Trying to keep up with the weight loss wagon......yet again (new title, same journal)

[mommyof2Pirates]

loved the pics Rose and thanks for thinking of me. It sounds like you had a really nice laid back kind of day. I would feel bad for herbie too. I liked herbie...although my kids would go bonkers now to see lightning mcqueen. Cant wait to hear more.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Day 2 Cont….Our night time adventures!

Our plan for the evening was take the boat to DHS, use our two fast passes, see the Osbourne Lights and around 8:00 head towards The Contemporary for our 9:45 dinner ressies and to see Wishes!

My foot/ankle was a little bit sore, so we decided to walk to Swan/Dolphin and then jump on the boat. The Swan/Dolphin look amazing this year! They did some great things with LED lights. I will have some pictures later. And they had Santa—he looked like he should be in the Keys! He was Beachware Santa!

Getting ready to head out!

A really bad picture of Santa--but you get the idea.

Anyhow, we got in a very long line for the boat and waited, and waited, and waited. First of all, my family would normally much rather walk. And so would I, but I was trying very hard to baby my foot. But the time was ticking away and at ~6:30 we gave up on the boat and walked. We ended up beating the next boat to DHS, so I was glad we did. I’m not sure everyone in line would have even made it on the next boat!

So since we were a little short on time, we decided to hold off on using the RnR fastpasses. We headed back to Toy Story and rode that. Tom and Mike love Toy Story!

Mike is looking a little tired in this picture, I think.

I think I look really small next to this guy! He was not very talkative.

Next we headed over to the Osbourne Lights. They were amazing this year—I think everything is now LED. The effects were incredible and the pictures don’t do them justice. They even had a display on a flat screen tv telling the history of the lights. We eventually found the cat—I saw some people standing still and looking down one of the side alleys and I peeked down the alley and there it was!

We call this the "UK" section--since it's all decked out in University of Kentucky colors!

Check out the "Once" billboard!

I look a little lopsided in this picture, but I thought it was a good picture!

I wish the pictures would have come out a little better, but Mike told me today, it's not necessarily our camera, but the settings he was using. He was having it take pictures with less pixels so it took up last space and was faster.....Ok......I told him to change it to better pictures! I am still debating getting a SLR--but then I have to convince Mike he has to lug it around.

After getting a photopass picture we still had some time, so we used our RnR fastpass and then headed out for a bus to the Contemporary.

Coming up: Our favorite dinner and our favorite waiter!

 

[dumbo_buddy]

i think the osborne lights pictures came out nice! night shots are so hard to take!

i always love your trip reports - you guys always dress so nicely and look so put together! i think you're the nicest dressed family ever at disney! we dress like slobs! (ok, i dress like a slob on a regular basis so it's no different)

i like the ToT pic. that lobby is so great!

 

[Rose&Mike]

Day 2--Dinner at California Grill!

We arrived at The Contemporary with plenty of time to spare so we walked around for a bit, checked out the gingerbread stuff, the gift shops and the observation deck.

Here's the wreath that was up at The Contemporary.

And a view of the castle from the observation deck.

And the gingerbread display.

Around 9:15 we checked in for our 9:45 reservation and were able to go upstairs right away. We were seated a few minutes after getting upstairs, which was great cause the lounge area was very crowded. They explained to us where we would best be able to see Wishes at 10:00.

Our waiter came (Walter) and we all really, really liked him! I wish we would have take a picture. He was so friendly and professional. Talked sushi with Mike and Tom and was really good about making sure I got a great meal! I love eating at California Grill because the servers are very knowledgeable about food allergies, and they don't make a big deal about bringing out the chef. Makes things much more low key, but at the same time, I feel very comfortable that they know what they are talking about. We figured out what we were going to have for dinner, but since it was 9:45, Walter waited to put in our order until after Wishes. We relaxed for a bit and I had a glass of sparkling wine and I think Mike had a bourbon.

At 9:55 we headed outside to see the fireworks. I love regular Wishes, and I will confess, would rather have just seen that, but Holiday Wishes was very nice also. We took some pics, which didn't turn out great, but you get an idea of the view we had. There was this old guy out there who sounded like he was having a good time at dinner cause he kept saying--how the h... do they do that.

When we got back to the table, Mike and Tom's sushi had arrived. I don't eat sushi--that whole meat free thing, but they really enjoyed it. We didn't remember to take a picture when it first came out, so here is half of it. Personally I think it looks a little gross. I think that's a hunk of ginger on the side and fried jalapenos.

Here is my dinner. It was fabulous. There were three pieces of veggie sushi, some polenta and two salads.

