Jenn on the Run

Disney Trip - Nov 2011 - Day 3 - Animal Kingdom/MVMCP

2012-02-02T15:50:00.001-06:00

We had another day of being up early for a breakfast reservation at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom before the park opened. We almost missed it due to having to wait for a bus. It seemed every bus that came was for another park but the one we needed to get to. But we made it just in time! Although it didn't seem to have mattered since we ended up having to wait about 40 minutes past our reservation anyway. Oh well.

I had eaten here several times before for lunch (no characters) and was looking forward to enjoying it this time around with Donald Duck and friends. Unfortunately, I wasn't too impressed. The food was good, but the character interaction was not. The characters barely hung around long enough to even snap a few pics. We were also at a table in a back corner that was really cramped and we felt removed from much of the action which I think contributed to our so-so experience.

After breakfast we went and grabbed fast passes for Kilimanjaro Safaris for later and then headed over to watch Festival of the Lion King. Great show!

Back to KS

Yikes!

We piddled around just a bit longer and then headed back to the resort to take naps before spending the evening at MK again for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

A sweet moment caught on camera! As we were leaving I turned around to find them like this and dancing together. :)

I can't really give an honest review of MVMCP. Unfortunately, we were not able to take full advantage of our time there so we did not experience much of the party. The kids (especially Emma) were just too worn out and Emma fell asleep during the first parade.

Here are a few pics from the parade though!

I was bummed for the wasted money spent, but we made up for the Holiday Wishes fireworks we missed on a different night. :)

Back to {Disney Trip Reports}

Always evolving

2012-02-01T13:10:00.001-06:00

You may have noticed (or maybe not) that my blog has changed in the recent days. The name in particular, as it will no longer focus mostly on my jewelry business (The Vintage Chain), but rather more about my running journey with bits of random ramblings thrown in the mix.

If you are a new reader, welcome! Check out the About page to learn more about my running journey. And stick around and share your own experiences.... I would love to hear from you!

*****

No shame here. After having some routine bloodwork done this morning (and fasting for nearly 16 hours!) I drove myself straight to Jack-in-the-box for a breakfast jack combo.

Yeah, that's how I roll.

Disney Trip - Nov 2011 - Day 2 - Hollywood Studios/Magic Kingdom

2012-01-31T09:37:00.001-06:00

We were up bright and early to catch the first bus to Hollywood Studios to make it in time for rope drop. We wanted to get signed up first thing for the Jedi Training Academy and get fast passes for Toy Story Mania with an early enough return time. We were only spending half the day at HS since we had our afternoon planned at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at the Magic Kingdom. Things needed to fall into place according to plan...and it worked out perfectly!

I took Zane to get signed up for JTA and we were able to do this about 15 minutes before the park officially opened. Meanwhile, the hubby took Emma to get our fast passes for TSM. We lucked out getting a second show slot for JTA and having a decent mid morning return time for our fast passes. We leisurely grabbed a small breakfast at Starring Rolls and made our way back over to the JTA to check in for the show.

Zane really enjoyed participating!

Afterwards, we split up so Zane could ride Star Tours while I took Emma to see Voyage of The Little Mermaid. By then it was time to use our fast passes for TSM!

We had lunch reservations at 50's Prime Time Cafe, and it was so much fun! The food was great and our server, Sue, was a blast. You are taken back to the 50's in your mom's kitchen and expected to mind your manners among other antics! I was yelled at several times for having my elbows on the table, we were given "homework" to complete before the end of the meal (we had to list 18 Disney films with only one name in the title), and hubby got caught cheating with his phone. Sue took his phone away for the remainder of our meal and the looks on our kids faces was priceless!

After lunch we went back to our resort to get Emma changed into her Rapunzel costume so we could go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to get her done up like a princess!

Zane did the Knight package and got a sword and shield as well.

We hung around in Fantasyland for the evening, had dinner at The Plaza (even saw the fireworks from our table), and then called it a day. It was a bit chilly and drizzly all evening and everyone was tired from the long day.

