Supervising children ages 2 to 72 while running a Half Marathon! *update 3/5*

[natebenma]

Oh, that completely stinks about the monorail and transport issues that morning! To be so close, and yet so far!

I'm glad it didn't spoil your day, though. Sounds like you had a great morning, lots of nice family time (even though you separated a lot).

Astroorbitor is the only attraction at DW where I felt ill after riding it. I don't even attempt the tea cups.

How great that Jessica loved Space Mountain. I'm glad she is now tall enough for "big girl" attractions.

Beautiful views from the Grand Floridian. I love the shot of the TR with the ferry and the resort boat. Beautiful! Nice photo of the family all dressed up in the lobby, too.

And a PTR in progress? I can't keep up with you, girl, and I don't mean on the race course.

 

[DrMomof3]

Oh, that completely stinks about the monorail and transport issues that morning! To be so close, and yet so far!

I'm glad it didn't spoil your day, though. Sounds like you had a great morning, lots of nice family time (even though you separated a lot).

Astroorbitor is the only attraction at DW where I felt ill after riding it. I don't even attempt the tea cups.

How great that Jessica loved Space Mountain. I'm glad she is now tall enough for "big girl" attractions.

Beautiful views from the Grand Floridian. I love the shot of the TR with the ferry and the resort boat. Beautiful! Nice photo of the family all dressed up in the lobby, too.

And a PTR in progress? I can't keep up with you, girl, and I don't mean on the race course.

It totally felt so close and yet so far! I was NOT happy but the day got much better.
Tom can't do teacups but is ok with Astro Orbiters.
I'm hoping that Zachary will be 40" by August. That will be the next milestone I think. Then Nathaniel will reach 48" (maybe even by August but I'm not counting on it).
The Grand Floridian is a beautiful resort. I know there are plenty of kids who stay there but it always feels a bit formal to me.
I need help with my ADRs and my DH is useless. At least with helping me plan....

Amanda

 

[counselormom]

The view from Narcoosee's is beautiful! I thought the reaction of the cab driver was interesting, what a pain to have to get everything out and start all over. You got some really good family pictures, great job

 

[DrMomof3]

The view from Narcoosee's is beautiful! I thought the reaction of the cab driver was interesting, what a pain to have to get everything out and start all over. You got some really good family pictures, great job

We were SO discouraged at that point. But it was all fine in the long run. A good life lesson for all of us (and probably me, most of all!). It's the whole "it ruined my Disney vacation" thing. Illness or injury could certainly ruin a vacation but a little inconvenience only ruin a vacation if you let it. Right?
I love photopass. Otherwise there would be no pictures of the whole family. Plenty of the photopass pics are awful (and I included a few awful ones to show that) but there are always a few spectacular ones to make up for it!

Amanda

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

I am slowly but surely getting caught up on here! It's stinks being away from the boards for so long... I feel like I have missed so much!
I booked my room for the Wine and Dine half in October and am trying to convince Carissa and Jenny to meet up with me for the weekend. I think it would be a blast if we met up for that race. What do you think? Are you interested in doing another half?

 

[DrMomof3]

I am slowly but surely getting caught up on here! It's stinks being away from the boards for so long... I feel like I have missed so much!
I booked my room for the Wine and Dine half in October and am trying to convince Carissa and Jenny to meet up with me for the weekend. I think it would be a blast if we met up for that race. What do you think? Are you interested in doing another half?

I really, really want to do the Wine and Dine half. Unfortunately Rosh Hashanah ends at sundown on Sept 30th, making it nearly impossible for me to run.

Amanda

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I am slowly but surely getting caught up on here! It's stinks being away from the boards for so long... I feel like I have missed so much!
I booked my room for the Wine and Dine half in October and am trying to convince Carissa and Jenny to meet up with me for the weekend. I think it would be a blast if we met up for that race. What do you think? Are you interested in doing another half?

How exciting you girls are going to be there the same time as me!! (I've been following Jenny & Carissa's TR's!) I won't be doing the W&D b/c I want my first half to be the Princess, and b/c I think I might just trip and break my neck doing my first 1/2 in the dark! but I'll be there and running the 5K!!

Off to check our your new PTR Amanda!

