The Bay Area Renaissance Festival 3/28/08

Kevin has wanted to go to the Bay Area Renaissance Festival since we moved here. He talks about it every year and every year we haven't gone. So since this will hopefully be our last year here we decided we better do it before the year passes again and we never get the chance again. So yesterday we took Tye and "joined the hardy lads and fair maidens and took a stroll back in time!" It wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be but it was nice anyway. The two main things that occurred there was shows and shops. We saw the gypsies dance. A dragon being born. Some real jousting! In which the people next to us even took verbal jabs at the riders, something that I am sure was going on in that era. We watched a live chess match, much like the Harry Potter one in which the "pieces" (people) ended up fighting. Our side won, but Kevin said they played poor chess!! lol Tye played on the "bouncy castle" and made a "magic wand". We all strolled the shops, but this time Kevin was the big buyer. He really wanted a dragon statue, he loves that kind of stuff, so we looked in just about every shop. Oh he also wants a sword, but I told him no way right now and IF we did get one then it would have to be in a LOCKED glass display case. But I would prefer not to get one personally! He found one shop that he did purchase his dragon statue from and it actually had a dragon and wizard chess set. It was REALLY cool, but too much for our budget this time. We had a gyro for lunch (they didn't have much medieval food except a turkey leg and since we already had one at Disney we decided to get the gyro instead). It sounded good to us and it was! YUMMY! I might have to try to make them at home in a low fat/calorie/sodium version! lol Later in the day we did splurge and get a brownie with chocolate frosting and M&M's on top (Tye and I shared that) and Kevin had a cremehorn. They were very good. Now back on the healthy eating plan! lol We had a great time and were all very tired. Tye slept on the way home and Kevin went to bed as soon as we got home. I would have liked to nap because I had a bad headache but wasn't able to get more than a 5 minute catnap on the couch because Tye was watching a movie and kept laughing or making comments about it! Oh well it all worked out in the end.

Disney Days 03/16-3/19

After the car race we figured we were already going to be half way so we had decided to go to Disney too. We had bought the play 4 days passes. We stayed at Howard Johnson and it was nice, we had wanted to stay on Disney property, but for the All-Star Resorts (the cheapest place for those who don't know) it was going to be $147/night because the next weekend was Easter so they said it was going to be busy. We decided we would rather spend the extra $100 a night on something else! lol We got there late Saturday night around 11pm. Luckily Tye had fallen asleep in the car so we took him in and put him straight to bed. We had prepared several things to eat and snack on while we were there so we wouldn't ruin our weight loss thus far. So I got the snacks ready and clothes out for the next day and then we hit the sack. Before we went to bed we called the front desk and they had told us that all the parks opened at 9am--which was a lie!! I was so mad, Magic Kingdom, which we went to on Sunday, had opened at 8:00!

Thank heavens we weren't exactly sure how long it would take us to drive there, get a parking spot and get over to the front gate, get our tickets redeemed, etc, so we left at 8am and were in the park at 8:30am. As we were getting out of the car and riding the tram to the monorail, Tye was so excited, I joked with Kevin, "boy, we're not going to have any fun with him at all!" It was soooo much fun! We did it all, okay well all that we could with a young child that couldn't go on the bigger rides. Tye's favorites were the cars, of course, the tea cups and anything Mickey Mouse! We rode the cars twice and he was actually a really good driver, much better than Kevin or I! lol He was a blast in the teacups. We were spinning so fast he couldn't even sit back in the cup, he was trying to help turn and we were laughing so hard. We watched the parades and Tye had to wave to basically everyone in the parades! He wanted to go see "the mermaid" (Ariel). I tried to talk him out of it because every time we have tried to see a character (Santa, Sir Toppumhat, etc) he has always hid his face and tried to run away. But he was determined to do it. So we waited in the line and he went right up and sat next to her, but the second she tried to talk to him his little arm went in front of his face, never to be put down again until we left the room! Silly boy! Tye was thrilled to see Mickey in the show and parades. It was a great day to go because it wasn't overly crowded. We didn't wait more than 15 minutes for any ride except for Pirates of the Carribean. Jungle Cruise was a 40 minute wait, but we just got a fast pass and later walked right to the front and got in. We went through the Swiss Family Treehouse and I was so proud of myself. My knees weren't hurting and I wasn't huffing and puffing the whole walk up. AND even part of it I was carrying Tye so he could see in the "windows" of the rooms! Wow this weight loss thing is really making a difference in my life! Tye also loved the Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride, we went on it twice! We bought him some COOL Mickey Sunglasses, they even open up! He looks so cute in them! We rode the paddleboat and Tye was sooo funny, he had his baseball hat on and couldn't see out the side of the boat so he turned his had sideways so the brim was no longer in his way and he could push his face right against the sides of the boat! While on there he saw the Big Thunder mountain train. He wanted to ride it but we told him he was too small to ride that one, but we could ride another one. And he didn't let us forget it! After a few more things in Frontierland we went on the train to toontown. We thought we were going to be able to see Mickey and the gang, but then I read the program and found out no such luck--they were only there in the morning. We will have to make sure to do it first thing tomorrow! After a long day and the spectromagic parade we went back to the hotel. I prepped everything for the next day and crashed!

