NolaMommy*

Saints Kickoff 5K

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 22:42:00 +0000

Today I got to run in the Saints Kickoff 5K downtown with my good friend- and it was her first ever race!

We started off in Champion Square and went down Poydras and up and down a few side streets before returning to Poydras and running around the Dome. The weather was pretty good, it was a lot cooler than I had expected but it was still rather warm. We then got to run inside the dome and through the big inflatable thing the Saints run through during their pre game show! The had the Saintsations cheering us on and we got awesome medals when we finished.

Post Race Selfie!

Shirt, Bib (blurred) and Finisher Medal

Food Drunk Food Truck

Afterwards we headed back to Champion Square and there was a great band but the crowds were HUGE. For over 5 thousand runners they had one line for people to get their post race snack freebies. You can imagine how long THAT line was! It was almost as long as the free beer line LOL.

Crowds in Champion Square

It was a great way to kick off the Saints 2015-2016 Football Season! Who Dat Baby!

Bloody Mary 5K

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 22:31:00 +0000

View of Orange Beach from the air

We decided to pop over to the beach for a combination vacation/5K over Labor Day Weekend. We had a great time, the beaches weren't even crowded! We saw a few (non-stinging) jellyfish in the water but it wasn't a big deal. I'm thankful because a lot of friends have had experience with far worse jellyfish this summer in the gulf of mexico. We had a great trip there and it was a lot of fun, I'm so glad we decided to do it.

So while there I got to do a 5K that was Bloody Mary themed! It was at Tacky Jack's restaurant and it ran down a rather smooth, flat street under the Intracoastal Waterway bridge. It was a little HOT and I had forgotten both my sunglasses and sunscreen (great move!) but I did run the entire first 2 miles without stopping. Then on the last mile with the sun in my eyes and my skin turning into a tomato I lost it all and started trudging. But I finished with around a 13.33 minute mile so I am pleased with that. It's just been so brutally hot down here that I haven't felt like doing any running lately so aside from the occasional race I haven't been. I have to get on that and really start back once the weather cools.

Post- Race celebrating with a Bloody Mary and the Tacky Jack Fish!

Race Bib and T-Shirt

Sandy Beaches

Found a Sea Star (and let him go after the photo op)

Blizzard Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 22:42:00 +0000

"Honey, slow down I'm trying to photograph the sign"

Old School Tickets for Blizzard Beach

YEARS ago I went to Blizzard Beach and LOVED it so much. I couldn't wait until the kids were all old enough to experience it. This Summer we had planned to do some other things in Florida- we were going to Downtown Disney and Lego Land and wanted to see the mermaids of Weeki Wachi. Sadly the mermaid experience was closed down due to repairs so we were left scrambling for something to do.

We debated going to Animal Kingdom for the day when I realized- wait Blizzard Beach might be perfect right now! We drove over with our bag of suits and towels and sunscreen and were able to park super close and walk right up to the ticket counter. I am a little used to the magic bands so it was like a nostalgic throwback to get the old school ticket cards for admission! Now the only downside was that since we weren't doing a multi-park experience I didn't buy the memory maker. They have lots of photographers over BB that took amazing photographs. I wound up buying a few individually through the site but that's not inexpensive. My phone says it is waterproof but I didn't want to take the chance and I also didn't want to hold it so it spent most of the trip in the locker we rented. So you might want to look into a easy to carry waterproof case if you aren't on memory maker!

The crowds there were nothing! I was expecting lines but the most we waited was maybe 5-10 minutes. As a family we rode the Team Boat Springs at least 5 times, oh it was great! The kids loved the chairlift and anything involving a tube. We spent a tremendous amount of time in the lazy river floating around, it was so fun and relaxing.

Lazy River

I am very thankful that we spent the extra money on our own table/chairs. I find it beyond rude how guests rush in and throw down claim to 25 chairs per party. I mean I'd pass a chair that literally had one flip flop on it. If you aren't going to use the chair often do you need that many? It's just rude. So we paid a little extra and had a guaranteed table with 4 chairs and umbrella. It was perfect because since it was a weekday my husband did have to go sit and do a few work calls and there were a few times we needed to go back to reapply sunscreen or eat lunch.

Private Area Sign

Our chairs/table/towels and private space! So worth the extra cash

A Cast Member gave the girls special "I'm Celebrating" temporary tattoos to have applied at the tattoo stand! They LOVED them and they lasted a few days! So nice of her.

St. Jude's SuperHero 5K

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 16:55:00 +0000

I was looking for a race to do to stay motivated and stumbled upon this 5 and 10K that was all the way in Hattiesburg Mississippi. I convinced my husband to take us over to it (about a 2 hour drive) and he agreed!

It was a great course, very shady and flat which was much appreciated with the major heat and humidity of mid-July in the deep south. This race benefits the St. Jude's children's hospital, which is such an amazing charity. Many of the participants were dressed in awesome superhero costumes. I debated trying to Amazon Prime something at the last second but in the end chose not to and wore a shirt representing another great charity.

