Wordless Wednesday

Edith and Cory Pass in Banff, Alberta

Finally Someone Thinks I'm Stylish

I would like to extend a huge thank-you to Mama's Gotta Go who thinks my blog is Stylish and Awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award.  Yesterday was a great day, two awards in one day I feel so special.  I must say though it's a good think Mama's Gotta Go never met me while I was in College or she might have revoked this award (no one ever told me head to toe fleece is not stylish).  Please stop by Mama's Gotta Go and say Hi she too has a super stylish blog.



So in the tradition of passing this award on, I am passing this award to some blogs that I find to be very stylish and to which I really enjoy reading.  First off you should pass off the award to 10 or so blogs that you enjoy and link back to them as well as the person sending you the award.  Finally your readers 7 random things about yourself. Enjoy!

10 Fabulous Blogs

1. Rub Some Dirt On It
2. one marine, 2 kids, and a craft loving momma
3. and then there were Three
4. The Happenings of An Absent Mind
5. The Sadler Family
6. The Unglamorous Mommy
7. Stay in the Car Mom
8. Protography 101
9. The Naptime Experiment
10. Cluster Love
11. Because I Said So
12. Tizzi Lish
13. Becoming SuperMommy
14. CharacterCrochet
15. Crafter's Boutique

7 Random Things About Me:

1. Both my boys were late, they just did not want to come out.  Tavish on his own 9 days after his due date and Callen was ejected via pitocin 6 days after his due date.  I apparently make a comfy home.
2. I called Callen "Mr. Chicken Legs" because he had super long skinny legs just after he was born
3. I knew that I wanted to name my son Tavish when I was in high school, I'm just glad that Kyle went along with it
4. I grew up in a town with less than 3000 people and my high school had 500 students from the 7 surrounding towns
5. I miss the mountains and not the mountains around here don't count
6. I like snow but don't like the cold (and 32 degrees is not cold), I like to ski both downhill and cross-country and you can't do that without snow
7. I'm addicted to baby carriers - I'm not super bad but it could get that way if I'm not careful

My First Award

I feel so honored that Mom's Life Made Easy awarded me with the Versatile Blogger Award.  It is my very first blog award, so thanks so much I am so very happy to receive this award.

As part of receiving this award, I need to tell you 7 things about me, and award 15 new bloggers this award for being a 'Versatile Blogger' as well.


More about me:

1. I'm a mother to a Canadian and an American (he's soon to be Canadian too)
2. I am SAHM but I have a Masters Degree in Fish Physiology and Ecotoxicology (maybe you can see why I'm a SAHM not the most employable degree in the world)
3. I met my husband at the YMCA
4. I WANT to be a runner but I really don't find running that fun
5. I won the bronze medal at the Arctic Winter Games for Russian Triple Jump
6. I've played all sorts of sports growing up: Gymnastics, Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Figure Skating
7. While I grew up in Northern Alberta where Country Music is huge, I CAN'T stand Country Music.

And my nominees for the Versatile Blogger Award are:

1. L to the third
2. The Pistachio Project
3. From the Mudroom...
4. it's Momplicated
5. Mama Wants This
6. Mama's Monologues
7. Midwestern Modern Mama
8. Mommies Being Mommies
9. Moms in Boyland
10. momstown Winnipeg
11. My dishwasher's possessed
12. My Grass is Purple
13. My Motherless Adventure
14. Princess Muffintop
15. Snot, Tots and Espresso Shots

Universal Studios - Day 1 (photo heavy)

So our first theme park in our Orlando trip was not a Disney World park but Universal Studio's Florida.  I am a huge thrill junkie who loves big roller coasters we just had to check out the Universal Parks.

I have to admit this was one of the best days we had while in Orlando.  The weather was perfect, nice and sunny, and we had a great system that worked for touring the parks.  The best part was the fact the park was empty aside from groups of hoochie dressed cheerleaders running around the park (mini rant - why do 7 year old cheerleaders have to dress so relieving and why do parents let them?  I'm a mom of two boys so I clearly don't get it but all I know is that I'd NEVER let my kid walk around a public park dressed like that - at least put a t-shirt on until you are on stage end rant).

Our plan for touring the park was simple hit the big rides early and see the shows later.  Also we split up so that Tavish did not have to sit and wait for us adults to ride but that he could ride or see something with the set of adults who were not riding (Universal does have a switching off program but it's different than the Disney one - the non riding parent goes into a waiting room until the riding parent is finished the ride and then they switch off). What worked so well about our arrangement was that Nana and Papa got to do something fun with Tavish and Callen while Kyle and I were on a ride but then Kyle and I got to have some alone time with the boys while they were on a ride.

I'll post our touring plans later but we had a great time but by 5pm we were ready to get some food (Pastamore in the CityWalk) and head back to our hotel to get ready for our early Disney day.

 Callen waiting in line to get into the park

Tavish had so much fun walking around the plants 

 Okay maybe Kyle was more excited to see Homer than Tavish

 Please don't let the clown eat me

 Waiting for Nana and Papa - MIB ride in the back ground (I was the all time champ at this game)

 Rip Ride Rocket - So much fun

 Tavish had so much fun in Fievel's Playland

 Don't get wet

The animal actors show was a huge hit 

 Tavish was very focused

 Callen was more interested in something else

 "Who stole my bra?"

