Thanksgiving 2022

Hey guys! It's been a busy week around here, and Asa and I are about to go off for the week to cruise to Nassau, and spend the holidays in the parks in Orlando- so I'm trying to get caught up before we leave. Lets rewind to Thanksgiving where we had ALL FIVE WATERSTRAUTS reunited again. 

The day started with the Turkey Trot, where Asa finished 18th. 

And then we watched the parade with some munchkins from Dunkin Donuts. 

Though, it was mostly just Asa, the dogs, and me hanging out waiting for everyone else to get up. 

We watched the National Dog Show, of course. Etta was real sad she'd never get to be like those dogs. 

For lunch, we had a charcuterie. 

Peyton was flying back on Thanksgiving, but not until later- so we knew we'd have to have dinner sans Peyton. It was a good idea, because the flight was delayed. While Asa worked on cooking most of the food, we did watch the Lions lose. An annual Thanksgiving Day tradition. 

Here's our Thanksgiving spread, in case you were interested: 

Our dessert plate consisted of Nothing Bundt Cakes, truffles, and Crumbl cookies. 

I also picked up an apple pie from Publix, specificially for Peyton. It's a favorite for her! 

Obviously the cranberry sauce had to go in the cranberry bowl (though, I cheat and instead of dirting the Ainsworth family cranberry bowl, I just put my glass dish inside it). 

I had picked up our annual butter sculpture from Publix. 

And then we had all the obvious stuff: greenbean casserole, turkey, stuffing, mashed potoes, apples, squash, carrots, rolls, mac and cheese, and gravy. 

I do want to shout out to my awesome neighbor, Teresea for making me some sweet potato casserole. Originally we were going to do Thanksgiving with them, which all started because I asked if I could have a serving of sweet potatoes- because I'm the only one that likes them and I didn't want to make some just for me. But I had totally forgotten that Peyton's arrival time wasn't conducive for a normal dinner time. Teresea, however, still made some for me and sent it along the night before with some dip. 

After our delicious dinner, we all wrote on the table cloth as we do annually. (I apparently didn't take a picture of mine, but I wrote "Happy Harvest Day" because Jasmin had heard it's sometimes called that (though I had never heard that, I wanted to include Jasmin in some subtle way). 

Of course, the doggies get to celebrate Thanksgiving too. I made them all plates to let their food cool. They also got a lot of things pre-seasoning (like mashed potatoes and squash) . Depending on their size they got varying portions. 

They all chowed down. 

Etta had a lot of squash on her nose, but this was my best attempt at a picture of it. She goes kind of crazy for people food. 

After dinner and some more football, Asa and I headed out to the airport to await Peyton's arrival. Luckily, we were able to watch the rest of the game while we waited, on a giant screen no less. Asa also resued a balloon and donated it to some kids. 

And there's Peyton! Back stateside! 

When we arrived home, I made a plate for her so she could have some Thanksgiving ON Thanksgiving at least. And of course, no Thanksgiving is complete without writing on the table cloth. 

It was a nice Thanksgiving, made better with Peyton's arrival home. It's weird though, because I'm so excited to see her and have her back, BUT I know she'd rather be with Jasmin in the UK (and we'd love to have Jasmin here too, it just wasn't in the cards. Hopefully soon!) 

In other pre-Thanksgiving news, Calib passed his first WGU class, and asked grandma if the Taco Bell reward applied to him as well. Obviously she said it did, and that's awesome for the kids. However, if all three of these kids is getting Taco Bell on grandma every time they pass a class thats A LOT of taco bell trips. I'm going to have to bow out of some of them. 

There has also been quite a few changes around the house in the two months since Peyton has been gone. We have the new front door lock with a fingerprint, the new kitchen blackspash, the new couch on the back patio, new doorknobs, a new dog gate, and I even made a new little door for the cat door so you can slide it closed or leave it open. Obviously the biggest change was the new car. Peyton is not known for being the most observent person in the world, so we didn't tell her about any of it- waiting to see if she would notice when she got home. I wasn't shocked when we got in the new car and she didn't say anything, but it was slightly surprising. It's not even the same color. 

