Family time is the best

This weekend was kind of a blur.  I just spent about 4 minutes trying to think of what I did this weekend.  My parents drove through down on their way home and pretty much their visit is dominating my memory.  I'm sure something else happened over the weekend, but I just remember hanging out with them.

They arrived on Saturday and we met them at the Italian restaurant I used to work out when I was a kid.  It's delicious but it was a crazy dinner because we met my sister's family there too.  So, picture a nice Italian restaurant with four adults (my parents, my BIL, and me - my sister was working and my hubs was at the Ravens game) and a 5 years old, 3 year old, almost 2 year old, and a 1 year old.  It went surprisingly well!  No cups were spilled, no food was flung across the restaurant, and only one child cried the entire time.  Success.

Before my parents arrived on Saturday I went to the grocery store and coached golf.  I amazingly spent less than $100 at the grocery store!!!  Except on Friday we went to Costco and spent $145...so I'm not sure if that's really a success.  On Friday we also went to the playground and for a four mile run.  Normal stuff.

On Sunday I woke up and Evan and I ran to my sister's house.  We were promised pancakes for breakfast but then when we arrived (five miles later), they had changed their minds and there were no pancakes.  :-)  We had oatmeal instead.  It was kind of chilly out and I wore capris instead of shorts.

Ok, so it was a bad choice because it was like 65 degrees so 2 minutes into my run I was really hot.  I even put Evan in pants and long sleeves. 

I'm not sure why I was thinking it was so cold!  It ended up being a beautiful day.  Notice how Evan insisted on bringing his golf club and a ball to my sister's.  He actually held on to both of those the entire stroller ride.  We went up to the golf course to watch my nieces in their golf classes and Evan played golf in the grass the entire hour.  He really does love his golf.

He also loves his Mimi and Papa.  He work up Sunday morning and the first thing he said was "Mas (more)  Mimi Papa".  Yup, before he even opened is eyes.  And my dad bought him a new John Deere tractor for his birthday and he happily played with that all day too.  He loves his tractors.

We just hung out all day chatting, playing Jewelry Store (my mom got stuck playing that with the girls), cooking, and eating.  Good times.

I brought my camera to take pics of Evan with his grandparents but then I snapped those two pictures above and the camera battery died.  Nice.

Have a great Monday!!!  It's my last week of work - I'm gonna soak it all up!

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Favorite food to eat for breakfast?

Grocery shopping: love or hate?
  -- I LOVE grocery shopping.  If I had a plethora of money it'd become my hobby!

Lots of Tractors and Livestock

Last night I had the most terrifying dream.  I don't have nightmares too often but this one made up for all the nights I didn't have one.  It was filled with serial killers, tortured murder victims, and all those other fun things.  I am blaming it on the fact that I read an excerpt from a book called Heartbreaker and the beginning was all about a guy who was confessing to torturing and murdering a bunch of women in a small town.   Ironically, I think the book is supposed to be a romance novel...and I think I've actually read it, back in my romance novel days of high school.  That theme of psychopathic killers transferred nicely to my dreams.  I was actually very happy when my alarm went off this morning and I could escape my dreams.  Then I remembered I had to get up and do a PiYo workout and I couldn't decide which was better: nightmare or workout.  Haha - actually it was an easy and short 20 minute PiYo workout so I was happy about that.

This past weekend was BUSY.  We haven't had such a busy weekend in months.  It was filled with good stuff though.  I actually think the rest of August is going to be really busy because I am trying to fit every fun activity in between now and the start of school.  I am terrified that I won't have a free minute (or a free dollar) once school starts so want to get in every bit of fun possible. 

Friday afternoon was our regular routine of a run with Evan followed by a stop at the playground.

There I am, ready to head out.  Ivan makes fun of me when I take "selfies" and says no one wants to see me that close up except him - haha.  However, my arms aren't long enough to take photos farther away than that, so you will continue to get a nice close-up of my face!

Surprisingly when I asked Evan if he wanted to go for a run, he looked excited too.  I think he is realizing that I always make a stop at the playground when we go for runs, so he's not too upset about sitting in the stroller for an hour.

He brought his tractor along with him too.  I was thrilled that he didn't try and pitch it overboard while we were running.  Occasionally he has taken a shoe off and thrown it into the street.  Running into the street after a shoe or ball is not my idea of a fun sprinting drill.  Before heading to the park we took a small detour to the doctor to get my final TB test read.  Still no TB, thank goodness!

Saturday I had golf in the morning and then my friend Sarah came over from the Easter Shore to spend the afternoon together.  Good times!  She is one of my best friends from college and now that she moved far away I don't see her as often.  The county fair was going on, so we decided to spend the afternoon there.  I hadn't been for years, like 20, so it was fun to go back.  My husband and Evan thought it was great!  