After a conversation with Walter, he brought me some sauce for the polenta. It's a mushroom reduction sauce. I don't eat mushrooms, but I love the flavor. The sauce was amazing! So delicious!

Mike had a shrimp salad and Tom had a fish dish.

The food was so good, the service amazing, the view spectacular. Just a perfect, perfect night!

For dessert Mike had chocolate cake with peppermint ice cream (I was really wanting that) and Tom had chocolate mousse.

I had pumpkin rice pudding. It was really good, but I wish I would have gone ahead and got the bananas foster that we had last time. There were three of these little dishes. I enjoyed it with another glass of sparkling wine.

After dinner we walked back to MK and caught the bus back to BCV. We took some more pictures in the lobby of BC. We loved the Ariel Horse.

This sign talked about what the carousel was made of:

We really had a wonderful day! We all agreed that those late night ressies at California Grill are perfect. By the end, the restaurant was emptying out and it was so relaxing and wonderful!

Coming up: A character breakfast and tour of holiday resort decorations around the BoardWalk.

 

[Rose&Mike]

loved the pics Rose and thanks for thinking of me. It sounds like you had a really nice laid back kind of day. I would feel bad for herbie too. I liked herbie...although my kids would go bonkers now to see lightning mcqueen. Cant wait to hear more.

Thanks Lindsay.

i think the osborne lights pictures came out nice! night shots are so hard to take!

i always love your trip reports - you guys always dress so nicely and look so put together! i think you're the nicest dressed family ever at disney! we dress like slobs! (ok, i dress like a slob on a regular basis so it's no different)

i like the ToT pic. that lobby is so great!

Thanks Nancy! It's funny, cause sometimes we all feel under dressed. We talked a lot on this trip about how if we were going to spend that much for a dinner, then we were at least going to dress up and enjoy it! We like dressing up. Mike was going to wear a green sweater the night we went to Cali Grill and Tom had green on so he wouldn't let Mike wear green, too.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Day 3--December 23rd

We didn't have big plans for today. One of the things I miss since becoming gf is eating breakfast out. So we planned two breakfasts for this trip.

Today on the schedule was Cape May character breakfast. I made the reservation for late (10:45) so that we could go to MK first. Well, after such a fun time the night before we were all slow to get up, so we went to Epcot instead. We got a couple of fast passes and looked at the holiday decorations.

Here are some pics:

Flowers at Epcot

I think we had too much fun the night before! We are looking pretty tired.

I loved these things! I'm not even sure what you would call them.

Minnie at breakfast.

Donald

So the chef came out and told me what I could have on the buffet and I asked for some waffles. I had two servings!

This was Tom's first plate. I can't remember if he ate all that butter or not!

Mike being "Goofy"

more Goofy

I think this is a nice picture.

After breakfast we walked around for a bit and eventually decided to go back to epcot.

This was the QR code on the gingerbread house at bc.

I tried to get everyone excited about chillin and taking some pics, but they weren't feeling it.

We went back to Epcot and rode Test Track and Soarin. We got a new car for TT, which Mike thought was pretty cool.

Coming up:
An afternoon with the pirate slide and a walk around the boardwalk!

 

[Rose&Mike]

December 23nd (day 3), continued….

After Epcot we came back to the room for a little lunch and a little Sports Center. One of the things that Mike really wanted to do was the Pirate Slide. Tom on the other hand is not a big pool person. But everyone decided it was such a gorgeous day that we would all go to the pool and we would all go down the Pirate Slide. Have I mentioned I don’t like waterslides and I don’t like enclosed spaces….

Everybody got ready and we headed down to the pool. I decided to wear a one piece--if I would have been thinking I would have left it at home so I could skip the Pirate Slide!

We all got our bracelets that let us into Storm Along Bay. We found some chairs and got rid of our stuff and headed straight to the Pirate Slide. I tried to get out of it, but words like chicken and quit being a baby were thrown around.

Mike went first. Then I was supposed to go. The life guard at the top was asking me about the kt tape on my ankle, so I talked to him for a sec and then it was finally time to go. The slide wasn’t really scary, but it hurt!!! All the places where it is seamed together felt rough when you are sliding down it at a bazillion miles an hour. I’m sure I landed very gracefully in the pool (not) but I did manage to get a ton of water up my nose.


I thought after that Tom would be done, but we all ended up hanging out in the lazy river for quite a while. Eventually I had Mike get me a noodle so I could float around. It was only $5 I think, so cheap by Disney standards. For some bizarre reason I had to get out and potty way too many times. Maybe I swallowed too much water going down the slide!