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Disney Trip - Nov 2011 - Day 1 - Arrival/Chef Mickey's

2012-01-30T10:08:00.000-06:00

*The next several blog posts this week will be about our trip to Disney World we took in Nov.*

Our second family trip back to Disney World! I booked this trip with a bounceback offer while on the trip with my sister last May. We ended up not telling the kids until about a month before our trip so we could limit the amount of "how much longer until we go to WDW?" questions. ;)

I was so excited to get to visit while all the Christmas decorations were up! We left the Sunday after Thanksgiving and spent 7 days staying at the Wilderness Lodge.

It was a beautiful resort (especially at Christmas time) and was very convenient to the Magic Kingdom by boat. Sadly, I did not get ONE picture of the lobby our whole trip. :(

We arrived around lunch time, checked in, and got settled in our room. A glorious room with bunk beds for the kids to share. And again...no picture. :(

We have ARRIVED!

errrrrrr....oops

We took it easy all afternoon around the resort until it was time to head to Chef Mickey's for dinner. Now, I really enjoy the atmosphere there, but take my advice and stick to breakfast only if dining at Chef Mickey's. You can't really mess up a breakfast buffet, however, the food at dinner is another story. One word...Gross.

After dinner we took the monorail from the Contemporary over to the Grand Floridian to check out the larger than life gingerbread house in the lobby. Really cool!

It was getting late by this point so we decided to get back to the room for a good night's sleep. We wanted to be ready for an early morning rope drop at Hollywood Studios for the Jedi Training Academy and the Toy Story Mania dash for fast passes!

Back to {Disney Trip Reports}

Random ramblings about today's run...

2012-01-28T21:14:00.000-06:00

It may not have been a great 12 mile run, but it was 12 miles and it is done. I think it was a combination of not having run any sort of long distance in the last 3 weeks and starting off a little too fast. The last 4-5 miles were difficult which led me to start pondering some things...

1. That idea I had been entertaining in my head about possibly training for a full marathon is now gone. At least today it is anyway. :)

2. The new route I ran was a nice change of scenery (well, part of it was) if you like running along side power lines. Running along the creek was the good part.

3. At about mile 7 I felt like I was running with 50lb weights on my legs. The last few miles were straight into the wind on a slight incline. Brutal.

4. Black toenails are kinda gross.

5. Dead rats next to the trail are even more gross.

6. Shot blocks are hard to chew when you are sucking wind, but they are convenient to carry.

So that's what was going on in my mind on the last half of my run today. I'm going to chalk it up as just having one of those days that you just have a bad run.

I came home and had a nice long nap, a great dinner of pot roast, and topped it off with a chocolate shake from Jack-in-the-box.

So yeah, I think I just canceled out my run.

Race Recap: Believe! 2011 10K

2012-01-26T17:07:00.001-06:00

So, I ran this back in November (Thanksgiving weekend) but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it.

I went with the same friends as the previous race I had done. They both did the 5K and I did the 10K. It worked out perfectly since I was due to run 6 miles that weekend for my half training. It's so much better to get the mileage done in a race than on a training run!

We got there early and hung around a bit before the race started. It was a little chilly but not too bad and there was a fine mist that had begun to let up right after getting there. It was a rather small race than some previous ones I had done so that was nice. The course took us around a small "lake" at a park that was really pretty. I was near the back of the pack and at times I had no one running around me. Once we merged with the 5K runners towards the end there were plenty of runners all around. :)

I didn't feel completely good during this race for some reason. I'm guessing it had to do with it being two days after T-Day and the massive amounts of food I had consumed. We were also leaving for our Disney trip early the next morning so I had the stress of packing on my mind. And, I think I started out a little too fast and began having some pain in my left knee.

The finish line was cruel in that you finished uphill after running up and down several rolling hills right at the end. But I finished!

