Christmas Party at the Condo

Last night Isabella and I got dressed up and went down to the Christmas Party held in the amazingly beautiful residents rec room. It started at 7:00 and we got there at 7:45, just in time to see Santa arrive via Firemen Escort. There were lots of children and the line to visit Ho Ho was long, but Isabella finally got some courage and together we sat next to Santa and he gave her a bag of goodies, which made EVERYTHING better! She's still talking about him.
Here are a few pre-party pics!

I have a video which was too large for the blog, so here is the link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDXmBL1Zzu8

Getting ready for Christmas!

We celebrated coming back to Florida on the 3rd by going to get a Christmas tree at Lowes! I love the smell of all those trees!!! This was Zach's first live tree ever, and we decided on a 5-6 foot Fraiser Fir. It has soft nettles and was a decent size for our small living space. This was the first time I ever got a Christmas tree with flip flops on!

We hit up Target for decorations. I asked Isabella if she wanted an angel or a star for the top of the tree and she said, "moon please". Well, we had to go with a star instead...

We took Charrel's advice and instead of Zach making a Gingerbread house, we bought a prefabricated one at Target :) We only had to concentrate on decorating it!! Thanks Charrel!!  Isabella had a blast and we 'had' to read Little Einsteins book about Hansel and Gretel with the Gingerbread house to go along with it!

These decorations (sorry about the first picture I didn't rotate it!) are what my grandma did with me and Alexa when we were little.

Super easy to make:

Clear Chinet Crystal-Cut Cups (Hefty and others don't work b/c they are too strong and melt just in a puddle or not at all, I tried 3 brands...). Rub a little gluestick on the inside of the cup in vertical lines. Sprinkle glitter in the cup and turn so the glue gets the glitter. Place cup on side in 250 degree oven on bake. Watch it closely until it forms the shape you like. You may need to play with the heat setting. Take out whenever you like and ensure that top closed on itself so no loose glitter gets out. While hot, using gloves, use a screwdriver and hammer to poke a hole at flat point for ribbon :)

Halloween 2009

We had a fun and HOT weekend! Friday Izzy and I went to Jungle Island. We got a pretty good start on the day and were there around 11ish (right as the festivities begun). They had probably 8 stations throughout the park, each sponsored by places like Target and Costco. Home Depot had built these little cages that looked like phone booths, complete with front doors for the kids to knock on and then the representative would give them candy! It was a really cute idea! The pavillions had activities like cookie decorating, facepainting, and coloring/arts and crafts. There was a dj spinning fun old spooky songs like "Purple People Eater" and had sack races. Luckily most of Jungle Island has shade and we only stayed for maybe 2 hours (definitely had to see the Tiger Show again- they have a new, 5 week old white tiger cub!).
Zach got off work right as we were getting home around 1:30pm, so we relaxed and grabbed a quick bite at this little Mexican place called "Lime" that is kind of like "Moe's" (I really miss Moe's...).

Saturday morning we took Princess Cinderella to the Miami MetroZoo for MetroBoo. Mom did a great job (with help from Julie!) on Izzy's dress!!! We got there around 11:30 ish and were planning on meeting Zach's co-worker and his family. However they were running late so we went on ahead. The zoo is huge and had gosh, like 30 booths, sponsored by all sorts of places like boutique stores, Christian and Private Schools, Radio Disney, and various kids' party places. They funneled all the kids through the path of all these booths before you really got to any of the animals, which worked out really well.
It was pushing 90 degrees and barely a cloud in the sky. After the trick or treating I changed a thankful Izzy into a lightweight sundress for the remainder of the day. We sought some A/C in the gift shop where Izzy made fast friends with dozens of stuffed tigers, leopards and gorillas. l
We later met up with Zach's buddy at the Children's area (complete with carousel). We stayed with them for just about an hour visiting then they went off to play in the water area and we headed to the animals. The highlights definitely were the Asian and African Elephants, the enormous SilverBack Gorillas, somersaulting Orangutangs, and the brand new Amazon exhibit featuring a beautiful Jaguar.
The place is absolutely huge and they rent out those 4-8 person 4-wheeled bicycle/trolly things which is a great idea, but sucks if you are walking on a crowded day b/c all you hear is "ding ding ding" and just as you barely jump out of the way you see a trolly with 6 adults and 2 kids hanging off the front zipping by you. They also have a monorail system to take you around the park but somehow we kept missing it. I bet we walked 10-12 miles in the 5 hours we were there. Lots of fun though! We were so happy to get home and showered!!

