Hi. My Name is Jess and I'm a Bad Blogger

It's true. I'm a horrible blogger. I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month! I have so many things to catch up on.  I wish I could say that my month was filled with tons of amazing adventures but it wasn't.  We took a trip for a wedding and then it was time to focus on back to school.  Now that school is in its second week, I think I can start catching up with documenting my life.

Here's just some things we have to talk about:

~Em's dance recital (from way back in June.....slacker!!!!)
~Our Pensacola trip
~My new niece
~The time I pinterested a party (Em's birthday party)
~Em's birthday post
~First day of school
~Work stuff
~I turned 31
~Flavor Run
~Things I've realized this summer

Here's a few pics from our summer (courtesy of the good ol IG):

Making Top Gun look good at the National Aviation Museum in Pensacola

That time I actually looked pretty good

Meeting our niece on the day she was born

Pinterested a Tangled party

Noah's first 5K....The Flavor Run

First day of school.....Em was excited I promise.  She just didn't want her picture taken

Disney Vacay Part 3: The Pools

Let's be real here...it's not a Florida vacation unless you are poolside or ocean side at some point during your trip.  We're fortunate enough to live about 10 minutes from the beach and 5 minutes from the Hubs's dad who has a pool.  We love being in the pool (well I love being in a lounge chair on the deck) and I was determined to have a "Pool Day" during our vacation.  One day where we could just hang out at the pool all day long with no agenda.

Nice thing about Art of Animation.....they have 3 pools!! Yes I said 3!!! We had plans to go to all of the pools but we always ended up at the Big Blue Pool.  We did stop by the Flippin' Fins pool in the Little Mermaid area a few times (it was just so close to our room) but never made it down to the Cars area to go to the Cozy Cone Pool.  It gives us something to look forward to doing when we go back (hint hint Hubs....let's go back soon!!!)

Flippin' Fins Pool

View from the 4th floor of our building...We had the best weather!

This was a nice little pool.  It was right in the middle of our area so it was very convenient.  Em loved it because there were underwater stairs at one end that she could jump off.  She's still hesitant to jump of the side of the pool so this was a nice way to try to get her over that fear.  It never was too crowded and you could always find a chair.  Noah and I spent a few minutes there before having to leave due to an "unexpected cleaning." Not exactly what you want to hear.  But we headed down to the Big Blue Pool for the rest of our pool time.  The Hubs took Em there while I spent 4 hours at Urgent Care with Noah one afternoon (he had a really bad case of Otitis Externa, or an outer ear infection, aka swimmers ear).

Cozy Cone Pool

via

This was the pool we never made it to.  We had every intention of spending our Pool Day at this pool. Themed after Sally's Cozy Cone Motel, it's a circular pool with cone cabanas.  The cabanas are first come, first serve and we had plans of snagging one for the day.  But once we got finished with breakfast, the kids decided not to go there but to the Big Blue Pool.  One day I'll  be lounging in the sun with the kids and the Hubs playing in the pool and cone cabana.

Big Blue Pool

The Big Blue Pool
Em's running into it (she's in the bright yellow suit with red swimmies)

This is by far the coolest pool I've ever been to!  It's the largest pool at any Disney Resort and the most state of the art!  It's in the Finding Nemo area so it's themed that way. It's a zero entry pool which means you enter it like you would the ocean.  You just walk right in!  I loved that it had an ocean feel to it. The kids loved that they could just run in and out of it.  Besides the zero entry, this pool features underwater speakers so when you go under the water, music is playing.  I had read about this before so I knew what to expect.  Noah had no idea and it was just priceless to see his reaction to hearing the music under the water. There's a poolside bar that we didn't get to take advantage of this time. They also had a Sprayground that Em couldn't get enough of.  All of Nemo's friends were there and she would just run round and round, weaving in and out of the water.  She did seem to be fascinated by the octopus but I think that's because it was pink.

Sprayground

She couldn't get enough!!!

Running like a wild woman

They also have tons of activities every day on the pool deck.  Noah never wanted to participate in them until the last day.  They also do movies in the pool every night.  Our first night at the hotel, we headed down to the pool to catch "Toy Story" for a bit.  The kids thought it was cool but ended up enjoying the pool more.
On our pool day, we nabbed a table and a lounge chair and set up camp.  We figured we'd spend as many hours at the pool as the kids wanted because the only thing we had planned was our surprise dinner at Cinderella's Castle.  We brought our lunches out to the table and even participated in a round of Disney Trivia, where I am proud to say that we were the champions!!!  The kids were so excited to hear our name announced as the winner and headed up to get our prize.