Although he looks super serious, he was having a good time.  Promise!

I can tell you I am a lot older now because hanging out in the midway with barely-there clothes did not appeal to me.  What did appeal to me??

Fried dough and fried Berger cookies.  Berger cookies are a Baltimore specialty and they were extra delicious fried.  We had plans to try the fried Oreos, but when we saw the friend Berger cookies, we changed our mind.  Don't worry, that wasn't all I had for dinner.  I also ate French fries.  Haha.  My cholesterol may not have been thrilled but my taste buds were in heaven.  On the topic of cholesterol, I went for a physical a few weeks ago and my cholesterol was 136.  Umm, maybe it's because I am a health dork, but I was so incredibly proud of that.  I wanted to tattoo it on my forehead (not really).  High cholesterol runs in my family so I am always excited when I "beat" my genetics.

The rest of our fair experience consisted of cows and tractors.  Evan was in tractor heaven.  He took a picture on every tractor possible.

He really acted like he was driving them.  He moved the steering wheel and pretended to honk the horn and change the gears.  It was adorable.

The hubs was pretty excited too, climbing on big machines was pretty fun for him too.

And notice how the hubs put on his "farmer" wardrobe.  Shirt, jeans, and boots.  If he had a cowboy hat, he would have worn that too.

Yes, Evan was trying to eat this tractor.  I guess it was time for a food break....

I couldn't go without sitting on one tractor, so I made sure to climbed on one too.

The air seat was pretty fun, but I didn't get the urge to drive around and cut the grass or anything.

Then we went to visit the animals.  Evan practiced milking a cow.

The hubs showed him how it's done.  In Honduras, the hubs milked cows by hand for years.  He's a milking expert and huge fan of cows.

They had the cutest kiddie barn with these rocking horses and animals to pet and barley pits (instead of sand pits). Evan had a blast!

All in all, it was a great time.  Ivan can't wait for next year.

Sunday we did the unbelievable.  Hubs and I went on a double date and played golf!  

I know, it's a miracle.  My sister watched Evan for a few hours and Ivan and I played nine holes with the couple we used to play with all the time before.  It was so fun.  It helped that my golf game was totally on and I got two pars and two bogies...it's definitely more fun when I'm playing well.  And since I haven 't played since Memorial Day, it's pretty shocking that I did so well.  It must be because I spend every weekend concentrating on improving the golf game of 7-12 year olds that some of the instruction gets branded into my brain!

Later in the afternoon we headed to our old neighbor's house and played a couple rounds of bocci ball and ate some flank steak.  It was quite yummy and we had such a good time.  I am always so thankful for the amazing friends we have here.  I feel like adult friends can be hard to come by, so I am very thankful that we have made good friends in the area.  Evan ran around in their yard playing with balls and moving rocks from the garden to the grass.  He had a blast.  We got home pretty late so quickly got ready for the week and then headed to bed.  

So, that was our weekend!  

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Do you have a county fair?  What fried foods have you tried???  Favorite fair food?

Any other female golfers out there??

Sometimes the week is more relaxing that the weekend

This past weekend was reminiscent of weekends past...before baby...when life was sometimes more hectic on the weekends that during the week.  It was one busy, golf-filled weekend and I didn't crawl into bed until after midnight last night.  So let's be honest - I'm exhausted this morning, drinking a regular coffee, and may not be able to catch my spelling mistakes.  I usually don't get all my mistakes on a good day, so this blog post could be riddled with grammar errors.  Or just not make any sense.

When I'm tired I crave sugar and the first thing I did was eat a few handfuls of my caramel chocolate popcorn from Friday.  It was good, but didn't wake me up enough.  Coffee, please hit my bloodstream now!

This weekend was all about golf.  I had golf Saturday morning like usual, but then we had a Father/Daughter Golf event in the evening from 2:30-7:30pm.  So, I finished classes at noon and then was back up at the course at 2:30pm.  Yeah - it was a lot of golf.  The girls really had a great time golfing with their Dad's though, so it was worth it.  For some reason they seemed so much happier than they did with Mother/Daughter golf and I have no idea why.  The girls just seem to like golfing with their fathers more than their mothers.  Then on Sunday I coached two little kid classes (5 and 6 year olds) for my brother-in-law, so that means I had golf on Sunday too.  Boo.  Especially since it was Father's Day and having to coach golf right smack in the middle of the day meant that I didn't have much time for anything else.

I did make Tres Leches cake.  I made the cake part before golf and this is what it looked like when I got home:

Hmm, someone ate the corners.  Ivan insisted it smelled too good to leave alone!