They had a photo booth set up for pictures, a snowball vendor, free pizza, tons of water and sports drink stations and a huge table full of raffle/door prizes for the participants. They even had pools of ice cold sponges at the finish line, which felt AMAZING! It was a super well organized race and I really enjoyed getting to participate in it.

Race Swag

Running

Walking Break/Fierce Posing Opportunity

From the swag bag- super cute little box but what on earth is inside? Sanderson Farms raises chickens....

Oh, mints! Cute

Peach 5K

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 02:40:00 +0000

We traveled up to North Louisiana to visit a local Peach festival and I decided to run the 5K with a college friend who was also traveling to the festival.

The course took us through our old campus and over the hills past where the frat houses used to stand and a few sights that reminded me of some crazy adventures about 14 years ago! It was fun, much hillier than I am used to though. Ruston isn't known as the Piney hills area for nothing!

Running through the Tech campus towards the clock tower

Pre-Race Selfie!

Blurred Bib with Race Shirt

After the race we enjoyed the festival, parade, and all sort of yummy Peach treats. Peach Icees, Peach Pizza from Johnny's and Fresh Peaches were just a few of our purchases.

Innsbrook School Supply Showdown

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 16:32:00 +0000

Okay so I've obviously not a fan of the prepackaged school supply "deals" that schools try to foist upon parents.

I'm already up to my eyeballs in school tuition at over 15 grand a year (yes you read that right) for flipping elementary school. I am hardly made of money and need to cut corners whenever possible. I'm sorry if it's a fundraiser but frankly I don't see how overcharging me by 114.00 so you can get back a measly 5% of total sales (or whatever piddly small amount it is) is worth it.

So today Target had their school supplies out. There were no sales or specials, in fact they are still unboxing the majority of items but I was able to go around and write down the prices of each item on the kids list for a little comparison shopping.

All prices are pre-tax but in Louisiana that's 8.75% added to the total if you care to do the math I was too lazy to do.

Child 1:

Supply List:
12 sharpened pencils, 2 bank bags, 5 single red pens, 4 oz glue all, 8 count markers, 24 count crayons, 8 count watercolors, 3 pink erasers, 1 pair scissors, 4 folders, 2 boxes kleenex, 4 glue sticks, 1 baby wipe carton, 1 book cover, 1 box gallon ziplocs, 1 roll paper towels.

At Innsbrook these items price out to 78.00

At Target those same items price out to 46.77.

46.77 vs 78.00 for a savings of 31.23

Child 2:

Supply List:
3 folders, 1 plastic school box, 4 triangle pencils, 1 glue all, 1 scissor, 8 count watercolor, 2 ct dry erase markers, kleenex, 3 erasers, box baby wipes, clorox wipes, ziploc bags, 4 glue sticks.

At Innsbrook these items cost 87.00

At Target these items cost 39.25

39.25 vs 87.00 for a savings of 47.75

Child 3:
Supply List: 4 bottles glue all, 2 folders, 1 box kleenex, 1 box baby wipes, 1 pack of playdoh (4 cans), clorox wipes.

At Innsbrook these items cost 57.00

At Target these items cost 21.43

21.43 vs 57.00 for a savings of 35.57

Total Savings Target vs Innsbrook=$ 114.00

So if I buy all my supplies today at Target, without even any discounts or coupons or anything I will be saving 114.00. To me it's a no-brainer. I will take 20 minutes at Target or Walmart and coupon shop my way into even greater savings this Summer.

Blueberry 5K

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 13 Jun 2015 12:57:00 +0000

So we decided to go to a blueberry festival in Mississippi and I signed up to do their 5K while we were there. It started around 8 a.m. but it was already so hot and humid. There were a lot of hills and the course measurements were totally off so the course was actually longer than 3.1 miles. I totally trust my GPS splits more than spray paint on the road. It was fun though but it was very nice to be done, check out the berries and get back into the air conditioning as quickly as possible.

BlueBerry Tech Shirt and Bib

Fat Boy 5k

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 22:32:00 +0000

Shirt, Medal and Bib! The women's tech shirts were v-neck, super flattering!

It's not a secret that I was a slow snail when placed in heat (like during the Race to the Lake) so it should be no surprise that when faced with a HOT AND HUMID summer race I flopped spectacularly. I mean I did so so so much worse than when I ran with bronchitis in the winter.

I was so excited for the Fat Boy 5K. Finishers received medals that looked like Donuts and it just seemed so darned fun. I found leggings with donuts on them and a great Homer Simpson donut shirt just for the occasion and signed up to run with a few friends. As the date approached and the heat and humidity began to rise those friends dropped like flies until it was down to 2 of us still planning on running. I kept thinking, well it's at 8 am it won't be THAT BAD. Uhm I clearly lost my mind.