After some time in the river we ended up doing the slide again and I didn’t get water up my nose, but it still hurt! We hung out in the pool a bit more, but once the sun started going down it got cool, so we headed up to our room to get ready for dinner! It was a perfect afternoon!

We had decided to be casual for dinner—maybe go back to Epcot (I think we had a fastpass). To start off though we planned to walk around the resorts and look at holiday decorations.

First stop, BoardWalk. My family loves BoardWalk. It’s one of our home resorts and we always really enjoy ourselves when we are there. We were anxious to see what the decorations looked like this year.

Outside on the lawn there was the usual tree and tons of potted plants.

Inside, it was just gorgeous. Probably the best I have seen it.

Boardwalk gingerbread display.

The trees were just lovely!

On the side of the gingerbread store.

Can you tell my hair is still growing back in in this picture? I can see all the little frizzy hairs! But I still like the picture.

I loved these poinsettia trees!

Next we headed to Swan/Dolphin. Did you know it’s called the Dolphin because of the Dolphin Fish? I always thought somebody just messed up when they designed the statuary. LOL.

The Swan had an amazing gingerbread (actually chocolate) holiday display and the Dolphin has this incredible tree. They were both gorgeous!
Here’s the chocolate train.

And Santa in the same display.

The trees at the Swan were not very exciting, but they were pretty.

And the swan fountain and wreathes looked lovely.

This is what the walkway from Swan to Dolphin was like. It was gorgeous! They had these huge leds that changed colors. We all loved it!

This is the tree in the Dolphin. It is just huge!!!! They had a fact sheet on it and it was crazy how big it was.

I think this picture kind of puts the size in perspective.

By now we were all kind of tired and decided to try getting pizza at the BW a shot. Before going g-f I loved getting pizza at the pizza window. They said they would make a g-f pizza but it would take a minute. Actually 20 minutes…..

Mike also got a slice, but Tom didn’t want one. I got a drink from the BW lounge that was yummy (Bailey’s and Chambord) and we sat on the BW, enjoyed the people watching and waited for the pizza.

It finally was ready. It actually looked ok, but it was cold…and the cheese wasn’t melted….and the veggies were cold. I felt so bad cause I made everyone sit around and wait. I wanted to pitch it, but I took it back and had them recook it, which was a big hooha event….and honestly it still wasn’t very good. Burnt on the bottom and not very warm on top. We should have just waked to Epcot and I could have fries and everyone else could have had whatever they wanted. Oh well, it was worth a try.

After “dinner” we headed up to the room and Tom made a pb&j and they watched football for a while.

It was a really fun day, but we were all kind of tired. Plus we had our Safari coming up in the morning, so we knew we had to get up early.

Coming up: A Safari, some crocodiles and some stepsisters!

 

[lisah0711]

Ooo, I'm looking forward to hearing about the safari!

 

[Rose&Mike]

Finally got a meal plan together. I keep my meal plans on an excel spread sheet and the last time I did this was the end of October. I was in a serious funk this fall! I still feel sometimes like I have huge amounts of brain fog which just kind of distort time, but maybe it's more that life just gets away from you sometimes.

So here's my meal/exercise plan for the week. I committed to 100 days of 30 minutes a day of purposeful movement, so it might look like a lot of exercise, but some of the walks will be very casual and slow, just purposeful.

I cooked some cranberry beans in the slow cooker today and maybe Monday or Tuesday I will cook a pot of black beans in the slow cooker. I love cooking beans in the slow cooker. The whole house smells warm and cozy--that might sound weird, but that's what it makes me think of.


Date/ Day/ Exercise/ Menu
1/8/2012 Sunday walk 30 min/ bean and spaghetti bake
1/9/2012 Monday elliptical or strength/ quinoa burgers
1/10/2012 Tuesday pool run/ grilled cheese and soup
1/11/2012 Wednesday walk 30 min/ quesadillas with homemade tortillas
1/12/2012 Thursday elliptical or pool run/ cheesy baked cauliflower and beans
1/13/2012 Friday pool run/ leftovers or pizza or snacks
1/14/2012 Saturday walk 30 min / sweet and sour kidney beans
1/15/2012 Sunday long run (8 miles)/ German cabbage and potato casserole (veg times Feb 12; pg 46)

 

[dumbo_buddy]

rose, i bought a box of quinoa MONTHS ago and it's sitting in my cabinet because i have no idea how to make it or how to serve it. do you have any quick and easy recipes?

oh and i cant wait to hear about the safari too!

 

[dvccruiser76]

Hi Rose,
I'm loving your report. Sorry, I'm so late, I finally cleared out all my weigh-ins, and had a minute to catch up.

