Disclaimer: This blog post is quite long. If you don't make it through, I competely understand. If you do, well, bless you.
I've been meaning to blog about our trip to Florida before this but I've been reading The Hunger Games trilogy. Enough said.
Sooo, for the past year or so my family has been planning a trip to Orlando. Our reason for going was to run the Disney World Half Marathon. This was a very special race for my family and me. First of all, my dad asked that our family run it in celebration of his 60th birthday (on the 21st). Let me just say how incredibly proud I am to have a father that runs almost every single day (and way farther than I can imagine running on a daily basis!). It's no wonder I went into the field of Exercise Science, it's been modeled to me my whole life. But I digress. The second reason for running this race was to celebrate something else. One year ago (on the 28th) my father had a major sugery to remove his prostate and beat cancer. So, I think even more than a 60th birthday, we celebrated health and life! But, more about the race later.
We decided a few months ago that we would take the boys to Florida with us. Believe me, this wasn't without some serious deliberation. We had no idea how two little boys would handle a 10 hour drive each way. But, they did fabulous. They had their moments (like any kids would) but, for the most part, they entertained themselves with their trucks, "computers", and with the help of Chris' DVD player (if I never see Cars 2 again, it will be too soon!).
We started out for our trip on Sunday, Jan 1st. We stayed the night in Jacksonville and then finished the drive on Monday morning. My parents flight got delayed so we didn't meet up with them until about 2pm. We had a late lunch and then made our way to the condo and settled in for the day.
On Tuesday we ventured to Magic Kindgom. It it worth noting that Florida was having a bit of a cold spell and the high that day was only around 50 degrees. So, as much as we wanted to complain about being cold, we really couldn't because it kept the crowds down. We only had to wait in line for one ride. We did learn that one of the boys is terrified of the dark. Have you ever heard a child scream through the Peter Pan ride? Or Winnie the Pooh? Well, we have. The boys favorite ride was the go-karts in Tomorrow Land that they could actually drive. Well sort of drive, their feet didn't reach the pedals. So, they steered, we did the accelerating. The boys were doing so well that we decided to stay for the fireworks and I am SO glad we did. The castle was beautiful and the fireworks were great!
Wednesday and Thursday we spent at Sea World. The boys really enjoyed it, they love animals! My favorite part of it was "petting" the dolphins. You really just stick your hand in the water and hope that one comes to you. A few came our way but I think only Chris actually touched one. The boys loved the cat and dog show. I mean, come on, who doesn't love animals doing silly tricks? Sea World also has a whole section of kids rides with no lines (again, it was a bit chilly) so we spent quite a bit of time there. We had a really great two days.
On Friday we went over to ESPN's Wide World of Sports to pick up all our race info and then spent the rest of the day lounging around the pool. It warmed up substantially for the last few days so we actually got some sun. I think the boys favorite part of the entire trip was playing in the pool! They loved it and had absolutely no fear when it comes to water (even though they can't swim...I was a nervous wreck!).
Saturday was race day. We had to be at the starting line by 5am so we got up at 3:45 and were in the car just after 4am. My mom was a mess that morning (sorry Mom but it's true). She had never run a half marathon before and really wasn't sure how she was going to fare. I made the really hard decision to run on my own instead of with my parents (I'm a bit too competitive with myself). My dad so graciously stayed with my mom the entire race even though it wasn't his first go around with a half.
Anyways, the race turned out great. It is a flat race which is always nice and the weather was pretty perfect. I finished in 2:06. I'm pretty sure this is my slowest half time ever but I was pleased with it since I really didn't have time to train now that I'm playing "mommy"! I found my way to the grandstands to watch for my parents. My mom wanted to run it in under than 3:00 so I was ecstatic when they came across the line at 2:51. Way to go Mom!!! She ran almost the entire race. She had never ran more than 8 miles so I was SO proud of her. She has the bug now and can't wait to run another! Let's get a race on the calendar Mom!
We had a fabulous trip and it was really really hard to leave my parents on Sunday. It just warmed my heart to see them with the boys. I already knew that parents were fantastic grandparents (the best really). And even those these boys are not technically their grandchildren, they treated them with nothing but love and spoiled them rotten. I'm pretty sure that the tears that were shed when we left by my parents were more for those two little boys than for Chris and me. But, I'm ok with that. My parents have huge hearts and I'm so thankful. I love you both!
I'm already looking forward to our next vacation!