Part of the race was on the road, part was on a trail that had a tiny bit of shade, but not much. It was brutal. I ran the first mile and made the turn with the sun beating down on me and realized there was no way in heck I was going to continue. It felt like I was both melting and drowning from the sun and sweat. My phone said it was 83 degrees and with the humidity it felt like 89. I think it was even worse than that. Miles 2 and 3 trudged by as I felt no need to even try to run. The funny thing is that no one else apparently did either. Much like at the Race to the Lake where there was a certain point people stopped passing each other and trudged in a line like ants. I even saw one person throwing up on the side, I can't say why but I wouldn't be shocked if the heat was a factor. Of course PLENTY of people did run it and finish before me....abour 506 women alone finished before I did and then another 232 women finished after me. 406 men were done before me and 101 were done after me. Oh well. It's not worth passing out for and it wasn't like we could use this time for any future race corrals.

Homer Simpson, Smiling Politely.

Speaking of corrals this race desperately needed them. Or at the very least a separate side lane for walkers. There were TONS of walkers there and heck I became one too at the end but it's so very hard to run when you have walkers 4 or 5 across in the middle of the road. At the very least let the runners start first and walkers in the back. I think it would have maybe motivated me more if I didn't have to keep dodging walkers and strollers- there were even wagons and tricycles though those people did seem to stick to the back of the queues.

After the race there was tons of food. Pizza, burgers, Chee Wees, Snow Balls, Donuts, Beer, Chocolate Milk, Soft Drinks and Bananas. I had a few bites of a donut and drank some nice cold chocolate milk but I just didn't feel like eating anything more because it was just so hot and gross out! In the end we had fun and the adorable donut medal was placed around my neck. I am just more than a little wary about summertime runs though. I don't even like to venture outside in the middle of the summer, much less run in it!

There I am behind the guy in purple

Post Race Donuts and Chocolate Milk

Pink Donut Finisher Medal

The Great School Supply Rip Off Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Wed, 20 May 2015 00:36:00 +0000

So I know I complained last year about the ridiculous prices of the back to school "fundraising" school supply sales. The gist is that you order and your supplies are waiting on the first day, but really there is another list of items that you have to go and buy to supplement so you still have to suck it up and go to Walmart or Target. And the prices are flipping insane.

For a child entering Kindergarten the prices rises to 87.00 for the following items:

So that's 3 plastic folders, 1 school box, 4 triangular pencils, 1 glue, 1 8 pack of crayons, 1 scissors, 1 watercolors 8 count, 2 dry erase fine markers, 1 box kleenex, 1 box baby wipes, 3 pink erasers, 1 package paper plates, clorox wipes, ziploc gallon bags, 4 gluesticks. For EIGHTY SEVEN DOLLARS? COME ON give me a break. Seriously it's not difficult to go to the store and buy school supplies. Last year I got the folders on sale at Target and with coupons got them down to like .20 each. Even without coupons I think they are .50 max when supplies go out.

And, God Forbid, you make a comment to someone about how overpriced you are because then you get raked across the coals by the fundraising chairs and their friends backing them up. Whoo hoo if you have the extra money to spend on this but I will be happily waiting for the sale papers and saving my money for something far more worthwhile- like another trip to Disney.

Disney Ice: Frozen on Ice

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 02 May 2015 23:37:00 +0000

When I was a kid I have vague memories of seeing a Disney on Ice tour when it came to my town. I don't remember ANYTHING about it but I remember going. There have been a lot of Disney on Ice tours come through the city in the past years but we've never gone. I was worried they wouldn't hold the kids interest but this seemed like one that they would like.

When tickets went on sale ONE YEAR AGO I was one of the crazy people who bought that far in advance. I don't think it was sold out, there were definitely a few empty seats in the arena, but I was glad I bought them early because we had amazing seats. We were right in the center of the rink and not too high either. I think we had a better view than those on the floor because we could see the entire framed set including the monitors that flashed things and all the lights and fireworks.

Anyway so we headed out the Lakefront arena and managed to scrape enough cash together to park and then headed into the world of nonstop vendors selling all things frozen. T-shirts, stuffed animals, programs, candy, photo ops for 22.00 a pop....seriously it was the cardboard cutout of Anna and Elsa in front of a backdrop with a cutesy cardboard frame. TWENTY TWO DOLLARS! Yeesh. We shelled out a whopping 36.00 for 3 snow cones in cute Anna and Elsa mugs and tried to bypass the light up souvenirs and other items as quickly as possible.

Snow cone highway robbery.

There was a quick little pre show sponsored by the Stonyfield Yogurt company where they had the kids dance and clap along and then the show started. There were other Disney characters besides Frozen in it. They had Mickey, Donald, Minnie and Goofy start the show and they also brought out Princesses and Princes (Rapunzel, Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White), Pumba and Timon, Dory and Nemo and Nemo's Dad, and Buzz and Woody. They danced and sang a bit and then we saw the Frozen story.

Disney Friends starting the show

Great Seats

The story was a little abbreviated and the songs weren't 100% in order to the movie, but it didn't change anything fundamental to the story. The cutest thing has to be in the beginning when the young version of Kristoff and Sven show up. The little reindeer ice skating is just beyond precious.

Opening Scenes

Sven and Kristoff

Elsa in her Ice Castle

Anna, Olaf, Sven and Kristoff

They even had a inflatable "Marshmallow" ice monster that was really well done.