Waiting for the next trivia question

Having fun!

Shouldn't everyone have a lounge chair poolside???

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times.  Disney knows how to make things magical.  I feel like a walking advertisement but Art of Animation is phenomenal!  The pools alone should be a selling point for the resort.  I could spend all day, every day at these pools.  Ooohhhh....maybe that's what we should do next!  Get a room for a few days and just stay at the pool! Let's get on it, Hubs!!!!

I can't decide what should come next so I guess the next recap will be a surprise!!!!
Catch up on Part 1 and Part 2!
    

Disney Vacay Part 2: The Food

Let's be honest....you eat a lot on vacation. It's inevitable.  We were blessed with so many amazing food experiences on our trip!  I was very nervous about the dining experience that I was going to have due to my severe gluten intolerance but fear not....I probably ate better than I ever had while I was at Disney!  If you have food allergies, Disney is definitely the place to be!

Like I said yesterday, the Hubs and I decided against getting a family suite in favor of the dining plan and a cheaper room.  Disney offers guests of their resorts the option to include a dining plan in their travel plans.  This allows the guest to have an allotment of meals that are prepaid depending on the plan they choose.  While we explored our Dining Plan options, we figured it was better for us if we bought the deluxe dining plan because it was a little less restrictive when it came to our food credits. There's about 4 different options ranging from Quick Service plans to Platinum plans.  Quick Service means that you walk up to a counter and order food.  Table service means you sit at a table and are waited on.  The Deluxe Dining Plan allows each guest to have 3 meal credits (quick service or table service...it doesn't matter how you use them) and 2 snack credits per night spent at a Disney Resort.  Other plans include just Quick Service dining or 1 Quick Service and 1 Table Service per day.  Each quick service meal included a drink, entree, and desert.  Table service meals included a drink, appetizer, entree, and dessert.  You should never leave a meal hungry on this plan.  We figured if we were going to spend the money on the dining plan (it can be quite expensive) we were going to eat at expensive places.  My OCD totally kicked in and when we booked our vacation in February, I made all of our dining reservations at the same time. Disney recommends that you book dining reservations 180 days in advance so I jumped on it as fast as I could. It was a breath of fresh air knowing that we didn't have to stress about how much meals were going to cost or having to shell out money on snacks for the kids.  And all of this was done prior to the discovery of my gluten intolerance.

I worried about eating at the parks for weeks until I stumbled across Sarah's blog, Gluten Free and Dairy Free at WDW.  She blogs about all of her dining experiences at Disney while managing her allergies.  Reading her posts made a huge weight lift off my shoulders!  I emailed back and forth with her about dining strategies and any hints she had for me.  I felt like I became a smart, more confident allergy diner.  I went into vacation excited to see what the Disney chefs could do for me.

We ate a lot of meals at our hotel. Landscape of Flavors is an exceptional dining location.  I think because Art of Animation is a newer resort, they put an emphasis on healthy choices when they created their menus.  True you can get the normal cheeseburger and pizza but they also offered salads, smoothies, caprese sandwiches, pasta dishes, chicken burgers, and more. The kids ate like kings and queens there too!!!  For an allergy girl, I had such a good experience.  I was totally confident and had no problem talking to with the chefs in each station to see what they could offer me.  On the first day, I was still a little unsure of myself but the chef made me an amazing pulled pork sandwich on GF bread.  It was HUGE and delicious.  The Hubs was so jealous of it that he ordered it the next day (gluten filled of course).  I was dumb and didn't take pics of all my meals but I tried.  For dinner, the chef made me a chicken burger with queso blanco cheese and black bean salsa with allergy fries (they have dedicated fryers and equipment for allergy orders).  It was AMAZING!  So good that I got it for lunch a few days later. I also had a few awesome salads and a great spinach, ham, and feta omelette.

Chicken burger....so good!!!!