Looking a little miserable here

Still, it was a fun race and one I would do again. And the long sleeve tech shirt we got was pretty sweet too!

On that same note...the Princess Half Marathon is only a month away! I'm so excited and can't wait to be there. I ran 12 miles a few weeks ago and felt great. That is the longest distance I have ever run and the longest I plan to train for with this upcoming race. Galloway's plan has you do a 14 mile run two weeks before, but I'm only planning to do about 9-10 that week. I've got another 12- miler this weekend to get through first.

I'm also getting my "costume" put together for the race too. Yes, I will be wearing a tutu!

{Winner}....$50 Gift Certificate

2012-01-24T09:47:00.001-06:00

The randomly picked winner of the....

KS Nash

KS Nash said, "I love the sterling silver cuff bracelet! It would make a great gift for my bridesmaids!"

Congratulations!!!

Please email us at thevintagechain@yahoo.com to claim your gift certificate.

And a BIG thanks to all who entered and joined our Facebook fan page. Please enjoy 15% off all orders now through 2/1/12. Use code FEB15 when checking out.

Enjoy!

{GIVEAWAY} $50 Gift Certificate

2012-01-17T22:38:00.002-06:00

Valentine's Day is coming up so how about a giveaway!

Plenty of new designs to choose from on our website including:

Domed Name Charms with Birthstones

Cup of Pearl Earrings

Horseshoe Necklace

Puzzle Piece Necklace

Enter to win a $50 Gift Certificate by simply leaving a comment below telling us what design is your favorite!

*Extra entries*

(please leave a separate comment for each)

1. "Like" us on facebook

2. Share this giveaway on your facebook page

3. Tweet and/or blog about it

Winner will be randomly chosen and announced here on the blog!

Race Recap: Gary Burns 5K

2011-10-29T11:58:00.002-05:00

I'll start with the positives. I had a PR (with an accurate 5K course this time- see my previous post about that) and the temperature was in the 40's at race time with little wind so it felt great! Not so great when you are standing around before the race though. And I had someone to go with!

Me, my friend Shea, and her friend Jennifer

Now, here's where I will bitch and moan about the rest.

Had I realized that every middle school and high school student with their school sports teams would be there running, I would not have signed up. It was the most pathetic race etiquette I have ever seen throughout a race. Obviously some were probably just not aware and others just didn't care to be there.

I get that. I remember having to be forced into some cross country runs by our basketball coach as part of our commitment to the team. I hated it and hated being there, but I didn't act like an ass-hat doing it.

And no, I'm not just slamming teenagers here, I had a grown man push his way through me (intentionally) and nearly knock me down. He received a nice elbow to the gut for that one.

There were runners with dogs on leashes mowing people down, teens zig-zagging across the course with no regard to others around them and walking sometimes 5-6 abreast making it difficult to get around. And lots of teens abruptly stopping, turning around, and walking against the course. It was unbelievable!

Of course many were also cutting corners and skipping across cones to shorten the course for themselves. I saw a group knock off about a quarter of mile near the finish. But that I don't care about though since they are only cheating themselves.

Obviously this race really hit a nerve with me and I will not be participating again. It's a shame since it benefits the Frisco Education Foundation which provides scholarship opportunities for the district students.

Official time
31:03

The Kids and their Dog...

2011-10-17T10:39:00.001-05:00

Dasher is really patient...when he wants to be!

Beyonce was here.

2011-10-12T07:59:00.001-05:00

I have to admit, I was really giddy when I came across this giant metal chicken out at the pumpkin farm the other day. Not only that, but I passed another one down a two lane road on the way home!

If this doesn't make any sense that's okay. You can read all about the greatness that is Beyonce, the giant metal chicken over at thebloggess.com. Beyonce even has a Facebook fan page.

Your welcome.

InstaFriday- My Week in Review

2011-10-07T10:36:00.001-05:00

I'm linking up with Jeannett over at Life Rearranged for InstaFriday...a fun way to share the details of your week by using only cell phone pics!