Here is the finished product:

Instagram: mapleandmud

Ivan had mentioned he was really craving tres leche cake so I found a recipe on The Pioneer Woman and gave it a try.  It was a bit complicated because you had to beat the egg yolks and then beat the egg whites and then mix them together and then whip the cream.  It was a lot of beating and whipping and waiting - for cakes to cool and milk to soak up.  But the end result was pretty delicious.  And Ivan was really happy with it, so that is what counts.  He also got a belt (that was too big) and a new golf shirt from Evan.

Ivan really is a great Dad and Evan is obsessed with him these days.  If Ivan is not around he is constantly saying "Where's Daddy" over and over again.  It's adorable and I'm so glad they have a good relationship.  Hopefully it will continue to go strong and they will watch soccer together for years to come.

This is my favorite picture of them!

And because it was Father's Day and I love my dad, here's a photo of my Dad and me** from my wedding:

Aren't we cute!  I still wish I hadn't picked such a low-cut wedding dress.  I really didn't think it was going to be that low cut when I bought it.  I loved everything else about that dress except that it was a bit too low.  Oh well, not really a big deal.

**Also, because someone will want to correct my grammar - here is a short grammar lesson about when you use "and I" and "and me". 

"I" and "me" are personal pronouns.   For some reason, people are obsessed with using "and I" for everything - they say "John and I went to the movies" and "This is a photo of John and I" but only one of those sentences is correct.  You only use "John and I" when you are the subject of the sentence (the first example).  You use "John and me" when you are the object of the sentence (second example). 

A really easy way to remember this is: take out the other person and does it make sense to say "I" or "me"?  

For example, in the first sentence (John and I went to the movies), if John wasn't there it would make sense to say "I went to the movies" rather than "Me went to the movies.  Therefore, when adding John you should still say "John and I went to the movies". 

In the second example (This is a photo of John and I), if you removed John would it make sense to say "This is a photo of I"?  NO!!!  You would say, "This is a photo of me."  Therefore, when you add John you should keep it the same and say, "This is a photo of John and me." 

Please do this because I see this grammar error EVERYWHERE  and it drives me crazy.  Even smart, intelligent people constantly post pictures on Facebook and their blog and always say "This is X and I in San Diego".  No - that is not correct.  It is "X and me in San Diego".  Would you ever say, "This is I in San Diego"????? 

If you want a great explanation, hit up the explanation in the Oxford Dictionary.

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Do you notice any consistent grammar errors on my blog???  

What did you do for Father's Day?

10 Random Musings

Here are ten random thoughts floating through my head this morning.

1) Today I was hoping to get a nice nap in on the bus.  But then my bus friend drove by and picked me up instead.  I got to work 20 minutes early but I am now super tired - it's kind of rude to sleep while someone is driving you to work.  The nights have been rough for the past week.  I am still sick and coughing up a storm all night.  And Evan is still not really comfortable and has at least one "fit" at night where he wakes up and decides he wants to climb off the bed and then roll around on the floor in anger.  Regular coffee, here I come!

2) I am in love with these stamps.


I am tempted to buy lots and lots of them since they are forever stamps and then I can put them on my letters for the next few years.  Seriously, it is 10x more fun sending bills when you put a Harry Potter stamp on them.

3) I tried doing our family budget for next year and it doesn't look good.  When I added up all of our necessary expenses (rent, car insurance, electricity, etc.) and then subtracted the money I was getting from loans and the hub's salary, we were short $2,000.  And I didn't put things like gas and food in there.  We obviously have to eat something, even if it's just eggs, pasta, rice, and beans.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that shortfall, but I have a feeling I'm gonna have to pray a lot and hope this path that I've chosen is the same path that God has chosen for me...otherwise things could get scary towards the end of the school year when our cash dries up.

Another random school thing - I have a "Set-up for Success" day in June where I go to the campus and they review anatomy and physiology and teach us drug calculations, etc.  Is this kind of like having to read books over the summer but for science?  It's a bit scary when you have to have a review session before classes even start!

4) I am trying really hard to eat healthier.  No more eating an entire pan of brownies. I'm not saying brownies are out of the question because it's not worth living if you can't enjoy cakes and brownies at times.  However, honestly, once I've stepped away from 10lbs of sugar for a few days it's not so hard to show a bit of restraint.  And I feel a bit better too.  Not as better as some of those healthy food blogs say you will feel, but a little better.  And I feel a lot better about myself!  This was my healthy dinner yesterday.

I made Teryaki stir-fry with tofu.  It was pretty delicious.  I actually made my own Teryaki sauce - so much easier and better than the store-bought stuff.  And it made a lot so I froze the rest in ice cube trays so I can take a few "ice cubes" out and use them whenever I want.  I ate this over quinoa...quinoa that has been in my fridge for over a week but doesn't have mold growing on it yet.  Thank goodness.  I also then enjoyed an ice cream bar and a glass of wine, so as you can tell, I'm not eliminating sugar from my diet or anything.  But I am trying to make sure I eat bigger, healthier meals for lunch and dinner so I'm not shoving entire bags of chips in my mouth the second I arrive home from work because I'm famished. 