A bright and colorful salad under an umbrella at the pool

We did 4 Character meals (Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, Play N Dine, and Tusker House) while on vacation which meant buffets.  Cross contamination is a huge concern for me but the chefs put me at ease.  At each restaurant, the chef came out to the table and walked me through the buffet.  He actually went dish by dish explaining whether or not it was safe for me to eat an item. If I had an item special ordered from the buffet, the chef was the one to take the order and he was the one to bring my food out. It was a such a personal touch that it made any insecurity I have about my allergy disappear.  I left every single meal stuffed to the gills but without an upset stomach....win in my book!!!

I might have eaten a ton of these since it was one of the only deserts I could eat (besides sorbet) all week.  Strawberry mousse in a dark chocolate shell.....delish!!!! From Tusker House at Animal Kingdom

At the non-buffet sit down meals we had, I cannot speak enough about the chefs.  Every single one was amazing and never made it seem like I was bothering them with my allergies. They made sure I had my own GF bread or rolls with my meals.  They took the time to review each menu item that was safe for me to eat or how they could make it gluten free.  They also brought my meal out themselves.  Amazing Amazing Amazing

My seafood pasta from Tony's at Magic Kingdom.
GF pasta, shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams

Lunch from Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus at Epcot
Asparagus, green beans, corn and roasted chicken (along with an amazing appetizer of salads, salmon, shrimp, and cheese)

Dinner at Coral Reef Restaurant at Epcot
Mahi Mahi on a bed of jasmine rice with a lemon shrimp sauce 

My cheese appetizer at Cinderella's Castle (yes we ate at the castle!!!!)
Goat cheese with fig jam, smoked cheddar, blue cheese with honey, and grapes

My Castle dinner
Tilapia with heirloom tomato/quinoa salad

This leaves us with desserts.  I will say that desserts can be a let down if you have allergies.  Most places had at least a sorbet or ice cream option for me. At our hotel, I got gelato, rice crispy treats, or BabyCakes NYC brownie bites. The Hubs got things like this:

Or at dinners, he got chocolate cake or this amazing treat from the Castle:

"The Clock Struck Twelve"
White chocolate mousse in a milk chocolate shell on a graham cracker crust....I was so jealous!!!!!

I did get to eat a flourless chocolate lava cake from Coral Reef which was amazing!!!

I don't know why I can't turn the picture :(

Snacks consisted of drinks, cupcakes, chips, popcorn, bags of candy, cotton candy, and my favorite of all.....

A sweet treat from my favorite coffee shop that just opened in Magic Kingdom!!!!!!!!!

We definitely made the most of our dining experience and got our money's worth too!  I would never stay for more than a weekend without getting the dining plan.  It allowed us to eat at restaurants that we normally wouldn't eat at due to cost.  Plus it adds to the memories we're making with our kids.  We surprised them with dinner in the Castle on our last night of vacation.  We would never had been able to do that for the kids if we had eaten at any of the character dining experiences.  For us, it was the smartest choice.  It might not be the best for everyone but the way we utilized it, it was worth every penny!!!!

Next up......Some of the fun we had!

Disney Vacay Part 1: The Hotel

This week is going to be photo overloaded so I'm warning you now!!!

The Hubs and I did a lot of research when it came to picking a hotel.  We've never stayed on Disney property with the kids before this trip so we wanted to make it a memorable one.  I spent many nights online chatting with Disney specialists, trying to make sure we had the perfect room for our vacation. Our top 2 hotels were Animal Kingdom Lodge and Art of Animation.  They were also at two completely different ends of the financial spectrum.  While waking up every morning with a view of the African plain with giraffes and rhinos right outside our room was tempting, I couldn't see spending that much money on a hotel room, especially when Art of Animation had so much to offer us.  So we decided to choose Art of Animation (AoA).

The nice thing about AoA is that it's the newest resort at Disney.  They have 4 different areas all themed after popular Disney movies.  They have a standard hotel style room in the Little Mermaid area as well as family suites themed as Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Cars. The Hubs and I had been to the property before just to see if it would be something the kids would like and fell in love (or at least I did). It's so bright and colorful and you can tell how much thought Disney put into the creation of this resort. Originally we were going to stay in a family suite (I think Noah wanted Finding Nemo) because they have a kitchenette and we were going to try to eat as much of our own food as possible.  Then we looked into the dining plan and decided to go in that direction (more on that tomorrow). With the dining plan, we didn't need to have a kitchen so we opted to go with a standard hotel style room.  We were able to do online check in the day before and requested a 12:00 check in time. We actually ended up getting there at 11:30 and our room was still ready!  Kudos to Disney for making that happen!!!

