Back to the Grind

What I started writing on Monday.......

So as most of you probably know by know, Jon and I returned to DC yesterday afternoon. Each family member that we called to say we had safely landed would say "oh that's good", to which we both responded, "NO it's really not!" Yes, I realized our family was just happy that we were home safe and sound but neither of us were happy to have to have left Disney and BE back in DC.

The trip was amazing, best vacation/trip I have ever been on in my life. I got teary eyed just having to walk out of the park that last time on Saturday night, turning out to catch one more beautiful glimpse of Cinderella's castle. I could try and take the time to go through what we did all week but 1. I don't really have the patience to nor should I probably use that kind of time at work doing such things, and 2. no one probably wants to or will read it anyway so I'll leave you with a breakdown of where we were each day:

Sunday - up at 3 a.m. for a 6 a.m flight to ALT to Orlando. After checking into the hotel, spent the afternoon and evening at Magic Kingdom, watched the Spectromagic parade and Wishes fireworks, extra magic hours let us ride Splash Mountain one more time, but in the dark!

Monday – Character Breakfast at MK with Pooh Bear and friends, spent the morning @ MK, Epcot in the afternoon with dinner at Marakesh and Illuminations: Reflections of Earth from great sitting seats in Mexico. I cried during the fireworks as I realized that Disney probably has the most amazing fireworks anywhere – just love them!

Tuesday - Animal Kingdom in the morning, Disney Studios in the afternoon and evening, saw Fantasmic.

Wednesday – MK in the morning, headed to Epcot early in the afternoon but all the running around and getting up at 3 a.m. on Sunday was finally starting to catch up with both of us. I think we were both sleep walking around 1 p.m. and thought it best to head home and nap before our dinner at the Beirgarden (which is something we were both REALLY looking forward to. Pretty much as soon as we stepped foot on the property of our hotel I started getting very sick and throughout 2 hours of napping feared that I was not going to bounce back to make it out that night. I did and we freshened up and headed back to Epcot for our dinner reservations. Beirgarden was a lot of fun and the family that we sat with was nice (minus the rude guy who got sick) but I wasn’t blown away by the food, but I did drink my ENTIRE liter of beer, but Jon did not! Haha and yes we calculated that a liter of ______ is like having a 6-pack of Bud Lite with dinner :-) Mom would be so proud!

Thursday – Animal Kingdom in the morning, headed to Hollywood Studios where we were waiting to see Lights, Motors, Action when a storm started to approach. They delayed the show and then canceled it due to lightening in the area and wanted everyone out of the stadium…..uh I know we were sitting on metal bleacher but this was NOT the time to get thousands of people under cover. We waited there with many, some of the cars came out when the rain started to let up and let off some pyrotechnics and they said they would do the finale once t he rain stopped. Cast member came over and said the rain would not be over for a long LONG time and that we should try to make it to an indoor ride to not waste our day. Of course the closest gift shop has now run out of ponchos and we are completely soaked and I’m walking around barefoot, the line for Toy Story is not only outside in the rain but still 70 minutes to wait so we gave up and went back to the hotel to dry off, nap quickly and get dressed for the evening. Went to MK for the night and rode rides once the parade started, watched the end of the parade and then rode Splash Mountain during the fireworks which Jon planned perfectly and was AMAZING!!! If you didn’t get so damn wet on that ride I would have recorded all the beautiful sights, if you ever go to Disney, take a night away from fireworks and do this!

Friday – MK in the morning (of course, it’s my favorite park!), Epcot in the afternoon (Jon’s favorite and my 2nd fav) where we magically got Soarin’ fast passes at 1 p.m. for later in the day, saw Illuminations from where they are truly meant to be seen! Tried to head back to MK for Magic Hours but it wasn't real successful. Super busy, longer lines than during the day and we were both too tired to deal with it. Did ride Haunted Mansion and Pirates before heading back to the hotel.

Saturday - Made a final attempt at Hollywood Studios for the new Toy Story ride (were successful and it was so good that we stayed for a 2nd time) and got to see Lights, Motors, Action which was TOTALLY worth it! Rest of the afternoon at MK, saw Spectromagic again, monsoon rain came out of no where while we waited for the fireworks, I cried b/c I thought we wouldn't see them, they were delayed 15 minutes and then happened! Soaking wet and freezing but totally didn't care!

Sunday - up at 6 to finish packing, bus pick up at 8:25, flights to ATL and then DCA, dinner and passed out on the couch by 7 p.m.

I started typing this up on Monday afternoon at work, it’s not Thursday at 3:46 p.m. and I’m finally finishing it up. It’s been a long week of exhaustion which I’m slowly getting over. Monday was by far the worst, I was having horrible dizzy spells and my eyes kept going out of focus which made for a really long, miserable day. Been better since then, just don’t have the energy when I get home at night to do anything which means my suitcase is still sitting EXACTLY where I dropped it on Sunday night to open it and get Mickey and Minnie out. Hoping to be productive with this unpacking tonight since tomorrow’s the big day (5 year Anniversary big day that is <3)