Run Disney Vacation!

We arrived back on home Monday from a wonderful trip to Disneyworld! 

We left early on Thursday morning and we arrived at our resort right around 3pm. My sister, niece, nephew, and my Dad had arrived about an hour before us. We were lucky enough to have rooms right next to each other so it made linking up so much easier. Our views were amazing too.

The kiddos picked up right where they left off and were so happy to see each other.

We cleaned up a bit and headed off to the RunDisney expo to get our bibs and shirts for the weekend. It was at the ESPN Wide World of Sports so it was a quick bus ride. Afterwards we decided to head to Epcot to walk around and take in the sites. 

We were all exhausted so we headed back to our hotel after grabbing dinner. 

We were up bright and early on Saturday morning to make our way to Magic Kingdom. 

We had a breakfast reservation for a character dining at Crystal Palace and it was so much fun. We all loved it. The kids got to meet: Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet.

We rode a few rides and enjoyed experiencing Magic Kingdom. E got to see the parade which she absolutely loved!

We headed back to the hotel and it wasn't long before we were all in bed. My sister and I had to be up at 3am to get to the bus for our 10k by 3:30am.

3am came pretty quickly but we were ready to get the race weekend started!

As with the last Disney races we did our goal was just to finish in the time requirement and not do anything crazy. We had the best time and enjoyed running through Epcot.

It didn't take us long to get back to the hotel (thank you to the rad bus drivers!!!) and were showered and ready to head to Animal Kingdom. We didn't have much of a plan for this park but our goal was to just go on the Kilimanjaro Safari. It DID NOT disappoint. Seeing animals like White Rhinos and Giraffes up close was amazing.

The kids were just happy to all be together and this picture just melts my heart. I can't believe how big E looks in this photo. 

We didn't last more than a few hours at the park until we decided to head back to the hotel. The kids played in the pool for a while (well E didn't, she was not feeling good). I think Lisa and I were asleep by 8pm because we had to be up early again. 

Our alarms went off at 2:30am and it was time to get on the bus for the half marathon! We arrived at the race site at around 3:45 and we saw a few friends of mine which was awesome. 

From what the announcers said there were over 17,000 people running this race which was amazing to me! We finally started around 6:30am and it was so nice to run some while the sun was still down. We had a blast! We just talked, laughed, and took in the sites. We were able to run through the Castle but the majority of the race was highway which can get boring especially if you are alone.

It was amazing completely another RunDisney challenge with my sister! 19.3 miles of running and it was incredible!!! I'm so thankful that she is always up for these fun adventures.

We got back to our hotel and after consulting with everyone we decided to make it a resort day and skip Hollywood Studios. We stayed at the Caribbean Beach resort and it was amazing! The pool areas, restaurants, and bar were wonderful. The kids played in the pools of hours while the adults lounged around. After we had dinner we hung out outside just relaxing and playing corn hole.

I am SO glad that we were able to take this trip and enjoy quality time with family while running these races. We were bummed that our brother in law couldn't make it but there is always next time.

It was definitely a trip we won't soon forget!

On The Road!

It's early here in rainy North Carolina but we are on the road to sunny Orlando! E has not stopped talking about this trip so it's going to be amazing.

I am looking forward to 4 days with family and lots of running haha! I'll be back next week with a fun recap of our trip. 

In the meantime, I wanted to share Kyle's fundraiser for Home for our Troops and the Chicago Marathon. A while ago I shared that I made it in through the lottery system but Kyle did not. He decided to fundraise with Homes for our Troops (just like I did last year). I am so proud of him for wanting to do this. His goal is $2,000 and he has already raised a little over $900 which is impressive for having started this in mid-November. 

For those who aren't familiar with Homes for our Troops, the are an organization that provides specially adapted homes for severely injured post 9/11 veterans. A friend of mine that I met through blogging has been directly impacted by this organization. Her husband (prior to their marriage) was given a specially adapted home. Nearly 90 cents of every dollar goes directly to funding these builds for new homes. To read more about them and the amazing work they do you can visit their website, Homes for our Troops. 

If you are interested (no pressure at all) in donating here is the link to his fundraiser. Their goal as a team is to raise $65,000. We raised over $60,000 last year and it would be awesome to surpass that. 

 Kyle HFOT Fundraiser

Any little bit helps.

I hope y'all enjoy the rest of the week and have a wonderful weekend!

Weekend Recap!

Happy Tuesday!!!

We are still enjoying a long weekend with Kyle and it's been really nice. He came back in from the field last Wednesday night and since they were in recovery from their training he was given Monday and Tuesday off (instead of the traditional Friday-Monday for the holiday). It actually worked out so much better.

Friday we had a date night planned. E's school has quarterly date nights for the parents which is amazing. We are able to pay $20, drop E off at school from 4:30-8pm, and go have a nice evening. E was happy because she got to play with her friends, eat pizza, and watch movies. We ended up going to a delicious steakhouse! It was a marvelous 2 hour dinner haha we took our time and it was great. I'm pretty sure we ate more than we should have but it was so worth it.

Saturday and Sunday were pretty low key days. It was rainy for the most part so we just ran a few errands and spent most of the time just relaxing or with E playing outside on her trampoline. It honestly was nice to just relax and not have anything planned. We did enjoy some homemade cinnamon rolls.

Sunday was my long run and thanks to the rain I opted for the treadmill. Some might think that 20 miles on the treadmill is terrible but honestly for me it isn't that bad. 

