Birthday Weekend Recap-The Big One - Part 1

Last weekend I turned the big three - oh!  To celebrate, I told hubby all I wanted to do was go to the beach. I preferred the west coast of Florida, but didn't care either way.  My only requirements were:

1.) A resort, with a fun pool, so Kaitlyn would enjoy some pool time.

2.) A resort on the beach, not across the street, with a beach view from our room, preferably with a balcony.  I wanted to hear the waves!

3.) A separate living space and bedroom.  That way once the kids go to bed, Andrew and I can still have our time and not have to whisper.

4.) Not spend too much money, since I am still on maternity leave!

5.) No more than 3 hours away, didn't want to be in the car for too long.

Not a lot right?  :) Well, unfortunately, we had to pretty much nix the west coast pretty quickly, since it was much more expensive than the east coast.  But fortunately, one of my co-workers got us a voucher for the Marriott friends and family rate, so we booked a 1 BR suite at the Palm Beach Marriott on Singer Island, FL.

Image from their website

We left on Friday, the 6th.  Andrew took the day off, so we packed the car up and left around noon. After a quick stop at subway for lunch, we were on our way!

Me with my Gator snuggie, I'm always FREEZING in the car

Andrew is ready to go!

Kaitlyn has got her movie on and a snack, she is ready!

No picture of the Zack attack, but he was great in the car.  He played for a bit and then fell asleep and slept the whole way until we got off the highway.  Kaitlyn also took a nap after her lunch, they both did great.  We got to the resort at about 3:15pm.  Our room wasn't ready yet, but we only had to wait in the lobby for about 15 minutes.

So we booked a 1br suite, with a full kitchen, living area and king sized bedroom.  When we walked into our room, it was actually a 2 bedroom suite!  Way bigger than we needed, but we didn't mind the upgrade!!!

Full kitchen (there was no oven though)

Living Room with Walk out balcony

Master Bedroom-King Bed

2nd Bedroom-I think these were full beds

Master bath was HUGE!  Nice big tub and you can't see it, but a really big shower to the left.

Our beach view on the balcony.....let's all take a moment  and just relax.....ahhh

Once we were all unpacked and settled, it was beach time!  

Why hello there!

Photo op with the boy

My new bathing suit from Target!

We didn't stay too long at the beach. We just brought ourselves and Andrew and Kaitlyn did some shell searching while Zack and I sat on the beach.  There was a really close reef that people were swimming to and walking on.  Some were even snorkeling.  Zack started to get a bit fussy, and I knew he was getting hungry, so we walked back up to our room.

I fed Zack, and then we ordered pizza for ourselves.  We knew the on property resort was super expensive, so we called concierge for the local delivery pizza joint and ordered two pizzas.  They were very good!  It was getting late, and we had a big day the next day, so we got the kids to bed, and I enjoyed this view for a bit!!

It was a great start to my birthday weekend!

Five on Friday ~ Link Up

It's almost the weekend, what what!  I'm in full party planning mode as my girl's birthday party is on Sunday, so let's get right to it!

1.

Sigh, a week ago I was here, on Singer Island, Florida.  Take me back, please!

Those two bobbin heads are Andrew & Kaitlyn

2.

Somehow this little girl is turning 3 TOMORROW!  

Birth Day - 9.14.10

One year old - 9.14.11

2 Years Old - 9.14.12

3 Years Old Tomorrow! Bringing in her birthday cupcakes for her classmates!

3.

Have you checked out the new coupon app from Target, Cartwheel?  You get to select different deals  and get a percentage off each item that is listed.  For example, they had 5% off Ariel play sets and 15% off Cherokee girl apparel, so I saved a few dollars on those items!  It was great because I was already going to buy those items anyway, so it was nice to save some money on them.  The percentages aren't usually enough to buy just because of them being on sale, but it's definitely a plus when the item that I was going to buy anyway is on sale!

4. 

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't get everyone's food crush on pumpkin spice this, and pumpkin that.  And why all of the sudden, everyone seems to want to make love to it!  It's just pumpkin people! Must be the whole only available for a limited time thing.  I may not be into the whole pumpkin spice thing..but I am looking forward to one pumpkin thing...

5. 

The pumpkin patch!

She's gonna love it!

