the 4th of July, Cara and I got gussied up and went over to the Grand Floridian Hotel to meet Sleeping Beauty at the Perfectly Princess Tea Party. Cara can be so brutally honest sometimes (from the mouths of babes)..."You're not Cindarella" -and promptly burst into tears. It's just not so attractive to be wearing a beautiful gown and a tiara, while bawling your eyes out - but then again - it was her party.

What a wonderful start to our Tea Party. She recovered as soon as she saw the doll that she got at the Party. I knew all was well when she tried to cut off her dolls hair with the butter knife. I just take a deep breath, exhale and remind her of the horrors of cutting off hair (remember the Easter weekend ponytail fiasco).

She ate one peanut butter and jelly heart sandwich, a couple of grapes and drank all of her Apple Juice "Tea" - she got a real kick out of pouring it herself. Princess Aurora (aka - Sleeping Beauty) managed to coax a few smiles and a few words out of Cara long enough for a picture.

Diva in Training lessons can be a challenge, but are well worth it.

A Magic Day

Princess Cara's Makeover

Cara loves to play dress up! Anything outfit that if frilly is absolutely in and she can wear a pair of heels better than most of us. She loves herself some Cinderella, big time. So, on our trip to here to Disney, I signed Cara up for an opportunity to get all dressed up as a Disnesy Princess. We went to Magic Kingdom to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique located inside the Castle. More of a salon than a store, there are 10 salon stations where girls can get their hair, nails and makeup done.

Cara started out by picking her dress, shoes, wand & crown. Then she went into the boutique where she was asked to pick her hairstyle - she picked the Disney Diva (of course) - her makeup, nailpolish, and the color hair she wants to add. Just hilarious.

She had the time of her life. Here is some video from here Princess Makeover.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

THE perfect princess experience. All I have to say is FUTURE DIVA...More pictures and a synopsis of our adventure later...off to dinner.

If you would like to preview more pictures from our boutique experience - check out this link:

http://www.disneyphotopass.com/photoshareviewer.aspx?share=998cf08f-c532-4b64-b0a2-8c213474d2ee

A Day at The Beach

Adult Night Out

Last night, Joe, Terri, Ron and I went out to dinner sans kids. It was a beautiful night. We went to dinner at Seasons 52 - and it was absolutely delicious. After dinner, we went over to Corona Cigar Company (The World's Largest Cigar Store & Cigar Bar). While I absolutely don't like the smell of cigarettes, I am the complete opposite with Cigars and, on occassion, will enjoy one myself. I find the smell of a good cigar wonderful and a bit sensual (there ARE, in fact, some really nasty smelling ones) in some sort of hanging in the male domain kinda way. A cigar with a glass of scotch or cognac...divine.

Joe bought himself an entire box of Aurturo Fuente Cigars and I got myself a recommendation and just picked up one for after dinner. Joe and I enjoyed a cigar over a glass of port & wine (they didn't carry scotch or yak); while Ron and Terri watched and had a glass of sparkling wine.
It was a beautiful evening.

I Think I Needed Detective Benson - SVU

Was I violated? Was I massage molested? Did I almost have spa se.x right in front of my girlfriend? I think it was so close, so borderline, as to warrent raised eybrows from the detectives from La.w&Or.der:S.VU.

Soooo, I arranged for Terri and I to have a Body Polish & Hot Stone Massage at the alledged 4 star spa at Star Island Resort. This was Terri's first spa experience and, of course, I wanted ti to be perfect & awesome. While the actual treatments themselves were fine, the spa itself ahs a LONG way to go. Call me what you want - elitest, snob, bougie - WHATEVER - I've been to enough world class spas to know friggin' better and to expect certain things for the amount of money we were going to spend.

1. I should NOT have to walk out inf ront of other guests in a friggin town to get ot the shower area to rinse off the body scrub. POOR SPA DESIGN!

2. I should have been given a SPA ROBE as a minimum... A ROBE, not a hairdresser smock doing double duty as a robe. WTF?!!!!

3. The spa slippers were those pedicure thin azz slippers. R U KIDDING ME!!!!!!!

4. I have NEVER, EVER had my treatment specialist (not EVER - even in a WAY superior spa) use latex gloves...and she didn't even ask me if I was allergic. WHAT DA HELL?!!!!!