So technically these are from a few weeks ago, but it's all I had!

New bikes! And first time riding their bikes.

Party with Chuck E. Cheese

Such an awesome big brother! He offered to paint his little sister's toes.

And here is this week's InstaChallenge: Something Blue!

Baby Girl had a bit of a challenge painting her own fingernails.

Join the party!

Need some gift ideas...and a discount?

2011-10-06T17:03:00.002-05:00

Birth Necklace

Simple Dainty Charms

Or, maybe a Gift Certificate?

Check out the website for more gift ideas...and enjoy 30% off your order now through this weekend!

Please use code "FACEBOOK30"

And, don't forget to "Like" our FB fan page. :)

Race Recap: The Vineyard Run 5K

2011-10-05T13:23:00.000-05:00

It was absolutely gorgeous weather for this run over the weekend. I guess I can say that I PR'd by a lot at this race (28:17), but sadly, I don't think the course distance was very accurate. According to my garmin we only went 2.73 miles. I did however run all but about a minute or two of walking up a couple of hills.

It was still a fun race though with a free wine tasting afterwards (makes sense as it was at a vineyard) and some yummy grilled chicken and fruit. They had a jazz band playing too.

I got up to go to the race early (by myself again- I really need to find some friends to run with) and even getting there almost 45 minutes before the start time, I seemed to be one of the last to get there. I did score a prime parking spot right across the start/finish line which made things really easy! It was a little chilly that morning standing around waiting and I'm not sure why I didn't just sit in my car for a bit. Oh well.

The race started and I had every intention of doing my usual run/walk intervals (this time doing 2/:30) but ended up running and running never feeling the need to walk. I did some walking up a couple of hills though, but that was it. However, I was in no way going at a lightening speed to have such a good finishing time, which is why I'm certain the course mileage was wrong.

Around mile 1.5

Home stretch.

At the finish! Seeing the clock and thinking I had done amazing until I looked at my garmin.

And yea, all my race recaps show only the proofs from the race photographers. They want way too much money for the downloads, IMO. If they made it more affordable I would purchase some of the race pics so until then, this is what you get.

Oh, and a few days after this race I decided to go out and run 3 miles without any walking to see if 1) I could do it and 2) how much faster I would be. I ran that training run in 30 minutes so a 10min/mile. Normally I average around a 11:30min/mile. But my knees started hurting so I do prefer the run/walk intervals. I'm just happy to see that I could do it. :)

Pumpkin Farm

2011-10-03T18:25:00.001-05:00

We take a yearly visit to a nearby pumpkin farm just beyond the suburbs out in the country (though it's quickly becoming less country with all the growth around here). This was the first time not having both kids there since Boo was at school. But, we'll be making another trip out there as a family soon!

We fed some animals.

And took a hayride.

Picking our favorite pumpkin.

Taking a break.

I absolutely LOVE this time of year!

Disney Trip - May 2011 - Day 5 - Hollywood Studios/Departure

2011-09-28T09:57:00.000-05:00

Started with HS and now ending it with HS! We woke up and had a somewhat leisurely morning packing and having breakfast in the Pop food court. We checked out that morning and left our bags with bell services while we went to the park.

We caught the afternoon Pixar Pals parade and did a few other things we didn't get to on the first day. Hard to believe there were other things to do after spending nearly 12 hours there the first day! We saw the Lights, Motors, Action! stunt show and the 3D muppets show. Actually, it is hard to see everything at HS in one, even two days, since so many attractions there are shows. You have to time it right to get from one to another or decide you are going to have to skip one all together.

We had a quick lunch at Pizza Planet. Not very good at all. Not much else to say about that.

It was then time to say good-bye to Mickey. :(

We had to be back at our resort three hours before our flight to take the ME back to the airport. We had a late flight out so that we could enjoy that last full day.