Pumpkins and the Little Farm

Fall weather hit for a few days last week with highs in upper 60's, low 70's which made us kind of miss the changing of the seasons, including the fun that comes with pumpkin patches, hay rides, and roasting marshmallows. All of South Florida has to import their pumpkins usually from Georgia, Tennessee or Arkansas (at least that's what the Miami Herald said...) and there is just something about just getting a pumpkin at Publix that is less than exciting. So, after some searching, we found a little place called "The Little Farm" that is about 1 hour away - south towards the Keys- that offers kind of a pre-picked pumpkin wagon/fall fun for families. We headed down yesterday. It was cute, they had a wagon full of pumpkins, a bunch of tiny goards and mini pumpkins, pumpkins for pies, and with any pumpkin purchase your child got a free pony ride! The "Little Farm" is actually a pretty sizeable farm that does a lot with 4-H down here. All the animals are 4-H approved, non-hand-fed, so they are not aggressive. "The Little Farm" will also host a petting farm and pony rides to any birthday party or special events in Dade and Broward County, pretty neat.
For the "Pumpkin Days" they rope off a section for pony rides, an area of Little Tyke Playhouses and slides, a petting farm area that included a box of chicks, a baby pig, a turkey, duck, sheep, floppy eared bunny, and mommy and baby goat. We enjoyed the animals from the outside of the pen. Izzy still got a kiss from a pig, so she was happy. A portion of all proceeds go to a charity called the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association. Izzy was not too sure about her free pony ride, although after 20 seconds on the pony, she was "whee-ing" and grinning ear to ear. I think the main event was also the Little Tykes Houses and playing peek a boo out of the windows.
Izzy was not too thrilled about getting her hands in the pumpkin. Although she thought it smelled "SOOOO GOOOD". Zach had most of his carving tools at work, but I think he did a pretty good job!

Catchin Up

So my mom has been anxious to see more pictures.Unfortunately our HP'smotherboard burnt out and so we had to get a new laptop. When we bought the device to transfer everything on the HP's harddrive to the new computer we found out that, whoopsie, since we had a user password on the HP computer we can't access ANY of our files. NONE. No pictures. None of Zach's resumes. None of his pictures from work, files. NOTHING!!! After a few phone calls and a trip to Best Buy we found we could pay $750 to have an in depth extraction of our hard drive. Sigh. Luckily I had backed up most of the pictures on my external hard drive but nothing else.


Here's the catch up~
On September 25th Isabella and I drove up to Orlando and picked up Aunt Jill and Mom at the Orlando airport and checked into the lovely Sugarloaf Club Level room at the Grand Floridian. It was beautiful. First floor room right by all the snacks! Staying right by the monorail was a HUGE bonus, and Isabella really liked the "train rides". I'm gonna work on the verbage of this all later. I'm just gonna get some pictures up now.

All the friends were neatly arranged by our mousekeeper for turn down service :)

It's been a long few days with mounting frustrations on the fact that this condo is for sale and the MLS notes say to make an appointment with the tenants (us) to see unit. Fine in theory. Absurd in reality. We've had multiple showings that have gone, on the most part, well. The absurdity was, well, take yesterday for example. Izzy and I went to the park (it has been 75 degrees and lovely out to play!). We came back and she laid down to nap. I was lounging reading "The Taking" by Dean Koontz (which is FABULOUS. finished it in 2 days, definitely recommend it) and I had not yet showered or pulled myself together. Tomatoes and avocados on a cutting board along with remnants of lunch scattered the kitchen countertops, "to be handwashed" clothes cluttered the laundry room, cosmetics and other daily used things accessorized the bathroom. All of a sudden I hear a knock at the door. Another knock. Knock knock knock...I sneak over and peek out to see a group of 3 men, obviously a Realtor and clients. What?? I found myself holding my breath as I kind of freeze like an idiot right behind the door in hopes they'll just go away. We had been told the listing agent didn't have a key, that's why we had to be at the unit for showing. I start creeping back to the back bedroom when - oh yes- the lock turns! "Hello~!" i hear calling out. "Give me five minutes please!" I reply, hoping my voice didn't give out a totally pissed off tone. Then the whirlwind started. I was throwing things under, in, behind EVERYTHING. Not that the place was a total mess, but we had "lived" in it for 3 days since the last showing. UGH. Isabella woke up grumpy. Lo and behold it was the listing agent's husband, also a realtor, showing the place. THEN as I am standing, kind of fuming, at the door another "knock knock knock" comes from the door. "Hello! Are you expecting us?" asks this lady realtor as she looks me over in my disheveled tee shirt, jeans, no makeup and ponytail. I huff a laugh and say, "nope, not at all, but come on in anyway!Pardon the mess!"

