{Disney 2012: Magic Kingdom}

Our Disney trip was finally here and we had a blast meeting Mickey and the gang. A magical time was had by all.  We decided to stay once again at the Wilderness Lodge. It really is home away from home. The moment you step in the hotel, you get the whole Disney vibe and experience.

They renovated the rooms. They are so much brighter but you still get the lodge ambience.

The kids loved the Mickey ears towel and all the character tiles at the bathtub.

And throughout our trip, you will hear me talk about magical moments. Nothing is impossible at Disney! Samantha lost her balloon and it went all the way up our hotel's 8 story ceiling. But guess what, the stuff at Disney was able to retrieve it with a lil creativity. How awesome is that!

We hopped on boat from our hotel to begin our Magical trip.

We made it a point to see Magic Kingdom the first day. After all, when you think of Disney, you think of Cinderella's castle. I wanted the kids to have that wow feeling on their first day...not that it's hard to achieve that on any of the Disney parks. We made it to Magic Kingdom, let the memories begin!

After grabbing the kid's' autograph books, we were ready to explore the park.

We headed straight to Fantasyland to get our fast passes for all the popular rides. While waiting for our rides, William started playing with The Sword of Stone. Inscribed in it, "Whoso pulleth out this sword of the stone and anvil is rightwise ruler born of England". What a treat it was for William (and everybody) when he was able to pull the sword out of the stone. Bunch of kids ahead of him were trying so hard to pull the sword. Imagine, everybody's reaction when he was able to pull the sword out :) After that, all the kids and parents were trying to figure out how they can do it. I always thought that it was a permanent fixture. Evidently, Disney releases it once in a blue moon to create Magical moments for certain kids. Well, it was a magical moment indeed for William (and our family).

Then off we were to get on our favorite rides. A small sliver of the new Fantasyland expansion was open. I love where the new Dumbo is located, right by the new Storybook Circus area. I also love the new Indoor playground waiting area. Basically, you get a buzzer and your kid can play while waiting to get on the most popular ride in Disney. Winning!

Samantha was napping and woke up just in time to ride Dumbo.

William had a blast controlling the ride. He like the fact that you can make it go up and down.

Then we hopped on to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Samantha was a lil bit uncertain of this ride. It was dark and there were some storm effect that spooked her.

We had success though on The It's a Small World ride. She loved the music and all the dolls. This ride ended up being her favorite ride from the trip.

William's favorite ride was Goofy's Barnstormer. He absolutely loved his first roller coaster ride!

We headed over to adventureland to ride Pirates of the Carribean and the Alladin's Magic Carpet.

Time flew by and next thing we know it was time for our character dinner at Crystal Palace. The perfect place to meet the colorful character Winnie the Pooh and his friends Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger.

A day was not enough to explore Magic Kingdom and we had to come another day to see other areas of the park.

It was a great day to ride the Jungle Cruise.

Indulge on famous Disney treats, such as the Dole whip and Goofy's Sour Powder Candy.

Enjoy some entertainment at Magic Kingdom Main Street.

Here's William rockin' his Boyz Rules shirt. Too funny!

And meet some of the kids favorite characters.

Peterpan was really nice.

Samantha loves Tinkerbell and I am so glad that we found her.

What a treat it was to meet her sister Periwinkle. She asked William to have a snowball fight with her. Looking forward to the upcoming Secret of the Wings movie.

{Ed's First Half Marathon: 13.1}

We had a very busy week at Disney and it did not slow down our family because we jumped right into Ed's first half marathon that weekend. We got up bright and early Sunday. Luckily, the start line was only a couple of miles from home so it gave us some extra time to snooze. Ed was running the half with two of my favorite runners -- CC and B. It was fun spectating with Ra and Jackson. Here are the boys cheering on their Dads at the start.

Runners looped back into the start line, 5 miles into the race. It was nice to see them and cheer them for a lil boost. CC even stopped and gave the boys big hugs.

William and Samantha wore their Disney race shirts to this event. I love how they are really loving the world of running and races.

When I saw that bright yellow shirt reaching the finish. I got super excited. Literally, felt my heart just exploding with so much pride. I was so choked up and had tears of happiness for Ed. He worked hard for this and our family is so just so proud of him! What a great role model he is for our kids. Not only did he finished, but he finished strong and ran 13.1 in 1:43.

