You guys! I am coming to you live from the couch on the back porch. It's FINALLY cool enough to open the doors, put on some slippers and hang out in the little alcove with my fuzzy pillows and the puppies! Ok, I know, that is totally a spoiler alert (because it's October 18- and I'm still back in the September blogs), but it is very exciting news.
We have been very busy lately, coming and going. I just have not taken the time to keep the blog all up to date. And this blog is basically about me hanging out in Orlando by myself, and the pictures are all backwards. Something we don't really have time to fix, so we're just going to go with it.
Back in September, Hayden finally got to cash in on his birthday present with his trip to Orlando for the annual gaming tournement. We started coming here because Olivia competed, but Hayden just loves hanging out, singing the karaoke, playing the games, and watching the tournaments. So, for his birthday every year he gets a ticket (and a hotel stay). He just has to wait quite awhile to cash in on it. HE had a great time this year- for the record. But, most of the weekend I am off on my own while him and Asa enjoy the tournament. I did get them to come out with me the last night there for some dirty fries at Gordon Ramseys place in Icon Park.
The food is always delicious here- nice portions and such, and not too expensive for a touristy place like Icon park.
It's always a bummer I can't go to Disney on Saturday and Sunday (our Pixie Dust pass blocks out the weekends- which is usually fine), but sometimes I can Sneak off and do some other Disney things- this time I just so happened to be there for the weekend they were having their passholder exclusive merchandise event at Wide World of Sports. Normally I am not a Disney shopper- but I heard people were getting Loungefly bags for like $15, and since I was going to be there anyway, I felt like I had to check it out. It was... interesting. You signed up to be put in a virtual queue. After a few errors, I finally got in about 5 minutes after the virtual queue opened... and my wait time was something like 8 hours!! Not terribly unusual for a Disney limited time event, but still.
It was pretty close to the 8 hour mark when I got called back. I parked over at Wide World of Sports, hiked forever to get to the stadium, only to find out I was then put in a massively long line just to be able to get down to the floor to shop. It was bananas. It took me about half an hour/45 minutes to finally make it down to the ground floor, and once I did, I knew I was in trouble- the first couple piles of merch made me want everything. Now, it was a little 'garage-sale-y' but some of the stuff was kitchen items I had my eye on forever and had seen in the parks, and it was marked WAY down. I'm talking a cake plate from the Tiana line from the Flower and Garden Festival that I thought about getting anyway marked down from $36 to FIVE BUCKS! So, basically, I did a little Christmas shopping for myself, a little for Hayden, and some for Asa. I also swung by the concession stand to get a Mr. Toad's Wild Ride popcorn bucket for $5 (and then they threw in a second one for free since I was one of the last groups in there), and a Mickey pretzle for $4. Plus there were some 'giveaways' you got on the way out- bags, a Spike the Bee sipper, 50th anniversary cups-- that sort of thing. So it was fun, and a total experience. And I'm packing away stuff for Christmas so hopefully I forget about it.
Before I made my way over there, I did get Asa to join me in the pool for a bit. Pool water around here had cooled from 'bath water' to 'pleasant' so that was a win!
Prior to that, Asa walked me down to Icon Park with Hayden to drop me off at the SeaLife Aquarium, since the FL Aquarium pass gets us in half off. I found the aquarium to be ncie enough. Lots of fun shapes and angles of aquariums for picture taking, and a huge axolotl section- the best display for axolotls I have ever seen (but to be fair, I've only ever seen them in one other aquarium). Still, the place isn't super big, and I found the aquarium photo ops to be a bit much. I loved it though for that axolotl section and the half off price tag. (Not sure it'd be worth that full price madness).
Before the aquarium, I spent my morning at Gideon's Bakeshop at Disney Springs. Everyone knows if you want to go to Gideon's you need to get there early before the virtual queue kicks up, or you could be waiting HOURS. So, I went first thing in the morning and got some heavy hitters: the limited edition Lemon Poppyseed cookie, and orange chocolate cake slice, along with a banana bread chocolate chip cookie and the coconut guava pastry that was only on Saturdays for Mexican Heritage Month (I was getting a lot of limited edition stuff). I did get there a little before 10 when they opened, and ended up waiting in an hour line. My only regret was getting the 16 oz orange nitro cold brew. I should have gotten the 24 ounce. One sip and I knew my mistake. It was the best coffee one could ever hope to have. I will dream of it till it reappears.
Our room at the Wyndham was fine- it's the hotel where they have the tournament, and you just can't beat the location of being right there. Hayden did opt to sleep on a air mattress so Asa and I would have the kind beg, which was nice.
Calib, meanwhile, was holding down the fort at home and even got adopted by the Harvison's for dinner of gumbo and corn bread, while we were away.
I was able to tear Asa away from dinner on Friday. We went to a fun Japanese bbq place where we got to grill our own food at our table, and even got to finish the meal with smores. So fun!!
While Asa went to check in, with Hayden, and get their badges and such, they dropped me off at the Animal Kingdom, where I spent my afternoon taken the trails, going on the safari and visiting all the animals. If there's one park that is the best on your own, I think Animal Kingdom is it.
I should throw in all Asa's CEO pictures here. I'll maybe go back and grab those at some point, but I really need to get moving on other stuff, so for now...
....Next up: finishing out September
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