Day Three-Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend, pt. 1

Today's the Day We Race!

2:30am

It's a half an hour before our wake up call and I decide to wake up and get myself ready so that I can get Bug-a-boo ready while Prince Charming gets himself ready.  I am extremely tired but pretty pumped at the same time.  Prince Charming wakes up a few minutes before the wake up call and when the phone rings at 3:00am I go over to Bug-a-boo's bed.  She is so sweet.  She starts to stir and says, "Daddy, is it wake up time?"  It is so cute and pathetic.

4:00am

We board a bus to take us over to EPCOT where the Family Reunion area is and the starting line queues.

It's too dark to see Spaceship Earth in the background

Sleepy little girl.  Excited mommy

We have about a half hour to walk around and check things out.  There are a ton of people and a lot of activity.  There are DJ's and video screens and loud, energetic music and just a general vibe of excitement!!  The level of organization is one that only Disney can achieve.  I am so impressed (as usual) with the way they have everything set up and running seamlessly.

I make one last bathroom break and then the runners are told to start walking to their starting queues.  The walk is a long one (about twenty minutes) but it is an interesting one.  Between the outrageous costumes some of the runners are wearing and the cool stuff backstage it is an exciting walk.

a broken down Jungle Cruise boat backstage

Prince Charming and I text back and forth to keep each other apprised of plans and locations.  I thank goodness we are able to do this.  It will definitely help to keep me motivated.

While Bug-a-boo and Prince Charming head over to board the monorail to go to the Magic Kingdom I finally enter my starting queue.  My queue is to start at 6:09am.  The race emcee's begin their routine and then they bring out the Fairy Godmother to actually start the race.  As each queue starts, fireworks are set off.  It is pretty cool!

Prince Charming and Bug-a-boo at the Magic Kingdom wearing
big "goofy" hats so I'll be able to pick them out of the crowd

 6:09am
My queue starts running!!!

Easter Lunch Plate

Since it has been the Easter season Bug-a-boo has been pretty excited about eggs and bunnies.  The other day when I was making her lunch I thought I would make her an Easter themed plate.

She asked for a Peanut Butter and Honey sandwich so I cut it into a bunny shape using a cookie cutter.  I attached a raisin (using peanut butter) for the eye and a white chocolate chip for the tale.  I also cut up some carrots (since bunnies love carrots) and I cut some cheese slices into an egg shape and topped a ritz cracker with it.  I shaved some of the carrot to make the stripe on the egg and used diced ham for the polka dots.  I also included a 1/2 cup of strawberry yogurt.

She loved the lunch and ate every single bite.

Day Two-Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend

Saturday was a big day for us!!  We woke up early and got Bug-A-Boo dressed and ready to run in the 100 meter dash in the Disney Royal Family Kids Races at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

She was so excited!  She put on her running shirt and mouse ears and was ready to go!

We got to the complex an hour before the start of the races because the amount of people that were there was unbelievable.  Not only were the kids races going on but a flag football tournament and a cheerleading competition were also happening.

She was so excited that as she was running to the field she fell and scrapped her knee up.  She was a trooper though and she only cried for a few minutes and then shook it off.

Bug-A-Boo was giddy with excitement when she saw the track and the field where the festivities were happening.  Again, Disney is awesome!  They had a DJ playing music and leading all the kids in games, dances and challenges.  Bug-A-Boo however, was not interested in any of this.  All she wanted to do was run.  She ran for an hour before the race even started.  The poor thing was sweating and all red in the face but she was having a blast!

Running the course

"Speed, I Am Speed!"

Intense competitor

Doing some stretching

Since there were so many kids in her age group running we decided that Prince Charming should run with her so that she wouldn't be alone when she got to the finish line.  I was able to get a prime spot at the finish line so that I could some pictures.  It was so cute and fun and I was so proud watching her run and she was so proud when she got her medal.

Run, Baby, Run!

Medal winner!

After the races we headed back the hotel to play at the playground and check out some of the animal viewing outposts where she got to see even more giraffes and lots of other animals.  She was a hoot!  She was running all over the place with her "field journal" recording all the animals she saw.  She started playing Secret Agent Adventurer and kept saying, "we are on a famous adventure, Momma!"

After all the fun at the hotel we got ready for a fantastic dinner and fun time at Raglan Road Irish Pub at Downtown Disney.  Bug-A-Boo had so much fun at the huge Disney store and was such a good girl at dinner.  She is one of the few three year olds that will eat the broccoli over the mac-n-cheese!  Gotta love this girl!

She had so much fun at Downtown Disney.  She had a fabulous time watching the Irish dancers at the pub and while riding along in her stroller she heard the Black Eyed Peas and started dancing in her stroller and said, "I'm gettin' funky, Momma!"  We laughed so hard.  We headed back to the hotel to turn in early since we had to get up at 3:00am in the morning to get to EPCOT for the Half-Marathon.  Before going to bed though I got a picture in my "princess costume" with my little princess.

It was a fantastic day and we were all pretty excited for the big race to get here.

Tomorrow...Race Day!

Day One-Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend

I know that this blog's main focus is scrapbooking and crafting but I felt like I wanted to share a fantastic personal experience that was a year in the making and that actually took place about two months ago.

Back in January I declared 2011 the "Year of Me".  I decided to start taking care of myself both in my physical appearance and my health.  A few of the steps I've taken to do that is to set hair appointments every 8 weeks for the rest of the year as well as putting manicures and pedicures on my calendar every month.  I've joined Weight Watchers and as of today have lost 9.2 pounds and the Driver family has decided to go all organic/local/"Whole Foodish" when it comes to our food and other products we use.  One of the biggest things I did though was run in the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February and finish!!

I started training to run the Half Marathon in April of 2010.  By February of 2011 I was stressed out, burned out and ready to get it over with.

We left Ohio on Friday, February 25th.  We checked into the Animal Kingdom Lodge and were blown away by the fabulous Savannah View Room that we had.

 Bug-A-Boo was going out of her mind having giraffes, antelope and ostriches right outside our balcony.  She was running in between the living room and bedroom via the balcony yelling, "Mama did you see the giraffe?  Mama did you see the ostrich?"  She gave all of the animals names, Ostarita the ostrich, Geraldine the giraffe and Chewie the antelope (because it was always chewing food).

We settled into our beautiful room and then headed to the Expo to pick up our race packets.  The Expo was crazy!  The amount of people there was unbelievable.  I will definitely hand it to Disney though, they have got packet pick up down to a science.  The whole process took less than 10 minutes for both mine, Bug-A-Boo's and Prince Charming's packets.

Unfortunately, we were running late due to the buses so we ended up taking a cab for our character dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian.

This would be Bug-A-Boo's first Disney Character dining experience so we thought a dinner with Cinderella would be perfect.  The dinner was good and the characters where great!   Bug-A-Boo was a little afraid of Drizella and Anastasia (Cinderella's step-sisters) but then she realized they were more silly than scary.  She was still pretty shy though but that's okay.  She would get really excited about the character after they left our table.  It was pretty funny.

It was a fun first day.  A good flight, a great room, a fun dinner and a super excited little girl!!

Tomorrow, the Disney Family and Kid Races...Bug-A-Boo is running the 100m dash!!