Easter Sunday QOTD:What is the first thing that you do at each park when you arrive? (I'm really getting excited about my trip now!!!!!)
Well... I don't think we have ever had a "usual" or "first". When the kids were littler on our first two family trips to WDW, it was just kind of a "mosey on in and see what looks good" kind of attitude. Plus we always stopped to take pictures in front of the park icons. We went in January and the crowds were low and we didn't have to worry too much about being able to hit everything. We kind of had the same attitude on our 2005 DL trip... it was a first for all of us and we were there for opening every morning and just did things as we wanted. The crowds were low in the mornings, so we got the "A" list stuff done first and the rest was gravy!
For 2008 it was a bit different because the kids were older and had some thrill rides that were "can't miss". So we did the "rope drop dash" a few times to get on a few more important rides, like TOT, RNR, and EE.
Not sure how it will be for my trip with DS in a few weeks. I will just follow his lead for the most part. There are a few "can't miss" items for me that he knows are a MUST (like Soarin' and SpectroMagic), so he will be patient for my things and I will be patient for his!
Hi Everyone! Happy Easter! I just got back from WDW (25 hour ride...got home about 1 hour ago). It was a great trip. I am planning on doing a trip report to reflect a bit on the trip because of how odd it was - we literally decided to go, planned, packed and left within a 4 hour period on Monday. We drove from MN to WDW straight, enjoyed 4 wonderful days in the park and drove home. To top it off, I will talk about how I approached the whole trip while trying to keep from gaining weight. I will say...I LOST 2 pounds!!!! YEAH!
Well, I will probably scan through all the posts since I left but I know it will be impossible to reply to it all. I hope everyone had a great week!
More to come soon!
Jen
I am so jealous of a "spur of the moment" trip! I would love to be more spontaneous like that! I'll bet it was great fun! And two pounds down.... WOW! Glad to have you back.
Happy Easter Everyone! The last few days have been a challenge. I'm trying to be good today, but I love malted milk eggs and made the mistake of buying them. Luckily my son loves them too, hopefully he'll eat most of them. I started the day with 3 egg whites with cheese and just made some sauteed mushroom with a piece of roast beef. I am trying to save my points for the rest of the day. I was asked to bring the salad today, so I made it the way I wanted it so hopefully I will not eat as much of the other food. The scale has been up since Friday, but I have also noticed I am retaining alot of water, I have sock imprints on my ankles. The weight has to be from water retention, I did eat the last few days, but not enough to move the scale that much. I'm getting so frustrated with my weight I feel like it won't move anymore in the down direction. I work my tush off at the gym, I may have to start working out twice a day to shake things up a bit. I'm sorry for rambling, it's just how I feel right now. I can't make sense of things. Not only am I in this challenge but I'm also in another challenge with about six other people that I'm going on a cruise with this summer. It was all my idea to start the other challenge. I thought I could really pull it out. My cousin who is going with us but did not want to join the challenge has all ready lost 14 pounds. She's burying me. I can't let her beat me. Maybe I'm just stressing over nothing. I know physically I am in better shape then all of them. The winner gets $20 from all the participants. I would so love to have them all watch me spend their money at the Roulette table. Tomorrow is a new day. Time to shake things up and sew my mouth shut.
Just keep at it. Sometimes patience is the name of the game. If you know you are working hard and doing all the right things, the weight WILL come off eventually.... take it from me! I just had a big "woosh" week where the weight loss for MANY WEEKS all came off at once!! DON'T GIVE UP!

!!BLESSED EASTER EVERYONE!!
And wonderful news on my part for me is that I'm down 9 pounds and close to making it 10 lol
Ten pounds is terrific! You are really doing well. Easter blessings to you as well!
Monday QOTD: Did you make any special changes for the Easter holiday that was healthy? Change a recipe or add something extra to make it less caloreis? Eat less? Buy less candy?
I volunteered to make the salad this year to take to DSIL's house. I tend to make mine lower calorie (no nuts, seeds, or cheeses and dressing on the side) so I can really fill up on it. Plus I brought roasted asparagus. Every other veggie/side dish is covered in butter, sugar, sauce, etc (including the carrots), so it was good to have something a bit lighter to fill up on!
I did buy the kids much less candy. They might have been a bit disappointed, but the candy they DID get was nice quality Lindt dark chocolate (their favorite). They each got one small chocolate bunny and a handful of small eggs, plus a few jelly beans (which DS doesn't even like... but it isn't Easter without jelly beans!!). They both had baskets full of other fun stuff like clothes, games, itunes cards, perfume, etc, so they weren't disappointed with that!
I wrote out my Easter eating/exercise plan on a piece of paper the day before and stuck to it pretty well (although not perfectly). I started the day with 60 minutes of exercise and a very light healthy breakfast (three scrambled egg whites with sauteed mushrooms and peppers, half a slice of whole wheat toast, morning hot beverage). I packed a light healthy snack (which I had planned for and written out) for the 2 hour car ride to DSIL's so I wouldn't arrive ravenous.
I filled up on two plates of my salad when we got there, plus 4 cocktail shrimp with cocktail sauce, and a few strawberries. I didn't have any other appetizers.
I skipped BOTH kinds of potatoes (delmonico and twice baked), the green bean casserole, and several other sides and stuck with my plan..... a small slice of ham, a small piece of swiss chicken, and veggies (carrots and asparagus). I didn't realize until after dinner that the carrots had been coated in butter and sugar (I THOUGHT they were particularly good!!

