This past Saturday I very quietly turned 38 years old. I say that, because spoiler alert: if you take your birthday off Facebook hardly anyone remembers, which is fine. You see, then whoever does remember you know it's important to them! Instead of getting a bunch of 'HBD' on your Facebook wall, you get more meaningful interactions. I mean, if you can't even type out Happy Birthday, it's just an annoying notification, right? If you're into that, that's cool. It's just how I want to live in my life.
Now, I say I want to quietly have my birthday but that doesn't mean quietly for my family. They are the ones who have to put together a whole birthday weekend extravaganza for me. But, I also am acutely aware that my birthday falls in the worst month for living in Florida. Summer is hot here. I mean HOT, and getting worse by the year. I can live with that. But, something happens when the calendar hits August. It's more than hot, it's a greenhouse- it's a swamp. It's get out your cooling towels because the feels like is going to be in the triple digits EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. It's just wet and gross and unpleasant out. And everyone knows it. Nobody moves to Florida for the Augusts of the year. So, its always a little tough to decide what to do for my birthday. The beach sounds nice. Until you hear the water temp is over 90 now, and you know you'll be sweating buckets before you even get down to the 90 degree water that won't be even the slightest bit refreshing. The pool is a little better, but it's the last weekend before school starts, so it's always PACKED. And, even bike rides (which I usually love) are less enjoyable because of the dampness of the air. Basically anything outside is going to be hit or miss with the rain and even if it's a miss, it's going to be gross.
And I am fine with it. I will go do whatever and deal with the buckets of sweat mixed with damp air sitting on my skin. It's Florida, I moved here (and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!). But, I know the kids are not into any of it. So I try and not make them go outside for any activities. Asa has purposed changing my birthday to say, November 10th. And he might be on to something.
It's also a little tricky because we've spent the summer having birthdays and anniversaries and vacations and celebrations. By the time we get to mine, fun funds are running dangerously low. I know this, it happens every year. And, sometimes I complain about it more than others. But this year, the day before my birthday, Calib gave me a box and told me he had a present for me. He said I had to open it early, though. Turns out, Calib gave me a box of money for my birthday- mostly ones to be specific. It's all his tip money he's been bringing home. He told me then I could spend it to do whatever I wanted for my birthday. I know, super thoughtful, right? And Calib is SUPER stingy with his money, so it's quite the honor he'd give it to me.
Friday night, Asa and I kicked off birthday weekend with an evening trip to the Animal Kingdom. It was the very first day we were unblacked out and could actually go to the park since May! I was trying to change our Saturday fastpasses to see if I could get Flight of Passage. The fastpasses are notoriously hard to get. Meaning, you can mostly only get them if you are staying in hotel, and book them 60 days out at 7 am. But, I saw some come up while I was refreshing the app, and I grabbed them. But it turns out, I was on the wrong date and had gotten them for Friday instead. So, we went anyway!
First though, we stopped for some food. I've been wanting to try the Nomad Lounge since it opened a couple years ago.
This lounge is attached to Tiffins, with some indoor and some outdoor seating. It looks a bit like a treehouse, and sits right on the opposite end of the bridge you take to Pandora. We had to wait a little, but were able to get a seat outside after not too long.
I've been steering clear of carbs as much as possible- but it was my birthday weekend, so I got double carbs- both the poutine and the bread service.
I love the bread service at Sanna, and this is like a baby version of that. You get three different kinds of bread, and three dipping sauces. The fig was my favorite, but they were all delicious. I would totally get this again. And the poutine is TRUFFLE POUTINE. So, obviously that was delicious.
Besides getting Avatar Fastpasses, I was also able to get Fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safari so we made our way over to the Africa section of the park.
Getting evening or morning Fastpasses to this is the best, because otherwise the animals are sleeping or hiding mid-day (presumably to avoid the heat and swamp we talked about.) In the evening though, you usually get to see quite a few of the animals up and around.
We do Kilimanjaro practically every time we go to the animal kingdom, and while I prefer the back seat, in a first, this time we got the front. It wasn't too bad either.
I mean, check out the view from the front. (The left is Asa's picture of the savannah, the right is mine).
Now, we've checked this one off our list. But, the Animal Kingdom has lots of animals listed as 'attractions' and we haven't quite seen them all. We're still missing zebras from Kilimanjaro, but since we've been on three times and there's still no mention of them, I'm going to have to check with a cast member to see if they are still on the safari.