COME ON PEOPLE. Give me a call. So then a few hours later the female listing agent calls and decides that now, after the place has been listed for 3 weeks, she should meet us. Novel idea. "How about tomorrow around 11am-11:15?" "Sounds good to me" I replied as I start immediately putting things away and bringing out the windex and bleach. Fast forward to this morning. Up and at 'em early. Everything SPOT-LESS. Izzy is now familiar that when we have "visitors" she can't play with lots of toys, and even though she would like all 25 of her fluffy "friends" to join heron the couch for Sesame Street, that just can't happen. So she helps make the beds and does a good job of basically staying out of my way :) that sounds sooo bad...

11:00 came and went. 11:15. 11:30. 11:45. Finally a phone call from the agent's assistant. "She's running late." Get out, really? 12:30 she made it. Okay. Enough of that fuming. On to some fun pictures!

These are pictures almost ready for showing:

We got a new duvet cover!

We like to build castles!

All the bikes ready for the Triathalon.

Someone DID not appreciate the size and length of this dress...although she was super duper excited to open the box!

Disney with Mamma!

We are regulars at Rainforest Cafe. I wish they had better food!

Busy Friday, 9-19-09

    This Friday started off slow but ended with everyone completely exhausted.

    Isabella has been talking about animals for days. In particular "eat ets"...eating with the elephants (in reference to Rainforest Cafe). Granted it has been about one month since we've eaten there, but it is about 1 hour drive each way, and take my word the food is not what you really want to eat every week, or three. But she LOVES it. So I decided to take her to Jungle Island again. See prior posts for fun info on this place! As we were walking to the car I realized, "shoot, we are getting our Crate and Barrel delivery (izzy's new dresser and full length mirror) today! We can't leave now!". Boxes were delivered around 1pm and then we were off.
    Izzy could not get enough of the Tigers and Liger, and was enthrawled with the tiger show. We made the usual rounds for about 2 1/2 hours and then headed home to put together the new dresser, oh I mean cheer on Zach while he did it. So here are some pics of the new rearranged room.
   Izzy also got a package from mama and pa today that was full of goodies. The main event of the presents was a pink princess dress up outfit including heeled shoes, flower tiara, and jewelry. Thank you grandma and pa!

