Welcome to Fall! Although, in Florida, that doesn't mean much. Every September everyone talks about the big fall cool down, which doesn't really seem to happen until late October, and then seems to complain that it hasn't cooled down yet. You take the good with the bad. I tried to make a point not to complain about the heat this year, and I think I've done a decent job. But, I for one, can't wait for the actual cool down. I'm just realistic, I know we've got at least a month left.
In the meantime, I'm here to catch you up on the Waterstraut happenings of the last two weeks. First thing first, there still isn't news on a closing date. However, the house was officially appraised at a much higher price than we'll end up paying for it, so it's kind of worth the wait in that sense. Porkchop has been having stomach issues, but got a clean bill of health at the vet (apparently it is anxiety induced). We booked our trip to Cedar Point, which the boys are super excited about. And, we finally got our two candydates in the Candy Bar Election.
Other than that, Asa and I had two date days. We seem to be getting them once a week or so, since the boys are big whiners about the weather and just aren't on board going out of the house and into the heat for anything non-water related. Our first date day we went over to John's Pass and collected my free birthday $25 at Bubba Gumps, just before it expired. It made for a yummy, cheap lunch. Then we wandered John's Pass for awhile, and drove up along the coast to Clearwater Beach, where we used our Target summer clearance beach chairs (they were $5!) for the first time. Eventually a storm blew in, so we decided to head out. On the way home, we stopped by Costco (because half our date days seems to start/end there these days!) I can't wait until the new one is open- it's just down the road, and they FINALLY started building it, so hopefully it's sooner rather than later.
Then on Wednesday, we went out for a Trader Joe's trip (I NEEDED some dried mango!), and decided we would make a little afternoon out of it with lunch, and a trip to Ballast Point. We tried Goody Goody Burger first, but it was PACKED! So, we decided to try out Taste of Boston AT Ballast Point. It was pretty good, sans crazy squirrels who were begging for our food. You guys, don't feed the wildlife! We walked the pier, did some Pokemon hunting, and enjoyed the view. It's very pretty down there afterall.
We did go out and about the five of us as well. We still have a few free games of bowling left on our cards, and the boys are always excited to go bowling. Usually, we have to pay for Asa and I, because the boy's cards are the ones with the free game, but there was a new lady at the counter and she took the free games off for us too. So, that was awesome. Asa ended up winning, but I wasn't far behind.
We also had a fun family Disney trip. Crowd levels were a predicted 2 on the crowd calendar, a rarity these days, so we had to go. Our plan was to go to Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival, but when we were about half an hour away, we checked wait times, and the big rides were over a 100 minute wait! We didn't even have Fastpasses (I should have been tipped off to the fact there was none available). The other parks were relatively low crowds, but when we decided we weren't going to EPCOT, we would need a new plan for lunch. A couple of weeks ago, Asa and I went on a date day and split a Pizza at Blaze. We told the boys about it, so Calib suggested we go there to try it out. It then evolved into a whole Disney Springs lunch crawl. We ordered two pizza's at Blaze: The Green Stripe (a chicken pesto pizza), and a Meat Eater (classic sauce, cheese and meat toppings). It was a perfect combo. Peyton is my pesto lover, so we split that one, leaving a slice for Asa, and everyone else enjoyed the Meat Eater. This is a perfect lunch spot for all of us, and totally affordable. My teenagers eat a whole lot less for lunch, so I think if we were JUST going to Blaze, we could get three pizzas for the five of us and call it a day. And $30 for lunch at Disney for the 5 of us, is a pretty good deal.
But we weren't just going to Blaze, we also decided it was time to check out the new Coke Store. It opened a few months back, but we hadn't been there yet. (My mom is going to LOVE this place, by the way! We'll have to go when you're here in December, mom!)
We headed up to the rooftop bar. There are excellent views from up there!
The bar has Coke Freestyle, but they also have floats and different Coke products from around the World. It's like Epcot's Club Cool. And while it isn't free like it is at Club Cool, there are quite a few new flavors (there are a couple repeats). You can get the Around the World Flight- and that comes with 16 different flavors. It's a decent sized portion too. But, they also have a float flight. Or, if you want, you can get them BOTH.
They do label each one, so you know what you're getting. The tray is marked with numbers, and they give you a little list to keep track of which one is which. Everyone liked the one from Costa Rica, but I really liked the tea from Georgia. Korea and China were also very good. Italy is gross, but we already knew that (it's at Club Cool).
However, we all took a sip of each one. Asa announced where it was from, we passed it around, and talked about what we thought. It was like the cheese during the Olympics.
The floats are more obvious. It's just a bunch of typical Coke flavors with a scoop of ice cream. The Grape Fanta one was pretty weird, but the Sprite was the surprising stand out.
And then Asa decided we should pour a little of each one into a cup. It actually wasn't too bad.
It's $10 for the float flight. But, if you want the Cokes too, it's only $5 more. Really, it's a ridiculous amount of beverages for $15. We didn't even finish it all. And, we had discussed maybe getting drinks at the Hangar Bar. All in all, this was way cheaper for drinks at the Coke Bar than the Hangar Bar would have been.
We took the long way back around the building (instead of taking the elevator down, you can walk down the ramp that runs around the building. It's enclosed by glass, so you get a lovely view, and air conditioning!
Plus it's easy to stop by the store on the second floor. (The elevator is particularly slow, we learned that on the way up, before we knew about the ramp). The store extends down to the first floor, so we wandered through and tried on some of the hats.