 

[carissanboys]

I am slowly but surely getting caught up on here! It's stinks being away from the boards for so long... I feel like I have missed so much!
I booked my room for the Wine and Dine half in October and am trying to convince Carissa and Jenny to meet up with me for the weekend. I think it would be a blast if we met up for that race. What do you think? Are you interested in doing another half?

I won't be doing the Wine and Dine. In fact, no plans to head to WDW again anytime soon. I might consider doing the half again during marathon weekend in 2013 as part of a family trip.

Hi Amanda! Trying to stay caught up, but things are so busy for me right now with the house. How is all of that going for you guys?

 

[DrMomof3]

How exciting you girls are going to be there the same time as me!! (I've been following Jenny & Carissa's TR's!) I won't be doing the W&D b/c I want my first half to be the Princess, and b/c I think I might just trip and break my neck doing my first 1/2 in the dark! but I'll be there and running the 5K!!

Off to check our your new PTR Amanda!

So very jealous!!!! It'll be a great time, I'm sure!

I won't be doing the Wine and Dine. In fact, no plans to head to WDW again anytime soon. I might consider doing the half again during marathon weekend in 2013 as part of a family trip.

Hi Amanda! Trying to stay caught up, but things are so busy for me right now with the house. How is all of that going for you guys?

Glad things are moving ahead with your house! There are a few issues with our house - including a buried oil tank in the front yard that needs to be addressed before they can sell the house to anyone. Unfortunately it's under quite a bit of snow still! We have presented a counter-offer and we're waiting to hear back. Our lease is until July 1st and I know they'd extend it so there's not rush on their side. The "owner" is really an estate since the previous owner died at the tender age of 96. Decisions are not rapid because there are many parties involved. We talk to the lawyer for the estate who is local and very nice. The trustee and beneficiaries are all out of state. Anyway, very complicated and slow. We'll go look at a few other others houses in our area next weekend. I have a "what will be, will be" attitude. I really like our house and would love to NOT move but the house is WAY outdated and needs tons and tons of work.

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

We were away for a few days and now that I'm back, it's time to work on this trip report! It honestly seems SO long ago that we were at Disney. Our mini-trip was fine but it made me miss Disney a lot!!! I'm trying to convince DH that I need to run the Expedition Everest 5K but he isn't buying it.

This was our last day at Disney. We weren't in a hurry to make rope drop or anything. We had some breakfast in the lounge, packed up our bags, and called bell services to help us. My parents packed up, too, although they weren't planning to head out just yet. We did resort bag check-in (the best thing EVER!) and headed over to Epcot via monorail. One annoying thing was that my parents kept insisting that they really, really wanted to ride Soarin' but didn't seem to understand that they needed to go to the park to get FPs.

Amanda

 

[-Hope-]

I love resort bag check-in as well! It was so easy. When we got home and actually had to go to baggage claim it just seemed like such a pain after being so well taken care of by Disnely.

 

[Native NYer]

I agree about resort airline check-in. I getting rid of the bags and getting a boarding pass at the resort.

 

[dismagiclover]

I know what you mean about it seeming like a long time ago. And I'm not scheduled to go back to Florida until next January I hope I can make it.

 

[DrMomof3]

I love resort bag check-in as well! It was so easy. When we got home and actually had to go to baggage claim it just seemed like such a pain after being so well taken care of by Disnely.

I know! I hate having to go to baggage claim at our home airport!

I agree about resort airline check-in. I getting rid of the bags and getting a boarding pass at the resort.

Exactly! My only issue is that you have to check your bags early in the day so you need to bring more carry-on than I would like.

I know what you mean about it seeming like a long time ago. And I'm not scheduled to go back to Florida until next January I hope I can make it.

Poor you! That's even longer than I have to wait!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

I got cut off in my trip report over the weekend so I'll try to post a quick update now.
We headed to Epcot. I ran and got FPs for Soarin' (why, you may ask, did the person who had just run a half-marathon get sent ahead? Just because.). We rode Nemo but skipped Turtle Talk. Interesting thing happened on Nemo. Nathaniel and Jessica wanted to ride without us so Tom and I hopped in with Zachary. I didn't realize this would be an issue but they literally stopped the ride and made us change that. Oops!
We stopped at Guest Services to make lunch ADRs for Biergarten and rode Spaceship Earth. Jessica decided mid-ride that she really, really had to pee (I could have killed her!) so that was annoying. She's the queen of having to pee on long rides. She only leaked a few drops but enough that she needed dry clothes. Tom was willing to buy her something but I didn't want to reward this so I put her in one of Zachary's diapers and a pair of his pants.
I honestly can't remember what other rides we did. We grabbed a Kim: Possible mission for Germany and headed over to World Showcase.

