Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Growing up Disney...

For those that know me and keep up with me on facebook you know that I take a monthly photo of each child during their first year. Each month I put them in my childhood rocking chair to use as a size reference as they grow. Well, a few months before our trip to Disney I decided that I wanted to pick a place in the Magic Kingdom for each child so that I could take their picture and then every time we return we can snap a new picture. With several Disney trips under our belts it's becoming quite clear that we love doing Disney with our kids. And we foresee us spending a lot of their childhood in the parks. We do a family beach trip with my family every year and we do trips with Andy's family on the family timeshare every year...Andy and I decided we wanted something to be our tradition with our kids and Disney, for the moment, seems to fit that bill for us.  So, Avi-Kate's spot is with Roy Disney and Minnie at the front of Main Street U.S.A. and AG's is in front of Casey's with the baseball players. Here's to many photos over the coming years...




Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Running, running...

...since the new year I have taken up running for my weekly exercise. This fall I quickly came to the realization that I needed something that I could go and do at any point in my day with very little planning. Running fits this bill for me. For Christmas Andy gifted me a shoe fitting at a running store in Atlanta and it made an immediate difference in how I felt about my running. I also needed motivation to stay with it...enter the fabulous website runDisney and I was ready to go. My goal this year is to run at least one 5K at Disney and at least be registered for a half at Disney by the end of the year. 

So, here's what I've accomplished so far:

-Andy and I are now planning to run the Expedition Everest Challenge together in May. It's a 5k with obstacles and a scavenger hunt. You can complete it as a team and we are doing it to celebrate our anniversary which will be just three days before we leave for this trip. Which means that we'll be back at Disney in a little over seven weeks...eek! We are excited and really excited to do something fun together. 

-As far as the Half Marathon goes Andy's sister, Caroline, has also gotten in to running and since we've been pregnant together, twice, we decided we needed to do something fun for ourselves as a reward for getting back in shape. So, our plan is to run the Princess Half Marathon in February 2013. We are really looking forward to planning a trip for just the two of us. Being there together last week really got us excited and motivated. In the fall I'll start my half training schedule. Andy is planning to run the Food and Wine Half at Disney in November. As of right now I think I'll run the 5K that they have that weekend. Should be good motivation to stick with it and help get me excited about February. 

Needless to say Andy and I opted for another set of Annual Passes for this next year. I've already used mine for eight days and Andy has used his for seven days. They say to make it worth it you need to be in the park for nine days in a year...we are well on our way! :) Couple that with staying off property for over a week this past week and we've saved over $112 in free parking already. 

I'm really excited about running at Disney...I've heard nothing but INCREDIBLE things about their events. I'm also really looking forward to doing each of my races with someone special. Everest will be a great time for Andy and I to reconnect after a wild and crazy last year and a half. We never got to celebrate our five year anniversary so we decided to do something special for our sixth. And the Princess Half will be amazing to complete with Caroline. We've spent the last few years being pregnant together and raising babies. We are really excited to do something special for just us. 

Anyways, I've been slack in my running the last three weeks...although, I did run once on vacation. I'm hoping to run at least twice this week and ease back in to my routine. (If I can get my average three runs in that'll be great.) By next week I want to be completely back on schedule and I'm quite excited that the time has changed since it will give me more time to run in the evening. 

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Blogging hiatus...

This last month has flown by and I took a break from the blog. Not intentionally at first but much needed. Avi-Kate has been battling an intense cold, sinus infection, ear infections, etc. for the last month leaving mommy very sleep deprived and having very little energy for anything else. In addition I came down with a sinus infection, thanks to Old Man Winter failing to show up this year and pollen season starting early, and AG had a cold. Needless to say it's been a wild ride here this last month. In addition to all this we were gearing up from our big family trip to Disney World with Andy's family. We just got back to Rome today...the trip was great but AG having a CVS flare up was not so great. Yes, lots and lots of vomit this past week means I get to touch base with AG's GI doctor tomorrow.

My goals this week are to get the house back in order and get the blog back up to speed. Lots to post about. Hopefully the weather will be great this week and I can do some outside nine month pictures of Avi-Kate...her eight month pictures turned out great and I still need to post those! Ha. See, it never ends. I will forever be playing catch up. :)