But, when we got home and pulled in the driveway and she saw the Accord sitting there, and the Fit obviously not, something clicked- and she was like- "wait a minute!" This surprise was immediately followed by us walking in the door (which says "unlocked") and Peyton immediately was like 'wait. what?' And then she walked in and noticed all the changes, down to the new interior door knobs. Apparently, Peyton is more observant than we thought. 

In other news, Wawa still has their Gobbler, so Asa and I went out for free coffee Tuesday and got ourselves some lunch, too. 

And, we've been able to pick our first leamons off the tree. Not as many lemons as last year- and they are all ripe at about the same time, so we're going to have to give some to our neighbors again (which they are all very excited about). 

Shout out to Asa who babies that tree all year, and then lets me be the one to pick all the lemons. He's awesome like that. 

Up next: You're going to see a lot of Christmas lights! I had a plan, which we executed and is amazing- so stay tuned!!! 

Orlando Commencement 2022

If you're here to see what the kids are up to, you can go ahead and move along. This is strictly a Corinne and Asa blog from two weekends ago when we headed on over to Orlando to help with the WGU Commencement. It was the first Orlando in person commencement since Asa started working for WGU, and we was excited to finally be able to go to one. He even had a couple of his students graduating, which was very exciting. Now, mostly I was just along for the ride, so I would go out and about while he did all his work stuff and then we'd meet back up at the Rosen Center Hotel, just off the Orlando Convention Center where Commencement was being held. But, we did manage to tack on a couple of fun things together. 

After dropping Asa at the hotel, where he checked in, I headed out on my own. Our room wasn't ready yet and he had a whole lunch and town hall thing. Look at him being all fancy with his meetings, and business casual attire. He was like a real grown up adult. 

One thing I've literally never felt like is an adult. I would prefer to wear my hair in a pony tail, put on my leggings and go to Disney. Which, is exactly what I did while he was off all networking or whatever. Sadly, it was a weekend, so I was blocked out of the parks, so I headed on over to Disney Springs. I brought along my squeeze bottle from Homecomin because you can get free refills in it for the life of the bottle (You can also get a big drink for the price of a small if you're so inclined). Homecomin is notoriously difficult to get a reservation for, but pro tip: the bar is first come first serve. And, since I was litterally all by myself, it was easy to find a spot. I sat down and ordered the best thing on the menu: the thigh high chicken biscuits. All three of them to myself. I could barely finish them, and I was full for hours. But man, the buttery fluffy biscuit with the sweet hot honey all over perfectly fried chicken. So good. 

After being sufficently full, I paid my bill (and even got my passholder discount!) and headed out to nose around Disney Springs. Of course, it's all decorated for Christmas. 

And the trees- I LOVE the themed trees they've spread all over Disney Springs. There used to be a "Christmas Tree Trail" but it would get very, very crowded. So, this is better. I stopped by and saw the Black Panther Tree and Star Wars Tree which happened to be right outside Starbucks. Usually I would not spring for Starbucks- especially Disney Starbucks- but it was just me, and it was actually a little chilly outside. So, I could sip my hot coffee and nose around looking in stores and at trees. (I'm going to make all the tree pictures bigger so you too can appreciate the details. 

If I hadn't been so full, I would have tried some of the weird Salt and Straw Flavors. People rave about them. I don't get how it works, but it most. This place is very popular. 

 Moving on, I found the Princess and the Frog Tree.. 

...the Raya Tree... 

The Moana Tree is always one of my favorites. I love the Heart of TiFiti on it. 

New this year is the Guardians of the Galaxy Tree. Or, at least I think it's new, I don't remember it from before. 

The Coco tree had some lovely touches and was so pretty with the marigolds. 

I'm not sure the Disney Wish Tree was an actual tree, but hey, who am I to judge? 