Kids running in distance (while I was getting FPs for Soarin'). Notice Jessica's wearing pink pants.

Our future!

I was very surprised the holiday stuff was still out in full force

Zachary in the dog house!

Princess stop (note the boy pants!)

I think I was helping Nathaniel do the mission while Tom took the younger 2 to see Snow White.

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

This had been our warmest day so far. But we paid a price for that. It was looking pretty overcast. We went to Biergarten for our lunch and sat with 3 very nice women. They tolerated my children quite well! The waitress even compliment me on their behavior. I like Biergarten fine. I'm not a huge fan of buffets because it's a lot of work for me. Tom loves Biergarten. My kids also like the atmosphere at Biergarten. Annoying my parents kept calling me while we were at lunch because they had decided to finally join us at Epcot.

When we finished eating we were greeted by torrential downpours. Luckily I had rain ponchos packed in the diaper bag. We got ourselves and the kids covered in ponchos and headed to meet my parents at Soarin'. Zachary fell asleep in the stroller which made the GAC very, very useful! I think this was the only time we used the card but I was sure glad to have it.

We used child-swap so my parents could ride, despite not understanding the concept of FP. I love Soarin'!!!! The girls rode first and then the boys. Zachary woke up while the boys were riding. After Soarin' the weather calmed down a bit. At this time we were ready to start heading back to the Poly. First we needed our final photopass pics:

My kids picked the Duffy border.

The photographer was from my parents' town so that led to some conversation. My parents didn't join us for the photo shoot. I think they don't get the whole photopass thing.

We spent some time at the Poly just watching the old-time Disney movies and coloring before taking the car service back to the airport. Somehow my mom managed to lose her coat at security. We ate dinner at an Outback in the airport. Our flight was originally very delayed but ended up only being a little delayed. The flight was packed because of impending bad weather on the East Coast. I think Tuesdays flights were mostly cancelled so we were lucky to get home.

The flight was fairly uneventful. The kids fell asleep at the end of the flight. We got them into the strollers and met the car service. We made it home around midnight and got the kids into their beds. Another fun trip to Disney!

Lessons learned:
1. Traveling with others can be challenging. Having someone like my step-sister there was a great help but my parents ended up being a lot of work!
2. Marathon weekend would have been more fun without the kids. I might leave them home next year.
3. I loved racing!!!

Amanda

 

[-Hope-]

Love the pics of the kids with Snow White. I'm glad the rain didn't spoil your last day. Sounds like a great end to a wonderful trip.

 

[dismagiclover]

I remember that rainstorm! It was a doozy! I love that last picture of your family in front of the ball! You look so happy! I know what you mean about race weekend being easier without the kids. I was happy to have my family there, but I felt pulled at the same time between doing what is best for the race and remembering it was the kids' vacation too. Next year we're going without the kids.

 

[DrMomof3]

Love the pics of the kids with Snow White. I'm glad the rain didn't spoil your last day. Sounds like a great end to a wonderful trip.

Thanks Hope. It was a nice trip!

I remember that rainstorm! It was a doozy! I love that last picture of your family in front of the ball! You look so happy! I know what you mean about race weekend being easier without the kids. I was happy to have my family there, but I felt pulled at the same time between doing what is best for the race and remembering it was the kids' vacation too. Next year we're going without the kids.

It was a doozy!
I would have lved to enjoy the Expo more. It would have been nice to explore all the booths and even attend some of the lectures. I also enjoyed talking to others who ran races and it was hard with 3 kids pulling me in 3 different directions!
I haven't 100% decided to leave the kids home next year. I like setting an example for them and I should have signed them up for the kid races. Maybe if it was a family racing weekend it would work better?

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

4 more weeks until my next 1/2 marathon. I wish I could convince my DH that I need to run at Disney again this year. I'll just wait until Marathon weekend 2012. I'm dying to go back for another race!!!

I did a 10.5 mile training run today. I'm getting a little faster each time I do this long runs. I feel like I've been more consistent with my training since I got back from Disney. Having run a race has made me much more motivated!

Amanda