But we did get a few checked off our list
#34 Black Rhinos (Africa- Kilimanjaro)
and
#35 Lions (Africa)
That's a good one too, because the lions aren't always out. You can spot the male up there on the smaller rock, but we also saw a couple of females.
Even the Fastpass line for Kilimanjaro was long, so by the time we were done it was time to head over to Pandora for our Fastpasses.
This was going to be a tough one to check off our list, because the wait is always in the triple digits, and usually over two hours. I mean, if it was the last thing, maybe I would have waited- but that just seemed like a lot. So to get a Fastpass for this one is huge. It's actually the first time I've been on it since the passholder preview before Pandora even opened, because the line has been so long every other time.
It is probably the best ride Disney has going for it, though.
And now it's checked off our list!
#36 Avatar Flight of Passage
Also listed as an 'attraction' is
#37 Animal Kingdom at Night
and when we came out of Avatar, it was dark! So, that counts, right? I'm totally surprised Animal Kingdom at night is listed, but Pandora at night isn't. Because, honestly, that's the coolest part about being in the park at night. It's all lit up and glowing!
We also finally saw
#38 Rivers of Light
And for a night time show at Disney, it's not amazing. Like, it's cool and all but it's pretty much just fountains and lights and a few projections. I would rather watch this than Fantasmic or Illuminations, I think. But that might be just because it's a little more modern.
We decided to head out after that, but we stopped by the Tree of Life to see
#39. Tree of Life Awakenings
It's a night time projection on the tree, and it happens throughout the night, though no exact times are given, you just kind of have to catch it. Although it is shorter than rivers of light, I did like it more. So if you're deciding between the two, I'd go with this one.
That puts us at 39 out of 75 items complete on our Animal Kingdom list. We are only 52% of the way done there. It's kind of a mixed bag of what is left. There's rides we can get on with fastpasses, and plenty of animals that will just take a few minutes to check off our list. But, there's also a hefty amount of shows and quite a few characters on the list. I think we could probably finish it off in two more visits. But, we'll see. We only have until the very beginning of October to finish it off.
We were home around 11, and I know the drill around here. We all try and be the first ones to say Happy Birthday to each other at midnight. It kind of becomes an all out war. I could hear the boys outside my door at 11:59 arguing to try and be the first ones in.
I'm pretty sure Hayden won, out of the kids at least. Asa was sitting right next to me and claims he is the winner.
But the other two weren't too far behind.
Since it was my birthday, I got special coffee.
And, Allison, Nate and Layla sent me the best package ever. Allison really knows how to put together a gift box. Nobody does it better than her! I mean, I got a naked mole rat (from the National Zoo no less!) and probably the coolest and most me coffee mug I've ever had. You guys it's Linus and Snoopy, and the handle is Linus's blanket. (Fun fact: My first job was at the Snoopy Boutique, my camera at Camp Snoopy was named Linus AND I actually share my birthday with Snoopy). Plus I got snacks. Thanks Fosters! You guys are the best.
So when Calib gifted me that cash (seriously, who has ever gotten a BOX of cash for their birthday?) I decided I wanted to go to the zoo. We had toyed with the idea, but I figured it was too expensive. Turns out, Calib essentially bought me a pass for the whole year for my birthday (we even got a home school discount). So, while Peyton and Hayden were uninterested in going in the heat, Calib said he would come along. We stopped on the way for a couple of my free birthday treats. First of all, I got a free Nothing Bundt Cake, and right next door was a Panera so I could pick up my free birthday pastry.
We took those desserts down the street to PDQ. I had a free meal for my birthday, and Calib and Asa both had coupons for a free meal, because last time we went they screwed up their orders and it took 20 minutes to get their food and they were compensated with a free meal coupon. So we all happily ate our free PDQ and then I cut up my bundt cake and my brownie to share.
After that we headed over to Zoo Tampa. We haven't been there in YEARS but basically three of our tickets were as much as a pass for homeschoolers. So not only did Calib give me something to do for my birthday- he gave me something to do for the whole year! We even get to go to the Halloween and Christmas events.
Our zoo is pretty great, but I especially enjoy the penguin exhibit. You get to be so close to the penguins.
The savanna area is also really cool. They have all these behind the scenes tours too, and for just $15 pass holders can take any of them. I'm for sure going to do some of them over the next year. I mean, you can feed Rhinos!
Of course, they have the petting zoo area. So I pet and fed some goats.