I did pop into a few stores and pick up some Christmas presents along the way. How did nobody tell me about this gem hiding in plain sight? I'd literally never been in here, but I could spend hours nosing around this place. And also, I got Peyton some awesome comfy pants from here, and I spent a good five minutes just feeling the sock wall. 

Moving on, I visited the Haunted Masion Tree.. 

And the Nightmare Before Christmas Tree... 

Theres some new-ish lego builds outside the Lego store these days. 

I used to like to pop in the Lego Store to nose around, but now it almost always has a line to get in. Lame. 

Outside World of Disney, I foudn the Toy Story Tree. But, honestly, this is one of my least favorites. I feel like it could be much cooler. 

I did do some shopping inside World of Disney. I found these succulent planters, so if anyone is looking for something to get me- here ya go. 

And I visited the ears section- not to buy of course, but to get inspiration for making my own ears. 

Outside the World of Disney exit by Amorette's, I found the Encanto tree which is super colorful and pretty. 

By now, it was about 2:30 and check in for the hotel was 3, so I headed back to meet up with Asa. He had been metting all kinds of his coworkers and sending me texts and pictures along the way. Fun fact, Peyton's mentor Emi was there too, so we got to meet Emi in person before Peyton ever will. 

Our room was on the 15th floor, so we had quite the view. You could even see the Epcot ball from there. Seaworld, however, was right up close. If it was summer fireworks time, we would have had a great view. 

The room was nice (especially since WGU was picking up the tab). Look at us being all fancy. 

Later that evening there was a party down at the pool for all the Graduates/Alumni and their families. We could see them setting up from our room. 

Asa had to go to his walk-thru for graduation, so I hopped on over to Icon Park to grab us some dinner. 

We know this place from when we go to CEO Taku, since that hotel is just down the street too, and we're fans. Asa and I might not have spent a lot of time together, but we did text each other pictures a lot to let each other know where we were. 

Back at the hotel, we shared a dinner of fish, shrimp, and loaded chips- with lots of dipping sauces. It was delicious. 

Asa, however, had to get going. He was due down at the Alumni Party to help out. 

There was alot going on down there- various photo ops, mini golf, a full on DJ and dance floor, plus tons of appetizers and desserts. Had we realized that, we wouldn't have had such a big dinner! 

Asa was volunteering at the "String Wall" Basically, graduates could string their color string on the wall, circling the notch in each category that fit them. It's a cool idea. 

While they had given a bracelet to Asa for me to get in, I stayed up in the room watching Home Alone, because, you know, Social Anxiety. 

But Asa kept texting me, gently nudging me to come join him to help at the string wall. He finally got me with this picture of cheesecake he promised me if I came down for just a little bit. 

I came downstairs and found Asa at the string wall all by himself. Apparently they had Asa- ASA of all people- running an arts and crafts type station all on his own. I told him I'd grab him some appetizers since he couldn't get away (turns out someone had brought him the cheesecake). 

And then I ended up staying and helping Asa at the wall. It was actually really fun. Graduates came up, and I'd explain what to do and tie their string to wall, and Asa would meet them at the end and cut their string off the roll. Everyone was so friendly, and happy, and it was just nice to see all these people who had done the work and graduated. Many of them were older, or the first person in their family to graduate. We love WGU and the flexibility it offered to Asa (and now to the kids), but to see how that helped so many people is pretty cool. 

Sadly, at the end of the night, the clean up crew comes in and cuts it all down, but before then, I took Asa's picture with all the strings of the night. He liked it so much he said he wants to permantly be "String Wall Helper" at the Orlando Commencements from now on. 

The next morning, Asa had to be down at the Convention Center pretty early, but not before he went downstairs to get some coffee and a muffin for our breakfast. 

And then he had to get out all his graduation attire. I'm not sure what happened to his robe from his Master's Ceremony, but WGU sent him a whole new one. 