I loved your pics from Cape May I have that breakfast on my list for next December. DS loves watching the Goofy Movie and an Extrememly Goofy
Movie lately, so I'm trying to plan a couple of meals where he's be excited to see characters. Right now I've planned Cape May and the one at O'Hana with Lilo & Stitch.

The hotel decorations were gorgeous to see. We're going to kind of keep things low key with the little guy, but may hotel hop to check out the varous decorations at night and tire him out before bed (if he isn't tired from the parks during the day already ).

 

[Rose&Mike]

Hi Rose,
I'm loving your report. Sorry, I'm so late, I finally cleared out all my weigh-ins, and had a minute to catch up.

I loved your pics from Cape May I have that breakfast on my list for next December. DS loves watching the Goofy Movie and an Extrememly Goofy
Movie lately, so I'm trying to plan a couple of meals where he's be excited to see characters. Right now I've planned Cape May and the one at O'Hana with Lilo & Stitch.

The hotel decorations were gorgeous to see. We're going to kind of keep things low key with the little guy, but may hotel hop to check out the varous decorations at night and tire him out before bed (if he isn't tired from the parks during the day already ).

Hi Sue! The decorations were just amazing this year. Maybe cause it was so warm, but I feel like they are getting back to the levels before the recession. There were poinsettias everywhere! We haven't done it in a few years, but we loved the Stitch breakfast at O'Hana! Too fun! Crystal Palace with the Pooh characters is nice too, but a little crowded and chaotic I think. There is so much to see walking around the BW, I bet your DS will love it! Fresh Market (can't remember if it is at Swan or Dolphin) does a really nice breakfast--no characters, but very relaxed and very yummy! They give a DVC discount I think.

rose, i bought a box of quinoa MONTHS ago and it's sitting in my cabinet because i have no idea how to make it or how to serve it. do you have any quick and easy recipes?

oh and i cant wait to hear about the safari too!

I am still getting the hang of cooking with quinoa.

I have made this recipe. It's Corinna's. I am pretty sure I put it in the crock pot. I put everything in the crock pot.
http://community.weightwatchers.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?threadID=1340426

Vegetarian Times has like 16 pages of quinoa recipes. I found this one and it looks very simple. I think I am going to try it next week!
Black-Quinoa Burgers
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/11676?section=

I am making a Martha Stewart Quinoa Burger tomorrow, but it has a few more ingredients than the Veg Times one.

****Make sure the quinoa you bought is pre-rinsed. If not, you will need to do that--it might involve soaking a little, I'm not sure. I always buy the pre-rinsed. It is supposed to be bitter if it isn't rinsed right.

Here's a WholeFoods Blog on cooking quinoa. One thing they suggested is just substituting it for rice....
http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2009/06/be-keen-on-quinoa/

Let me know what you do with it!

ETA...I thought this looked good and pretty easy. I might try this one too!
Baked quinoa and cheese
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10554?section=

 

[mikamah]

Love the updates, Rose, and you all look so happy in the photos. The decorations are just gorgeous. Love seeing all the chocolate and gingerbread decorations.

But I am with you on the water slide. When we went to blizzard beach, after a couple slides like that, I told michael I was only going down in a tube. They do hurt.

 

[dumbo_buddy]

thanks for the links. i liked the whole foods one. didn't make quinoa seem so scary

i liked the idea of having it as a breakfast. i've been having oatmeal everyday and it's getting a little old!

 

[digiMom]

Rose, hope your weekend went well. Thanks for your earlier comment on my journal. I bought some quinoa myself yesterday. I wonder if you can make it in a rice steamer?

~Kathy

 

[Rose&Mike]

Rose, hope your weekend went well. Thanks for your earlier comment on my journal. I bought some quinoa myself yesterday. I wonder if you can make it in a rice steamer?

~Kathy

Kathy--From gluten-free goddess. I don't have a rice cooker. Is it really easier than just cooking it on the stove?
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-cook-quinoa-super-easy-way.html

 

[Rose&Mike]

For dinner tonight I made Greek Style Quinoa Burgers from Martha Stewart.
The burgers were great. I cooked them in the over rather than in a skillet. The yogurt sauce needed something--maybe dill???

 

[digiMom]

Kathy--From gluten-free goddess. I don't have a rice cooker. Is it really easier than just cooking it on the stove?
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-cook-quinoa-super-easy-way.html

I haven't had I chance to try the quinoa yet, but I've made brown rice in it and it turned out really good. Kind of nutty but sticky. White rice turns out really good in it, too, but it's obviously not as good for you.