Zach's Birthday and Vacation

What a fun time we had on vacation!! Original plans were to drive up Tuesday, Sept 1st in the morning as Zach had a tee time at 1pm. However he got off work early on the 31st and we just decided to drive up that night. Great idea! Got a $50 room at the brand new Fairfield Inn and got upgraded to a free suite b/c I asked for a fridge for Isabella's milk. We packed a cooler full of snacks too. Rolled in around 10pm. We slept in and enjoyed free breakfast before heading out to golf. It worked out perfectly that we were there early. Zach got to golf early (11am) and Izzy and I checked into the Buena Vista Palace. We booked a great deal, buy 3 get 4th free, and we reserved a downtown Disney firework view. Room was nice and modern, bellman was sooo helpful getting all our bags/coolers/etc in for us. Isabella and I drove across the street to Downtown Disney and picked up a Mickey Ears Hat for Zach. Isabella fell asleep on the 5 minute drive and I didn't have the stroller in the car (bellman carried it up!) so I carried her while I shopped- UGH!! Got the ears then had to take them to The Christmas Store to get them embroidered. That took 1/2 hour, which put us at 2:30pm (mind you Zach teed off around 11:30 solo with an empty course....gave me about 1/2 hour to drop them off at the Dolphin's Blue Zoo restaurant so they could deliver them to him at dinner that evening) Needless to say, I ran super duper late picking Zach up and he was not happy about me "getting lost". oopsie. He later forgave me over dinner when the waiter put them on him and said "Happy Birthday!" Hee hee.
So here's a quick rundown:
Wednesday Sept 2nd Magic Kingdom:
We got to enter park before it opened for Breakfast with Winnie the Pooh at Crystal Palace. We seriously had the 5th spot in the parking lot after handicapped. Refer to the slideshow at the bottom for a picture with Tigger that summed up that experience. (Charrel, I copied your slideshow link...love that! and I'm soooo happy you had a fantastic birthday! Yay the Open and Broadway!)
When we were finished with breakfast it was just after 9am, park just opened and we walked right on Jungle Cruise then Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Dumbo, and It's A Small World. By 10:45am we were finishing Small World and Isabella had fallen asleep in my lap. I think that is one of her earliest naps. Great timing though as it started raining and she slept through the hour long storm as we hung out in a gift shop in Frontierland. Hit up Country Bears which Isabella went NUTS over. As we sat waiting for the show to start she kept relating the Moose Head, the Buffalo Head and the Deer Head on the wall to grandpa's elk and deer. Then when they started talking I thought I was gonna lose her. She LOVED IT! Good rest of the day, hit everything with time to do Jungle Cruise, Train Ride, Dumbo, and Mickey/Minnie Tent twice. We left around 6pm just as the rain started again. Room service and we all slept like rocks.
Wednesday, Sept 3rd:
Breakfast with Minnie Mouse at Cape May. Much much better experience than Crystal Palace. Minnie, Goofy, and Donald were all hits. Zach had a tee time at 12pm this day which we also ran early for. Izzy and I checked out Animal Kingdom Lodge in the hopes to see some animals to no avail. Then we went to Polynesian and rode the monorail (yes, she loved it!) to the contemporary. That afternoon Zach got a massage at the Dolphin and I had a facial! Oooh nice! Then the best dinner I've had in a long time - Roy's! Our waiter even took a picture of us with the free dessert with the staff camera and had it printed and in a paper frame for us with the check :)
Thursday, Sept 4th:
EPCOT day. Got there 5 minutes after park opened, four rows from the entrance yay again. Somehow we still managed to get lost when we left though....I'm using the excuse "tuckered out" or "deliriously disney". Grabbed some breakfast at the Land after seeing Daisy Duck. We loved Soarin' (15 min wait) and got to do pretty much all of Future Land. I liked how they redid the Epcot ball ride with a computerized screen inside your vehicle to customize your experience. Zach was impressed with the Worlds. We had a really nice time, and it was really hot too. Bella slept for almost 2 1/2 hours and so I guess we accomplished a lot of sightseeing and Zach got to ride the "fast" rides. By 5pm we were debating what to do. We had 7:30 pm reservations at Tutto Italia (we tried to eat there or elsewhere earlier but nothing was available) we decided to leave. Went to Downtown Disney and ate at Wolfgang Puck's 2nd floor fine dining overlooking the lake. Really nice and quiet and kinda empty.
When we got back to the hotel I asked a concierge "We were told there are fireworks at Downtown Disney, we must keep missing them,...etc" he laughed at us and said that there hadn't been fireworks there for 3 years. But the website clearly showed a view of the room with the doors looking at fireworks over Downtown! I had been told by two emmployees that this was the best view for fireworks. The reason I booked a higher priced room was knowing we would probably not see fireworks at the parks, this would be a nice option for us to have some "nightlife" as Izzy slept. Ugh. I was irked, and I think he muttered that we too had been duped. grrr.
Anyway:
Saturday Sept 5th:
Sleep In, Room Service, Check Out and SEA WORLD! The line to get tickets at Seaworld was ridiculous. I can't believe we didn't preorder them for pickup at the window. Live and learn. But this was the first and only crowd we encountered, and it was Labor Day weekend. Izzy had clearly had ENOUGH and she was super cranky. Hot and cranky. She was amused with the aquariums, "okay" with the sea lions, tolerated Shamu then fell asleep. Ahh finally. Zach rode some rides while I hung out in any air conditioned gift shop I could find. We decided that the people who wrote the map had been replaced by monkeys as it was hard to navigate. We also came to a conclusion that the demographics of guests and employees at SeaWorld are maybe 2* compared to disney's 3-4* guests and gift shops are no comparison. When Izzy woke up she was in the Dolphin Underwater viewing area and that was definitely the highlight of the trip for her. We grabbed a bite to eat then headed home. What a fun trip!! Got home around 9ish and I think we slept most all of Sunday :) Zach was off Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so we did a little window shopping Monday and just relaxed the remaining time. Vacation is fun, but it is so nice to be home!

Oh, and we did get our resort fee waived each day at the palace due to the "view" issue. I also completed their post-stay email questionaire and since all this they have changed their website pictures.