Originally I thought maybe I'd hit up Universal, but then I realized I'd have to pay for parking (since Asa's pass is the only one that includes it), so I was mulling around my options. 

But, the night before at the string wall, one of Asa's coworkers showed up with his puppies. He was talking about having to drop the pups off at his friend's moms house while he went to graduation (He works at WGU AND was graduating with his Masters), and I offered to puppy sit instead. I was so excited when he took me up on my offer. So instead of figuring out something to do I got to spend the entire morning with Harper and Messy, who are just the best little dogs (sans Waterstraut pups, obvs.) 

They were such good girls. And so cuddly. Thanks to Jacob for letting me watch them, maybe I'll get dog sitting duty again someday since he lives in Tampa, too. 

While I enjoyed my puppy time, Asa was at the Masters Ceremony listening to the Shark Tank guy, sending me pictures. 

And my mom was sending me pictures from Buffalo which was under FEET of snow. She had gotten an award at the annual AMATYC coference in Toronto and was trying to head back to her friends house in Buffalo. We were hoping we'd be able to go to Toronto too, but sadly it fell on graduation weekend, so it didn't work out. (But, at least my brothers were there to cheer her on). 

Asa came back with some lunch for me inbetween his ceremonies. (The catering was surprisingly delicious!) We hung out for a bit, Jacob came to pick up the puppies, and then when Asa left for the Bachelor's ceremony I headed into Orlando to visit some of my favorite spots there. I was super lucky to find a parking spot at the East End Market without even trying! 

I was there, of course, for some of the best cookies in the world (and the cake slices are also delicious). Gideon's Bakehouse makes AWESOME baked goods. You can catch them at Disney Springs, but that line gets crazy, so you can also visit them at their first location in the East End Market. 

There's always a line there too (and parking is usually tough to find), but it's usually much shorter. I was in and out in no time with my cake slice and my cookie. 

Not too far from there, you'll find Lake Eola. There is of course a lovely walking trail. 

But, I really came to visit the birds- in particular the swans. 

I even brought quarters from home specifically for Lake Eola. Because you can feed the birds! 

I was super excited to get a bunch of bird seed. I stuck it in my pockets in my overalls, which was just the best use of my overalls ever. 

Last time we went to Lake Eola, I gave Asa a hard time for trying to feed the swans right out of his hand and getting bit. I was like 'what did you expect to happen?" But here I was, holding out the food trying to take a picture- and this swan bit me too. 

This is the picture taken seconds before I got nipped by that swan! 

So then I put some food down on the ground for him to have instead. 

There are a lot of swans, though, so I moved on and back along the path feeding swans along the way. 

I also sent Asa this picture of a crow eating the last of my bird seed (Asa has been trying to tame crows in the neighborhood to recognize him, so I was rubbing it in that I got some to eat my food when he's not been having the best of luck). 

After my trip to Lake Eola, I headed on over to a cute little store called "Eola General" to get a charcuterie board to go to have for an early lunch on Sunday before we checked out. 

I had to wait for a bit while they got it all together, but they did a really nice job (If you're wondering why my box says "Rachel" its because Asa and I always give fake names when someone asks for it at a resturant/coffee shop. Our names get butchered so much we decided to nix using them for stuff like that. I think it was back when we were celebrating the president's birthdays for the first time. Asa went with "Jackson" for Andrew Jackson, so I followed suit with Rachel- Andrew Jackson's wife. 

With goodies in hand, I headed back to the Rosen Center to meet back up with Asa who was all done with his commitments for the weekend. 

We decided to try City Walk at Universal for dinner. It was packed when we arrived, and we were hopign to get a table at Cowfish- but it was a FOUR HOUR wait. So then I inquired about the bar: again, first come, first serve- so we strolled on up to the second floor and found ourselves two spots at the bar. Ta da! I'm telling you, the bar is where it's at. 

Asa went with some crazy burger, and I of course got a Bento Box, my Cowfish go-to. 

