Workday Rising: Part 2 - Disney World

On Tuesday and Wednesday of our trip, Griff went to his conference. Wah wah... Seriously though, Jerry Seinfeld and Lin Miranda were two of the speakers so how bad could it really have been?!

But WE went Disney World! Disney was a whole different beast from Universal Studios - different crowd, muggier, more crowded, but still the Magic Kingdom took me right back to 1990 (or whenever it was) that we visited when I was young.

We spent our first day at Magic Kingdom.

Shot some stuff with Buzz Lightyear (Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin) and rode a skinny rocket thing (Astro Orbiter) on top of a tower in Tomorrowland. Both enjoyable but let's get on to the good stuff.

Walked through the Hall of Presidents in Liberty Square en route to It's a Small World. Of course, we broke out into The Simpsons' Krustyland version of during the ride. Maybe it was just me.

After that, it was time for the Haunted Mansion. I have no pictures of this. I was trying to coax and convince someone who shall remain unnamed that it was all pretend it and if a little three-year old girl thought it was her favorite ride, it couldn't really be that bad. Unconvinced, he stayed with us even if he didn't enjoy it one bit. Madelyn and I loved it.

The line at Splash Mountain Falls wasn't too long. Well, it said 60 minutes but we were hot, had had a snack, and were willing to give it a shot. I'm pretty sure we only waited 30 minutes. And, we got this gem of a picture on the final, big downhill.

I know, I know. You can't see us very well. Have no fear. I've taken the liberty of zooming in. Pay no attention to the literal posers in front of us.

After we were thoroughly soaked from Splash Mountain Falls, we rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad two or three times in a row. THIS was my favorite ride from 1990 and I think it STILL is my favorite ride. Loved it. All three of us did considering we'd get off the ride and then go get right back in line to do it again.

We split some hot dogs for lunch and rode several other rides - Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and even got caught in a parade. Mickey went right past us on a float. Madelyn and Sawyer were too cool to wave at him. But, he waved at me and I waved back. Nailed it.

We did a lot of walking. Went to Gaston's to have some Grey Stuff. But, apparently they only serve Grey Stuff during special events. Rode the Mad Tea Party and several other rides before calling it a day. (Our schedule was dependent on the hotel shuttle we'd ridden over.)

We rode both the ferry and the monorail on Tuesday and had a fun, full day. "Monorail, monorail, monorail...Is there a chance the track could bend?"

On Wednesday, our travels took us to Animal Kingdom. Given that we were exhausted from our three previous days and having switched our ticket from Hollywood Studios to Animal Kingdom the night before, we were light on Fast Passes and found ourselves long on lines. Nevertheless, we persisted.

We scored a Fast Pass for Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. It's a thrill ride aka roller coaster. As we were walking to it, we could hear a roaring and screaming. Then, we came around a corner and saw that it was the ride we were headed toward. All three of us collectively agreed to pass.

Then, we came across Kali River Rapids. This was a fun one with a very short line. So, we rode it a few times and got varying degrees of wet each time. Still fun.

Tried to ride Dino-Sue. The line was long and unfortunately the ride broke as we were just about to get on. So, we passed as well. We were right next to DinoLand USA so we rode Triceratops Spin. It was fun and the right speed for us after all of the other "thrill rides" we'd been on over the last few days.

Both Disney and Universal have apps where you can see the estimated wait time for rides throughout the parks. By this point in the day on Wednesday, every ride we were interested in had a 50+ minute wait. Even Kilimanjaro Safaris had a a 65+ minute wait which was a bummer. That one would have been really fun..if we could have gotten on. The two popular Avatar rides had estimated waits of 75 and 190 minutes. I was not about to get in line for over three hours so we opted for Na'vi River Journey.

In line for Avatar Na'vi River Journey. It said this line was 75 minutes long and they weren't kidding. Was the ride worth the 75+ minute wait? Undecided. I will say that it was really cool and the music and environment really enveloped you. But, I also felt like it was the 21st century version of "It's a Small World" from Magic Kingdom.

Unfortunately, after Avatar we kind of peetered out. We had a bite to eat, found this thing that translated your dog bark imitation into words and had quite a bit of fun with that. We also saw a flock of parrots fly by overhead two times. Oh, and Sawyer scoped out a hat he wanted so we tracked it down. You can't see in the picture but Simba's tail is on the back of the hat. I would wear this but I wouldn't look nearly as cute.