I'm thinking I'll try to cook the quinoa on the stovetop first just to see what it comes out like when I follow the directions on the bag. (Since I've never had it before.) Then try the steamer later and compare the two.

 

[Rose&Mike]

December 24, Day 4

We were all pretty excited about today. (Ok, I was a little nervous, but I always get nervous about new things.) Today we had planned the Animal Kingdom Wild Africa Trek. We all love tours and Disney does a great job so we knew we were in for some fun. Add to that, we had a character dinner scheduled for 1900 Park Fare that night!

The plan was to leave for Animal Kingdom no later than 8:00. We needed to check in near the safari ride at 8:45. So everyone got up and got ready. We knew they were going to take a lot of pictures so we all wanted to look spiffy. I decided to leave my wallet/purse at home because you can’t take much on the tour. More on that later. In the past we have carried our park tickets in a holder attached to my pin lanyard. But it had been bothering my back, so Mike had been carrying the park tickets in their holder in his wallet. Can you see where this is going?

We go to the bus stop at BC and waited and waited and waited. The buses are just slow at the BW resorts!

The bus finally came and we were on our way. We were almost to AK when I thought to ask Mike if he had the park tickets. And he didn’t. And I didn’t have my i.d. with me. Uggh. We all have annual passes so we knew they could look it up, but weren’t sure how excited they would be about the no i.d. thing. Luckily we got a very nice cast member who eventually got us new annual passes—and for some reason a new Tables In Wonderland card—which for some reason expired that day even though ours didn’t expire until May. But that was ok, we figured we would deal with that later.

By now I was a little anxious. What if they didn’t have g-f food for me? (We ate breakfast in the room, but I knew I would be starving later cause it was a 3 hour tour.) What if they were snarky about the special diet thing? What if I couldn’t do the trek and had problems with my foot? What if we were on the tour with a bunch of “beautiful people”? (You know what I’m talking about.) I tend to dramatize things a little too much in my head when I am nervous!

So we checked in and they verified everything and we had to sign releases. They knew about the g-f thing and were very nice. We walked to a slightly backstage area to get ready for the tour. This is what we walked past. I think in the past it was the smoking area cause they had to tell a couple people to leave.

We ended up at this hut area where we got suited up and had our tour orientation. (We don’t have any pics of this, but there are some on the disc I got in the mail this week from Disney, so I once I upload them I will post them.) They weighed you to make sure you got the right vest/harness. The other ladies/girls on the tour were freaking out a little about being weighed, but I can honestly say it didn’t bother me one bit! The special harness you wear goes through your legs. It’s attached to the vest. You can’t have anything in your pockets. Nothing. I actually had to take my pedometer out. No wallets, no phones. You can take your sunglasses and a camera if it has a strap to tether it to you. There is a locker to put your stuff in.

Next you go over to this miniature bridge which is similar to the one you go over later. This is to check to make sure your harness is on right. Here’s the miniature bridge. It has a suspension area to the right.

Once everyone was ready we headed out into the African Village. In true Disney style they acted like you were really in Africa. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this, but Mike and Tom liked it. Tom said that was the point of a Disney tour to act like you were somewhere else.

We started off by going through the walking section near the safari in Africa. I can’t remember what that area is called. They pointed out some stuff about some of the animals in there. It was pretty interesting. There are some great pictures on the cd that I will upload later.

Next we headed through a secret locked gate. I forgot to say earlier, there were 12 people people on our tour and 2 guides. And you wore a headset so that you could hear the guides. One of the guides took pictures. They switched about halfway through. So there was always a guide in the front and one in the back. We were in the back a lot at first, which worked for me, cause I was kind of slow and babying my foot a little. So the guide continued on with talking about what part of Africa we were in and that we were headed towards a river bed. Where we saw these guys:

A keeper was there to greet us and they hooked us in so we could get up to the edge without falling in. Which would have been bad! The hippos liked to be fed, so when the keeper banged the food bucket they came right up. He fed them heads of lettuce. It was dad and a son hippo. Normally male hippos don’t hang out together but since they were related, the dad tolerated the son. It was amazing to see how huge their mouths were. And it was really fun to be so close!

The hippos were very very cool. And probably my second favorite part of the tour. We spent a lot of time just watching them. The dad would only eat if the lettuce landed right in front of him. The son would actually move for the food.

Coming up: two bridges, a bunch of crocs and two babies.

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Hi Rose,

I am finally caught up on your report. I loved seeing all the decorations. How amazing some of the detail is. The safari trek looks like the coolest thing ever. I cant wait to hear more about it.