5. When having multiple treatments, I have NEVER, EVER had to gather up my clothes and ish and move to a different treatment room; having to walk past other guests AGAIN in my SMOCK. RIDICULOUS!!!!!!

In the spa ambiance category, this spa is a high ZERO!

After our body polish, Terri and I were moved into the joint (couples) massage room. We were to have our Hot Stone Massage together. Fine. Terri gets the lady, I get the guy. No biggie.

Well now, this Latin Lover laid the Hot Stone Massage of my life on me. He starts by saying, "Take a deep breath." mmmmkay....All Imma say was there were a few moments when I thought if he just went a 1/2" further his fingers would end up where only 2 people have access to on a regular - my husband and my GYN. Surley, he wouldn't do anything wehre (naked or not) I'd have to mule kick this sucker; I mean really, my friend is right there. I dunno, he was awful close to having a need for some dental work.

Despite a close call with violence, the massage was actually pretty good. The spa itself SUCKED. If you ever are at Star Island Resort and plan on some spa treatments...Go somewhere else. You can do WAY better for your money.

The TravelDiva Has Spoken....

Pirate Adventure Dinner Show

See pictures in previous post below....

I'm not sure, but I think the adults had way more fun at the dinner show than any of the kids combined. Terri and I had our faces painted and all of us grown ups ('cept designated driver, Ron) were chuggin beers and singing "Drink, Drink, Drink" while waving our glasses back and forth. Several "Aaarrrgggs" were heard amongst us and Joe and I were very good at cheering on the blue section Pirate; booing the other section pirates.

The food wasn't bad - not spectacular - but edible; the dessert fantastic. I had a hard time following the story line (prolly due to the excessive booing & cheering) but was entertained nevertheless.

After the dinner & show, they had a Pirate Dance Party and once again the adults did most of the dancing. They played some good ole music that only people over 40 understood - The Twist, Summer Loving, Jive Bunny & more fun dance stuff from the 50's thru the 80's.

My son, who is just too cool, looked on at his parents with an amused look and refused to do the twist with his mom..."Maaawmmm, that's not my style." He also had the nerve to say, "Wow, I was getting dizzy from all the gayness of it all." Jordan thinks his parents are silly.

Another TravelDiva Family Fun Adventure accomplished.

A Day in Pictures

I have so much to blog about but I'm exhausted. It is enough that I got this slide show together to share. We are off to the beach tomorrow, so while enroute, I'll put some posts together. In the meantime (so shut up, Erin - her is a post), enjoy the pictures.

Vacation with Friends

Our bestest friends (while Ron and I have known Joe for over 20 years, classmates and all; we have been "couple" friends for 19+ years - since Ft. Knox & his marriage to Terri) have finally arrived and joined us on a vacation in Florida. We have been talking about taking a vacation together for over 10 years, but have finally been able to pull it off.

Terri LOVES trains, so they took the AutoTrain down and arrived this morning. Since they couldn't check into their resort until 4pm, they came over to ours and we hung out at the pool all day until checkin time.

It was a very relaxing day at the pool.



More adventures tomorrow.

Mommie, I'm SO Happy!

If I could bottle the pure joy and happiness that Cara has right now, kinda like an Eau de Joy or maybe in a pill form (Take 1 each morning with a sipup), I would be a billionaire. It is infectious. From the moment that child woke up - HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY.
- Jumping up and down, yelling "Let's go, Vamanos" (way too much Dora)

- The squeal of excitement that she let out (blowing out everyone's eardrums at gate B7) when she saw the airplane.
- Checking to make sure everyone had on their seatbelt on the airplane so we could go (we were NOT getting put off the plane by this child - not on her watch)
- Yelling "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" as the plane gained speed and took off, and throwing her arms in the air when it went up - almost starting a wave.
- The ooooh, aaaah, at everything when we got to the resort.
- Jumping on the couch in our suite yelling - "Vaaacayshun house - Vaaacayshun house" over and over.
- Coming up to me and saying, "I love you mommie. I'm Soooo Happy."
I melted and as far as I'm concerned, that baby can do and have whatever she wants on this trip. I'm done in. Whatever Cara is taking, I want some.

I think I'll hang with her for a while and try to see the world through her eyes this week. Perhaps I'll catch it.