We went to It's Tough to Be a Bug! as our final thing before heading out for the day. Was not expecting to be as frightened in this 4D video/experience as we were. I'm not sure which was worse - having someone spray "bug killer" on the crowd or when we needed to make way to let the roaches, spiders, and beetles all exit the auditorium only to have the underside of our seats booped. Don't get me wrong. It was a cute show and they had all of the appropriate warnings beforehand. But, I wasn't prepared for all the gotcha moments.

The storms rolled in after that so we headed back to the hotel by a Lyft. So much for waiting for the hotel shuttle. Had some downtime at the hotel and then enjoyed some afternoon/evening swimming once the weather cleared up.

On our final morning, I finally rented the kids an inner tube at the pool. We had four hours of glorious pool time (mostly all to ourselves) before showering, packing up, and heading to the airport to come home. Workday Rising was over.

When I asked the kids to rank their days from most to least favorite, they agreed: Day 2 at Universal Studios, Day 1 at Disney World, Day 1 at Universal Studios, and Day 2 at Disney World. I would say our "conference" was a success and now that I know how to plan/manage a Disney trip, I'm all for doing it all again. Universal, too.

Thank you, Griff, for taking us with you to your work conference!

Workday Rising: Part 1 - Universal Studios

Workday Rising - Workday's annual user group conference - occurred the same week as our Fall break this year. In Orlando. Griff got to attend instead of present so he was booked to fly and stay at the Orlando Marriott World Center.

Guess who tagged along? These guys!

Part 1 of OUR Workday Rising conference was spent at Universal Studios in Orlando. The conference began on Monday night. So, we flew in on Saturday morning and the four of us hit up Universal Studios together on Sunday and Monday.

We had a blast. There was a lot of Simpsons fun.

Krustyland - The ride. "Duff beer for me. Duff beer for you. I'll have a Duff. You have one, too."

Moe's!

Lisa Madelyn loves Millhouse.

And so. much. Harry Potter.

Gringotts Bank and the Gringotts dragon. The dragon blew fire every so often and it was so hot. Madelyn said it was something like 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Yikes!

Butterbeers all around on a hot day - three regular and one frozen, please.

We stopped into Olivander's and wands were purchased for the two young wizards. They proceeded to practice their spells at the various shoppes throughout Diagon Alley.

The Hogwarts Express. We rode this from Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade Village...and Hogwarts.

Universal was so much fun. On Monday, we had the express passes so we were able to bypass the REALLY long lines. We did do other things besides The Simpsons and Harry Potter - Minions, Transformers. But, our trip to Universal was definitely heavy with The Simpsons and Harry Potter.

We had two very full days and 3+ tired and hot park goers. But, part 2 of Workday Rising would begin on Tuesday when Griff went to his conference and Madelyn, Sawyer, and I went to Disney World. Stay tuned.

Oh, and our newest cousin, Garrison Michael, was born to Aunt Lauren and Uncle Graham on Monday while we were in Universal. Congratulations, Uncle Graham and Aunt Lauren, and welcome to the world, Garrison!

Green couch be gone.

That's the text message I sent to Griff last night around 6:15 after I watched the green couch be loaded up and taken away. Outside of my big girl bedroom furniture, which technically Honey and Poppie purchased for me in 1999 in Kansas City, the green couch was the second piece of furniture I ever purchased.

Yesterday, the old green couch went to a new home. We decided over the weekend to turn our loft into a more family / movie room and replace the existing furniture with a u-shaped sectional. So, I've been in the process of photographing and listing the furniture and plan to go sectional shopping this afternoon.

Here's where I get a little sentimental. That couch had quite a life and travelled with me through 3 apartments, a duplex, and 3 houses. When I first bought the couch in 2000, I had a sweet little Siamese kitten who was equal parts princess and terrorist.

The only real damage to the couch came from her when we she would. not. keep. her. claws. off. the arm. Bad kitty.

Over the years, we all enjoyed the green couch...

For reading.

For snuggling.

For eating during a rainy BBQ.

And, for napping. Pre children I used to feel like napping on that couch was one of my favorite things. Clearly, I wasn't alone.

So many memories. I didn't get anything for it except for rid of it. And, that's okay. We certainly got my money out of it. And, that Siamese princess / terrorist? Well, she eventually calmed down (and got declawed). The couch went to a young woman and her roommate who live in Golden. I'm thankful it'll get another life and won't go straight to the landfill.

Sawyer's GR8!

This kid. This spirited kid who has a mind of his own and the sweetest heart - he's 8! And, he's GR8! We celebrated his 8th birthday all day yesterday.

