SOCIAL MEDIA

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Friday, December 29, 2023

Disney Part 3!

Good morning! Happy almost New Year!! While for many reasons I am happy to see this year come to a close, it is bittersweet in some ways too. I have been reflecting a lot on this crazy year and what I want to focus on moving forward, not just in 2024 but for the rest of my life. I am in the process of setting some good goals for 2024 and can't wait to share them with you. 

In the meantime though, how about we finish this Disney trip??😉

Before we start, I just want to point out that both kids bring up Disney in some way DAILY. Yesterday it was LG asking everyone what their favorite ride was (even though she already knows, she loves to hear it again 💕). Liam asked for a toy monorail for Christmas and he pretends his passengers are getting off at Magic Kingdom or Epcot. It's so dang cute and I love how much they love Disney. Is it expensive and exhausting? Heck yes, but 100% worth it.

Day 5: Magic Kingdom

Friday, December 22, 2023

Disney Trip Part 2!

 Good morning friends! I had to stop and think to figure out what day of the week it was as I write this. I get so discombobulated when we are on a break, I feel like I never know what's going on! 

Today we are doing the next part of our Disney trip with a recap part 2! Where we left off, our little family of 4 had gone to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, then had a no-park day.  Now, at this point of the trip, my parents and younger sister Jenni were joining us-- yay!!! Also, my parents brought the Double BOB stroller so the kids didn't have to sit in each other's laps anymore-- double yay for the double BOB! 

Day 4: Epcot

This was our last morning of staying on property at the Hilton Bonnet Creek, so we got to Epcot early with the rest of the Disney hotel people at 8:00, ready for rope drop at 8:30. 

We headed straight to the Ratatouille ride. 

Devin and the kids love this ride... I, however, do not! My motion sickness gets so bad I have to close my eyes or stare down at the floor. Cute concept for a ride, but I struggle with the 3D ones every time. All that to say, everyone else loved it and I was happy that they were happy, so I enjoyed it too, even if my eyes were closed for half of it. 😊

After Ratatouille, we headed to the Frozen ride. We waited 20ish minutes-- not bad! Both kids love the Frozen ride-- I mean, who doesn't? For those of you who have been going to Disney for years, remember when it used to be just the Norway ride with the trolls? That was cute too, but I think making it Frozen themed was a smart move. 

Also, yes LG is dressed as Raya and Liam is dressed as Olaf. He had an Olaf head but didn't want to wear it, so he just wore the Olaf body. Olaf was a big hit walking through the park, especially the Norway area!!

We rode Test Track (another hit!) and then headed to the new Moana area. 

This was super cute!! Both kids loved it and I thought it was well done. I bet this area is nice in the hot summer months when everyone wants to cool down a bit. 


After Moana we meandered around and rode a few rides here and there. We made our way over to Germany and sat for awhile while the kids watched the trains. 

This was the only day that my legs were bothering me and I took a Tramdol. I let that kick in while the kids watched the trains and then I was good to go! After watching the trains for a bit, we rode the Mexico ride, Finding Nemo, went to the Beauty and the Beast show. The kids LOVE the Mexico ride. We rode that one like 6 times haha! The kids spent a good amount of time playing these little drums:

Which prompted Devin and I to swiftly agree that we will never have drums in our house for the kids haha! They're SO loud!

We had an early dinner reservation at the German Biergarten. This is our only picture of everyone, which makes me sad! Anyone else's parents prefer to take the pictures. but not be in them? Which is sweet of them to offer to take them, but then we have very few with them in the pictures.

We continued to walk around, ride rides, eat all the delicious foods. Then, it was time to head back to our hotel before our next big day at Magic Kingdom.

Thank you all for reading along today! I will be back to finish our Disney posts after Christmas. I hope you and your families have a very Merry Christmas!! 

Monday, December 18, 2023

Post Cancer/Chemo Recovery-- Month 5

 Good morning and happy first Monday of break! Yesterday we packed the kids' suitcases and gave them to their grandparents for a few days, because Devin and I are on our way to Mexico-- woohoo!! This past July we celebrated our 10 year anniversary, but because I was feeling like trash in July we decided to postpone our anniversary trip until I was feeling well enough to enjoy it. I am thrilled to report that I feel GREAT and am very much looking forward to the next few days of being catered to at an all-inclusive. With no work for the next 2 weeks and no grad school for 3 weeks, I am looking forward to sitting in a lounge chair by the beach with a book glued to my hand!! Doesn't that sound like heaven?

Friday, December 15, 2023

Disney Trip Part 1

  Hi friends! I hope you all had a good week. We are officially on Christmas break-- woohoo! I am very much looking forward to getting to spend the next 2 weeks soaking up some family time. 

Today we are going to have a look back at our trip to Disney. I can't wait! We were there for a full week, so I am going to break this trip up into 2 parts instead of one mega post. Let's have a look at the first few days!

Before we start, we stayed at 3 different hotels. This was obviously not our #1 choice, but because we were trying to save money and this was the only way we could do it for "free". As you know, Disney is crazy expensive! We go every other year, so we try to save money wherever possible. 

Our first hotel was the Dolphin. 

Monday, December 11, 2023

Not Just a Mom: Favorite Books

 Good Morning friends! I am very sad to say that today is my last time being a host for "Not Just a Mom Life". Life has been a little too crazy lately with going back to work full time and grad school on top of being a mama. The blog keeps getting put on the back burner and I don't want to sign up to be a host when I'm "phoning it in" for my own posts. Please keep up with Adrienne, Dara, Jen, Joanne and Sarah though! Who knows, maybe the following year I will be able to join them again-- here's hoping!