Lunch at Yak & Yeti

As I said earlier, we got lunch at Anandapur Local Cafe, which is Yak & Yeti's counter service. Marc, Chris, and I ate there in September, and it was really good, so we wanted to go back. We must have gotten there at a good time, because we beat the rush of people that showed up right after us!

Marc ordered "an" eggroll and used a snack credit for it. This is what he got:

Pretty good use of a snack credit, if you ask me. And those things were huge!

For his entree, he ordered the shrimp lo mein:

Marc said it was a little soggy like it had been sitting around for a little bit. Good thing he got the eggrolls!

I ordered the honey chicken with white rice:

It was so hot that I had to let it sit for a minute before I could eat it. Mine was really fresh! 

For dessert, Marc got the mango pie:

And I got the chocolate "celebration" cake:

Although I hated that Marc didn't really like his entree, I was really happy with mine! I'm sure we'll be back to try it again. Now, we have more park to see!

Sunday Morning at Dinoland

We got up bright and early on Sunday morning to be at Animal Kingdom for rope drop. Even though we were early, there was still quite a crowd. Lines had already formed to get through the turnstiles, which I had never seen happen before. Marc and I started to doubt our decision to follow the Unofficial Guide's recommended park schedule, but we stuck with our plan. First stop: FastPasses for Expedition Everest.

As the rope was dropped, you could see people part like the Red Sea...Half of us going to Everest, the other half going to the safari. We were able to snag FastPasses with a 10:00am return time. Awesome! We then headed over to Dinoland.

Talk about empty! Dinoland is the place to be in the morning! We were able to get on TriceraTop Spin without a wait. It's a corny ride, but I still liked it!

When we went to Animal Kingdom last September, Primeval Whirl was closed for refurbishment. Suzie kept telling us that we definitely needed to ride it if we ever came back, so we had to see what the fuss was all about. The wait time was just enough time for us to ride, then head back to Everest. 

To be honest, I was a little nervous about getting motion sick after seeing what Primeval Whirl was all about. But I loved, loved, loved it! I loved being spun around, going down the hills, etc. I think it's my new favorite ride at Animal Kingdom! 

We got finished just in time for our FastPass return window, so we said goodbye to Dinoland and the scary yellow dino. 

We were able to walk right on to Everest. Again, I was a little nervous about riding this again. The last time, I got really sick after riding it. But I promised Marc that I would try it again. Well, I guess Everest and I just don't get along, because I was sick when I got off. I'm thinking it's the backwards part that does me in every time, so I think I'm done with it.

After taking a few minutes to settle down, we decided to head over to Asia to grab some lunch. We went to Anandapur Local Cafe, which is the counter service for Yak & Yeti. I couldn't wait to get there!

Dinner at Kona Cafe

To kick off our trip, we decided to dine at Kona Cafe on Saturday night. It's in the Polynesian hotel, and it's my favorite restaurant for dinner. We ate at Kona in September, and I fell in love with it!

We started off with the sweet bread and macadamia nut butter. I was in such a frenzy that I forgot to take a picture of it! It was really good, but we tried not to eat too much of it. We didn't want to ruin our appetites.

Marc ordered the Teriyaki New York Strip and substituted the sticky rice for the mashed potatoes. He said it was one of the best steaks he has ever had.

I ordered the Panko-Breaded Shrimp and Grilled Scallops. I substituted the mashed potatoes for the sticky rice. Everything was heavenly, especially the grilled scallops!

After our wonderful entrees, we ordered our desserts. Marc got the White Chocolate Cheesecake. It was absolutely precious! It had "Celebrate Today" stenciled on the plate, along with fondant streamers and Mickey sprinkles.

In September, I ordered an "adult" dessert, but this time I ordered exactly what I wanted: the Kona Kone! And it was worth every bit of embarrassment! It had vanilla and chocolate ice cream, a chocolate Mickey, cotton candy, and an assortment of decorations including Mickey sprinkles, m&ms, toasted coconut, and ground almonds. Yummy!

Everything was wonderful! It was definitely a great way to kick off our trip! After dinner, we decided to head back to Pop and enjoy the pool. It was exactly what we needed after a long day of driving!

An Afternoon in the Magic Kingdom

After getting everything settled in our room and grabbing a quick lunch, we made our way over to Magic Kingdom. It is my favorite park, and although Marc always accuses me of planning more days there, it was logistically the best plan. We had 7:00pm reservations at Kona, so I had planned to hop on a monorail to get to the Polynesian from Magic Kingdom.