Marshmallow breathing "snow"

Kristoff throwing Snowballs at Marshmallow

So well done

The costumes were gorgeous, from the dancing townspeople to the amazing troll costumes that looked like 2 trolls standing on each other.

Trolls

Kristoff and the Trolls

Just a bit of a fixer upper

The show was a little under 2 hours including intermission and it absolutely flew by. I am so glad we chose to go to this one. It wasn't an inexpensive outing by any means but it was so much fun!

Finale with the cast of Frozen and their Disney Friends

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 21:43:00 +0000

The final play of the Broadway in New Orleans season was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Saenger. I was so excited for this one, I remember seeing it years ago and I just really enjoyed it then.

Stage before the play started

Intermission

The leads in this performance were from American Idol. Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young, I admit I watched the first two seasons of American Idol but I didn't know anything about these two, except that the play kept being advertised as having American Idol alumni in it.

Playbill and Tickets

While Ace looked fabulous as Joseph his voice just wasn't very strong and I found it quite distracting at times. Diana made a good enough narrator but I thought she was pitchy at times but then again she sings pretty much nonstop for the whole play so I am sure that's a taxing experience. The best performer was the guy who played the Pharaoh with a hint of Elvis. He played up to the crowd by throwing in a Who Dat reference and by adding in a Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouler to his routine. He was a really strong singer and just brought a lot of fun to the performance. The best part, to me, was the medley at the end where they sang a little from each of the previous numbers. It just seemed more energetic than the rest of the play.

Overall I think I am a little burned out on Broadway in New Orleans. I haven't loved very many of the plays this season and every time we go there is another 20$ in parking charges. It's starting to add up. Oh and the overpriced bar prices. Even with 8.00 in drink coupons from club level seats we paid $18.00 for a glass of wine and cheap champagne. So that would have been $26.00 without the discount! I'm not sure if we will be renewing for the next season. I've already seen Wicked, Beauty and the Beast and Book of Mormon so those aren't something I want to repeat. Of the next season I am really only interested in Cabaret. It might be time to just buy single tickets instead of spending a fortune again.

Mud Bug 5K

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 01:19:00 +0000

This weekend we participated in the Mud Bug Run 5k and 1/2 mile kids fun run. It was a gorgeous day and the location was really nice. We traveled to a small town in Mississippi for the event and crawfish festival. It was a small run, around 40 or so participants overall in the 5K. The course was very pretty, it wound around a creek and a few lakes along past camp sites and cabins and cottages for rent. However I am NOT used to hills, at all. So needless to say I wasn't super speedy going up the numerous hills at all!

We got little gift bags full of all sorts of samples of soaps, sunscreens, coupons for local restaurants, pens, keychains and other little goodies. Love a good freebie! The shirts were really cute and super soft too.

My total time was 39:56 so an average pace of 12:51 according to the pace calculator I just used. The kids did the 1/2 mile fun run in 6 minutes and 7 seconds! Way to go kiddos! They got little ribbons at the end and were so thrilled with their accomplishment. It was a great day of running for our household.

Mud Bug Run Shirt and (blurred) bib

Race Gift Bag full of samples! Love it.

View of the route and hills

The UPHILL finish line. Phew!

Kids running in the fun run

Proud Runners!

Disney's "No Strings Attached"

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 20:42:00 +0000

I'm just getting around to posting about the very strange experience we had with the No Strings Attached certificate we received at our last trip to the Magic Kingdom. I had never seen such a thing before.

Basically we had just spent a very long time- over an hour and fifteen minutes- waiting to see Rapunzel and Cinderella. The line wait had posted like a 35 minute wait so we decided to do it since the girls love Princesses. The wait time quickly grew and we were stuck as the girls insisted we not leave. By the time we saw them and left the girls were getting tired and upset so we stopped at Auntee Gravities for a bite to eat. I took one child inside to grab the food and left my husband and the others outside. We got a text message from him saying he had an amazing surprise for the girls- fast passes to see Anna and Elsa!

I wasn't sure how he had gotten such an item but when we got back outside he handed me this ticket and said that a cast member had come up and started a conversation with the kids. She asked if they had seen Anna and Elsa and they replied the line was too long. In truth we had tried for a decent fast pass time but the best we could get was near 9 pm so we had let them go knowing there was no way kids this age would be awake and happy by then. So my husband explained this to the cast member named Allie and he said she wrote out this little ticket and handed it to him telling him to go see Anna and Elsa with it. I was so excited I snapped a cell phone picture of it and sent it to my friends gloating about our good luck to see Anna and Elsa!

We were ecstatic. The girls were besides themselves. So we finished eating and rushed back to the meet and greet area. I handed the fast pass attendant the certificate and then things started to go badly. She was SO rude. So so so rude. She glared at it and told me it wasn't valid. I asked why and she told me I should read the print. Sure enough there is a place that says excludes character experiences. I tried to explain to her that the cast member had given it to us with the intent to use it as a character experience and I was just trying to clarify what went wrong. I asked her if it was possible the cast member had made a mistake because she had specifically told us to use it for Anna and Elsa. Truthfully if she hadn't said that and just given us the certificate I would have used it for another ride on the mine train!