5) I have some scary, new addictions.  First, the Dugger Family.  I know!!!  How embarrassing!!!  I just find them fascinating and I LOVE big families and always wished I had lots of brothers and sisters (really Mom, why didn't you have 17 kids!!!) - so I live vicariously through them.  I started watching the season from the beginning and I'm on Season 6 now.  And I also bought their book and read it too.  It's not that well written, but it was still interesting.  In between that show I have been watching Season 3 of Dance Academy.  Another embarrassing thing to admit.  It's about a group of teens in dance school in Australia.  I love it.  I love dance movies and tv shows so of course I love this.

6) Evan is obsessed with golf.

He loves hitting his golf ball and can actually hit it most times.  I can't wait until we can all play as a family - how fun will that be!!!  And oddly enough, he plays golf left handed.  He plays and writes with his right hand for other things but for some reason he's a lefty golfer.  Funny, huh.

7) This weekend I am taking my nieces out for special days.  I'm taking the oldest out on Saturday for a special day with Titi (me) and then I'm taking the middle one to the Zoo on Sunday with our family for a special zoo day.  I CAN'T wait!!!  At first I was afraid they might be too nervous to venture out alone (they like to go places together but rarely separate) but my sister said that they both want their special days with me so it sounds like it is going to work out.


8)  Our pediatrician just started requiring all patients to be vaccinated (she used to see patients that preferred to avoid vaccines).  She has a Facebook page and you should have seen the ridiculous comments people made.  I'm not going to get on a pedestal and talk about vaccines, but people were saying completely untrue things.  One woman said that natural immunity is best and we should all just get polio and measles and tetanus so that we build a natural immunity and then the diseases would be eradicated that way - like typhoid fever and scarlet fever were eradicated.  Umm, really?  Minus the fact that people can die from those diseases and so some people's "natural immunity" might be death, but typhoid and scarlet fever haven't been eradicated!!!!  Plenty of people get typhoid fever in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.  And Scarlet Fever?  Really?  That is caused by Group A Strep - the same thing that causes strep throat.  Yeah, it's not as common anymore because we have antibiotics - but people still get it!  I understand that people aren't as educated as I am about health issues (it is my job, so I tend to know more than the average person), but before I post or talk about fact-like things, I do my research and make sure I know what I'm talking about.  And I definitely do my research when it comes to Evan.  And I make sure I don't just look at websites that say what I want them to say - I try and get a few opinions from different resources because in this day and age you can find any website to support any illogical thought but that doesn't mean it's right.

Ok - long tangent.  I just couldn't believe that comment.

9) I have an upcoming work trip to Atlanta and I can't wait to see my ATL friends.  It has been so long and they have babies now and it's going to be so fun.  And my mommy is coming to take care of Evan and so I get to see her too.  Not much because I have to be at work things all day and all night, but I'll get to see her for a little bit.  And Evan gets to see his Mimi and hang out with her all day.  He is going to be so excited!!!

10) When I first started this post I thought that 10 random things would be really easy but after #7 I was struggling.  And now I don't have much at all.  Except that since April, Verizon has gotten their switchboards screwed up and so a bunch of sick elderly people were calling my office phone wanting a Lifeline phone (you know the "if you've fallen and you can't get up").  I guess there was some Medicare deal where they could get a phone for free and when they dialed the number (which wasn't my number) they were transfered to my phone.  Literally, I was gone for a week of vacation and came back to 99 phone messages from frail sounding elderly adults asking about their phone.  And when I was in the office the phone rang off the hook so I stopped answering it because they didn't understand that they had the wrong number and each call took about 10 minutes of me explaining and it was taking up my entire day.  So then I would get really nasty phone messages (I had to listen to some of them if I was trying to get to an actual message) talking about how I should be fired because I'm never at my desk and that I'm a horrible person because I don't return their calls, etc.  I returned a few calls in the beginning but I can't return 99 calls.  Or even the 15 calls I was getting a day.  Thankfully it has slowed down (our phone and HR people have been working on it) and I only get about one or two a day now - but it was a phone nightmare.  Luckily these people just wanted phones - they weren't using their Lifeline phones because they had fallen.  That would have been way more tragic.  I do hope they got it worked out though because I would hate for these people to never get their phones!

Ok - there are my ten randoms for the day.  How about you?  What is something random going on in your life?  What embarrassing TV shows are you watching these days?  Have you bought Harry Potter stamps???

Hiking, golfing, and eating

I love three day weekends.  I really love Memorial Day weekend the best I think.  The weather is amazing, summer and hot weather is on everyone's mind, the smell of BBQ is in the air, and we honor all the fallen soldiers who have given their lives to this country.  I remember one year we made the trip downtown to Arlington Cemetary on Memorial Day and it was definitely an experience to remember.  It's a bit far and crowded to go every year but maybe when Evan is older we'll make the trip again.