I was like a giddy little girl on the way there! I was so excited, and so was Marc. Before we could enjoy the park, though, we had to take care of some business. We had to upgrade our 7-day non-expiring Park Hoppers (that we only paid for at the 4-day rate!) to Annual Passes! We not only ended up saving a ton of money, but we got $40 back as a refund. Total surprise!

Now we were set with our Annual Passes and ready to go play! Of course, we had to stop and say hello to Walt and Minnie first!

Marc and I strolled down Main Street and checked out some of the shops. It was so nice to be able to relax and not rush, since we know we'll be back in May. We also checked the Swiss Family Treehouse and rode Pirates of the Caribbean. We also had to take the obligatory picture in front of the castle!

Now, on to dinner at Kona!

Checking In at Pop Century

So, we left on Saturday at 2:00am (our time) headed for Disney World. We made really good time and got to Pop Century at about 1:00pm (their time). Since we had checked-in online, we were able to get our resort packet very quickly and were in our room by about 1:15pm. Talk about excited! We got the perfect room with the perfect view of Hourglass Lake!

Our room was in the 70s building. The theming was awesome, and it brought back many childhood memories of toys that Marc and I played with when we were kids.

We quickly unpacked our clothes and other stuff, then headed over to Everything Pop. We had heard so many good things about their food court and were anxious to try it out. 

Since we had dinner reservations at 7:00pm, and we really weren't that hungry, we decided to split a cheesesteak wrap and fries. Let me tell you, we were not disappointed! It was to die for!

Of course, we had to get a chocolate-dipped rice crispy Mickey head, too! Yummy!

We were off to a good start! Next stop: Magic Kingdom!

Go Away!

On Wednesday night, I went to bed feeling fine. On Thursday morning, I woke up with a little sore throat. No biggie! So, I went on into work, and by about 9:30, I felt like I had been hit with a big ol' Mack truck. I called my doctor to see if he could work me in, but they didn't have any appointments until 3:30 (yes, 3:30!) the next day. So, not having any other choice, I went to a doc-in-the-box. 

The waiting room was pretty full, but I still got in to see the doctor in about an hour and a half. By the time I got back there, I was running a fever of 101.3, which I thought was pretty bad. I was given a strep swab and diagnosed with strep. I left with a prescription for Penicillin, since they were out of shots. Apparently, it had been a busy week at the doc-in-a-box!

Well, little did I know that was only the beginning! Fast forward a few hours, and my temp was up to 102.7, and I had chills like you wouldn't believe. I thought I was dying. I laid down in bed with jeans, a short-sleeve t-shirt, a long-sleeve t-shirt, and socks on and covered up with a sheet, a thick blanket, and a comforter. I was still shivering so hard that I couldn't fall asleep. 

By the next morning, I still wasn't feeling good at all, but the fever finally broke during the night. My skin was red and tender from the fever, and I was just miserable. Apparently, I didn't have a run-of-the-mill case of strep, I had a case of knock-you-to-your-knees strep. And there is a difference! I ended up having to go back to the doctor on Friday night to get a steroid shot, because my throat was so sore and swollen, I was having trouble swallowing and drinking.

So, today is Sunday, and my throat is still swollen and sore. I'll spare you the nasty details, but it is looking much better this morning. On Friday night, the doctor told me that if my throat was not getting better, I needed to come back in. Hopefully, I can make it through the day without having to go back. I just want this stupid sore throat to GO AWAY!

The Week from Hell

This week started off pretty crappy. I woke up early Sunday morning (at about 2:00) and didn't feel so good. Apparently, it was either a relapse of the stomach virus I had a few days ago, or something I ate didn't agree with me. Anyway, I ended up staying up most of the night in excruciating pain. (In fact, I'm up at 1:30am writing this now with the same exact symptoms.)

Skip to Monday...We had Teacher Inservice on Presidents Day. (What's that all about? We've never had to work on a federal holiday...can't say that anymore!) It ended up being a pretty productive day, because I chose to work in my classroom. I filed a mound of paperwork, dusted and sanitized the surfaces, and straightened the room. I was pretty pleased with the day. I even had enough energy (and sanity!) to do some scrapbooking when I got home.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had a SACS Review Team in our school. I don't know why, but I really stress over things like this. (And I'm embarrassed to say that it's my first SACS review in the 11 years that I've been teaching. I was sick during the last one!) I know I'm not doing anything wrong or against the rules, but simple mistakes can ruin a school's reputation.