), but they were still a better choice than other things.
I did have a bit more dessert than I had on my plan. I was trying to do well and sit at the kitchen table with some of the ladies to chat, while the dessert was being served in the dining room. DSIL didn't want us to feel left out so she brought the entire plate of brownies, the entire plate of these little chocolate bird's nests, and the entire fruit platter and placed it on the kitchen table in front of us!!
I had planned on only having a piece of DSIL's cheese pie... but dessert was out for several minutes and I didn't see the cheese pie, so I figured she didn't make it. I decided to have a brownie instead and I picked a nice corner piece and enjoyed it slowly. It seemed like the minute I finished it she brought out the cheese pie!! I guess I could have said no, but I didn't. I had one delicious piece and then two small bites of DS's that he couldn't finish (of his second helping!!).
I drink 3 liters of seltzer and some water during the day to keep full. I didn't have any wine.
At the last minute on our way out DSIL sent us home with TWO Swedish coffee breads and a plate of butterhorns!! (SHe mades dozens of these for the Easter morning coffee time at church every year.) Fortunately this isn't something that really tempts me (although I tried a small butterhorn last night and determined it wasn't worth the calories to me... nothing against her baking, of course). I did break down and eat a half a small brownie about 9pm when we got home that was totally a "tired and not thinking" eating moment, but that was it.
Anyhow.... I started writing out my holiday eating plans last year and it really works for me! I don't go into the holiday meals with a "eat until you're sick because you're back on your diet tomorrow" mentality like I used to.
Hi everyone!
I'd like to join the biggest loser team. I'm ready for the challenge. I've been watching my weight go up, up, up...and beyond.

I'd like to come back to earth and get serious and make some new friends who are on this journey as well. Hopefully, I'm on the right thread. Ha!
Welcome aboard! We just added another week to this challenge, so there is still plenty of time to make some healthy changes with us!
Well... Happy Monday everyone! I didn't get on at all yesterday. I got a new web-enabled phone and thought I might be able to some "dis-ing" on the car ride home last night, but I am not a "fancy phone" person and was totally frustrated trying to scroll through pages on the Dis. And then the reading in the car thing got to me and I got a headache. oh well.
For those who remember me mentioning DS's food allergies and skin rashes, we had an appointment with a pediatric dermatologist this morning at CHAD (Children's Hospital at Dartmouth) at 7 am (left the house at 5am

). He is really giving me faith that someone might FINALLY be able to help DS with these rashes. He took a punch biopsy, a few scrappings, and a few swabs to start diagnosing this mess. He thinks he may have a viral infection as well as a bacterial infection, along with the eczema. He gave me THREE prescriptions. He will be calling by Wed. to give us the results of the lab work and if it is what he thinks, I will be filling the Rx that day and starting DS on the meds. I am just PRAYING that this is the start of a full recovery for DS's skin issues. They have gone on since he was TWO YEARS OLD and I am just sick of doctors telling me it is "just dry skin" and it is normal and that skin lotions and creams will help. They haven't so far and things have gotten MUCH WORSE. He is scarred for life over his entire body and the rashes started showing up on his face a few months ago. I was terrified that his face would start looking like other areas of his body so I have been working hard to keep his face clear with the prescription and OTC ointments and creams, but it was starting to seem like a losing battle. Hopefully this new doctor can turn things around.
As I mentioned in response to the QOTD, I had a fairly okay day yesterday. I ate a few things I really enjoyed, but didn't go hog wild (I forgot to mention that I ate three black jelly beans that DD gave me in the morning

). I wish I had eaten less desert, but I did well overall. I am SO glad I had that salad that I brought.... otherwise I would have been so hungry and probably would have given into the temptations of the appetizers (cheeses, dips, hummus).
Because I got up so early this morning, I haven't gotten in my workout yet. DD is swimming 4:30-6pm tonight, so I will hit the fitness room at the Y tonight. I'm not feeling particularly energetic, so will probably stick with the treadclimber, treadmill, and possibly the elliptical..... maybe the rowing machine if I feel a bit more energized.
Dinner tonight is "make your own" salad bar. I need to use up the leftover salad stuff from yesterday, plus I will put out chopped egg, maybe some diced cheeses, croutons, tuna, and a few other bits of leftovers from the fridge. DS won't be fond of the salad, but he'll like the egg and crouton!
Well... two hours until DS returns from school (I made him go for the rest of the day after his appointment this morning... aren't I mean??

). I have accomplished exactly NOTHING today, other than the appointment this morning and talking to you all! I guess I should go make some progress on the day!.......................P