And it was hard to get past the fact the NO STRINGS ATTACHED certificate clearly came with STRINGS ATTACHED! I also couldn't get over how nasty the girl was being so when I turned from her and explained it to my husband to explain it another cast member from inside the little attached store came out to ask if we were okay. I told her we were more than a little confused because we were given the paper and told to use it to see Anna and Elsa and that we wouldn't have tried if we weren't told that was what it was for. She tried to talk to the attendant as well and wound up going over her to management. The manager was very nice and told us that technically they didn't have to honor it and that sometimes people get mixed up over these when they are handing them out.

This little sheet was quickly becoming more of a problem than anything. The manager went off for a bit and came back and said if we quickly rushed in we could see Anna and Elsa. And so we did. The girls loved it and had no idea that anything was amiss with our getting in.

I don't understand why this would exclude character experiences in the first place. I can't imagine Disney hands out that many of these things that it would severely impact the line wait times. As it is the Fast Pass Plus people filled in like crazy causing our initial Rapunzel/Cinderella times to be greatly extended.

Disney Family of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 20:21:00 +0000

So have you ever wondered how someone is picked to be the "Family of the Day" at Disney resorts? I admit I never gave it much thought, I would occasionally see family names flash across the screen at Contemporary before.

On our last visit my husband went to park the car after the bellhop unloaded all our luggage, and I headed in with the kids to start checking in. While we were standing there the girls were given buttons to celebrate their birthdays and we were told that a very special surprise was in store for us. After a few minutes the desk clerk asked me to turn around and we were greeted by 4 very nice Contemporary workers holding out bunches of balloons for the kids! They told us that we had gotten a free room upgrade from garden to castle view! And boy was the castle view amazing! We got to see the fireworks that night from our balcony while the kids snoozed away, exhausted from the morning activities. They were so nice and waited and waited and waited for my husband to return but he was taking so long that I finally suggested they could just go ahead and take our photo without him. I hated to make them keep waiting!

We got to see our name appear on the information screen downstairs, and yes I'm weird and blurred our last name from it. Because, well hello internet safety.

You had to be quick to catch it flash by!

The photo that we took was printed out and attached to a little card that was waiting in our room for us after we had lunch! It was a fun little surprise and we were thrilled to have gotten chosen for this honor. The girls were in heaven with their balloons and Mommy and Daddy loved the room view upgrade and not having to BUY any balloons this trip ;-) Thanks Contemporary Hotel! I still don't know HOW one gets this honor but it was really cool to be chosen.

Photo of the Family of the Day

The inside of the card

Card Exterior

Our certificate!

February and March Class Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 22:57:00 +0000

It's been awhile since we posted some of the art projects that we did at work. These are some of the ones for February and March.

We keep it all very simple. Lots of handprints/fingerprints and finger painting projects.

Pom Poms dipped in paint

Love Bug Fingerprint art

Fingerpaint King Cakes

Handprint Mardi Gras Art

Shamrocks using heart shaped stamps

Torn Paper Projects

St. Joseph's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 14:00:00 +0000

One of the really cool things about New Orleans is the abundance of St. Joseph's Day altars. Apparently most other cities in the United States don't celebrate the day in this way. In Sicily Catholics would pray to Joseph to help end the famines that they were suffering from. To thank Joseph they built altars in celebration with tons of food and 3 tiers to represent the Holy Trinity.

Every year the Times Picayune posts a list of the altars in the area and most of them are in churches and schools but there are some that are even in homes. I just read about a family who did one in their home to honor their mother, who had recently passed away. I decided we would visit one of the larger ones in a school nearby. The photos from the in home ones were incredible but I wasn't comfortable with taking the kids into a strangers house for something like that. I am sure they are wonderful events but I felt like a public place was better suited for us.

After we took in the sights then the kids were given free cookies along with blessed Fava beans and St. Joseph prayer card. They really liked getting to see all the foods and desserts that people worked so hard to make. All of these items are made by volunteers. They spend hours upon hours baking and creating this. The items that are displayed are donated to the less fortunate too when the alter is taken down, so it's really a great tradition and maybe the girls will help bake when they get older.

Shepherd and Lamb Cake

Breads, Cakes, Memorial Photos and Candles

Another View

Chariot

Do you see the lemons? If you want to find a husband or get pregnant you are supposed to steal a lemon from the altar!

Prayer Card

Cookies, Bread, Bean and Card

St. Joseph Chaplet Rosary

Shamrockin' Picture Proofs

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 19:10:00 +0000

You know, I can't be the only one to think "if they didn't shoot photos from the ground up, I would be more likely to buy them!". Maybe they could have the photographers stand to be eye level or crouch at best but when you see them laying back you know the angle is going to stink! Anyway I think it's safe to say I won't be shelling out $40.00 to download the originals of these. But I thought they were sort of fun and decided to post the proofs here.

I'm on the far left

Far Left Once Again

Substituted in a gold Sparkle Skirt for the bulky tutu at the last minute. Again, not loving the upshot photo angle!

