You might remember us going to a gaming event for Peyton's birthday this year called CEO. There's another, smaller CEO that takes place in September in Orlando, but this one focuses on Anime and is called CEO Taku. We bank rolled the first CEO for Peyton's birthday (it's always the last weekend in June- and since his birthday is July 2nd, it worked out pretty well to do that for his birthday). But this one, I told the boys we could do if they saved their money for it. I made them a little goal chart and we filled it in as we went. They had tiers- because it was in Orlando we could have just gone for the day, or stayed one night. But, they saved up enough for all the passes and two nights in the hotel.
So Friday afternoon we headed out to Orlando. You're hard pressed to find an activity that all five of us go to (although we did get everyone to go to the Not So Scary Halloween Party!), because of scheduling and interests and such. I don't push it too much either because then someone is usually staying home with the dogs (we've still yet to leave Etta overnight- she still has to go to the kennel). This go around Calib was staying behind to work and by extension watch the dogs. He had gotten soup from Costco while my mom was here but complained he had no rolls or oyster crackers to go with it, so I ran to Publix before we left as a thank you.
This hotel was the Wyndham on International Drive. The boys even went above and beyond their goal to get the room with the bunk beds so they wouldn't have to share. It was a cute room.
They even had their own tv in there- although they honestly were only in the room for eating and sleeping.
While it was only kind of walking distance to the theme parks (Asa and I did make the two mile trek back from Universal), it was an easy walk down to the Orlando Eye at Icon park. Basically a giant ferris wheel.
And there were a couple of nice pools and a hot tub just steps from our room. We actually had an excellent location, we were right across from the convention center too.
Asa got a weekend pass, but he wasn't as interested in this one (he's less of an Anime fan), and with everything being onsite at the hotel, Hayden was fine to come and go. So Asa and I actually spent a lot of time together. We walked down to Icon park again...
and had some cheese fries and played some shuffleboard at Shake Shack.
We also stopped by this Cafe Paris place, where they had excellent coffee..
And pretty yummy crepes.
We walked along international drive on our way back, and Asa just had to go to the McDonald's. To be fair, it's the world's largest! We had been to it years ago when the boys were little- but it has been all redone since then. It was actually closed for quite awhile during the remodel.
To be fair, it is kind of crazy McDonalds. There are two floors and besides all the usual stuff you can get pizzas and pasta- plus there's all kinds of fun seating.
Even the desserts and ice cream get an upgrade at this McDonalds- it has it's own counter for everything sweet.
On the other side of the hotel there was also a Wawa. Asa and I have never actually been to one- despite people down here calling it the Publix of gas stations (and you know how I love Publix)- and Calib had been talking about how he wanted to go to the new one by Costco to try it out since it was Siptopia- where you can get smoothies, milkshakes, coffee- any drink really for $2 (or $3 for a bigger one). So, basically Asa got a coffee and then we sent pictures to Calib so he would be jealous.
When we got back to the room Asa decided he was going to go over to play some games. Obviously at these events you can compete- that's what Peyton does. But, inbetween competitions there's all kinds of free play games, venders, and other events going on. (Don't get me started on how excited the boys were for Anime Karaoke)
Everyone showed back up around midnight, which surprised me a bit. But, Peyton had to be up early the next morning since he was in the 10 AM pool.
Peyton was competing in UNIST, and he's been practicing a lot. But he got matched up with someone who plays the came character as him- Carmine, which of course he hadn't practiced against, so he got 0 and 2ed, but he was glad he played and he loves just going, hanging out with his internet friends in person and learning from some of the best players in the country.
I set up lunch but Peyton said he was going out with some friends and Hayden was in and out in two seconds. So basically it was me and Asa again on our own.
I had forgotten the Universal passes at home, but seeing as I did that a couple weeks ago with Disney I figured it was an easy fix. Turns out it wasn't though, and after 45 minutes in line at guest services, where we barely moved, we decided to call it and walk back to the hotel (we took the hotel shuttle there- but it wasn't a frequent thing so uber or walking was pretty much our only options).
By the time we got back we were pretty hot and ready for some frozen drinks from wawa, and a trip to the pool.
We were also joined by some friends!
I spent some time in the lobby with Asa, and then I hung out and waited for him while he was in the convention hall. We are starting to get some really nice nights here, although I feel like my temperature gauge is screwy. Google will tell me it's like 88, and I feel like it's way colder than that.
Asa was hungry for dinner by now, and I suggested walking back down to ICON park. But, Peyton had gotten a Wawa sub with some of his friends and told us we HAD to try them. So, Asa was convinced we should do that for dinner instead. It was just a short walk through the hotel grounds.
And then we perused the menu.
Asa really liked his sub. I did too, but they are no Publix sub. They are, however, smaller, so better for portion control. Peyton refused to tell me what sub to get and then yelled at me when I tried to google 'best subs at Wawa', because he said I needed to 'feel it in (my) heart'. I went with google and got the seasonal Gobbler. And it was pretty delicious.
I didn't see the boys much Saturday night. Calib called to talk to me, which was nice. But, they all went off to play games and I fell asleep before they even got back to the room. At least I had Saturday night college football to keep me entertained. The next morning they were back off, so I just watched some NFL morning shows.
Asa did stay around long enough to grab a free cup of coffee for national coffee day. We downloaded the app for wawa, which was supposed to equal free coffee. But there was nothing in our rewards. They gave it to us anyway.