This weekend was all about the outdoors.  I am still feeling really sick and I was feeling pretty sick and miserable all weekend, but I refused to let that keep me inside.

On Saturday Evan and I went on our first real hike.

We had been practicing at the local Nature Center but this time we headed to a State Park and actually walked on a trail.  It was really fun and I am so excited about more fun hikes like that.  Evan was pretty well-behaved and didn't put up too many fights.  He stayed in the Mai Tai for about half of the hike, then walked about a fourth of it, and then I carried him for the other fourth.

Part of the trail was paved and then we took an unpaved trail for a few miles.  My friend was supposed to come with us but she didn't want to catch our sickness (her mom is undergoing cancer treatment and can't have sick visitors), so we went alone.  At first I was hesitant and was going to just forget about the entire thing, but then I put on my big girl pants and decided to just go it alone.

I am glad I did because we had so much fun.  I made Evan wear long pants and long sleeves because I was afraid we'd get ticks.  So far we are tick free.

On Sunday we had our first visitors.  Well, actually, I guess they were our second because my friend Sarah stopped by on Wednesday and stayed for dinner.  However, we had lots of house-cleaning to do and all pitched in to get it done.  I straightened so much stuff, did a ton of laundry, finally put away the ten loads of wash I had sitting in my room (I have a tendency to do the laundry and then never get around to putting it away).  I also made black bean hummus, 7-layer Dip, and cut up cantaloupe and watermelon for appetizers (actually Ivan cut the fruit up), and made Honduran Enchiladas for dinner.  Ivan even made fresh-squeezed lemonade for us to drink.  It was quite the feast.  We had so much fun hanging out and catching up.  Our apartment is super tiny but it all worked out and it didn't feel too squishy.

Yesterday the hubs and I finally went golfing!!  Amazing!!  The same couple that came over for dinner offered to watch Evan the next day while we golfed.  It was great.  I hadn't golfed in over a year and didn't do too badly.  It was just great being outside and spending time with the hubs.  Since it was Memorial Day and the golf course was extra crowded, we ended up playing with two other guys we didn't know and that wasn't too bad.  I hate playing with other people because it makes me self-conscious, but it wasn't too embarrassing.  I had some good shots.  That night we headed to my bus friend's house for dinner.  She wanted the hubs to come look at her yard and see if he could do some yard work for her.  We got dinner in exchange - good deal!  Especially for me because I don't have to do anything.

So, that was our weekend, how was yours? 

Disney Trip Part One

Did you wonder what happened to me?  Well, remember that half marathon I was training for so pathetically?  I finally did it!  And since it was the Disney Princess Half Marathon, we decided to do Disney World too and visit Evan's godparents in Tampa for a day.  I decided to break the posts up because I have a lot to say.  So, I'll start with Friday.

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We headed out to Orlando on Friday morning.  I had initially bought tickets for later in the day but then realized that it would be good to have that entire day to check into the hotel, visit the race expo, and get settled.  So, I booked us on the first flight out of Baltimore at 6:20am.  That meant I had to get up at 3am so I could get everyone ready to leave by 4am.  Seems a bit early but it's a 30 minute drive to the airport and then we had to park in long term parking, which means another 30 minutes to get to the airport. And when I am traveling with Evan I like to make sure I give myself an extra half hour to check-in and go through security.  I was a bit exhausted because, just like every other trip, I was packing at the last minute and washing up the dishes, etc.  I didn't go to bed until 12:30am...so got a whopping 2.5 hours of sleep.  Nice.  Luckily for me, and everyone else, I am still a pretty pleasant and positive person on two hours of sleep.

The first flight was pretty easy.  Evan didn't fall asleep like I thought he would, but he wasn't too crazy either.  We only had 20 minutes to find our connecting flight so we booked it out of that plane and ran two gates (yeah, it was close) to find our flight to Orlando.  We boarded that plane with no problems and still got seats next to each other, only to find out that there was bad weather on the way to Orlando and our flight was delayed an hour and a half.  Boo.

Southwest, being the amazing airlines that they are, let us off the plane and we got something to eat.  Well, Ivan did,  I wasn't ravenous like he was.  After the delay had passed we boarded again and headed out.  Evan, of course, finally fell asleep 20 minutes before the plane landed.  

Since we were staying at a Disney Resort we got a complimentary shuttle to the hotel.  And it wasn't your regular run of the mill shuttle, it was a Disney shuttle with great perks.  The best perk was that you didn't have to pick up your luggage.  When I reserved our spot on the shuttle they sent me special luggage tags to put on our checked luggage.  We walked right from our flight to the shuttle and Disney got all of the luggage and had it delivered to the room.  We did pick up Ivan's golf clubs though, because he had a tee time at 2:30pm and needed them right away.

