Disney Marathon Weekend Trip: Days 1&2

As planned I was able to land in Orlando with just enough time to don my Goofy hat and mortify my children. In fact I was so fast that I beat them all to the Magical Express!

We dropped off our stuff and grabbed some lunch at the resort (first cupcake of the trip... YUM!) Then the adults got settled into Bay Lake Tower (BLT) and the kids and I went to pick up our annual passes. The walk to the Magic Kingdom (MK) only took about 6 minutes!

While we were there we decided to play a round of a new game called "Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom". You get these cards and then find hidden portals and use your cards to defeat villans. It's really cool and all 3 of us loved the game. Many of the portals are so well hidden that you could be looking right at one and never know they were there!

Please stand clear of the doors:

We headed back to our villa and picked up the rest of the gang. It was time to go to the Studios and see the Osborne Family Festival of Dancing Lights! But the first the rest of the gang had to get their park tickets.

What a crew!

 

Our arrival day fell on the very last night of the Osborne lights so we were really lucky to get to see them. When they all light up at once it's pretty amazing! Here's the backstory on the lights.

Mema even found the black cat!

We left the Studios and took the boat to Kouzzina.

The food was AMAZING - definitely a new Disney fav... and the kids added another over-the-top dessert to their list of favorites.... design your own cupcake!

Teddy's final masterpiece...

After dinner we were ready to hit the sack so we drove back to the Contemporary. The Mickey wreath was all lit up and the resort looked beautiful!

View of the MK from the top of BLT:

View of the main Contemporary from the top of BLT:

The next day my Mom and Dad decided to take it easy in the morning but Jeff and Papa had a 9am segway tour in Epcot. We got there on time and they got checked in.

While they were doing their tour, Mema and the kids and I rode Mission Space:

....and Soarin'

And the Sum of all Thrills. All with no line! This time Sasha was tall enough to go upside down on this ride so she and I built one doozy of a coaster and then there was still no one at the ride and the cast member asked us if we wanted to ride again! Yes, of course we did! So he sent us on a great jet ride that someone else had designed.

We grabbed some Fast Passes for later and then got to see Jeff and Papa finish up their tour.

Looking good gentlemen!

We ate lunch and rode Test Track with Jeff and Papa as their tour ended just when our fastpass window started. Nice timing!

After that we went back to the Villa for a mid-day break and then grabbed my Mom and Dad and headed back to Epcot for dinner. We ate at Via Napoli, a table service restaurant in Italy with three huge wood-fired ovens. The food was excellent.

Can't go wrong with Italian food!

The funniest thing about the Italy pavillion is that it is all staffed by Italians and they are all gorgeous! In our restaurant it seemed like a bunch of GQ models had all gotten fired and been forced to wait tables. Everyone was thinking the same thing but no one mentioned it until my Mom goes to our waiter "Can we have some more water?..... handsome man?" We all lost it. So I had to grab a shot of the 2 grandmas and our waiters.

After that the plan was to stay for Illuminations but it had started to drizzle and it was a little bit cold. No one wanted to get sick for our races so we decided to head home and save Illuminations for Sunday night. At least we got 2 chances for it. On the way out Teddy cracked us up trying on hats in Mexico. It was a great first 2 days and we were glad that we got to go to bed relatively early on our first 2 nights!

A few days in NC...

 At the last minute I decided to fly down to NC for 3 nights so that I could see my brother and my grammy since we won't be in the USA again until June. I found a super-cheap fare that got me into Orlando 25 minutes after the rest of the gang so I jumped at the chance. The distillery is open for business and Defiant Single-malt is now available in North Carolina. So I got to check in with everything up and running. And I got to help! Here's me giving the ageing whisky it's daily stir...

Making a mash:

 Looks good!

 I got to see several tours in action and I have to say that my brother is an absolute natural when it comes to touring people around and explaining the process. He needs to clone himself so he can lead the tours and his clone can make the whisky! While we were there a team of journalists came out and stayed overnight. They were really nice and they published this article and were nice enough to send me THIS LINK TO IT.

 I also got to run with Ana, who is on a facebook group with me and a whole slew of others running the Disney Princess Half in February. Someone had to show up to protect her from the rednecks that occasionally stalk her on her 5mile loop...

And I got to see Gram! She is about to turn 97!! So lucky to still have a grandparent in this world, and so blessed that I got to stop in and give her a hug.

As usual it was a whirl-wind trip. I showed up Thursday night and then had to get up at 4am on Sunday to make my flight. Onto Orlando!

Rhode Island!

On Dec 28th we boarded a plane for a loooong trip to the USA via Johannesburg and Amsterdam. We landed in Boston and were so glad to be back home!


It started snowing as soon as we landed and by the time we got to Mema and Papa's house it was starting to stick. Perfect timing as it didn't impact our travels at all. And after 4 seasons that were spring, summer, spring, summer the kids were thrilled to see snow!


It finally felt like Christmas, and we had a second Christmas right that afternoon as we all got to visit and open gifts.


By night time we really had some snow!! We were so thankful that such a big dump waited for us to land and then drive down from Boston. Even a few hours later and our trip would have been EPIC. The kids were so excited that they had to go out and play in the snow in the dark.


The next morning the sun had come out and we woke up to a winter wonderland.


We headed over to Auntie Beth and Uncle Rod's house that day to have brunch with our cousins. It was so good to see them!


And after lunch the kids had to head straight outside to play in the snow. Pig pile on Teddy!


It was great to be with family and great to feel the cold, crisp, winter air.


We spent a really great week just relaxing and I got to re-bond with my little buddy. She especially liked my goofy hats...


New Year's Eve dinner... check out little bit at the end of the table. She is hysterical!