The kids were in awe of the property.  Noah even said "this is the most amazing place on Earth!"  When you walk into Animation Hall (the main building), you're greeted by a wall of colors as well as sketches from each of the 4 movies.  Most of it was concept art or beginning sketches but there were a few finished sketches. The light fixture in the atrium was beyond amazing.  It was filled with sketches from the movies and Jodi Benson even signed hers!!! (she was the voice of Ariel). I was excited when I spotted it!!!  I could have stared at it for hours. Disney did a great job of capturing the beauty in the artwork that their artists create.

Animation Hall in all its glory!!!  

Once we had our keys, we headed back to the car and headed towards our building. We were in building 8 which was at the complete opposite end of the property.  There was parking right outside our building so we were very fortunate.  We asked for a top floor room with a lake view but knew that we were earlier than our check in time and would be happy to have whatever room was available.  Well we were in luck!  We got a top floor and lake view!  Plus we could see our car from the room so that was an added bonus.  I got the suitcases unpacked, felt like we moved in to our new home, and the kids found all the Disney channels that they could watch.  There was one that had all the old school Disney cartoons that we grew up with!  It was fun watching them but even more fun watching our kids enjoy them too!

Our room was awesome (there's a video tour of the room on my Instagram feed)!  Every aspect of it was like we were under the sea.  From the ocean floor carpets to the shower that made you feel like you were stepping into Ariel's cave of human treasures, it was amazing! The table had the music sheets to "Under the Sea" on it with clam shaped chairs to match!  The lights above the beds were bubbles!  We even found a few hidden Mickey's in our shower!!!

We wanted to show the kids around the property but we also decided to start using our dining plan early so we headed back to Animation Hall to Landscape of Flavors, the food court area of the hotel.  It was our time to explore everything that Disney created.  The attention to detail was probably my most favorite part.  The landscaping of each area truly matched the movie.  All of the plants and bushes in the Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo areas looked like sea plants.  It really looked like you were on the ocean floor.  The Lion King area looked like you stepped into the African plains and the oasis of Timon and Pumba.  The Cars area looked exactly like Radiator Springs.  I mean these Disney Imaginears are outstanding!!!

The Little Mermaid area, complete with ocean floor plants, Sebastian leading the orchestra in Under the Sea, and the Dingelhopper!!!!  Ariel, Ursula, and King Triton stand at the end of each building looking out to the pool.  They're only 4 stories tall!!!  We were in the Ariel building

When you walked through Lion King, you were greeted by Zazu then you see Scar, perched on a rock.  They had an elephant graveyard and Timon, Pumba, and Simba walking across the area on a log.  Rafiki and Mufasa were at the other entrance.  Finding Nemo area had the Big Blue Pool, a state of the art pool.  I'll probably do a post dedicated to the pools. There were 3 but we spent most of our time at the Big Blue Pool.  Nemo and Marlon were at the Sprayground, Squirt was at the playground, while Mr Ray and Crush adorned the buildings.  The silly seagulls even make an appearance!  The Cars area truly looked like Radiator Springs, complete with the leaning tower of tires, the Cozy Cone Motel, and Lightning himself!  You walked down the street that Lightning paved and saw all of your Radiator Springs friends along the way!

All the unbelievable details!!!!

We walked the grounds a million times a day and took pictures with everything!  I think I have 3 sets of pictures of the kids with every statue, animal, etc, the hotel had to offer. I have about 7 pictures of the Dingelhopper alone (the fork).  The kids never got sick of it and there was so much to look at as we traveled back and forth throughout the property every day.  I couldn't be happier with our choice and I know the kids loved it too!  I can see our family staying at this resort for many years to come!  AoA should rank high up on the list of places to stay, whether it be families with kids or just Disney kids at heart!!!!

Up next.....FOOD!!!!!
  

Packed Up and Heading Out

The day we've been waiting for has finally arrived! We are finally on our summer vacation!!!  The Hubs and I have had this week planned for months now and we've all been looking forward to it. And after the week I had at work, I need a break more than I realized. I'm ready to turn my brain off and just enjoy my family. I might not be too active on social media (except on Instagram I'm sure!!!)

Instead, I'll be hanging out here:

And here:

And here:

And here:

See ya in a week!!!!!