Now, let's focus on that tee time for a second.  We were supposed to arrive at 10:30am giving us plenty of time to get to the hotel before Ivan needed to get to the golf course.  Except our flight was delayed.  So we didn't get to the hotel until close to 1:30pm.  This would have been fine except Ivan was golfing with a friend of ours who had moved to Tampa (Evan's godfather) and he was supposed to pick him up.  Well, Mark was running late and wasn't there yet.  So Ivan waited with me as I check in and then we ran to the food court to get Ivan some food.  Although he had had a bite to eat at the Atlanta airport, he was starving.  And if you want to know what hangry looks like, it's my husband after not eating for hours.  Add that to the fact that he was going to be late for his tee time (which he hates), and it was a recipe for short tempers and lack of patience.  I figured the best plan of action was to get Ivan food stat.  Right as we get the food Mark arrives so Ivan takes a few bites and then runs to meet him and head to the golf course.  He was playing at the Magnolia Golf Course, one of the Disney courses and was super excited.  They ended up having a great time, in case you were wondering.

Source: Disney

With Ivan off golfing, Evan and I checked out our hotel.  It was awesome!!  We had decided to stay at a Disney Value Resort because it offered the best transportation to the race and wasn't too pricey.  They have a selection of value resorts that are actually a good value.  They would have been a better value if I had booked them during the winter special when I initially looked at them, but I made our reservation the next day.  Huge bummer.

Source: Disney

Our hotel was Pop Century, basically a homage to pop culture throughout the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.  It was so fun!!  I picked it because I had remembered Whitney talking about how she loved Art of Animation (another value resort) and that her second option would have been Pop Century.  Well, Art of Animation was sold out so I figured Pop Century was a safe bet.  And Whitney was right, it was as great as she thought it would be.  Evan loved walking around and looking at all the pop culture items.

Giant fuseball with the big wheel in the back.

 It was kind of rainy the day we checked in, so most of the photos are cloudy/rainy.

Evan playing Twister - I think it would have been really fun to play this for real!

In front of the huge big wheel - so fun!

Evan LOVED this display and threw a fit if we walked by without stopping.

Trying to get into the car - it was kind of the perfect height for him (but the door didn't actually open)!

Roger Rabbit!!!  That was our building on the left.

We stayed in the 80s building - which is awesome since I am a child of the 80s!  I think it was also one of the cheapest building because it was the farthest away from the hotel lobby - at least a ten minute walk.

Our room was pretty basic, but still nice.  We didn't plan on hanging out in the room all day, so a basic room was just right.

Source: Disney

 This wasn't our room exactly (because let's face it, our room was a disaster about two seconds after we got in), but it gives you an idea of what it looked like.  Very simple, garden-style, but still comfortable.  And every room had a table with two chairs and a fridge, which was great.

Source: Disney

The bathroom was nice too, nothing spectacular but plenty of space and very clean.  The only thing I was disappointed about was they only gave you soap and a shampoo/conditioner.  I know, a frivolous complaint, but I would have liked some lotion.  And I was spoiled staying at the Hyatt during my last business trip where they gave us baby shampoo, baby lotion, and baby powder.  I guess you don't get those perks in a value resort.  I didn't bring any shampoo or lotion so I ended up using my face lotion on my body! 

After we got settled a bit and walked around, Evan and I headed over to the race expo.  It was at ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex.  There was a shuttle from the hotel (another good reason for staying at a Disney Resort) and so Evan and I hopped on and went to get our race numbers!  The race expo wasn't anything different from other race expos (except for it was SUPER packed) and it was well organized and easy to find everything.

Blurry photo of race expo

The only confusing thing was that there were a variety of different races going on so I had to keep looking for the half marathon and kid races, rather than the 5k, 10k, or Glass Slipper (the 10k + half marathon).  I successfully got Evan's race number and my race number and then got sucked into the expo and bought a Skinny Sparkle Black Bic Band and a Nathan Handheld SpeedDraw Plus water bottle (I had forgotten mine and was a bit nervous about running in the heat and humidity without it, since I had been training in below-freezing temps for months).

What really shocked me was my corral.  Disney Princess Half Marathon specifically said that you had to send in a 10k time within the past year to get placed in a corral.  If you didn't send a time in you would be placed in the very last corral and there would be no changing and no sneaking into other corrals.  I didn't end up doing a race beforehand and had assumed I'd be in the last corral (which was P) - I was a bit sad because I'd heard I could start over an hour after everyone else and plus I had thought it would be fun to run with my sister (she was afraid to start in the last corral because she wasn't sure how fast she could finish and didn't want to get picked up in the bus).  When I went to pick up my race number I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was actually in corral C.  WHAT!!!???  I had put on my form that I was hoping to run the half in under 2 hours so maybe they took that into consideration?  Who knows, but it was a nice surprise.  I wasn't going to be last and I could run with my sister!!!