I packed up the car and got everything ready to go, and fed everyone lunch before we checked out at noon. But, Peyton and Hayden wanted to stay until the UNIST finals were over- and they didn't start until 7:30 pm. Asa decided he was cool with leaving the hotel for the day with me, so we decided the best way to kill 9 hours was Disney. We also figured now was as good of time as any to renew our passes. We had the certificates, but you have to physically GO to Disney to exchange them (well, or sweet talk the cast member into letting you do your 19 year olds pass without him being there). The best place to do this is Disney Springs- so we stopped by there and found a 45 minute wait. Blah. But we got it taken care of and then headed over to the Magic Kingdom.
Of course, we've finished our Disney quest so instead of checking things off a list, we just did our favorite things! That means collecting Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom cards, taking a shot at the Frontier Shootin Arcade, and going to Country Bear Jamboree for Asa.
For me, it's going to see The Muppets Present Great Moments in American History! Sadly this is going away sometime in October (it might already be gone), and I am so upset about this. They actually have two different shows. One show is the ride of Paul Revere and one show is the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
We were up for a snack by now so we finally tried out Pecos Bills. They have a toppings bar, so if you get, say nachos- you can really load up on as many toppings as you want. We put a ton of lettuce, salsa, and corn pico on it. It was quite yummy.
The Magic Kingdom was pretty crowded, but we finally got to wander around at a leisurely pace, because there was no index card o fun for the day. We are, however, still working on our Disney bucket list for the year.
I asked Asa what he wanted to do, and he was bummed we were missing football. The Bucs had just started their game at four, and I thought the closest place to us that might have the game on was Geyser Point, the outdoor bar at the Wilderness Lodge. So we hopped on the boat, and headed on over.
The views and the vibe at the Wilderness Lodge are totally my jam.
We parked it just outside the bar, where we didn't have to order food, but you could see the TV with the game on. Not perfect, but it was something. We also had a nice view of the water, and the weather was perfect.
Plus at halftime we played a couple games of pool.
Geyser Point is kind of cool in that you can order food to go at the bar, you can sit inside the pavilion and order from a server, or you can go around to their counter service place and order from there. The menus vary slightly, but you can get the Marionberry Barbecue Bison burger at any of them. We'd seen this one a few times on the Disney food blog, so we decided to give it a try. I would totally have this one again. Usually Asa is out with fruit based barbecue sauce, but he really liked this one too.
Asa was more into the game than I was. The Bucs were up, to the Rams at home.. so I was just waiting for them to blow it. He watched the game and followed along on twitter. Then, shockingly enough... we won! Crazy, right? I'm ready for the rollercoaster ride to continue on Sunday.
And we were there for celebratory marshmallows too.
We did have to take a bus from Wilderness Lodge back to Disney Springs to pick up the car, and it took forever. I have a real love/hate relationship with Disney bus service. But, even when we got back the boys weren't ready. We played some more connect four in the lobby to kill some time.
And then we noticed our free coffees had in fact turned up in the app at some point during the day, so we went back for our free coffee (although, I got hot chocolate), and then we sat in the lobby and watched Sunday night football until the boys were ready to leave. We got home around 11:30, so it was a LONG weekend. But, Peyton and Hayden had the best time. Asa is on call this weekend, and I'm actually looking forward to something a bit more low key after we've had a few busy weekends in a row.
In other around the house news, we did get to go over and visit with Huck and Murphey.
And we finally got around to peeling and cooking all those apples my mom brought us. It was our home ec project. We cooked them down into basically applesauce and then I froze it. Perfect for those dinners when I don't have fresh fruit on hand.
And the boys all convinced me to let them rearrange the front room and move the couch. They claimed nobody played video games out there because their wasn't a good place to sit facing the tv. I agreed to move the couch out, but I don't love it. However, I will say they have been playing a lot more out there, and not so much in the family room, which means Asa hears them less in the office, and we both hear them less after we go to bed at night since they're in the front of the house. I do suspect they're staying up pretty late because it's 11:30 and I haven't heard a peep out of any of them yet.
We do have some weird nights around here. I'm not sure what to do when it's down to only three of us for dinner. It'll happen tonight because Calib and Peyton will both be at work- and it happened on Tuesday night because Peyton and Hayden were at Anime Club (and starting soon Calib and Peyton both have night classes at the Porter Campus on Tuesdays AND Thursdays). Calib was off on Tuesday, so he took them for me and said he would pick up dinner, so we got Greenland Grill. I tell you though, having a kid who has his own money and can drive is bad for my eating habits. At least twice a week it's like 10 pm and Calib is like 'You know, I could just order some garlic knots and run go pick them up. It's only like THREE DOLLARS!" (Because he gets half off anything at Papa Johns). Oh, and then there's Hayden who is happy to make brownies at the drop of the hat.
But you know, I balance it out pretty well. I am pretty good about having lots of veggies and fruit. Our neighbor in fact dropped off a huge bag full of papaya this week. Apparently the tree got too heavy and fell so she had lots to give out to the neighbors (We usually give them peppers when we have like a million of them, it's a pretty great set up). I'm thinking about trying to make jam with them.
And that is it from here. I have all caught up on my blog! And we've got nothing too exciting going on this weekend because Asa is on call. I think we're running errands Saturday, and Sunday we're going to finally have a normal football day- with a bike ride, a pool trip, and a taco bar all done by the time football starts at 1.
Next Up: It's time for a chill weekend! Next weekend though, Asa and I are off on an adventure because he's going to a conference and I'm tagging along.
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