To add to the stress, on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, we lost Tony, our beagle mix. He was actually the oldest of all our dogs. We're not really sure of his age, because he was from the pound, but we got him after Guiedo. Tony was a difficult dog, and we never really bonded with him like we did Guied. Tony preferred to be outside chasing birds and barking at the neighbor's horses. Tony liked the company of Guiedo more than he liked being with us. So, once Guiedo died, Tony went down pretty fast. It was like he was heartbroken over Guied.

On Thursday, we had yet another visit from the Alabama Reading Initiative. This visit was a complete bomb, which has never happened to us. We're usually really on our game. The visitors happened to show up during a transitional time, so all of the classrooms were finishing up whole group and getting ready to move into small groups. Without going into all the details about how I run my classroom, I'll just say that the kids were really thrown for a loop. They were so confused. So, we had to shake it off and get back to work.

Today, we didn't do too much around school. All of us were mentally exhausted and ready for the weekend. I gave the kids some extra recess and fun activities, and I was able to get some housekeeping things done around the room. 

I'm glad this week is almost over, and I'm looking forward to just chillin' around the house!

Wow!

This cover of Single Ladies is awesome!

Believer or Follower?

Note: I'm sorry that this post rambles on, but this has really been weighing pretty heavily on mind lately.

This morning on my way to work, I was listening to Rick and Bubba like I always do. It usually irritates me when they have guest speakers on, but this morning was different. This morning's speaker was Don Davis, a former NFL football player. Don played for the New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams, and lastly the New England Patriots. He was also one of the assistant coaches for the Patriots until last year.

Don was raised to be a believer of Jesus Christ. He went to church, Bible school, etc. He followed the rules and played sports, and as he put it, did all the "right" things. When he went to college, however, his beliefs were put to the test, and he did a lot of things he knew weren't right. It wasn't until later, he said, that he became a follower of Jesus Christ.

I was kind of confused about the difference until he explained it this way: Everyone knows who Tom Brady is. He's a quarterback for the Patriots. He is dating/engaged to a supermodel. He is in the news quite often. We know who Tom Brady is. Don, on the other hand, really knows who Tom Brady is. He has played with Tom and coached him. He knows him personally. They have a relationship.

It made me think...Am I a Believer or a Follower? I honestly have to say that I think that I'm a believer. I was raised in the Church, raised knowing who Jesus is, raised to know about the Bible, raised to do what is right. However, I don't think that I always follow in Christ's footsteps. I don't think that I really know Him.

Sometimes I'm jealous of the relationship that my husband, Marc, has with the Lord. He was raised in Catholicism and had very little understanding of the Bible. Yet, a few years ago, he was baptized in Christ. His story is different from mine, but I think his is better. He has a love for God that I don't think I've ever had. And I'm ashamed to admit that. And I want to change that.

I grew up in a church that taught if you did what was right, you would be blessed. If you did wrong, you would be punished. Through my childhood and teen years, I did what was right. I didn't drink, I didn't smoke, I didn't party, I didn't curse. I didn't do all the things that kids do. I tried to treat others like I wanted to be treated, I was kind, I was compassionate. 

And while I do have many blessings in life, like a wonderful husband, a career, a place to live, a car to drive, I don't have the one thing that I have always wanted: children. And for some reason I can't get it out of my head that maybe I did something wrong along the way. Maybe I did something that made me not worthy of that blessing. Don't people always say that children are a blessing from God? I think that is my roadblock to really trusting Jesus. 

I'm going to try to work harder at trying to understand God's plan for me might not be what I had planned. I want to be closer to God and become more of a servant and follower than just a believer. 

10 Questions

I was sitting at my desk this afternoon about ready to pull my hair out, and the following 10 questions that I would never miss came to mind:

1. Can we use markers?

2. When is lunch time?

3. Are we having recess today?

4. How much longer until we leave?

5. How many more days until (insert holiday here).

6. What are we having for lunch?

7. Do we have homework today?

8. Can I use your (insert school supply here).

9. Are we getting a grade on this?

10. Will you tell (insert child's name here) to stop looking at me?

I'll leave my sarcastic comments to myself, but let's just say that I hear these same 10 questions over, and over, and over, and over on a daily basis. Ahhh...Is it Spring Break yet? (Which, by the way, is the question my students hear me repeat several times a day. Payback...Gotta love it!