Testing

It was cold and windy.  No rain so it was fantastic.  We were invited to a Halloween party so that is where we started.  Well, Diego and I went ahead first.  Mia hadn’t taken a nap so Eric stayed at home with her.  It was a fun time.  We had food and the kids watched Ice Age.  At 5:30, we went trick or treating.  Well, Diego did.  Mia just stayed in the stroller.  I was sad because no one really saw her costume but I guarantee she looked cute.  Here are some pictures I did take:

This is Eric’s first carved pumpkin he ever did:

I have to say, I was impressed.  Lots of sketches were done until this one was declared the winner.

My ferocious pirate:

My friendly bumble bee:

And both of them together:

Not the best pictures but this is the best I can do.  It is hard to have them look at the camera at the same time.

Sorry I haven’t updated. I (We) have been really busy since I got home on Sunday it’s not even funny. But here is my report:

My flight was on time and arrived at Orlando about 10 min early. Walked to the Magical Express area and waited about 15 min for my bus.  If we ever fly to Orlando, we definitely going to use this service, it is fantastic.  I was then wisked to the All-Star Sports resort but my room wasn’t ready. I was a little miffed because the lady just gave me an envelope with stuff but didn’t tell me my room number or anything. But I was too much in hurry to worry about it because I needed to get my race packet. I left my suitcase with the bell boys, they told me where to catch the bus to go to Wide World of Sports (there was a direct bus there).

I was smart enough to leave my jacket behind because it was hot. Unfortunately, I was still wearing my pants. I should have changed to my short but I was in a hurry. Oh well. I arrived to WWoS, got my stuff and went back to wait for the bus. The bus was running every 30 min so I didn’t wait long.

I was starving by the time I got back to the hotel. So before I went to the front desk to get my room number, I got some lunch/dinner from the cafeteria. It was turkey and cheese on a focaccia bread with a side of pasta salad. It wasn’t too bad. Very tasty.

I finally got my room number. The guy told me where to go but I still got lost looking for my room. This is when I realized how big the All-Star Sports was. It has a ton of buildings. I don’t think I will ever stay there again. It was nice but not for me. So I got to my room (third floor) but no bag. Called the bell boys and one of brought it for me. Got my things in order.

After eating my lunch, I was ready for a nap. I couldn’t. Figures the one time I could take a nap with no kids and I couldn’t. So called DH and he convinced me to go do something. So I did. Went to Downtown Disney. Glad I did because I did some shopping for the kids and DH. I had a feeling I wouldn’t have time to go on Sunday (and I didn’t). So got back to my room, changed and grabbed the direct bus to Disney Hollywood.

I called my coworker that was there and he was on his way. So I just walked around. Got in a line that I thought it was gear check but it wasn’t. It was the pre-race picture. Then found gear check. My friend finally showed so I hung out with him and his family.

Then it was time. My friend is a hardcore runner (he won his age group last year) so after his warm up, we walked to the start line. He made me start in the front which was funny because I am three times as slow as all of the runners there. It was intimidated standing up there with all those runners. I just had to laugh. Since this was a 5K and 13K race, we had to wait for the 5K to start before we can start lining up. Once that race started, we had to wait 15 min for our turn. They counted down (again), fireworks went off (again) and then finally we took off.

The weather was perfect. Probably in the low 60’s and partly cloudy. We ran around WWofS and then back to park. Once we go into the park, we ran on the service roads (not so magical back there) and we ran down the main streets of the park. Ran thru the car stunt show and we were on the jumbo screen. I am not exactly sure were the finish line ended but I think it was right behind the RocknRoller coaster.

I was shooting for 1:40:00 and my official time was 1:35:51. I was just happy to finish. My metal is super cool (it has a moving elevator).

So we got a little food bag, a 1.5 liter Disani and some Powerade. Guzzled the Powerade, scarfed down the muffin then got my gear. Called my friend to see were he was and walked over to the Mickey’s hat. He told me he came in second in his age group. He was only 20 sec behind the other guy. Poor him. lol

There was only an hour left to be in the park (they closed it at 2 am), so we went to see Muppet’s 3d, then walked to Toy Story Mania but the wait was 50 min. My friend and his family left at that point. I walked over to ride the Tower of Terror (awesome!) and I had enough time to ride the RnRoller coaster. Then my night was over.