Monday we finally saw a break in the rain and headed off to SLAM. We had a great workout and we let E play on the playground for a little while.

After lunch we headed out to go miniature golfing. This was our first time taking E where she actually participated and she had so much fun! She did throw the ball a couple of times but it was still fun haha. We played a few arcade games and ended the afternoon with cupcakes. You can't go wrong with that. 

 

E is at school today so it's just me and Kyle at SLAM and then hopefully we can grab lunch before we pick her up. Kyle only works tomorrow and then we are off to Disney bright and early Thursday morning!

I hope y'all had a great weekend!

Progress

A little over 6 months I wrote this post about E's genetic cholesterol condition: hypercholesterolemia type 2a. At that time she was placed on medication to regulate her condition and to hopefully bring down her levels. 

For the last 6 months she has taken this medication 3 times a day. We have to mix it with either yogurt or pudding for her to take it. Let me just say that finding creative ways for a toddler to take a powder medication is hard haha but we make it work. 

This past Tuesday she had her 6 month check up with her cardiologist to see how she is progressing and how her body is reacting to the medication. Let me just say that this kid is a trooper.

The appointment started out with a routine EKG. She normally does okay with that but the nurse accidentally pulled one of the stickers before she started and I know it hurt E so she started crying. She made it through though and then we met with her doctor to go over how she is tolerating the medication. He was initially concerned about bloating and GI issues but she has handled in wonderfully. 

Next was the visit to the lab. My goodness that was awful. I had to hold her as they did her blood draw and a few times she yelled "get your hands off me!". She definitely wasn't happy but once again we made it through. After that we just had to patiently wait for the results to see where we go from here. Kyle has a tradition after getting shots or bloodwork we get donuts. So that's exactly what we did. We stopped by our favorite bakery and got 2 donuts.

We got home and she crawled up on the couch and fell asleep.

She was worn out.

We finally received the lab results yesterday and I am just astounded!

These were her numbers from 6 months ago:

These are her numbers now:

To see how these numbers have changed is absolutely astounding! The medication is working. Now her numbers aren't where we want them to be so the doctor is increasing her dosage and we will recheck again in 6 months. However, we are moving in the right direction and we couldn't be more thrilled. It is such a relief to know that we made the right choice with putting her on medication. 

Here is hoping we see even better results in 6 months. 

Running in Costume!

One of the best things about running a Disney race is running in costume. When my sister and I ran the Pixie Dust Challenge a few years ago at Disneyland we had the so much fun dressing up. We were very thoughtful when it came to choosing our costumes because we wanted them to go together but also fit the theme of Tinkerbell and the other characters involved in Peter Pan. 

On Saturday for the 10k we dressed up as Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. They were such easy costumes to put together but ones that were easily recognizable when you looked at us.

On Sunday for the half marathon we dressed up as Wendy and Peter Pan. I just have to say that running in an awkwardly shaped hat is not easy haha but I was proud that I never lost it.

In about a week and a half we will be running the Enchanted 10k and Disney Princess Half Marathon (Fairy Tale Challenge) and we of course had to go with a princess theme for our costumes. We went back and forth on what princesses we should choose and how we would go about coordinating. 

Well, this is what we have come up with! 

My costumes are Belle when she is wearing the yellow dress and Cinderella when she is the peasant.

My sister's costumes are Belle when she wears the blue dress and Cinderella when she becomes a princess. 

We thought it would be fun to have 2 variations of different princesses. I am SO excited to see how they come together. I have a few more things that I need to pick up for my costumes but I am ready for the races to be here and for us to have fun running throughout Disneyworld.

Let's be real we will do almost anything to go to Disney and get medals haha.

I can't wait to share pictures of our costumes and all the details of the fun we have!

A Week of Adventures

Oh, North Carolina! You are teasing us! This whole week has been nothing but sunshine and mid-70 degree weather. I mean, how can you be mad at that?! Well, when you know that those temperatures are going to drop by well over 40 degrees by Saturday, you can be mad haha. 

Kyle has been away for work so I have been doing my best to keep E occupied after she is home from school. She got really upset on Monday when he left so I knew that keeping her really engaged and busy was going to be the best thing. She wanted to go to school (she doesn't normally go on Mondays) so I called and thankfully they had space for her in her class. She was really happy.

After school we played outside and she "worked" on her bike haha. She won't ride it yet but she will push it around the driveway.

After school on Tuesday we headed over to our favorite trail/playground for the some fun. It's a nature center and just absolutely beautiful.

We stayed there for well over an hour and a half. Since we were already out, I decided to take her to get ice cream. Freddy's is one of my favorite places but it's about 25 minutes from our house so we rarely go. However, it is only about 5 minutes from the trail! Woo!

While E is in school, I'm able to get my training runs done after SLAM and with this beautiful weather I'm loving it.

On Wednesday it was time to visit another park. She did not object haha.

 

 I love watching her explore and create adventures for herself.

Thursdays is always our busy day. She goes to school, then it's home for lunch, and a nap before dance. When Kyle is gone we go to Chick-fil-a for dinner afterwards. It's our special thing.

 

Despite Kyle being away it has been a good week. She doesn't have school today but we will be heading back to our favorite trail today to run 10 miles with some ladies from SLAM. It's become a Friday tradition.

I am so thankful for this sweet girl, she is truly the best!

Hope y'all have a great weekend.