First of all, it's not every Thursday when you go outside to pick up the milk delivery and find a HUGE sign in your front yard. Yes, some people do like to wear footie pajamas in June and I've found it's best if you don't ask questions. Like Elsa, just let it go.

After breakfast, Madelyn, Sawyer, and I went to Red Rocks and hiked. It wasn't terribly hot when we got there but we were quite sweaty by the time we finished. It was also fairly crowded. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. It is Summer and Colorado and Red Rocks are both destinations. 

The birthday king requested McDonald's for lunch so we honored his request. We finished up decorating his birthday cake in the afternoon. Had the local grandparents over for dinner last night. Sawyer discovered his love of shrimp and other shellfish in Lincoln on his 7th birthday last year. At his request, we had lobster macaroni and cheese. Honey brought her orange sunshine Jell-O salad. No birthday is complete without cake so we ate cake. Yes, that's a cat cake.

We took some more pictures in front of the birthday sign after dinner. Who knew that the birthday yard sign could also be used to play yard sign hide and seek?!

The birthday celebration will continue on next week when he goes to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner with friends. He's already committed to catching shrimp in his mouth. Fingers crossed I can capture that in a picture!

Thank you, everyone, who sent cards and gifts, called, and texted Sawyer yesterday on his birthday. He's special to me every day but extra special on his birthday. Your remembering and your love mean a lot.

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY, SAWYER!

Spring break 2019 - Beaver Creek.

Having never been to Beaver Creek in the winter, I wasn't completely sure what to expect. I grew up skiing the Summit County mountains and have been to a few of the other Colorado ski resorts. And, we've been to Beaver Creek in the Summer and Fall. But, skiing at Beaver Creek was new to me. I knew it'd be nice but I had no idea. We stayed in the Village at the Beaver Creek Lodge. It's a property that Marriott recently acquired and it's just an escalator ride up from the front door to the lifts. Awesome! 

Also, can I tell you how much of a fan I am of the escalators versus the steps? Steps are, generally, no problem in shoes but ski boots - game off. Escalators? Yes, please.

We arrived on Saturday just in time for 3P cookies and FunFest. FunFest is a Saturday afternoon activity designed for kids. There are games set up all around the Village where kids can earn tokens for playing and can redeem the tokens for a Beaver Creek themed souvenir. Madelyn and Sawyer are not one to walk away from games and free stuff. So, after a few pictures with their favorite statues, games were played. Each kid ended up winning enough tokens to earn a pair of Beaver Creek touchscreen gloves. Cool!

Sunday was ski school day for the kids and a play day for Griff and I. The kids weren't super stoked to be going to ski school but we thought it was important for all of us. And, it was only for one day.

Griff and I had a fun day exploring and playing. We found the Candy Cabin but didn't venture inside. Griff tried his skills at the race course. While he didn't "medal", it was still fun to watch. I like to turn too much to want to ever do the races. Nice, big turns. Side to side.

Monday was family ski day. Yes, there was still some complaining, from someone who shall not be named. However, I think we're moving out of that phase. We didn't ski as much on Monday as Griff and I did on Sunday but it was so. much. fun. to be skiing with the whole family, all together. The weather could not have been more perfect. Even though it's Spring, the snow was still in great condition. The only slush we saw was at the very bottom.

We had a great day. Now, we're not perfect and our skiing wasn't perfect. There was Madelyn's dramatic tuck exit from the lift. We thought she was falling but then she just tucked into a little ball and rode it out. So fancy. There was also the jump in the trees that caught her by surprise and took all our breath away. I'm thankful she got stopped and didn't head off out of bounds, down the hill through the rest of the trees. I don't even want to talk about Assay, the shortcut run I took Madelyn and I down where she fell and I almost did, that was the worst little shortcut ever. She forgave me and I thought nothing of her yelling at me because that run stunk. But, before lunch, we all skied from the very top to the very bottom. And, Sawyer led us across some fun little bridges and along a skiway through a condo complex. I was so proud of our little people!

Monday nights, from 6-9P, there's complimentary ice skating in the Village. So after dinner, Madelyn and Griff skated while Sawyer and I sat rink side by a fire.

Photo by Sawyer

All in all, Beaver Creek was a blast. All the little touches - cookies at 3P and the after ski activities that are included in your visit - make it such a unique and memorable experience. I feel very grateful that we're able to do trips like these. And, I'm also grateful for my little family with whom I get to make these memories.

So long and thanks, Beaver Creek. See you next time!