 Cute dog from MIB

 Tavish looking a bit tired now

Time to go home

T-Rex Adventure Dinner

Tavish LOVES dinosaurs so I just had to have a dinner at the T-Rex Restaurant in downtown Disney.  Tavish loved it and it's one of the first thing he tells people about his trip to Disney World.  He loved it more than Dinner with Winnie the Pooh and Breakfast with Donald.

If you are planning a T-Rex dinner make sure you make a reservation as it tends to get busy.  Reservations are made easy now as you can do it on-line.  Don't go to this restaurant if you are looking for high class, fabulous food.  The food is okay (my father-in-laws ribs came out cold like they had been sitting under the warmer for awhile) but nothing special.  You need to go for the atmosphere, which is really something but could be scary for some kids.  Every 20 minutes there is a meteor shower and the dinosaurs come alive and there are a few different themed areas.  Tavish liked them all but the ice room which he refused to go into which was unfortunate because that is where the restrooms are.  Like I said some of the dinosaurs can be a bit scary but it was lots of fun and we'll go back again next time we're at Disney World.

 Callen hanging out - we did not bring a car sea and Callen is not quite big enough for the high chairs but this worked perfect (My Little Seat)

 Tavish and Nana in the sea room

 Watch out the Dino's move

Can I have my beer please? (Sorry Callen not until you are 18, 19, or 21 - it depends on where we live)

Downtown Disney

We decided to spend our first day in Florida at Downtown Disney.  Because our train was not suppose to get into Sanford until 9:30 and unloading can take up to two hours (ours was the 11th last car on the train - at least it was not the last) we decided not to "waste" a park ticket but instead check out the Downtown area.

We met my husbands parents there and we first headed off to find some lunch.  We parked in the middle of Pleasure Island (Exit 3) where there is not much to see or do during the day, so we headed off towards the shops (Exit 1).  We had a great lunch at the Earl of Sandwich and it was worth waiting in the long line.  After lunch we had about an hour to kill before we could check into our hotel so we wondered through a few of the shops.

Having two boys it's a must to go into the Lego store even if they are only 3 and 4 months old.  The Lego store is under renovation right now so they have set up this temporary tent nearby.  I don't know who's idea it was to make the tent yellow but wow is it hard on the eyes.

 See.  Weird yellow light.  I'd go insane working there

Next Tavish rode the Train and Merry-Go-Round with his Nana.  He really enjoyed both of these ride and I don't think they cost much ($2 I think).  We then did a little shopping before heading to our hotel.

If you have the time Downtown Disney is worth going to but I would not cut a park day short to visit it.  The shops are neat but you can find most of the stuff in the parks themselves.

 Mr. Potato Head - outside the Toys shop

Callen was really focused on the the Potato Head inside the shop

Tavish enjoying a train ride with his Nana

Callen's Disney Decoration

Tavish loved the Lego Loch Ness (or Ogopogo as his Nana calls it)

Another ride with Nana

Callen chilling out in his Mickey Ears

Choo Choo Auto Train

Instead of flying or driving to Florida we decided to take the train.  There is one Auto Train that I know of and it just happens to be near where we live and it goes to where we were going.  I love traveling by train, I wish that I could do it more often.  The gentle rocking and the relaxing, old world atmosphere of trains makes train travel so pleasant.  There is no rush, rush, rush feeling of airports and you are not tied to your chair as you are in a car or airplane.  I like that you can move about from car to car, hang out in the lounge car, have dinner in the dinning car or just watch the scenery pass you by (you see some pretty interesting things) from the window of a train.

The trip from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL is an 18hr ride and is suppose to leave at 4pm and arrive in Sanford (20 minutes from Orlando) at 9:30am.  Our train was delayed 4 hours getting into Lorton (near D.C.) because of a fire (not on the train but by the tracks in Georgia).  But they did manage to get us rolling by 5:15 and we arrived an hour early into Sanford (yeah Amtrak).  We did have to wait a bit to check in our car as they were still unloading cars from the previous trip but once our car was loaded the waiting was not too bad. The terminal is really nice and there is a small playground for the kids.  Our wait was made super eventful with an explosion from our 3 year old...it was a good think he was wearing a sweater and we had a change of clothes.  However as the train ride progressed we were a bit worried that Tavish and Kyle would run out of clean clothes.  Aside from the intestinal issues and small bumpy bathrooms (these two things don't mix well) we had a great train ride, in my opinion a bit short.

We had a family bedroom which worked out perfect with two adult beds and two child beds.  I loved this bedroom as it was a good amount of space for 18hrs and a train.  The nice part about this room is that you have window's on both side of the train so you don't miss a thing.  Dinner is served on the train and while it's not 5 star dining it's pretty good considering you are on a moving train.  Breakfast was nothing special but again its on a train.

All in all the train was the perfect way to get to Disney World and it was nice to have our own car as we were not stay on Disney property.  I almost would have preferred to take the train back from Disney (due to cost we decided to only take the train one way) as it would end a Disney vacation on a relaxing note.  I must say I'm looking forward to my next train trip.

 Super excited to be on the train

 In his train PJ's and playing on the top bunk

 Callen chilling out with his owl

Time for some travel games

Nice and sunny and time for our cars to come