Shamrockin' Run 8K

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 23:27:00 +0000

So how does a non-Irish, non-beer drinker wind up doing a St. Patrick's day themed run? When my friend told me it was a really fun run, a great course and a lot of fun I decided that it was worth my time to give it a try. Now I admit I haven't run since the Princess Half Marathon and my partner hadn't since her previous half marathon around the same time. We decide not to let that deter us.

This race really encourages dressing up and even has a costume contest. While I wasn't going to be competing in that, I still knew I wanted to be dressed up. I bought a green and white tutu from Plush Appeal and also found the green glitter top hat there. It was perfect, it had 2 small alligator clips attached to it which helped it to perfectly stay in place for the entire day. I found my t-shirt, which said Irish-ish, at Old Navy for $5.00. The shamrock tattoo I wore on my cheek was a freebie from the race expo.

We've had disgusting weather lately, lots of rainy days and disgusting cold but fortunately that stopped leading up to the race. We did have a slightly soggy race pickup where we got our tech shirts and bibs the day before. This was also the first race I've seen where we had to lace the timing chips into our shoes. I was so afraid I would forget to wear it. We were also given beer brackets for the post-race beer. Apparently there was also a challenge where you would stop and drink 4 oz of Guinness a few times along the route. Ugh, no thank you!

Course Map

On Sunday morning we headed down and parked near the start at the WW2 Museum. The race went down Prytania to Louisiana where we made a loop . We then went back on Prytania to Upperline where we headed up to St. Charles Avenue. From there we went down and cut through to Audubon Park where the race finished. The route had some pros and cons. The pros are that it was very flat and pretty. You run by some gorgeous Uptown victorian houses. The cons are that the streets are pretty cracked and full of potholes. Not Lakeview levels of potholes but still I found myself having to watch my step most of the time and I could also feel my foot rolling on more than one occasion.

The morning was overcast so it wasn't super hot but the humidity was pretty darn high. At every mile there was water and a group of bagpipe players serenading the runners.

2015 Tech Shirts and blurred out Bib

In the end we walked the entire run. We decide that it wasn't in our best interest to try to run but we managed to do the 8K in 1:15:19 for an average pace of 15:09.After the first 2 miles we were really starting to be mindful of where we stepped due to some knee pain. We also were doing a lot of people watching at that point. Fellow runners were starting to get really drunk from the multiple beer stops. We even had to dodge some vomit at one point (UGH!). But for walking I don't think we did that badly. There is always the next race to run, right?! We had a great time and that's all that matters. When we crossed the finish line we were give commemorative beer mugs, and I have to admit they are super cute.

Irish-Ish

Chef Mickey's

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 22:36:00 +0000

We've been going to Chef Mickey's a long time. My first trip was when I was in college, back in 1999! I don't think I will be sharing THAT photo with the general public. It involved a lot of straight bleach on my hair at that point, it was long before I discovered the beauty of highlights and lowlights!

We first took the kids back in 2010:

1st Family Visit to Chef Mickey's

The kids just loved it. They were able to see their favorite characters and we didn't have to stand in lines, so it was just a win-win. The baby was even able to eat because we did breakfast so there was oatmeal and soft fruits on the buffet that were totally toothless baby friendly.

Over the years we have done Chef Mickey's more times than we probably should have. We have done dinner there at least twice and the breakfast another time. We usually go every year but in 2011 we actually went to DisneyLand instead (SO much fun!) and for a large chunk of 2012 I was too pregnant to deal with crowds. I do love how you can now get the Chef Mickey statue photo included on the photo pass Memory Maker CD. For our first visit the grandparents were able to snap a family photo of us by it but I never shelled out the money before for the photo deal. It was never that great of a picture frankly to buy multiple prints of it.

We kept up the tradition mostly because the girls love the characters. The food is standard buffet fare- I prefer the breakfasts personally. We've been doing the Disney dining plan recently so I don't know how much it costs but the first two times we did pay out of pocket and I know it wasn't reasonable. But really is anything at Disney?! You are paying for the experience that's for sure. As long as it makes the kids happy we will continue to go, although if I could get the MICKEY song out of my head that they play at the end when they second-line around the restaurant I would be a happy Mama.

2013 Trip. Before the Mickey Statue pic was included in the Memory maker!

2013 Chef Mickey's Trip

2014 Trip. Daddy and the baby were back in the room.

2015 Trip

Mickey signing autographs at our table

Mickey Mousse and a Brownie

Disney Pins

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 22:30:00 +0000

Once upon a time I was at Disney for their Millennium celebration and was given this pin at some point during the trip. I don't remember if it was in the hotel upon checkin or upon entering a park. I put in a drawer when I got home and didn't give it a second thought.

A little over 11 years later we took a trip to Disneyland and got a little coupon book for some freebies and discounts around the parks. One of the items was for a pin and lanyard set in California Adventures. So the kids and I went and redeemed them, because HELLO FREEBIES, and we got these little blue lanyards and Ariel with Sebastian at the World of Color pins.