Well are those random enough for ya?  Enjoy your weekend, and leave me a comment if you stopped by, I want to say hi! :)

Weekend Recap - Labor Day at Disney - Part 3

So still playing catch up from the labor day weekend recap.  Sunday was over, and it was now Monday morning, Labor Day!  The kids slept all night AGAIN!  I'm liking this vacation thing with tiring them out! This is Zack's first time sleeping back to back through the night, holla!  On our agenda this morning is to pack up the cars since we were leaving today (sad face :( ), but we were finally going to get into the parks! (Happy face! :) )  Hollywood Studios it was.  But first, we had to fuel ourselves, so we headed down to breakfast at the food court again.  This time Andrew and I got omelettes, OMG they were good.  And, this is where we discovered what the vinylmation craze is all about.......

If you haven't heard about these collectibles, they are super addicting.  Disney really knows how to rope you in!  I plan on having a separate post about these, but here is the gist.  Vinylmation are these collectible figurines, they all look like a Mickey person, but are all themed differently.  Some you can buy them straight up, meaning you can see what they look like.  For example, you can buy the Toy Story themed ones, that are Woody, Buzz, etc.  Others are a mystery.  You are literally buying a box, and not knowing what is inside it.  One of the mystery sets that is out right now is The Little Mermaid.  And Andrew decides his little girl needs to have not one, but two of these.  So he goes and buys them after breakfast, and brings them back to Kaitlyn to open at the table.  She opens them and gets King Triton and Ursula.  

Aren't these so cool?

Kaitlyn LOVED them!  And just like Andrew, his mom had to buy one for Kaitlyn too.  And of course, wouldn't you know it, she got another Ursula.  We opened it without Kaitlyn seeing, because we weren't sure how she would re-act.  We held onto it and were going to see if we could trade it for another one at the park.

We drove to Hollywood Studios and first on our list was to see Sofia!!  She just started appearing at the parks, and Kaitlyn loves her, so Andrew and Kaitlyn got in the line, and I took Zack into some shops so he could beat the heat.

I'll give you smiles mom, as long as it's not hot out!

We went into the animation store - such cool things!

Cute magnets, would be great art pieces too! Maybe a future DIY?

Halloween decor is out, loving these Jim Shore pieces

Andrew and I kept texting back and forth and once she got closer to the front, I headed over to meet them. Kaitlyn was next in line, and Sofia had to go "polish her amulet".  So we had to wait just a little while longer. I am always so surprised how well Kaitlyn does waiting in those lines.  She rarely complains and always knows she has to wait her turn.  She wasn't even phased when she was next in line and Sofia had to leave momentarily. 

Waiting her turn!

We got some good  pics!!

Princess Pose!

After Sofia, Zack was hungry, so I found a quiet, air conditioned spot.  And of course a photo op.

We met up with the rest of Andrew's family and got some popcorn.  We also checked out the vinylmation trading area, and traded our 2nd Ursula to get a different vinylmation.  I'll fill you in on that in my vinylmation post! (the suspense is killing you right?)

We were hot and hungry, so we headed out of the park to get some grub back at Port Orleans.   

Love this show and love this sign, another future DIY of our family like this? Can you tell art was on my mind?

We drove to Port Orleans French Quarter and ate at the food court again. They had a slightly different selection of food.  I love the theming in this food court.  

This guy was a little creepy though...

I got a shrimp Po' Boy, it was delicious!  We were finishing up our dining plan, so I also got a desert, I got a mickey ice cream sandwich, can't go wrong there!

After lunch, we checked out the gift shop, we had some snacks still on the dining plan to use up!  Note to those who get the dining plan: Use all of your meals and snacks in the beginning.  We were too worried about saving them, that we didn't use all of them till the end, which wasn't the wisest.  

We made one more trip out to the gators by the pool and then got in the car and headed home. :(

It was a lovely long, relaxing weekend!  Can't wait to go back to Disney, especially when the weather finally cools down!

Always Remember

I remember growing up, listening to my mom talk about the walking on the moon event. She said "I remember exactly where I was when it happened".  I always thought that was so cool to be a part of such a huge moment in history, and hoped that I would someday have that.

Boy was I wrong to wish that..............

I was in my best friend, Michelle's, car.  We were on our way to class, I was a freshman at our local community college.  The radio was on, and I remember hearing something about the twin towers in NYC, something about maybe a bomb there.  I was so naive, I didn't even know what the twin towers were.  I got into my class, Sociology.  There was talk about what was going on.  We tried to turn the TV on in our room, but couldn't get it to work, so we went about our day in class.  We only had one class that day, so Michelle and I headed home.  I didn't even think much about what we heard earlier that morning, and don't even know if we heard anything on the radio about it.

Once I got home, I turned on the TV and it was EVERYWHERE!  It was awful, they were showing the footage of the plane hitting the tower, the city in utter chaos.  And then the first tower falling, and the second. I was glued to my tv, couldn't take my eyes off of it.  I called my mom, we had family in New Jersey, and I didn't know if any of them worked in the city.  Luckily, none of them did.

