A Magical Birthday!

So I have gotten a little behind in my posting. Well...ok... a lot. But here I am with my next belated post.
In April, we celebrated Evelyn's birthday with a very special and magical stay at Port Orleans Riverside. Can I say new favorite hotel???  Because it was her birthday, we booked one of the special Royal Guest Rooms. And oh my! Was it magical!

A room fit for a Princess! Push a button for a magical fiber optic fireworks show over the Bayou

 

Since this hotel has a N'awlins flavor, Tiana can be found throughout

Of course, it wouldn't be a Royal Room without all of her princess friends leaving a bit of themselves

 The room was a huge treat! It costs a bit more than the average moderate resort room, but was worth every penny! Every wehre we looked, a reference to a Princess was there! Carpet (Aladdin) was on the floor, the lamp was our faucet, the coat hanger bears Cinderella's Pumkin Coach, the detail was simply amazing! Even the wallpaper border abounded with Disney sidekicks!

Hang on!

 The grounds were gorgeous! I mean, it's Disney and you expect that but wow! I could've been in the bayou-they even had the heat ;-)
We spent our Sunday at the pools. There was a lot going on, and Sofia-totally out of character-was having a difficult time enjoying herself. One of lifeguards took a particular interest in her. Tried everything in her power to help Sofi have fun. She went so far as to give her one of those bugs they use for their poolside games. To this day, that ladybug is her friend in our pool. Thank you Gina! You made a little girl's day!

The evening before her birthday, we visited Epcot first to try to catch the night show. Note to self-do not bring kids again until fire doesn't frighten them!

As you can see, this was during the Flower and Garden at Epcot-but that is a few other posts!

Having learned our lesson with the whole hair-do-and-pixie-dust-thing (see  the Christmas at Disney post) I talked Evelyn into picking out a fancy (but practical) dress and for mommy to buy her a crown and put pixie dust in her hair. Evelyn wanted her birthday meal to be breakfast at Be Our Guest, so we  got into the Magic Kingdom before it opened. The day was a fun filled blast!

 I bet most people have never seen Main Street quite this deserted. Helps me with my "mind movie" when I read the Kingdom Keepers series!

Evelyn wanted to take a picture by herself

Um...yeah...we were FREEZING!

My little divas!

Getting officially pixie-dusted

make it pink! make it blue!

I am DETERMINED to someday get a good picture of the music box!

Little Miss Cheese will pose for any picture!



Until next time!

#yearofdisney
#disneylife

Run, Princess, Run!

So February 21, I ran my first half marathon (yes, 13.1 miles) and of course, living the #disneylife , it had to be the Disney Princess Half Marathon.

 We attended the Fit For a Princess Runners Expo the day before. I had to pick up my packet (running bib, shirt and associated information) and of course I had to look around. Anything and everything a runner could ever want was there. I was in running heaven! That being said, I really want a pair of the New Balance official run Disney shoes.

Picking up the packet (and of course
necklace and pin I had purchased)
Made things VERY real!!

At the Expo, there was an area sponsored by Children's Miracle network (well, the whole race was) and my girls got to make me signs.

When reserving my hotel room that night, I must have accidentally checked the "noisiest room in the whole dang hotel" box. so.much.noise. Sure, I was keyed up for the race, worried I would miss my alarm and so on. But I seriously have never been in a noisier room than that weekend. Tour buses outside running their diesel engines all night. The room next to me flushing the toilet every 10 minutes (I timed it), random bangs, squeaks, groans and grunts form the building. It's a miracle I made it even 3 miles, never mind 13!!

So, here it is 3 am (yes, 3 am!) and I am awake (well, not hard when you never slept) dressed, and ready to earn my legs! I headed down to the lobby, and caught the bus to Epcot where the race would begin with 100's of other runners.







Finally at Epcot, we all head across the parking lots to the staging area (not even the starting corrals yet!). Almost 18,000 of us running. Did you know that Epcot has the single largest expanse of rolled asphalt in the United States? I do. I have walked it all. And I mean all-those lots out front are not even the half of it!

At this point, from hotel room to staging area we have already walked. A lot. And now we have the final 20 minute walk to our starting corrals. I figure by the end of the day (before we even hit Animal Kingdom) I had already done 15 miles. 

I must say, Disney has probably ruined me (well, maybe spoiled is a better word) for other races for ever. Yes, they cost a lot just to register, but in true Disney fashion, we were their guests! I have run 5k's (3.1 miles) that were harder on me than this 13.1 miles! Always something to look at, do, photo op. I have to admit, I didn't want to stop for pictures with characters-I was a little worried the "balloon ladies" would make their appearance. The infamous "balloon ladies" (you know the balloon vendors like at Magic Kingdom with those huge bouquets of balloons?) are rumored to be following the last of the runners-if you get passed by them, you get picked up and taken out of the race. I am happy to report that I never even saw a hint of them!! I highly recommend any RunDisney event-I am dying for my next already!!

I think this shot is my favorite. I was almost halfway through at this point.

 Following are some selfies I took during the run.

The front of the castle

We ran up World Drive and through the parking lot gates.

 And we got to run through all sorts of backstage areas! I definitely slowed my pace to check out my surroundings!

EVERY single time we see or meet Anna and Elsa, they are THE SAME girls.

My finish time was nothing to write home about. But I finished and I felt good! I plan on next year or the year after to do the Glass Slipper Challenge. That is both the 10k on Saturday and the Half Marathon on the Sunday for a total of 19.3 miles.

And of course, we did do a few parks that weekend. Very limited for me-I was extremely sore after and trying to take it easy before. We met up with my cousin Austin, his wife Carrie and their kids at Animal Kingdom and got to hang out with them for a bit. First time since I met my husband over 10 years ago that Austin actually met him.

While I was finishing the race, Craig took the girls into Epcot. They got to meet Baymax-which of course I do not have any pictures of since I was not there. They had a nice morning there while I headed back to our hotel for breakfast, a shower and recovery.

#yearofdisney

#disneylife