On our way out, we gave our seats to these lovely people one of which had also gotten a degree from an online university in his later years. Nice to meet you, Barney! You and your son in law were lovely. And, as a bonus we got to see Citi Walk all lit up for Christmas on our way out. 

Back in our room, we did watch the tippy top of the Epcot fireworks. And then we went to bed- it had been a long day, Asa barely made it through the 9pm fireworks. 

The next morning we slept in, and then packed up. But before we left we opened up our Eola General Charcuterie Board to have an early lunch. 

The charcuterie was delicious, though nothing I couldn't put together at home. I did, however, really like the "bagel chips" which were just cut up bagels toasted. And the jam was delicious. 

Sadly, there were no late check outs allowed. We were trying to stall, because the weather was not ideal. Not only was it cold, it was looking to be a pretty rainy day. And cold rain does not make me happy. 

But, I've been really much better about going with the flow even when things don't go perfectly (Asa is very impressed with me lately, but I tell you, it's the new medicine for sure- it's taken the edge off my anxiety significantly), so I came up with an excellent indoor plan for our day. We would have just gone home, but we had Boathouse reservations at Disney Springs for 3:15. We parked at Disney Springs so our car would be there after the Boathouse and then hopped on a bus to the Grand Floridian. 

I decided we should nose around the hotels and see the Gingerbread houses and all the Christmas decorations! 

But, I quickly realized this was maybe not the best plan. Sure, we could stay dry and warm. BUT it was the Sunday before Thanksgiving at Disney World. Do not let these pictures fool you- it was PACKED. Even in the hotel lobbies. So, after we saw the Grand Floridian Gingerbread House, I decided we should hop on the Monorail to go over to the Contemporary and check out their Gingerbread house. Not only that, I know of some "secret" quiet places we could hang out over there. It took forever to get there by way of monorail, because there were so many people. I just couldn't get over it. I'm like all these people paid SO MUCH Money for .....this terrible experience? Gross. 

We made the best of it though. We'd spent nothing to be there- Asa was even getting his Orlando milage reimbursed, so we popped over to the Contemporary to see their Gingerbread house, and I even got a Linzer cookie from the snack stand, before swinging by Contempo Cafe for some hot chocolate. 

And then I found us the quiet spot. See, the Contemporary hosts confrences on the second floor. But when there's no conferences in session (like on a holiday weekend) the space is super quiet, and the hallways even include some comfy couches. 

So we parked it there with our cookie, hot chocolate, and Red Zone on Asa's phone and snuggled up and watched football. This may seem like a weird thing to do at Disney, but we had a lovely time. 

We decided we should leave for our Boathouse reservation early, given the amount of people. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long at the bus station to get back to Disney Springs, because at this point it was very cold and rainy. Us Floridians do not do well with that. 

We made our way over to the Boathouse, though we were still early for our reservation, so we sat at the bar and had a drink. Their blueberry lemonade is on point. We did run into Steve, who I know from way back in my Cedar Point Days and is good friends with my brothers, who apparently is still managing over there. It was great catching up with him, and turns out I didn't need to settle for that one 3:!5 reservation I could get my hands on, because Steve will hook us up next time. Thanks Steve, lovely catching up with you! (Fun fact: Steve, who didn't work with Asa at Cedar Point said he noticed Asa first and then me). 

After our tummies were sufficiently full, we packed up our leftovers and headed out. Our waiter, Jimbo, totally hooked us up with extra dip and chips to bring home. It was still cold, but the rain had trickled off. Still, we were ready to head home. I missed my puppies (and my kids, of course). But another fun weekend outing for me and Asa. We're killing it lately with the trips! 

And the next day we had plenty of goodies for lunch! (Pro tip: heat your tortilla chips up in the air fryer with a little spray avocado oil. You're welcome). 

Next up: Thanksgiving with ALL FIVE WATERSTRAUTS!! That's right, Peyton's back, statside (Sorry Jasmin, we wish you could have come too!)