Monday the 17th--St. Patricks Day--we went to Animal Kingdom. Our first order of business after seeing the Bug's Life show, was to see Mickey and the gang. So we trotted on down there and luckily not many other people were there yet and he went to Goofy first. But started to do the same hiding behind the arm thing. So Goofy played peekaboo right back at him. He ended up finally giving Goofy "five" and then took off. Kevin got a great picture with Goofy though! lol Next was "MICKEY!!!" Tye wasn't one bit scared or did the arm hold up with him. Went right up gave him a hug and five and then turned right back around and walked away! lol He did the same thing with both Minnie and Donald. You could tell by their body action they thought he was just adorable! Tye thought the animals there were so cool. Once again he loved the train ride to and from Rafiki's island, I think they call it. He had a great time at the petting zoo and even brushed all the goats. The donkey's gave us a great show, hee-hawing! We ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe--YUMMY!!! Tye freaked out a little bit the first time the ape and elephants started making sounds, but then after that he was okay with it, just interested in it. The parade that day was really cute, a jungle safari theme. We left there around 6pm, I believe it was, since that park closes early anyway and we had seen all we wanted to.

When we got back to the hotel we decided to go swimming. We thought it was indoors, but realized it was just covered and heated. Which was fine while you were in it, but the wind had started to blow pretty hard so when you got out you froze your hind end! Tye did excellent swimming. He is becoming a real pro with his water wings on! After prepping everything for the next day, we went to bed early and got a good night's rest.

Disney Hollywood Studios was next. (They changed the name the beginning of the year because their contract with MGM expired and they didn't want to renew it.) It, of course, was a lot of shows this day. I wanted to ride the rockin' roller coaster, so I went by myself while Tye and Kevin waited outside. Kevin decided he didn't want to go, which was probably good since within a few minutes it went from 5 minute wait to 40 minutes! YIKES! We saw the High School Musical 2 show, then immediately hit the Beauty and the Beast show. Tye kept telling the beast he was "naughty!" We went on a few other rides and saw some other shows and such. Then it was time for the character greeting of "Cars". Tye was very excited to see them but then did the shy thing once it was his turn to go up there. It was so cool for him to see them in real life since that is his favorite show! The parade there was a "block party" and was pretty cute. All the Pixar characters were in it. Right in front of us was Mr. Potato Head doing a dance and also Woody and Jessie. They also had the Army Sargent guy. He was hilarious!! He grabbed some people out of the crowd and told them to do some dance moves. Then he told them they weren't good enough and had to "drop and give me 10!" And they did it!!! I would have told him he was crazy!! lol This day we had a turkey leg for dinner. Holy cow that thing was so big Tye couldn't even hold it up himself!! LOL He kept dropping it on the table when he tried, good thing I had wiped it off before! To end the night we watched Fantasmic. Which was not the best experience this time because the wind was blowing pretty hard again so we were getting sprinkled pretty heavily with the water! He was so funny during most of the show he kept saying, "Naught Queen (Snow White's queen) STOP, STOP, STOP!!" and put his little hand out like he was telling her to stop. It was so cute! Tye did get his "sword"--a lightsaver type thing with a Mickey face on it. He has wanted one each day since we got here, but the first time we didn't know what he was saying and the second time we didn't want to carry it around the whole day. He was pleased as punch to get it. We left around 9:30 that night after the show got over. What a great time we have had.

Wednesday we slept in, thankfully. We needed it, although I cannot say enough things about how we both feel. We have been able to keep on going without being overly tired or needing to sit down. We are not hurting really at all. Except in the morning when we wake up we are stiff for about 10 minutes until we get moving, but other than that we have been thrilled with it all. We got up and packed the car and checked out of the hotel and headed for Downtown Disney. Even though we have 1 day left on our pass it doesn't expire for 6 months and we didn't want to spend a whole day's pass on only a few hours because we had to get home for Kevin to work that night. We shopped and looked and enjoyed our morning there. We bought new hot cocoa mugs. Mine are soooo cute, they are Mickey and Minnie legs with the bottom of their shorts/skirt at the mug part. Very cute. Tye of course had to have a Mickey mug and Kevin had to have a Pirates of the Carribean skull mug. They are all cute. We had to check out the scrapbook store while there, but I am pleased to say I didn't buy anything because I know of another Disney scrapbook store in town (just don't know where right now) so wanted to check it out first before I paid extra for buying it AT Disney. (Found out later that they didn't even have what I was going to buy, so will have to buy it when we got back and use our 4th day). Before we left I had been dying to have a "churro" while we were there, so I spied one as we were leaving and we got one and it was HUGE too!! It was almost as big as Tye. I took a picture of him eating it and then we had a couple of bites and he wanted another bite, so when I gave it to him he told me, "take picture of me Mommy." So I took some more pictures of him. lol As we headed home Tye started to cry and said, "I miss Mickey." It was so cute, sad and pitiful all at the same time. We told him we would go back again soon and he seemed to be okay with it.