After that I decided I liked the idea of collecting a few pins here and there and before we left I added a few Tinkerbelle pins to my little pin collection.

Tinkerbelle at the Carousel and Haunted Mansion

Disneyland Tinkerbelle

After that I began to search on Ebay occasionally for pins that peeked my interest. I have girls so I chose a Minnie Mouse "It's a Girl" and I thought Baby Minnie was adorable. I love Orange Bird so I got one of those too.

I added a few pins on our various trips. I got one with Cinderella and the castle for our trip in 2014, and I added an Epcot with Figment as well.

I picked up these via a seller online:

I had forgotten to pick up an Animal Kingdom pin the last time I was there so I would rather get one offline than go back! The nesting dolls are just 2 cute little ones that I knew the kids would like. I love Lady and the Tramp and Fox and the Hound so I was excited to get those pins. The other 2 are disney character themed cupcakes- Pluto and Minnie Mouse- for the kids to have.

This year I was able to add 3 new ones from our last trip. I got a dated Minnie and Mickey pin, and the pins from the two races that I ran.

Mickey and Minnie dated 2015, Princess Half Marathon and the Frozen 5K pins.

I've never traded but I think it's a fun little hobby to have by buying these little mementos. I think picking pins that have significance really helps to make it more special :-) And the good thing is they take up very little room to store!
I've also just started an account at Pin Pics so I can log the pins I do have, You can find it by clicking here: Pin Pics Profile

1900 Park Fare

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 23:22:00 +0000

Family Photo at 1900 Park Fare

Another new place (for us) was 1900 Park Fare and the Cinderella and friends dinner. My kids are really into the movie Cinderella now, so it seemed like a great chance to see the characters. Last year they had wanted to see the stepsisters for photos and autographs at the Magic Kingdom but we kept catching them once the line had been closed.

We hopped on the monorail from our hotel and quickly arrived at the Grand Floridian for our second Cinderella themed meal there in a week. This one is a buffet, which again isn't my favorite meal, but I found a few things I liked. The absolute best part about this was the character interaction. These ladies (and the Prince) were totally into their characters. My poor husband (not a Disney person) kept asking why Snow White was being so rude. We kept trying to explain to him that it was an evil stepsister NOT snow white. Poor thing, he sees dark hair and assumes it is Snow White. Anyway they didn't break character at all and were so very entertaining to watch. They taught the girls how to pout for their photos, though the youngest needed no help with that and refused to be near the characters at all.

Druzilla

Mean Mugging

Lady Tremaine

Fierce Posing. Mad Props to Tyra Banks

Dessert Sampler

Citricos Cinderella Brunch

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 23:29:00 +0000

We have never done the Cinderella Castle meals so I don't really have anything to compare this to. We've done Akershus many times and even did Ariel's Grotto at Disneyland a few years back. When we arrived at Citricos the monorails were running slow and we had gotten stuck on one for over 20 minutes, so by the time we finally arrived at the Grand Floridian and made it upstairs we were officially about 15 minutes late for our reservation. To my great disappointment we were told that we couldn't be seated and would have to try for another seating, an hour away. When it was time to go back the host told us that it would actually be another 15-20 minutes because they were running late! Why couldn't they have been running late when we were stuck on the monorail? And what happened to our table anyway?

Brunch Menu

Oh well. The restaurant is very pretty and we liked the food. There were mimosa and bloody marys for my husband and I and the kids got smoothies in Cinderella cups. The food was really good too, everyone enjoyed it. We got to see Cinderella at the entrance and then Belle, Snow White, Jasmine, and Ariel came by the tables.

I highly recommend the Shrimp and Grits, they were fabulous! For dessert the kids got trios of little cream puff desserts with sparkle glitter topping. The adults got slightly different dessert trios and the girls also got birthday cupcakes, since we had a birthday that week to celebrate!

Kids Desserts

Adult Dessert Trio

Shrimp and Grits and a Mimosa

We all had a really great time. It was just a treat to take a break from all the "buffet" food that character meals usually bring with it. The kids got magic wands and were just thrilled to have met so may princesses. I'm so glad we got reservations for this one!

RunDisney Princess Half Marathon Weekend Race Expo

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 22:55:00 +0000

One of the things that I was most nervous about wasn't the actual race, it was going to the race expo! I kept reading horror stories online of how fast the merchandise sold out and I couldn't help but get caught up and wanted to get there as quickly as possible to get the items that I really wanted. We had early brunch reservations on the day it opened so we wound up going over closer to 2 p.m.

We took a bus from the hotel to the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex and I wasn't prepared for how enormous this place was going to be. That day my fitbit logged 4.04 miles and 14 very active minutes of my traveling to and around the expo!

My first stop was at the official Run Disney Dooney and Bourke booth and I was very sad to learn that all of the larger Dooney and Bourke special edition purses were sold out. They were left with the smaller pouchettes and cross bodies. Never being one to pass up a purse I did wind up buying the cross body. Then I crossed back into the main Run Disney booth and scored a pair of commemorative ears, a Half Marathon themed jacket and a car magnet.