It was such a fun trip and getting to share it with my sister made it so much better! We'll have to do it again sometime...hint hint. :)

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Disney Trip - May 2011 - Day 4 - Animal Kingdom/Downtown Disney

2011-09-27T10:12:00.000-05:00

Continuing on with my Disney trip I took with my sister...

Standing under the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

How many creatures can you spot?

This was my second time to visit AK and my sister's first time. My first visit with my kids we really did not do much except the safari and eat. I was excited to see and do so much more on this go around!

We headed to Kilimanjaro Safaris first before it got too crowded and then did a few of the walking trails.

A funny little unrelated (or kinda related?) story here:
Disney World is huge with thousands and thousands of people everywhere. The day we flew to WDW, I was sitting on the plane next to a mother, her daughter (~ 4 years old) and the grandma. We chatted during the flight and she was asking me questions about how the Magical Express worked and what resort we were staying at, etc. What's funny is she started our whole conversation with, "what resort are you staying at?" She assumed (as I seem to do too) that everyone on a flight to Orlando is going to Disney World! Anyways, it was their first trip and they seemed very excited, but really had no idea what they were doing (she also did not speak very good English so I wasn't sure how much she was getting from me). We arrived at the airport and said our good-byes and to have a great trip.

Who would of known that four days later while at Animal Kingdom, we would pass by this family again! I'm not sure that the mother saw me and I didn't want to be all stalkerish so I didn't say anything. I was just amazed that in the sea of people our paths crossed at that moment!

Okay, so back to our day at AK. On one of the walking trails we saw this little fellow who appeared injured or sick.

It took about 15 minutes for these cast members to catch him and take him away to be examined.

Next it was on to Dinosaur! Fun ride, but EXTREMELY loud. Ear piercing screeching that was painful to me. You really get jostled around on this ride and I would only ride it again if I had ear plugs. Seriously.

We caught The Festival of the Lion King show which was spectacular. I can't wait to take the kids back and see it again. I was sorry we missed it on our last trip. It's a Broadway style show with theatre-in-the-round type seating. Not to be missed!

After the show it was time to eat lunch at the Tusker House restaurant. A large buffet meal with African flavors for lunch and dinner. At breakfast it's a character dining experience, although, starting in December there will be character dining for lunch as well. Currently, when you book lunch here you can get passes for reserved seating to the Finding Nemo- The Musical show. I have read though that once the character dining for lunch begins in December, the lunch/Nemo seating passes will no longer be offered.

Again, being able to walk up and be seated with the reserved seating passes meant not having to wait in line for up to 30-60 minutes before the next show time. The Nemo show was fun and entertaining, but I think I liked FOTLK just a little bit more.

We debated most of the day whether we were going to ride Expedition Everest. My sister, who's not big on roller coasters, for some reason, felt the need to conquer this thing. In my mind I was thinking it would be very similar to Big Thunder at MK, but I had some reservations about it going backwards. Well, as we were starting to walk over to that part of the park, a young man handed us two fast passes for EE that he wasn't going to use. Perfect! And nice karma since we had given away 3 sets of fast passes the day before to random people at MK. So it was settled and we were riding this thing.

Like I said before, I just can't handle roller coasters like I used to and I'm glad this was the last thing we had planned to do before leaving the park. All was fine until we went backwards. I hated it after that. And, of course, my sister miss IJumpOutOfAirplanesButIDon'tLikeRollerCoasters thought it was great! I think that bus ride back to our resort had to be the.longest.bus.ride.ever.

We took a short nap in the late afternoon and woke up with really no plan for that evening. Around 8pm or so we decided to just go to Downtown Disney to walk around and eat. We ended up eating at Earl of Sandwich and it was soooooo good!

Our last night at Disney had come to an end, but we still had another full day ahead of us!

And again, not many pics to share so here's a random one for you in keeping with the animal theme. :)

Gobble. Gobble.