I caught the bus back to my room. Showered and packed. Slept for 4 hours. Got up and finished packing and left. I went to the hotel store, where I bought a couple more things. I finally checked out and then went wait for my bus back to the airport. My flight was on time and even got to Midway 20 min early.

Too bad this was the last year for this year. It was a great experience. I have memories and an awesome medal.

Wow, this a long report and I was only there for about 24 hours. I am so glad I went. I did miss my family but I was there such a short time it wasn’t too bad. But I’ll be back in January 2010 for the marathon.

Done, done, done! This trip has been so much fun. I’ve always wanted to run this race but never did. Then I heard that this year was it’s last, I decided to go for it.

I’ll come back later and finish this post. I’m on the plane right now. I just want to go home and see my family. I miss them so much.

Eric was able to capture this special moment between big brother and little sister. I couldn’t have done a better job.

They are going to hate us when they get to be teenagers.

Mia took three steps today. She has been taking a half a step for the past few weeks but never a full step until tonight. THREE.WHOLE.STEPS. So excited for her but another challenge for us. We were trying to get her to do it again but she got wise and would just drop on her tush and crawl. She is so close to walking. I have a feeling she may be walking by her birthday.

Another teeth update: Her upper front tooth (the right one) finally cut thru her gum. I thought that day wasn’t going to get here soon enough. And I think there will be more coming because I feel her right one and you can see the whites for the other ones too. She may be getting all four upper teeth coming at once. Poor baby.

I am hoping once all those teeth cut thru, she will sleep better at night. We’ll see.*crossing fingers*

TODAY!!! Woohoo! My annual list of things that happened to me while I was 34.

February: Went back to work.

That is about it. Hopefully I will have a great year. My biggest birthday wish is that Mia would finally sleep thru the night. Let see how long it will be until my wish comes true.

[Gosh, it has been a while. I really need to get up and start blogging. Bad me! ]

Update: I had to switch our hotel reservation around since I thought other folks were coming with us but they decided they couldn’t but it still worked out for the best. (Did that make sense? Probably not.)

We are staying at the Port Orleans French Quarter. I was told that on race day, Disney opens a “path” from this hotel to Epcot so all the runners staying there can simply walk there. Very cool. I know a few people from work that are going and I will be tagging along. Well, at least to the starting line because they are hard core runners.

Another cool update: I added an extra day to our vacation and it turned out that the price went down $3.25. An even better reason to stay another day!

Well, that is it. I am still trying make time to run. I need to run 7 miles today. Someone is going out of town this week so running is out the window until Saturday. Wheeee!

[Yes, I am back dating these posts. Sue me! ]

Diego has officially started Pre-K!!! So excited!!! I bought him his book bag the minute I found out he was accepted into his school. So we went to Target and let him pick out his lunch bag. He doesn’t need any school supplies because they will be providing all of that.

Here are some pictures of his first day of school:

Waiting for Mama and Papa

Going into the building:

Looking for his classroom:

Found the classroom:

He has a locker but it has no door. His teacher, Mrs. Brown, is very nice and Diego seems to like her. We took a family picture a few days prior to the first day of school which Mrs. Brown printed and laminated. He has the picture in his locker so whenever he misses us he can take it out and see us.

I hope he enjoys school. I think he will.

Gosh, she’s already 6 months old (and almost two weeks).

Her stats:

Weight 16lb 3 oz (60%)
Height 27 in (90%) 
Head 16 3/4 in (50%)

She got two shots and an oral. She did fantastic. No crying until the very end and I think because she couldn’t move since the nurse was holding her down.

She can now sit unassisted.  She can push up on her arms.  She really doesn’t roll over yet.  In fact, she just rolled from tummy to back last night.  And I think it was just a fluke.  lol  I am so not in a hurry for her to be mobile so it is on her terms when she wants to hit those milestones.  And as you know, she is eating cereals (rice and oatmeal), fruits (bananas, applesauce, peaches) and veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans).

Otherwise, she is doing what she needs to do and so are we. Next appointment: 3 months (Aug 22).