How exciting it was to join Ra and Jackson cheer on B as he cross the finish.

And CC, she continues to amaze me. Her passion for fitness is truly inspiring!

These three runners are amazing! Hard workers and dedicated. I am so proud and excited to join them in the upcoming Atlanta Marathon Relay.

Post race our runners refueled and we all grabbed brunch at the Flying Biscuit. While waiting for our table, the kids had their face painted. A first for both Jackson and Samantha, btw. They are so cute!

{Disney 2012:Running Family}

When we booked our Disney trip, we knew that Disney was hosting several  races that weekend. Ed and I wanted to do the run but decided to pass on it because of  the time of the races, add to that the ticket prices were raised  halfway to filling up the race.

William has seen us race a couple of times and has expressed interest on doing one. He even made up a funny story where he won a race. Complete with details of who watched him and where they parked :) I immediately thought that Disney fun run will be the perfect one for his first race. I  also found out that they also have a race for Samantha's age group. So, of course I had to sign her up. As the day get closer, Ed and I really started getting the itch to run the 5K or 10 miler. Unfortunately, tickets for the 10 mile run was sold out, and the 5K was sold out shortly after :( Ed started googling for bib resells and was so lucky to find one at craigslist, even better it was sold to us at cost. It was a lil nerve racking but happy to say that it worked out. So off we ran the race as "Patrick". 5K for me and 10 miler for Ed.

We arrived at Orlando Friday and went straight to the expo to pick up our race packets. What a fun expo it was, with lots of vendors. The biggest one we've ever been to.

Kids were super excited about their shirts.

Since we were coming into town late Friday, we decided to stay for one night at an Embassy suite close to Disney. My lil monkeys had a blast jumping the bed.

The 5K was really early so I told Ed that they can come in later so they can get some extra sleep right before the kids' fun run. Trail running in the dusk was kind of fun and spooky. I made sure to take it easy and stop for pictures with the characters on the trail.  First one spotted was the big bad wolf. Yikes!

The Grave diggers will spook you.

It was a fun race and I am so glad that we decided to do it.

I took our car that morning but Granddaddy was so sweet to pick up Ed and the kids from the hotel and take them to the event.

My adorable lil runners ready to tackle their race. Of course we had to take picture with Braves Mickey. The Braves team have their spring training at World of Sports so they have their own Mickey at Disney :)

 Family pictures post Mommy's race.

My sister in laws' whole  family also ran the Disney races. A quick picture with Heidi and her friend Leslie.

Here's Jake and William warming up for their race.

William in Action!

My awesome runners showing their medals.

The later on that night, it was Ed's turn to run his 10 miler. We were debating on taking the kids to the event, but they were so exhausted. They were in bed immediately after bath. I stayed with the kids at the hotel and signed up for text alerts on Ed's progress. When I got my first text, I was so happy. Ed was running at a good speed even with a whole day of walking the park and no nap.

Couldn't be more proud of Ed! He finished strong and earned his medal. Funny thing, when William woke up the next day. The first words that came out of his mouth were "Daddy, where's your trophy (aka Medal)?

What a great way to kick off our trip! Fitness is important to our family and we are always looking for fun ways to do it.

{2012 Taste of Chamblee}

We love going to festivals and events as a family. Even better, we love events around our neighborhood. This year's Taste of Chamblee was awesome. Lots of cool vendor participations.

My sister, Dave and Serenity met us at home and we all walked to downtown. 

I am so glad that my sister doesn't work nights anymore and that she is able to join us on fun events. My kids enjoy having their Tita Susan around. She spoils them a lot :)

William enjoyed this High Road Craft Ice Cream. Seriously, the best ice cream ever. Go to your local Whole Foods to grab one. My favorite flavor is the Bouburn burnt sugar. I heard that French Toast is yummy too. William said that their Chocolate ice cream is awesome!

William's absolute favorite from the event is the snowcone from GNO snowball. It's a New Orlean style snow cone.  I can't believe that we've never been to this place since it's not even a mile away from us. Don't worry, we fixed that and has been since Taste of Chamblee. 

My lil princess chilaxin and  enjoying goodies from the event.

There was no shortage of beer consumption at this event :)

We sure got our $1 worth it from this bouncy house. The kids played at this the whole afternoon.

What a fun day it was!