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Disney Trip - May 2011 - Day 3 - Magic Kingdom/Epcot

2011-09-25T14:24:00.001-05:00

We started off the morning at the Magic Kingdom sharing a GIANT cinnamon roll from the Main St. Bakery. And it only cost us one snack credit! :)

Me and my sister

We hit a bunch of the attractions we had missed the night before. I think we did pretty much everything except Space Mountain. I can't handle roller coasters like I used to.

Liberty Tree Tavern is where we had our lunch ADR. Service and food were awesome! We asked if we could split an entree since we knew we would never be able to eat all of the food (portions are huge at WDW) plus it helped us stretch our dining plan credits out for more meals. It was no problem at all and when the food came out (on two separate plates already) I thought maybe our waiter had made a mistake with the order. The split entree was way more food than I could have imagined and it was really good! We had the traditional roast turkey with herb bread dressing, mashed potatoes, and veggies. We were so stuffed we couldn't even eat our dessert that came with our meal.

Around 4pm we decided to go straight to Epcot for the evening. We took the monorail from MK to Epcot...a fun way to go between the two parks! We enjoyed some more of the attractions in Future World that we missed the day before.

We had a dinner ADR at the Rose & Crown Pub. Thanks to some wonderful advice from a chat board I'm on, I made the reservation for 7:45pm to coincide with the 9pm Illuminations show. We arrived a bit early and checked in to request a patio table which is one of the best places to view Illuminations without having to stake out a spot early and deal with the crowds. They promptly seated us at one of the best tables for the show! We were able to enjoy a very nice, long relaxing meal before Illuminations started. Dessert came right as the show began. It was perfect!

As far as the food, I didn't have very high expectations going in, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. And once again, we split the entree and still had plenty of food for the both of us. We ordered the grilled sirloin and fried fish platter which also came with roasted potatoes, veggies, and yorkshire pudding. Dessert was the chocolate scotch cake I believe. I'm pretty sure we ordered an appetizer but I can't remember what it was, but all the food was very good and more than enough for the two of us!

After the show was over (and dinner) we leisurely made our way out of Epcot and to the bus depot. This was probably the longest bus wait we had the whole trip, but considering the crowds leaving at park closing, it wasn't that bad of a wait. Tired and exhausted we made our way back to our room for another night's sleep.

I wish I had taken more pictures to share!

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Stylin' Saturday

2011-09-24T14:28:00.001-05:00

Accessorizing is the key to any stylish wardrobe!

It's hard to see but she has a Mater (from Cars) plastic ring on her finger. A splash of color never hurts either.

Linking up with Wendy!

InstaFriday- My Week in Review

2011-09-23T08:59:00.000-05:00

I'm linking up for the first time with Jeannett over at Life Rearranged for InstaFriday...a fun way to share the details of your week by using only cell phone pics!

I'm also a bit behind the times and just started using the Instagram app (and I'm now also addicted to Pinterest- save that for another day) so yay!

This is slightly over a week old, but it was Boo's sixth birthday last week and I brought him lunch at school. He requested a Sonic corn dog and tater tots. His school has these little bistro tables set up outside the cafeteria for parents to eat lunch with their kids.

Baby Girl had a swim party to attend. The last hoorah for the summer!

I think someone forgot to feed the dog. Poor Dasher is patiently waiting.

I have been on a quest for about a month or so looking for celery flakes. We ran out and of course no store I went to carried them anymore. I finally found some at *shudder* Walmart of all places. I bought three of them so I'm good for a while.

And, for this week's InstaChallenge we needed to snap a pic of something we don't really like. So here's mine:

Yea, I'm not a real fan of folding laundry and putting it away. That's all clean stuff except for the shirt hanging on the washing machine and the towels on the hamper. Maybe I'll get to it this weekend. Or maybe not.

Join the party!

Disney Trip - May 2011 - Day 2 - Epcot/Magic Kingdom

2011-09-22T10:02:00.000-05:00

We were up bright and early to go over to Epcot for the day. The first thing on my agenda was getting fast passes for Soarin' and then heading over to ride Test Track. I had never done either of these attractions so it was about time! Both were great and single rider lines ROCK!