Evan and I took our time heading back to the hotel and I let him stop and touch a bunch of trees (his favorite thing ever).

And he let me take a photo too!

This is what I look like on 2.5 hours of sleep and after a few plane rides.

We got back to the hotel and I put Evan down for a short nap (it was already 6pm!!) until the boys finished golfing.  Then we headed to dinner.  I ended up buying a Disney Dining Plan (definitely a good idea) and it came with one table-service meal a day.  I wanted to have a decent table-service experience so I made a reservation at Boma's - Flavors of Africa, which is located in the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  I made my reservations at the last minute so a lot of places were already booked and had no availability.

Source: Disney

It was buffet-style and I thought that that was the best option for us because then we could eat as much as we wanted and we wouldn't need to head out for more food.  Of course having a 7:45pm reservation would probably have eliminated that problem anyway, but oh well.  I also figured buffets are easier for Ivan because he can look at all the food and try different things.  I loved the restaurant and thought the food was delicious.  Ivan, not being into African flavors, thought it was just ok.  I was tired of eating Mexican and Chinese food though (what we eat at home all the time), so I wanted to get something different.  It was a success!

Evan was a bit tired and a tad bit uncooperative, so that was interesting, but other than that it was a great time!

And Animal Kingdom Lodge was beautiful!!!

Source: Disney

We could never afford to stay there, and even if we could I'm not sure we'd spend the money because then I'd want to hang out at the hotel all day and not do Disney - but it was fun to look around.

And that concludes our first day.  See, aren't you glad I decided to break this up into a bunch of posts - this was way too long and it was just day one!!!!  Congrats if you made it all the way to the end!!!

Stay tuned for Day Two!!!

Baking cakes and dancing in the rain

Ok, so I didn't actually dance in the rain.  Or even come close to it.  But it did rain, a lot, on Saturday.  That was just what came to me when I was writing the title, so I went with it.  

This weekend was jam-packed!  I know I say that every weekend, but this one was extra busy.  Maybe because I signed up to make my co-workers baby shower cake.  I don't know why I did that.  I have NO TIME to bake and decorate cakes these days.  I just haven't done a cake in years (since my other co-workers shower cake) so I wanted to do one for the shower.  Not the smartest idea though because it was a bit hard to squeeze in...and I still haven't decorated it.  I made all the frosting though.  And dyed it.  And I don't have a present for her yet.  Boo.  I will soon though.

On Satuday I feel compelled to mention that my golf girls were so well-behaved.  I was so impressed.  Both classes were hitting really well and paying attention.  It was great.  It made the class so much more fun to coach.  Ivan had a golf tournement in the morning too.  He'd been looking forward to it for months.  I think he had a good time, even though he was hoping to win and didn't.  Thursday night golf league is finally over!!  I am so relieved.  It wasn't that I minded Ivan golfing, it was that we had no one to watch Evan.  It was so hard to find someone and eventually Melissa started watching him but she watched him all day too so I felt badly asking her to do it again at night.  So, we are now done that chapter of our life, until next year.

We were going to head to the aquarium or zoo Saturday afternoon but ended up running errands instead.  We had a bday party in the evening and we needed a present and Ivan wanted to buy a new phone.  And then, while at the mall I bought new glasses and picked up my contacts.  It rained all afternoon too so not the best weather to drive into the city in.  Maybe another weekend.

Sunday was beautiful and I took Dolce and Evan for a long walk.  It was perfect.  I've been going running with my sister in the mornings on Sundays and have really missed my walks (although I love running too).  Being pregnant really helped me enjoy the simplicity and relaxation of a good walk.

Is that not the prettiest thing ever?  The mist was rising off the lake as the day was heating up.  The temperature was perfect.  Evan and I hung out on the benches taking in the beautiful site.

This is my Instagram photo - follow me at mapleandmud

It was a lot of fun.  I love walks with my baby and doggie.  We had to make sure Evan was warm so we finally found socks to put on him.  And you can't tell from this photo, but I put his outfit on backwards.  Whoops!  It had snaps and usually the snaps go down the front...but then when I got home Ivan said it was on backwards and when I looked...sure enough, the tag was in the front.

And notice his snack container hanging off the belt (that belt is really to make sure the car seat doesn't fall out when you have the adapter in, but I think it works well to attach things too), he was munching on snacks and sharing with Dolce the entire time.

