Shockingly enough, I'm way behind on blogs. But, I'm not feeling great, so it's a good time to sit down, relax, and catch up. Spoiler Alert: We do not have covid in this house (we tested negative, and don't have the usual covid symptoms of fever/cough/no sense of taste or smell), but we are circulating some sort of sniffle/sore throat combo.
Anyway, lets head on back to November. My pictures are all out of order here, and I don't feel like fixing them, so you'll just get a hodgepodge.
In our thanksgiving shopping, we discovered more empty shelves, and empty freezer cases.
But, we did determine the new Total Wine & More carries Jones Soda. So, you take the good with the bad.
Asa and I also went out to get him some new glasses, and on the way home, we stopped by Panera for lunch. (I had totally forgotten about those people that sat behind us, until I saw that picture. They were scrolling facebook and spouting conspiracy theories loudly the whole time- and their poor kids were super bored. It was weird.)
Layla turned 3 nearly a month ago now, but I did finish her birthday present on time. I just sent it a week late. But, I don't think she minded. It turned out to be a super cute little sleeping mat.
Of course, whats a blog without an Etta melting down montage. These two meltdowns, I believe, were a result of Calib going to work, and packages arriving.
You know, its that time of year for packages. I opened this one and left the box out all day just to get this picture.
Oh, of course, we had Disney Plus day.
Of course, there were some taco Sundays mixed in there. You can see pictured here, Calib likes to feed the dogs scraps. Also, I pretty much just text Calib about guac and pickup orders these days.
We've got ourselves a bunch of lemons! I made our first pitcher of lemonade. But we also have a ton more coming. Last year they didn't all ripen at the same time. This year we may have to give some away, or something.
We are getting nice little harvests from the backyard though.
And some really big lettuce.
November 20th was Joe Biden's Birthday. Hayden asked if I was going to do his birthday like all the other presidents (when in actuality I never did Trump's either).
I wasn't feeling it, so Hayden asked if he could do the whole thing, and present it to me instead. So, he spent weeks reading up, doing the research and writing the story. And then in the days before hand, he worked on getting all of his props and people set.
I was impressed with his Senate floor made out of blocks.
I kept telling him it didn't have to be ready on Biden's actual birthday, but he insisted. He was up until 3 am the morning of finishing up. But, he was ready to go that afternoon, and he presented the whole thing to me and Asa.
It was well written, funny, engaging, and informative. Two thumbs up, highly recommend.
For dinner, we also did a throw back to the 2015 project, and had some of Joe Biden's favorite foods: pasta with red sauce.
And chocolate chip ice cream.
Which we decided to have in form of the cookie thing. Still, I think he would approve.
Hayden also made a birthday card, which we are sending off to the White House, also ala the 2015 project.
So, I wasn't super into doing the presidential birthday, because I've still been working on our Black History project. It's a bit overwhelming, but I did finally present my five part set up series.
Asa and I also made a trip to the Magic Kingdom pre-Thanksgiving....
hoping to see the decorations for the holiday season, but avoid the crowds.
We swing by Casey's Corner for some mini corn dogs and cheese fries..
And ran into the Winnie the Pooh Cavalcade.
We also got a look at the 50th Anniversary statues in the Magic Kingdom. We spotted lots of them in the hub.
Mickey and Minnie, of course.
Pluto and Goofy.
Then we made our way around the castle..
Where you'll find Pinocchio and Lumiere and Cogsworth back in Fantasyland.
Of course, the new Philharmagic had debuted, so we had to check that out.
Not only did they add Coco to the lineup, but the whole thing is brighter and crisper and more amazing than ever. It was always my favorite thing at Disney, but now it's my MOST favorite thing at Disney.
Still hungry, we tried the 'Spoon for one More' clam chowder. It was... ok. Nothing too special, but I loved the name of it--- since you can find it at Columbia Harbor House right across from the Haunted Mansion.
And, for the first time since Covid, we finally made our way to Asa's favorite to see Big Al and the rest of the Country Bears.
Throughout the day we kept our eyes out for even more 50th statutes. We spotted Abu on the way into Adventureland.
Pooh and Piglet not too far outside the Crystal Palace.
Tinkerbell is up high, you've gotten look for her.
And then back in the hub...
you'll find Donald and Daisy..
And of course Chip and Dale.
ANd then back up by the Train Depot..
...you'll find Lady and the Tramp.
Recently, Disney has re-opened some character meet and greets. You still can't hug them, or get too close, but instead you go to their normal meet and greet spot and have a distanced greeting on the other side of the nice velvet red rope. We visited on Mickey's birthday, and the wait to see him was just five minutes, so we decided to give the new meet and greets a try.
After some time in the Magic Kingdom, we made our way over to Disney Springs. We wanted to check out some of the themed trees and grab some dinner. The Christmas Tree Trail pre-covid used to be one section where you could see tree after tree. But, since then Disney has spaced them out throughout all of Disney Springs an an effort to curb the crowds. It took me a few visits to see them all, but I did. This was my first visit though.
The first time was the Cinderella Tree.
Which was over by Delux Burger. We don't eat there often, but I really pull for it during the holiday season when they have the burger with the squash patty and cranberry bacon jam!
After dinner, we spotted the Frozen Tree, which was a little disappointing. It was just sort of generic, though I did like the added carrots.
Of course, there is the Star Wars Tree.
The Princess and the Frog Tree.
The Raya and the Last Dragon Tree. (In the background there, you can kind of see Crique Du Soleil. The new show, Drawn to Life, was supposed to premire like the week after everything shut down because of Covid- and we were there the day it was FINALLY premiering, over a year and a half later! I can't wait to see it!)
The new M&M store is also open.
And there are lots of promotions for Encanto. We're waiting to see it on Disney Plus on Christmas.
The Black Panther Tree is super cool.
As is the Toy Story Tree.
But my favorite has to be the Moana Tree.
The details on this one.. I tell you... I love the rocks and the shell up top. Plus, Hei Hei, and the heart. This one is by far the most detailed and thought out of all the trees.
Before we left, we grabbed some coffee. Asa went in to get the order, and I spied him from outside the windows. Can you tell what show we've been binge watching?
Another Sunday called for more tacos (were still counting those tacos!). Though, we did make some watchos (waffle fry nachos) and those were delicious.
I'm not sure who likes a lazy football Sunday more... us, or the dogs.
The Bucs, however, were a Monday Night Game, so we had a charcuterie for that.
Since it was Thanksgiving week, Hayden worked on his Thanksgiving craft.
And I took the opportunity to get going on my Christmas work. The boys said they still wanted to do a punch board full of games (every year I think they'll pass- but they still like to do these!)
And, since Cort was coming down to Florida for Thanksgiving at Disney, I decided to work on all my cookies early so he could take them back.
I have decided I'm not making Oatmeal Scotchies anymore though. These things suck. And I'm convinced it's not me- it's them. So, I'm not doing them anymore. It's really a mental health issue.
Still, it felt good to be done with all my cookies early.
We've had some fun holiday mail too. My Aunt Karen sent me this lovely watercolor she did.
And Clint and Jess win for the first Christmas card.
Of course the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we had our annual pizzas.
And Calib picked up our Thanksgiving desserts on his way home. Even if he was not at all funny about it, I appreciated that I didn't have to go out to get them the day before Thanksgiving.
And that's it for pre-thanksgiving November. I leave you with dog pictures.