Some leftover topiaries from the Flower & Garden Festival.

We made our way to the world showcase and had a lunch ADR for Les Chefs de France. We lucked out and got to meet Chef Remy!

And saw this going on outside from our table.

The food was amazing! I had the lobster bisque as my appetizer and the Gratin de Macaroni (baked macaroni with cream and gruyere cheese) for my main dish. Dessert was a Puff choux with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. I believe my sister had the onion soup and croque monsieur (toasted ham and cheese sandwich). All of it was so incredibly delicious!!!

I had to get this photo with Princess Aurora for Baby Girl (her favorite...well at the time anyway).

We continued to make our way around the world showcase and then decided to go back to our resort for a little rest before heading to the Magic Kingdom for the night. It was going to be open until midnight!

We arrived at MK in time to catch the train that was about to pull out of the Main St. station to take us over to Frontierland to stake out a spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade. We scored some rocking chairs in front of the trading post store with a nice (and comfortable) view for the parade.

After the parade we made our way around to Tomorrowland to view the fireworks. It was pretty crowded by the bridge to the hub so we kind of came to a standstill near Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. We were still able to see Tinker Bell fly over so it was all good!

So pretty...

Day 3 was up next! A reverse day with MK and then Epcot at night.

Back to {Disney Trip Reports}

Week 3: Parenting with Love and Logic

2011-09-22T08:01:00.000-05:00

See week 1 here and week 2 here.

Powerful Phrases:
1) "Probably so"
2) "How sad"
3) "Bummer"
4) "I know"
5) "Nice try"
6) "That's your choice"

These are all examples of empathetic statements that work.

Using enforceable statements tell kids what WE will do or allow rather than trying to tell THEM what to do. Examples of these are:

"I give treats to kids who protect their teeth by brushing"
"I'll listen as soon as your voice is as calm as mine"
"I give allowance to those who finish their chores"
"I keep the toys I have to pick up. You can keep the ones you pick up" I have to say that this has never worked with Baby Girl. She doesn't care about her toys very much.

One more week left! I've been trying to put into practice what I have learned and it has helped...when I'm patient enough to follow thru with it. Giving choices (with options I would be ok with) really does make a difference (especially with my four year old) in giving the kids a sense of control.

To be continued...

Disney Trip - May 2011 - Day 1 - Arrival/Hollywood Studios

2011-09-21T13:36:00.001-05:00

Yes, I love Disney. For me, it's not so much about the movies and paraphernalia (although I do own way more t-shirts than I can count), it's more about the experience in the parks at WDW. I've only been to Disneyland once so it doesn't hold as much of a special place in my heart as Disney World. So I was VERY excited when I got the opportunity to take a trip back to the World with my sister!

Thank you to Big Z (hubby) and wonderful friends who watched the kids while I was away!

We spent 5 magical days staying at the Pop Century Resort, a Disney value resort I would definitely recommend! Although we didn't spend too much time there since we were at the parks from early morning until closing. A nice benefit of going without the kids. :)

We took a very early flight out since we had an lunch ADR (advance dining reservation) to eat at Mama Melrose in Hollywood Studios. It was part of the Fantasmic dining package we booked so that we would have reserved seating for the show that night. We landed at MCO and took the ME (Magical Express) to our hotel. Of course, we were the last stop, but we still made it to HS just in time for our lunch ADR.