I was watching 60 minutes the other day, and they were talking about the Museum that would be opening next Spring.  One snippet of it really caught my attention.  No one under the age of 17 will have any memory of the events on 9/11.  Isn't that crazy?  I thank God that my kids won't have to witness something so horrific as that day, and I hope they never do.  But I will definitely tell them all about that day, a day of misery, a day of unknown, a day of seeing the heroism in complete strangers, and a unity for my country that I hope never goes away.

Yes, we will never forget.

Weekend Recap - Labor day at Disney - Part 2

Sorry it took so long to put day 2 up from our Disney weekend, it was my birthday on Sunday, and we went away on Friday for a long beach weekend.  So I've been busy busy!  

Hmm..let's see where did I leave off?  

We had a nice evening on Saturday, we must have tuckered the kids out, because the BOTH slept through the night!  WOOHOO!!

Waking up in a Disney bed...how can you NOT be happy?

Love these two!

Once we woke up, we got dressed and headed down to get some breakfast at the food court.  I got the bountiful platter, which consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, potato casserole and 2 pancakes.  It was super yum.  Kaitlyn had the kids pancakes with bacon.  After breakfast, we took our time and checked out the gift shop.

Kaitlyn was taking a "nap" with her new friends

Today was going to be a pool day.  Andrew's sister, Melissa and her two kids were coming over, so we got a table with an umbrella right by the pool.  It was a very scientific choice, because we wanted to make sure we had optimal shade.  Once we were all swimsuited up, we headed back down to our table.  Kaitlyn and Andrew got in the pool right away, and I hung out with Zackary at the table.  He was a bit fussy because of the heat, so I took him inside the lobby to cool him down.  I knew he was tired and he finally fell asleep and I put him in the stroller.  Andrew's mom offered to watch him sleep, so I headed into the pool with Andrew and Kaitlyn.  It was so hot out that the pool felt soooo good!  

Shortly after I got in, they started a parachute game with the kids in the pool.  It was one of those huge colorful parachutes where everyone grabs a side and you can do different things with it.  I could tell Kaitlyn wanted to join in, but of course was very hesitant.  I got out with her and she and I grabbed an end of the parachute and began bouncing it up and down.  She was having so much fun!  Then it went to another game. This time, everyone had to hold the parachute down, and then on the count of three, everyone lifted it high and the cast member would name a ride and if you have been on it, you got to walk under the parachute to another spot.  Well of course with the kids being kids, no one listened to her and just ran under the parachute as soon as it went up, including my little Kaitlyn.  I think she just followed what everyone else was doing, and as soon as she went in, I started panicking.  What if she got stuck under there?  She's too small, she's going to get trampled!  I had all these horrible thoughts running through my head.  I almost wanted to run under there and get her, but I told myself, she is getting bigger and more independent, let's she what she does.  She found her way out (although it felt like she was under there for hours) and I could tell she was a little spooked by it.  The next time it went up, she only went slightly in and didn't run around under it.  Guess she isn't quite ready to go off on her own yet. (and that makes me a teensy bit happy...ok a LOT happy!)

After that game was over, Disney bingo started.  We got our card and buttons, aka chips, but I could tell pretty quickly that she wasn't into it.  She didn't quite get the game and just kept moving all of the buttons around on the card.  But I am proud to say that she named almost all of the characters!  While she went off with Andrew to swim some more, I stayed and played. Sadly, we didn't get any bingos.  

It was getting late, and we were all getting hungry, so we got out of the pool.  Andrew's mom, Jane, just got back from walking with Zack, guess he had been fussing, so they took him in the ac.  That was my cue that it was time to feed him too, so I took him back to the room, while Andrew and Kaitlyn got some food at the food court.

Naked baby cuddle time!

Once Zack was fed, he took a nap.  Andrew and Kaitlyn came back into the room, and Kaitlyn was ready for her nap too.  So now it was my time to head down to the pool and grab some lunch.  Everyone else was still at the pool, so I took my lunch to our table.  I got a tuna salad sandwich, and it was very tasty!  Zack was still sleeping, so I stayed by the pool and enjoyed some time chatting with the family.