Then we took the Florida boardwalk trek.
Of course that's where you'll find the manatee viewing area.
And you can pet the sting rays there too!
I was going to buy a magnet on my way out of the zoo, since it's my birthday and all- but passholders even get a free one!
Once we got back home we decided we need a trip to the pool to cool off. The afternoon storms were coming for us, and we knew we wouldn't have too long, so it was just me and Asa who rushed out the door to make sure we got at least some pool time in during my birthday.
After that, the boys played argument and hitting free Mario Kart for me. It was the quietest game of Mario Kart I've ever played in my whole life. You'd get the occasional grunt, but they didn't argue once.
Asa, meanwhile made me my birthday dinner of chicken shawarma, green beans and homemade french fries. He also made a Moroccan Orange cake for me.
Aand then of course there was after dinner coffee in the blanket fort my new mug!
I also rounded everyone up for some of my favorite games. We played Incan Gold, Spy Alley and the Bean Game.
I am a big fan of the Publix chantilly cake, but it wasn't on sale and is pretty pricey if it isn't, so I settled for an Angel Food cake (and I still had Moroccan orange cake too!)
Of course the angel food cake needs some berries and some whipped cream too. This was always my choice of cake as a kid, so we bring it back every couple of years for the nostalgia. Also, it isn't too bad for you as far as cakes go!
The blanket fort is coming down later this week, since we'll all be headed to Ohio. So, I was happy to include some time in it for my birthday. Everyone (even Peyton) watched Coco in the blanket fort with me. We hadn't seen it yet, and it was on Netflix. Good movie. But, Asa also ran to get us some after 8 pm Chips and queso from Capital Tacos. They sell it half price after 8 to make sure they finish it up for the night. We also had some wine. It was a lovely way to end my birthday.
And just before midnight everyone was back in my room to wish me a Happy Birthday one last time.
Sunday Asa and I were up early for another Disney trip. It was the first day we were unblacked out of the Magic Kingdom since May. But first, we were able to get last minute breakfast reservations at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian.
Asa got the Loco Moco.
While I was there for one thing, and one thing only: Tonga Toast. It's banana stuffed cinnamon sugar french toast with strawberry compote. Basically, my sugar quota for the whole week. But, who cares! It was birthday weekend!
After breakfast we hopped on the monorail and made our way over to the Magic Kingdom to knock some items off our list. On our way down Main Street we ran into
#38 Citizens of Main Street
These guys roam in costume and shout very loudly about everything from Mickey's Birthday to being elected mayor.
We were also there in time to catch
#39 Casey’s Corner Pianist
And the Citizens of Main Street were also there. They stopped by to sing Happy Birthday to Mickey (or me, whichever).
We had quite a few shows or 'time investments' left on the Magic Kingdom list. But on the upside, that also generally means air conditioning! We stopped by
#40 Carousel of Progress
I haven't been on this in years. There were like 8 people with cell phones (and an ipad) filming it for Facebook Live. It was really bazaar. There were also some seriously unhappy to be there kids. Aand that last future 'scene' is not so futuristic anymore. Oh goodness! Voice chat to lights?! How futuristic!
In more good Disney fortune, I was able to nab another elusive Fastpass last minute. This is another one that usually takes an hour at least.
#41 Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride
This is one of my favorites! And we got the backseat which has a fun drag to it. The people in our cart with us were also super fun and we made it rock back and forth more than I knew you could. I was super excited to get that fastpass last minute. It's going to just be my new strategy going forward. Refresh the page a bunch the day before and you can practically get anything eventually!
We also still had a ton of characters on our list, so we decided we'd bite the bullet and wait in some of those lines too. I try and get the ones with really limited times off the list first if we can, so we headed over to see
#42 Meet Peter Pan in Fantasyland
Peter Pan had hoped I got my pixy dust ears from Tink and not some Fairy Godmother so I didn't turn into a pumpkin.
We just happened to be back in Fantasyland at the perfect time to catch
#43 Royal Majesty Makers (at the Sorcerers Stone)
We were right up front, so Asa even got picked as one of the people to come up and try and pull the sword out of the stone! We're thinking of making a Disney bucket list for our next set of passes, and I think getting Asa on stage for a bunch of shows should be on there. (I mean, who doesn't want to be 'THAT guy' at Monsters Laugh Floor?!) Of course he didn't get the sword out, that honor was reserved for a little girl that followed him up.