We quickly checked into our room (love online check in) and had a preferred room in the 50's section in Bldg 1. A great location to the food court and bus transportation to the parks. We dropped our stuff in our room and headed to the bus depot to catch a ride to HS! (Note: I was very impressed with the transportation all week to and from Pop...never more than a 10 minute wait for a bus. Of course, closing time at the parks had a little longer wait because of the crowd, but they were efficient in getting busses there quickly)

So, on to Mama Melrose. We had an ADR for 3:15p so it was kind of an off meal time. I was surprised at how crowded it was though. We checked in and ended up waiting about 45 minutes past our reservation time. I was a little irritated by this, but the food made up for it! Just wish I could remember what I had. LOL

An after meal treat

After our late lunch/early dinner we spent the day touring HS until the Fantasmic show that night. It was actually the opening weekend for the Star Wars Weekends which is a yearly event. We didn't partake in too much of that stuff. We missed the parade with the storm troopers which would have been cool to see. There were many character photo ops, but I just took pics as we walked by. And the pics suck because I had my sucky camera. I know...user error and not the camera, but I hate point and shoot cameras...cause they suck. :P

Anyhoo, we went on to see Fantasmic (my first time to see it) and it was good, but I don't feel I need to see it again for a while. I also didn't think the reserved seating area was all that good, but it was nice not having to line up at least 60-90 minutes prior to the show to get a seat. We were able to walk up about 15 minutes before the show started and get seated.

HS was open until midnight and the park seemed really empty by about 10pm. It was cool but kind of a weird feeling too. We grabbed a chicken sandwich at the ABC Commissary because most of the other places had already closed. Then we hung out at the Animation Academy getting to do quick sketches of these:

This was one thing I was wanting to make sure I did on this trip. Mission accomplished!

We closed down the park and made our way back to the resort. We were beat and by the time we got back and got ready for bed we realized we had been up for 22 hours straight! It was night night time.

Back to {Disney Trip Reports}

Race Recap: Tour Des Fleurs 10K

2011-09-20T10:09:00.001-05:00

I ran another 10K last Saturday, the Tour Des Fleurs, held at the beautiful Dallas Arboretum. The arboretum was all decked out in Fall decor with pumpkins everywhere!

I got up early to head down to the race by myself. There was no onsite parking (unless you bought the VIP package for some extra $$$- um, no thanks) so they had several satellite parking lots with shuttles to take us to the front gates of the arboretum. It wasn't a bad deal. I finally made it to the starting line with about 10-15 minutes before the race started. Glad I didn't hit the snooze button more than I did!

The temp was in the 70's to start but really muggy. There was a band playing a couple of miles in to the race, the Alpha Dogs, I believe. I always run with my music which for some reason was all messed up. I have a certain playlist I like to workout to, but my phone decided to play my entire music library instead. I didn't want to mess with pulling my iphone out of my spibelt so I just dealt with it.

There were a couple of "hills" on this course. I call them hills, but a more experienced runner might just laugh at that. I never run hills at all, so this was my first encounter with them. It wasn't too bad though.

Around mile 4 my left knee started bothering me a little bit. I've noticed this happening with almost every run at around that distance. It's not painful, just a noticeable achy feeling and usually feels fine within a day. Not really sure what that's about.

So, I'm not really big on my race times since I'm doing this whole running thing as a way to stay active and healthy. And for me, it's all about just going out a finishing a race. But, I did PR (personal record) this race by 3 minutes from my previous race a month ago!!!

They had a post race party going on after the race, but unfortunately, I didn't stay. I was by myself for one thing and it was also Baby Girl's birthday so I had too much to do that day. I briskly walked by some of the vendors (alot of food) but didn't grab anything. I was not in the mood for food at that point, but of course by the time I was driving home I was starving. I ended up at Jack In The Box for a Breakfast Jack that hit the spot!

I did get a few pics of all the pumpkins in the arboretum and I'm looking forward to taking the kids back for some Fall photos. All of these pics were taken in the Cinderella Pumpkin Village!

And a post race pic of my sweaty self...

This also got me thinking...I think next year I will drag the whole family out so that we can get photos (of the kids) after the race with the arboretum to ourselves. I just realized that getting these pumpkin photos with the kids will not be an easy task on a regular attendance day. Hmmmm....

Who are the toys really for???

2011-09-18T10:29:00.002-05:00

Birthday parties might be more fun for us adults.

It's been a week of birthday celebrations around here.

Happy birthday to Boo and Baby Girl...SIX and FOUR now!