The rest of Sunday was a blur of cake baking, frosting making (I accidentally flavored the frosting with almond extract instead of vanilla extract...), dinner making, lunch-for-Ivan-for-the-week making, a bit of Chemistry studying, laundry doing, brunching, grocery shopping, and a small attempt to stop time (which didn't work).  And I must mentioned that our dryer squeaks so much when we dry clothes it's almost deafening.  Something must be done before I dry any more clothes.  Oh, and on Friday the heat shield fell off our car.  At the gas station.  We drove around with an extremely loud rattling for a while until my husband just took the heat shield off.  Hopefully our car doesn't blow up.

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What was your weekend like?

What did you have for dinner last night?

Do you make cakes or buy them?

Golf and Thundershirts

These days the weekend routine is pretty much the same.  I do a morning walk on Saturday, run errands Saturday afternoon, grocery shop Saturday evening, coach golf classes on Sunday morning, and then play golf Sunday afternoon.  It is rare for these plans to change too much.  This weekend was pretty much the same.

However, I do have a few interesting things to report.

First, hubs took his driver's permit test and passed!!!  I know - unbelievable.  Just a few short weeks ago I was in a battle with MVA/DMV about whether he was eligible and I finally won the battle - and then he passed the test on the first try.  You may not think this is amazing but it took him six tries to pass it last time.  I think he finally got the computer system down.  It was a very long afternoon though.  We got to MVA/DMV at 10:30am (hubs had to work in the morning and I had to walk) and didn't leave until 3pm.  Can you believe that???  Seriously, they give you a number for every little thing and make you wait in line forever.  It was crazy, but we made it out with smiles on our faces.

Since we had spent so much time there, we missed our normal errands because the stores were already closed.  However, I convinced hubs to go to my favorite dog store, since we are now doggie owners.  What did I find there to buy?  Some natural dog treats - pumpkin flavor - and a Thundershirt!  I have been researching the Thundershirt for some time now, wondering if it was something that might help Dolce out.  I have never been sure if his craziness might be due to some dog anxiety as opposed to just bad behavior.  I've read about Thundershirt and asked the vet about its effectiveness and so decided to purchase one and see what happened.  I think that Dolce gets a little anxiety in the car and sometimes on walks to new places.  He isn't the best walker to begin with and pulls like there is no tomorrow, which is why we use the gentle lead harness on his little nose (it looks kinda like this, but not exactly the same).  It keeps him from pulling but doesn't hurt him in any way.  It has worked wonders but since he's now walking in a new neighborhood, he's very skittish and pulls on the leash all the time.  I decided (with my degree in pet psychology, obviously) that maybe he got a little bit of anxiety in new places.  Hence, the decision to buy the Thundershirt. 

I thought he would hate wearing it, but he didn't seem to mind.  He didn't try to take it off or anything.  I'm not sure the shirt is made for super fluffy dogs, but it still worked.  I took him for a walk with it on and he was SOOOOO much calmer.  It was amazing.  Next trial will be putting it on him for a car ride.  Or at the vet.  I feel like it might be a bit too hot for him to wear on our walks all the time though, so I might have to break it out in the fall/winter.  I felt like it was kinda mean to make him wear it when he was 95* outside and he's already wearing a fur sweater.  The only thing was he wouldn't lay down with it on.  He just sat like this the entire time.  It said to leave it on for 8-10 minutes so he could adjust but after that I took it off - I felt bad that he was sitting.  The second it was off he lay down (umm, it seriously took me five minutes to research whether I should say lay, lied, laid, or layed...)!  Thundershirt = success so far!

On Sunday hubs and I played golf.  That, as noted above, isn't anything unusual; however, Sunday was the one year anniversary of my Uncle's death.  I can't believe an entire year has passed - it really feels like it was just a few days ago.  I guess his memory lives strong in my heart.  I am still involved with the Team in Training (the group I trained with to run Marine Corps Marathon in his memory) and usually walk with them on Saturdays, but I wanted to make sure I did something on Sunday too.  So, hubs and I dedicated our golf game to my Uncle.  My Uncle loved golf and we even had the opportunity to play together at my sister's wedding back in 2008.  I can't say that my golf score was worth much, but I did par on two holes (and one of those holes is really hard - so I have a feeling Uncle Dave was trying to help me out a bit).

I have still not encountered any problems golfing while pregnant - minus the fact that there are no maternity golf clothes.  Luckily that skirt still fits (below my belly, of course) and my sister found this golf shirt in Cabo San Lucus that has an empire waste with elastic feature.  It still seems to fit ok.  And no, hubs and I don't normally coordinate our golfing attire - we are matchy-matchy by accident!  We decided to ride in a cart today instead of walking because I was a bit tired when we started and it was 92* out with something like 95% humidity.  Miserable weather but worth it. 

And Uncle Dave - I still miss you and think of you all the time.

So, that was pretty much our weekend.  We were supposed to buy curtains for our bedroom but there just wasn't time.  Maybe today or tomorrow?

What did you do this weekend?