After our drinks, we continued on to the House of Blue's take out window, where they have the best nachos on Disney property. Seriously, this one is a family favorite!
Our plans after lunch were to hit the water park, but we can't use our passes there until after 2 pm, so we wandered through some stores, and hunted some Pokemon while we killed some time.
We also still needed dessert, so we stopped by the Ganachery. There you can spy on the kitchen and have a little sample. We ended up buying three different ganaches, and they were all delicious. Calib wasn't really a fan, but the rest of us enjoyed them. They were creamy, and flavorful and melted in your mouth. I highly recommend the seasonal caramel apple flavor.
After a short rain/thunder delay, we spent the rest of our afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon. Thanks to the temporary closure of the park just before we arrived, it was pretty empty. We didn't have to wait for anything, and the lazy river was a ghost town (which is always my fave!)
The reason we were there, though, was to visit the Shark Reef one more time. I had read they are closing this attraction, for good, on October 2. It was one of those things I really wanted to do one more time. The Shark Reef is just like it sounds, you get to swim with the sharks! (And fish and sting rays too). The water is very cold, for the comfort of the marine life, but it wasn't as bad as I remembered. Hayden and Calib were not interested, so Asa, Peyton and I went one last time.
There's no word on what will be replacing the Shark Reef, so we'll have to keep our eyes on that area of the park. Next time we hit a water park, we'll have to check out Blizzard Beach. But, Typhoon Lagoon is the boy's favorite, and they hadn't been there in years, so they were pretty happy with their trip.
We stayed until closing time, and decided that it was too late to go over to Universal at that point. The downside of low crowds, is that most parks have some seriously early closing times. Magic Kingdom was out, since they closed at 7 for the Not So Scary Halloween Party, and Epcot had only gotten busier. We decided on the Animal Kingdom. Fastpasses were readily available (though wait times were non-existent), and dining reservations were easily attainable. So off we went.
Shockingly enough, Yak and Yeti's had a dinner reservation. We've never been, and it's on our Disney food bucket list, and Calib has really wanted to go there, so it was an easy choice.
Yak and Yeti's has Asian food. Peyton got the Dragon Roll, which was supposed to be an appetizer, but he wanted it for his meal. He loved it, and inhaled it faster than I've ever seen him eat anything. Calib, meanwhile got the Honey Chicken. The sauce must have been good, because he even ate the vegetables smothered in it.
Asa got the roasted duckling, because he loves duck, and it's one of the dishes Yak and Yeti are known for. It did not disappoint. (That's Hayden back there with his kids meal, he's not an Asian food eater in general, so he stuck with Mac and Cheese). Meanwhile, I got the steak with mango salsa, coconut shrimp, and wasabi mashed potatoes. The meal might be my favorite dinner I've ever had at Disney.
While it might be one of my favorite dinners, the pineapple wonton skewers for dessert IS my new favorite Disney dessert. If you go here for nothing else, go here for this. It comes with ice cream, but the real star of the dish is that vanilla sauce on top. It's this perfect sweet and sour mix of creamy yummyness. The food was some of the best Disney has to offer, and our waiter was on point. He was awesome. Yak and Yeti: Recommended by all the Waterstrauts!
We had Fastpasses for a couple of rides, but it didn't matter. There wasn't a wait for anything. Even Everest, and Kilimanjaro Safaris was walk on. You guys, that Safari at night is so much better than mid-day. We've been at the Animal Kingdom twice at night/sunset, and both times our Safari has been super cool. The heat of the day keeps the animals hidden, but they are all out in the evening.
Even the hippos were out of the water chowing down, and we had to stop several times for some animals on the roadways. Plus you get to see the Lions and the Cheetahs, who are almost always hiding during the day.
The Animal Kingdom at night is becoming one of my favorites. I'm hoping that new night time show gets to opening soon, it'll just be the icing on the cake.
In other news, like I said, we have our Candy Bar Election all up to date, we have our two candydates in Reese's and Sour Patch Kids. We're working on the Convention videos, so stay turned for that. It's really our only ongoing project right now, because I'm trying not to start anything too in depth, since we'll be gone next school week, and we don't know what's up with the house. Hopefully by election time, we'll be moved and can start on our World Religions unit.
Besides that we've been enjoying football being back. Even if last weeks Bucs showing required some drinks. We do find it much easier to shake off a loss, when we didn't pay so much money to see them lose in person, though.
With school, Asa working, and Football, we've been putting out food on Saturdays and Sundays. We did a taco bar, as usual. But, if we're going to be home every Sunday instead of at the stadium, I can't do tacos every Sunday. So we're working on mixing it up. We've also done a hot dog bar, and a baked potato and chili bar. (I highly recommend the potato bar!)
Oh, and Survivor came back, so we had Sur-FRY-vor night!
I know a lot of people have given up on the Pokemon Go craze, but none of those people live in this house. Asa and Peyton take their night-time Pokemon hunting bike rides very seriously. They've gotten phone mounts and headlamps, and then I bought them matching shirts to complete the look.
Sometimes, if they're going out during the day, they have some of us join them. Especially now that the sun isn't quite so hot. (It's still hot, but the intensity isn't there anymore, so that's nice.)
And before it cools down, we've also taken advantage of the empty pool we can have all to ourselves during the day.
Fun fact: I am just not good with pictures on my phone. I think I'll stick with my actual camera.
I leave you with some funny/cute kid and dog pictures.
That's it from here.
Next Up: We're heading north for the quickest trip in history!