After that we were headed over to our next Fastpass
#44 Peter Pans Flight
This is one we never go on without a Fastpass, because I'm sorry, but I am not waiting an hour or more for this one. It's one of Asa's favorites though, so he probably would. Either way, I was able to get us the Fastpass last minute too. I'm telling you, that's the best way to go these days!
Still wanting to get some characters off our list, we headed over to
#45 Meet Merida at Fairytale Garden
where she taught us how to shoot a bow and arrow.
And then we headed back to Storybook Circus to see
#46 Meet Disney Friends as Circus Stars at Pete’s Silly Sideshow
There are two halves to this circus tent meet and greet- with two characters on each side. One side the call 'friends' one side they call 'pals'. We had done the 'Pals' with Goofy and Donald, but we were back to see the 'Friends' of Daisy and Pluto. Of course, they're all in their circus attire. Daisy predicted our future by looking into her crystal ball and said we'd be driving in a car shortly. Pluto, meanwhile was happy to take a self taken picture with us.
We had kind of checked off the Festival of Fantasy parade, but we were kind of far away from it and it was hard to see everything. This time around we happened to be walking to our next attraction when the parade started about 20 minutes early thanks to some threatening skies. Since it was early, and we were right at the start of the parade, we were able to easily have a front row seat. So now, the Festival of Fantasy Parade is officially official off our list.
It's not a super long parade, but the floats are really cool.
We continued along Frontierland to
#47 Frontier Shootin Arcade
This one I wasn't sure if I should add, since technically it is listed as an upcharge 'attraction'. But by upcharge I mean it was like 50 cents. But yesterday, it was on 'free play'. I'm not sure if it is always that way, but we didn't have to pay for it. You shoot the guns on the targets and things happen- cans twirl, rabbits pop up, lights go on, lightning strikes-- that sort of thing.
Then we were off to another show, but something we haven't seen in over five years, conservatively. Like, probably closer to 8 or 9.
#48 Country Bear Jamboree
This is just a weird show. It's got some... adult jokes. At Disney. All the adults laugh while little kids look around like 'what exactly is going on here'. Asa loved it. I'd do it again for the 12 minutes in air conditioning.
Lightning was in the area at that point- so everything was closed. Apparently even characters won't come out in the lightning (we were set to see Aladdin and Jasmine), so instead we decided to go for another show
#49 Enchanted Tiki Room
I am just not a huge Tiki Room fan. I think it's one of those original 'rides' but I just don't get it. It's probably my least favorite thing in Disney World. My mom likes it though, so sometimes we do it when she's visiting. Fun fact though, after this we only have three more 'rides' on our list for Magic Kingdom: Tom Sawyers Island, the Riverboat, and Space Mountain.
We headed back to the hub and stopped by Casey's Corner for some cheese fries and loaded mini corn dogs. You know what I can't wait for? Cedar Point cheese fries! They're the best.
Back on Main Street the lightning must have left the area because
#50 Main Street Philharmonic
were performing M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E!
Then we were off to see the last characters you can see with a Fastpass,
#51 Meet Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater
where Minnie and Mickey are greeting in their birthday celebration outfits.
Here we learned Mickey is a Bucs fan, and we were all turning 21! (They thought it was funny when Asa was like 'oh, then we have something to explain to our 19 year old!)
I do think when we're done with our list, we should print every picture of us with every character and make a collage. Fun fact though, I'm wearing the same outfit in 80 percent of those pictures. See, this is my 'theme park' outfit. It's just good to spend the day in and sweat in. So, I wear it most times I hit the parks. The pictures will all look like we took them the same day!
After we met with Mickey and Minnie we headed back out to the Town Square, right when you enter the Magic Kingdom. We were there for the Flag retreat which we had never seen, but happens every day at 5 pm. However, there was lots of activity going on around the flag leading up to the retreat ceremony and we were able to knock a few things off the list unexpectedly.
#52 Main Street Vehicles
And #53 Meet Disney Friends in Town Square
While the friends that appear are always rotating, on our visit we got Chicken Little!
Then it was time for the Flag retreat. Every day the flag stays flying until 5 pm, and then they have a veteran help take the flag down.
Its kind of a big deal. Main Street Cast Members come out, the Dapper Dans are there, and so is the Main Street Philharmonic. I can't believe I've had passes for ten years and never happened upon this before. It worth a stop if you're passing by then for sure.