We got to see our newest little cousin Stella. The last time we saw her she was only a few weeks old!


And we got to see Grandma and Grampa Cast!


We had a great week, visited the American Girl Store up in Boston, and had an amazing time with all of our cousins.


And of course, Mema fed us some amazing food!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Recapping the Year...

Well, my friends it has been quite a year. If at the beginning of 2012 you had told me where we would be at the end of 2012 I would never have believed it. I would have thought that we would still be in Korea, getting things wrapped up to come home to the States this summer. But now we're living in Africa of all places and in coming and going we have had many bonus adventures. In fact in 2012 Team Stolasz has touched down on every continent except for South America and Antarctica! (I'm writing this from Amsterdam...) That's gotta be a record we will never break, but I always say, never say never.
To re-cap the year I thought we would do a scale of 1-10 list for 2012, with 1's being terrible and 10 being awesomeness. Here we go:
1.) Cancer, school shootings, African crime statistics, public restrooms in China, fiscal cliffs
2.) Camels, broken puppy legs, visa delays, Korean cab drivers, jet-lag, Australian insects/reptiles, cats that spend the entire day outside and then come in to use the litter box, floods, trying to run in the PE wind, flying through Joberg
3.) Korean emails/greeting cards, IT band injuries, imploding stills, saying 'goodbye' to the HFC, the reliability of the South African power grid, trying to run on sand, air sickness, the Mayan Calendar
4.) Monkeys, weather in PE, driving on the wrong side of the road, global time differences, moving, running at the gym, washers/dryers in any country OTHER than the USA, South African power outlets (C'mon people!)
5.) Braai'ing, having domestics, school uniforms, iPads, Home Plus, African keys (???)
6.) Leaving Korea, having a yard again, Lunar New Year ski trips, lemon trees, Roxy (who should be higher but will STAY at #6 until she stops pooping in the garage), having a good book to read on the beach
7.) Surfing, biltong, judo, Maximus's hunting abilities, race expos, tree swings, anything with Goofy on it, Australian Accents, the smell of Tibetan yak butter
8.) Saying "Gamsamnida" for the last time, Ninjago (Teddy's pick), Elephants, South African restaurants, Brazilian fiddle music, Kangaroos, 'The Walking Dead', empty peanut butter jars (Roxy's pick), kids that assemble their own Lego sets
9.) $250 WDW premium annual pass discounts (!!), Blue Ridge Distilling shipping product, trips with extended family, Disney cupcakes, race medals, Christmas boxes full of candy canes, the LLL family, reconnecting with my big sis, my Dad still being with us
10.) Knowing that we have friends and family all over the world. Sooo good to see you if our paths crossed this year, and if they didn't know you are missed! We hope you have a wonderful 2013 filled with God's blessings!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Christmas in South Africa

Christmas was fasting approaching but it didn't seem like Christmas. To me Christmas activities involve snow and crisp air and chestnuts roasting over open fires not swimsuits, fresh veggies from the garden and beach time. We had to do something to make it seem more Christmassy. Like fill the house with the smells of Gingerbread!

We made the cookies one day and decorated them the next. These 2 did a great job! Of course then our Christmas treats had to go right into the fridge or the frosting would melt and get soggy. They got soggy after a few days anyway so we just ate them fast! Traditional North American Christmas goodies are NOT cut out for summer!

Roxy had no idea what was up but she knew something special was at hand and seemed to pick up the excitement from the kids.

Always wagging, always leaping into someone's lap or chasing a cat!

I told the kids that Santa only handles kid Christmas stuff, not adults or pets so if you want your pet to have a stocking you have to do it yourself. I let them help me stuff Roxy's stocking and they were so excited to get to play santa for their pooch!

Then we tucked the two of them off to bed. They were out cold in about 5 minutes. No fair! I used to lie awake for HOURS wondering how I would ever fall asleep on Christmas even when I was their age! We had a Christmas morning scavenger hunt to set up. Santa's present was left outside so he left the kids a scroll on the couch and a series of clues that they had to find...

clue in the wreath:

Clue in the fruit:

On Christmas morning they were up at 5:45, sooo excited and tore into their stockings with glee but didn't notice the scroll from Santa! (see it behind Sasha on the couch?)

Sasha helped Roxy open her stocking and showed her each item. Roxy was also very excited...

...And loved all of it! But the kids still hadn't spotted the scroll!

Finally they spotted the it and they were off on the hunt!

Reading the second clue. They had such fun with it and their reaction was priceless!! VIDEO HERE.

Two happy kids!

Roxy meanwhile was totally Wiggin' out on Christmas. Grabbing people's presents and jumping up to sit on the couch. What a bad dog. Love Jeff's hand in this picture and the look on her face. She seems to be like "Oh but the cats are allowed up here?!?!"

I made our traditional breakfast casserole and Mom, I even made a gluten free end this year. You would have loved it!

Kids had such a nice morning. Sasha loves to open each gift and play for a while so we usually finish opening presents around 1pm!

The boys got right to work putting some Lego Ninjago together....

And I got my very own wetsuit for surfing! When the kids go back to school I'll be ready to hit those waves again!

Jeff's family tradition is seafood for Christmas so we did a mash-up and did a South African Seafood Potjie. It was delish!

And then finally the kids opened their last present. Jeff and I just wanted to relax at that point so Teddy sat at the table and spent 4 hours putting this together all by himself. It's ages 8-14! Future Engineer....

It was a wonderful Christmas, but it was only the beginning of what we have to look forward to. The one thing missing was friends and family and tomorrow we get on a plane and head to Rhode Island and then WDW! Can't wait for 2 weeks back in the good ol' US of A!!