My Purse, Jacket and Car Magnet

1/2 Marathon Commemorative Ears

After grabbing my goods I then got in line to pick up my registration packets for the 5k, Half Marathon and the Race Retreat. I was also able to grab the commemorative pins that I had preregistered for.

Frozen 5K and Half Marathon Pins

Once that was done I headed over to the Jostens center to grab my race shirts. I wound up having to do the shirt exchange as the Medium 5K tshirt was enormous but the Medium tech shirt for the Half was a little smaller than anticipated. The volunteers were very sweet and quickly settled that for me. By then the kids were getting exhausted so my husband took some of them back to the room while the oldest and I stayed and got photos with Mulan and Snow White.

Frozen 5K shirt and (blurred) Bib

Half Marathon Shirt and (blurred) bib

Snow White

Mulan

We looked at the rest of the vendors and then we were ready to head back. Overall I am happy with the items I got but there were a few items that I wish I had been able to snag. A larger purse for starters, I mean what mom of multiple children can just carry a cross body bag?! Hah! I would have also liked to have gotten some of the Tervis-type tumblers and post-race I was regretting not purchasing the Oofoo flip flops for the trip back home and the stick for a nice post race massage. By the time we left the expo was starting to get really crowded. I later saw in a Facebook post that all of the purses and most of the official merchandise was GONE by Friday and that it was appearing on Ebay for far more than it cost at the expo. That's a bit disappointing to hear but not really surprising. I guess I will know for my next Disney race to be there when the doors open if I am planning on shopping for logo items.

Disney Princess Half Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 02:58:00 +0000

This was my very first Half Marathon so I decided to go big! I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon 2015 in a time of 3:16:17.

My costume was Alice in Wonderland. I ordered a Alice apron off of Etsy and paired it with a white short sleeve tech t-shirt from Target and a black non-slip headband with a bow, also from Etsy. It wasn't hard to run in but I did have to pin the apron in quite a few places and the straps would periodically slip down. It was also not the most figure flattering outfit, it sort of billowed out a lot and didn't lay flat once I started moving.

For the morning of the race I did choose to purchase the additional race retreat package. Basically it's a giant heated tent that has tables set up, a breakfast buffet, character photo shots and your own private bag check/restroom area. It was nice but I sort of accidentally overslept and by the time I got there I only had half an hour to enjoy it before the race and time to line up in the corrals. Of course this is my own fault and if I had a longer wait to deal with then it probably would have seemed more fabulous to have had the wristband to get in.

Once it was time we walked quite a distance and lined up in the corrals. I was in K, so we lined up and waited. Once the race started we ran down towards the Magic Kingdom and then got to run through main street down and through the castle. It was so exhilarating! I really enjoyed it. There were a LOT of people there though and the worst part would be running and then coming upon people slowly walking 3-4 across in narrow areas. It was sort of a slam into them or fall situation on more than one occasion. And upon occasion someone would just go from a jog or running pace to a slow walk with no advanced notice. That could be quite frustrating.

There were sites to see at every mile. Disney characters were available to take photos with and there were bands, cheerleaders and even a gospel choir. DJs were set up playing music along the route too. I stopped to do a few selfies and a photo at Epcot and with Princess Sofia around mile 12. I was too scared of the lines and balloon ladies at the time to risk it for some of the longer lines. But next year I will totally be getting a photo with all the Disney Princes. I now know that I really didn't need to worry about times and pacing so much. I was set to finish in 3:09 according to the text updates but then there was a bathroom stop, a few photo stops and more than 1 stop to rub biofreeze on my rather sore calves. I did the 5K on Friday and then proceeded to spend that day and all of Saturday accumulating major miles around the parks. In retrospect I wouldn't do that again, I went into the marathon a little tired and a little sore from all of that.

Overall I don't think I could have picked a better place to have experienced my first half marathon! It was such a great environment and you really do see people of all ages, shapes and sizes working towards the same goal. There is nothing intimidating about the race at all.

Race Retreat and Magic Band

Start Line

Running Through the Castle

Medal and Bib (blurred out)

Disney Frozen 5K

noreply@blogger.com (Heather) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 01:07:00 +0000

I decided it would be tremendous fun to run the Disney Frozen 5K at Disney World in Orlando. So since the theme was Frozen I knew it was going to be overrun (hah) with Elsa, Anna and Olaf costumes so I went with a slightly different take on the word frozen...I went as Dole Whip!

It was a ton of fun, the course ran through Epcot, around the countries and the giant Epcot ball and ended in the parking lot. We had to get there VERY early. I got up around 3 a.m. to get ready and start the journey to the start corrals. I was very lucky and ran in B which was the 2nd corral. It was so cold outside, a rare cold spell in Florida. The windchill was around 23 degrees so I had to add 2 shirt layers and fleece leggings to my outfit.

Unfortunately it is not a chipped race, which stinks but I finished in a little under 34 minutes, including a few photo stops for some selfies. I could have stopped for some characters but I was in a good groove and the lines were so long. I figured I could do some photos in the parks after with my medal.

Corral B

Waiting to head to corrals

Whip It Baby