What a wonderful trip in every way. We are so glad we got to take him at this age when he is so excited for everything. He is such a joy and so much fun. Can't wait to go back with him again!

The Car Race

Tye LOVES cars!!! (Along with trains, trucks, balls, airplanes--he's a real boy's boy! lol) Anyway, I had wanted to go to Daytona and take him, but he HATES loud sounds so I was concerned that I would pay hundreds of dollars and he hate the noise so bad we would have to leave and lose all the money. So I found a local race track, they are pretty good sized, that was having a race March 15th. The tickets were $70 total for all three of us, so I figured I could deal with losing that if I HAD to just so he could see a few minutes. I also took ear plugs for him just in case (and for me too if I needed them). When we first got there he REALLY wanted to go down and check out all the cars and the drivers and see the race track. So we did. He was sooo cute, he got this one driver's autograph and he looked up at him so cute, I have included the picture below.

Once the race started Tye definitely wanted the ear plugs in, but once they were in, he was happy as a clam. He loved watching the cars go around and was most excited when there was a wreck, even though we didn't see any of them actually happen! lol We only saw one right in front of us, but not until after it happened. The cars went too fast and were too close to the wall to see from where we were sitting. You could see the other side of the track a ton better, so that is where I watched most of the time. I couldn't believe how fast they went in front of you, it was like a blur. I think I would much rather watch it on TV than in person! lol Unless I became a true "FAN" of the sport. I did not think that it was too loud at all, in fact, it was much quieter than I expected it to be.

I was a horrible curse on the poor drivers. I had picked a guy to win the race, he had been within the first couple of spots for the first part of the race and everytime there was a pitstop he would end up moving right back up to the front of the race. So I told Kevin I picked him to win (number 28 car). Well, a little while later I couldn't find him on the track. I asked Kevin where he was and he thought it was car number 29, but it wasn't, so I kept looking. Then I started looking in the pits and behind the wall of the pits and darn it if my car wasn't behind the wall with his hood up! ARGH!! So I picked the other guy that was usually right behind 28, which was the number 81 car. Well not long after that he ended up behind the wall with his hood up!! OH MAN!! I gave up! lol

We had a great time and may go back again sometime for Tye's sake. He is so much fun to take places, the awe in his eyes and how they light up like magic whenever he sees something for the first time. It is amazing doing things like this with him.

The Florida Strawberry Festival

March 5th--Today we went to the Strawberry Festival. It is like a county fair. We had sooo much fun!! Tye said his favorite thing was the HUGE slide! He went on it probably close to 10 times!! lol Thank heavens we bought the wristbands. Last time we went to a "fair/carnival" we only had $30 to spend. We didn't know what he would like to do and so we just bought some tickets, well we ran out of tickets and money before he was tired of riding the slide. I cried because he wanted to ride that and some of the others so badly and we had to tell him no. So I vowed if we decided to go again we would plan ahead and save money so we could buy the wristbands. So that is what we did today. We rode so many rides, the teacups, the ferris wheel. Tye rode the two trains several times. We also rode the carousel. We had tons of fun and the time went by so quickly. For dinner Tye had a hot dog and Kevin and I decided on a cheeseburger. Later in the evening we all split an elephant ear and a strawberry shortcake. Kevin and I were talking as we walked past all the food stands and he said to me, "it's a good thing you are here or I would go from booth to booth buying a little of everything!" I said, "I know, I kindof want to too, but we have come so far to mess it up now." So we just kept walking. We were tired puppies when we got home. We had gone there around 3pm and got home around 9pm. But we definitely had a great time and I did not feel bad because we were able to go on everything he wanted to!

New Healthy Lifestyle

Okay, so I am a little behind in posting on here, so I guess I better get caught up. In October, Kevin had a major scare. He was taking Tye to the babysitter's house and started getting a really bad stomach ache and then eventually chest pains. They ended up calling the ambulance and he went to the ER. They thought he was having a heartattack. After several tests, including stress test and cardio cath, and a two night stay they found out it was not a heartattack and really had no idea what it was. However, they did tell him he needed to lose weight.

So we started working on things a little bit. The middle of November I found a website called SparkPeople. It helps you track your food, water and exercise. It also gives you "team" or communities with people of similar interests to talk to and help each other. It was free so I joined right away! I began tracking things but with the holidays it was hard. So right after Christmas I told my aunt about it and we ended up joining a group that was trying to lose 10 pounds in the month of January. I figured what the heck, I need to lose way more than that and it would be a great jump start. So she joined with me and we have been doing it ever since. January 1st we got serious and have been doing great. Kevin also joined the site, but mostly so I could track his food for him and make sure he was getting the calories he needed each day.

Now I am on the site regularly checking things and tracking things and posting things. It is great! There is even a team for me for scrapbooking! We have weekly challenges and it helps me get more current things done and challenges me to get a certain number of pages done each month. You can see the challenge pages I have completed on my scrapbook blog http://thescrappinsunflower.blogspot.com/.

To date I have lost 22 pounds and Kevin has lost 28 pounds! I was out losing him for awhile, but then after the first of the year when he got serious too he eclipsed me by mid February! lol Oh well, I am glad we are doing it together so we can be healthy and around for Tye.