Once nap times were over and Melissa and her kids left, it was time for dinner.  We didn't want to wear the kids out, so we thought we would take it easy tonight, and then hit a park in the morning, on Labor Day.  So we decided to drive over to Port Orleans for dinner.  I really love this resort, we went to the French Quarter side.  We ate at their food court, which of course was "Nawlins inspired.  We were all eating off the meal plan tonight, so I got a beverage and got I think chicken parm for my entree.  For desert, I got the beignets. They were sooo tasty!  Andrew got a huge cookie ice cream sandwich for his desert.  After dinner, we walked around outside.  It was lightening, so the pool there was closed.  But Kaitlyn wanted to get her picture taken with the gators!

It was getting late, and we headed back home.  I was exhausted that night, so once the kids were in bed, I went to bed too.  Andrew went back to the pool for a little late night swimming and then came back later.  

Phew, sorry this got so long, and thanks for reading through if you got this far!

Weekend Recap ~ Labor day at Disney - Part One

 Happy Monday....errr Tuesday!  I hope everyone had a nice relaxing Labor Day Weekend!  We sure did!  We stayed out at Disney on Saturday night and Sunday night, with Andrew's parents and brother, Matt.  The resort we stayed at was the Pop Century.  On Saturday morning, we woke up, got the kids dressed and fed and packed!  Kaitlyn was so excited we were staying at a hotel!  We got to our resort and went to check in. 

 

Kaitlyn and I hanging out in the kids area

Disney really knows how to do it right!  We had a bit of a wait at check in, but Kaitlyn was fine jumping from ottoman to ottoman and watching cartoons in the kids room.  We also got to test out the new magic bands from Disney!  And if you haven't heard about these, OMG they are soooo awesome!  They are your room key, your park ticket, even your fast pass!  And of course true to Disney fashion, if you check in early, you can get personalized bands, and then you can add some bling to them as well.  It was so nice not having to keep track of our room key, or worry about having my credit card or any money on me.  Just as long as I had my band on my wrist, I was good to go! 

 

My Magic Band! LOVE!



Thebestmagic.net

I'm so thinking the pink one!!!!

 

We had a short walk from the lobby to our room, we were staying in the seventies building.

Remember the rotary phones?

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the room...bad Suzanne!  We dropped all of our stuff at our room and headed to the food court.  They have a pretty nice food court, with many different options.  Andrew and I both got the pizza bread, and Kaitlyn got a mac-n-cheese.  After eating lunch, we went back to the room and went swimming.  Luckily, Zack went down for his long nap for the day, so I got to go swimming with Kaitlyn and Andrew.  Andrew's parents stayed in the room and watched some college football.

 

We went in the "hippy dippy" pool. Again, no pictures!  We got back to the room, and Kaitlyn was pretty tired. She didn't have her nap yet and it was already almost 5!  She wanted to take a nap, so we let her sleep some before dinner.  Once she was up, it was time for dinner.  We decided to head over to the Animation Resort for dinner.  The Pop is connected to it, so we could walk over there.  It was a nice walk, the weather wasn't too bad, and Kaitlyn got to see some turtles on the way, and we checked out the big blue pool and the Nemo themed buildings.  We also had the dining plan for this trip, so I got to order an entre, a drink and a desert.  I don't remember what I had for dinner, but I do know I got a humongous cupcake, it was pretty good. 

 

After dinner, we decided to walk around the resort and check out the other buildings. 

First up was the Lion King themed buildings.

 



Zazu!

They had a cool play area of caves for the kids - It was with the hyenas, the elephant graveyard!  We watch the Lion King a lot, so Kaitlyn really enjoyed seeing all of the characters.  We also saw Simba - all grown up, Scar and then the scene of Little Simba, Timon & Pumba walking across the log.

 

Up next was the Little Mermaid!  I was super excited because Kaitlyn is in love with the Little Mermaid right now, plus her birthday party is going to be Under the Sea themed, so we were all excited!

 

Prince Eric (well his statue)

A "snarflak" You can see the rooms behind there

Family photo with Ariel and Flounder!

Love all of these colors!

Ursula!

And across is King Triton!

Don't forget Sebastian!

Dinglehopper! Kaitlyn thinks she's funny and will twirl her hair with her fork at dinner.....



Kaitlyn usually is scared of the villians in every movie, but for some reason she likes Ursula! She wanted her picture with her.

Kaitlyn really enjoyed pointing to all of the characters and calling out their names!  We definitely will want to stay here in the near future.  Even though we didn't head into the parks on the first day, it was still fun!  And I think Kaitlyn thought we were in the parks anyway! 

 

We walked back to our resort and put the kids to bed, they were both beat!   We snuck out for an evening dip in the pool.  It was very nice to get some quality one on one time!  And a perfect ending to our first day!  Up next, day two - do we get into the parks or not??

My Magic Band! LOVE!