#54 Flag Retreat
That puts us with 54 out of 66 things at the Magic Kingdom, or 83.3% Only 12 things left to complete. The problem is it ranges from the 'rope drop' show at park open to the fireworks at park close. So, it might be an open to close day for us- with possibly a trip to Epcot in the middle. We'll see. In total we are at
54 out of 66 Magic Kingdom (only 12 left!)
39 out of 75 Animal Kingdom (still a ways to go!)
60 out of 70 at Epcot (only 10 left!)
and of course 39 out of 39 at Hollywood Studios
for 192 out of 250
or 76.8% complete!
So basically before October 6th we need to visit Epcot once, Magic Kingdom once and Animal Kingdom twice.
We headed back to the Polynesian then and decided to get a little snack at the Tambu Lounge. There for only $6 you can get the bread pudding they serve at Ohana!
So that was it for our Disney day. We headed home pretty early in the evening for a Disney day, but we were hot- and I did not do a great job of keeping hydrated. By the end of the evening I wasn't feeling great.
Asa was hungry by the time we got home though, so he suggested we grab a proper dinner (he said cheese fries and bread pudding didn't classify as dinner. I disagree). But, I did have a free birthday burrito at Moes, and Asa had enough rewards to get a free one himself. Since we're leaving Thursday all of my birthday rewards that expire in a week have to be used before we go to Ohio. I still have to make a Costco run to stock Calib up before we leave, I'll use my free Firehouse sub then. Maybe we can do Dairy Queen in Fremont for my free Blizzard.
I did do something for my birthday this year, that I haven't done for quite a few years. I made a list of 40 things to do before I turn 40. I started working on the list a couple weeks ago and I already checked off one item. A lot of the list is things I've never done or tried before, or things that I haven't done in a long time. There's also some places on there that I've always wanted to go, but haven't made it to yet. I tried to make sure it wasn't too expensive or anything too crazy (I limited my pricey items) Although truth be told as the boys get older and have their own lives, they go places with me and Asa less and less. But, you know, Asa and I never got just me and Asa time in our 20s or our dating life- instead we had stress and toddlers. So, we're kind of making up for that now. Anyway, here is my list, if you're interested:
40 things to do before I'm 40 (and one to do on my 40th birthday!)
1. Ride the Tower of Terror (completed 8/3/19)
2. Go Tubing
3. Try Paddleboarding
4. Make Pancakes at the Old Sugar Mill
5. Go ziplining
6. Have a Monorail Progressive Dinner
7. Take the Canopy Walk at Myakka State Park
8. Visit Bok Tower Gardens
9. Reread the Harry Potter Series
10. See the Christmas Lights at Mount Dora
11. Make our own Disney Fireworks Dessert Party
12. Visit the Seabird Sanctuary
13. Camp out on the back porch
14. Visit the Kennedy Space Center
15. Complete the Monkey Bars at the park
16. Run a 5k
17. Bike Ride to a Picnic Lunch
18. Have a meal at the Hall on Franklin
19. Take Porkchop to the Dog Beach
20. Bike the Riverwalk
21. Visit all four Disney parks in one day
22. Ride Hagrid's Motorbike Coaster
23. Bike a Mural Tour of St. Pete
24. Visit Star Wars Land
25. Go on a sea turtle walk
26. Feed a Rhino
27. Visit Caldesi Island
28. Ride the Skyliner
29. Canoe the Hillsborough River
30. Go snorkeling
31. Try curling
32. Boycott Social Media for a month
33. Trick or Treat at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
34. Visit Saint Augustine
35. Bake a Pie and a Cake from scratch
36. Take the Wild Africa Trek
37. Beat my own current high score on Luminus
38. Participate in the Frozen T-shirt Contest
39. Vote for president with Peyton
40. Have Calib buy me a drink on my 40th birthday
So, we'll see how I do on that one. You know how I like lists, and this sure is a fun one!
That is it from here. It's going to be a weird week with our trip to Ohio. Asa is coming the whole time, which will be a weird change of pace- but one I'm certainly looking forward to. Calib is staying here to hold down the fort, so he'll miss the family party, the fair, and a trip to Cedar Point which makes me a little sad. But, also, I won't have to worry about the house or the dogs while we're gone, and poor Etta won't have to spend a week at the kennel.
But this week I have to help Hayden knock out a bunch more fair projects, and get all the laundry and packing done before we head north and out of the greenhouse.
Next Up: I'll see you when we get back from Ohio!
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