family – Page 2 – Bless Your Heart

Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Day 9

February 6, 2016February 19, 2016 Shannon

Today we woke up extra early to get ready, pack last minute items and disembark. There are 2 ways you can disembark on Disney Cruise Line. You can meet early in the lobby, tote your own luggage, and leave the ship on your own. That’s Express Walk Off. Or you can go to breakfast at an assigned time and have the ship handle your luggage. Then you’d pick up your luggage in the terminal on your way out. We chose to do the Express Walk Off because we like to hit the road early so we can get home at a reasonable time. Because we have late dinner we would have late breakfast so we wouldn’t even sit down to eat until 8 am. Because of the mechanical troubles, we were still moving when we woke up! We weren’t able to leave the ship, even with express walk off, until 8 am because of being late to the port. Even still, there were NO lines in customs so we breezed right through and were out to our car within 20 minutes of leaving our room! Love how organized Disney is!

I forgot to tell you something! When your ship is sailing away, your loved ones at home can watch via the Port Canaveral web cam! Mom of CSP watched us sail away and took some screen shots of the Fantasy.

Back to our last day of vacation… the drive home was uneventful except for Blanca (my trusty RAV 4) turned 100,000 miles!

Now the Fantasy was scheduled to leave today for a Western Caribbean cruise at 5 pm. But because of the mechanical troubles she had on our cruise she didn’t leave until 7:15 pm!!!

Even with mechanical troubles we still had a magical vacation and we can’t wait for next time!!!

fun, travel

Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Day 8

February 5, 2016February 19, 2016 Shannon

Today was our last sea day. We were bummed we weren’t going to be able to go to Castaway Cay, but we decided to make the most of it! First we went to breakfast at Cabanas. Then we went to the spa to use our Rainforest Room day pass. The Rainforest Room is really lots of rooms and awesome amenities available for use. There are aromatherapy showers, saunas, hot tubs with views of the sea, and heated tile loungers. Ahhh the heated tile loungers! The best place on the ship to read your book. We made great use of the Rainforest Room all morning until we had grumblings for lunch.

We dried off as best we could then went to Royal Court for lunch. Afterward we decided to put our free $200 to good use and stopped by the gift shops. All week we’d been eyeing BB8. And now we could get him guilt free! Plus we were able to use our 10% discount for being Gold Castaway Club members! We dropped BB8 off in our room and CSP went to play another round of the golf simulator with Kevin. I took a nap while they golfed then got up and started organizing and packing since today was our last day on the ship. CSP came back to the room and we went up to Satellite Falls. It was closed due to extremely high winds so we went back down to the Quiet Cove adult pool for a while. We hung out in the pool until I got too cold then we went back to the Rainforest Room for a couple hours until it was time to get dressed for dinner.

Dinner tonight was at the Enchanted Garden. We had a great dinner and said our goodbyes to our serving team of Diartha and Yami. Then back to our room to pack where we found a rhino! We watched Lilo and Stitch (Stitch is my favorite) while we packed and filled out our comment card. It was time for bed. We have to get up early tomorrow!

fun, travel

Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Day 7

February 4, 2016February 17, 2016 Shannon

Today was another sea day! I like sea days because they give you time to enjoy the ship. Today we woke up and showered and got ready for brunch at Palo. Palo is on the back end of the ship with gorgeous views of the sea. We went up to Palo and Luca, our server, met us in the Meridian Lounge. The chandelier at the entrance of Palo. There is a big debate amongst Disney Cruisers as to which is better at Palo- brunch or dinner? I love them both! Brunch is amazing. First your server gets your drink order then walks you through the brunch buffet,explaining each section and giving recommendations. Then you are on your own to explore the buffet. Your server will check in on you from time to time and will place orders for the larger entrees and pizzas. Today CSP got the orecchiette with salmon, salmon and risotto (he loves seafood!), and lasagne. Luca brought us both lasagnes even though I said I didn’t want one. He told me trust me, you want this lasagne. The portions are on the smaller side compared to dinner so you can try many things. Luca said he wanted us to try everything! I ordered a goat cheese and sun dried tomato pizza, chicken parmesan, strawberry soup, and of course, the lasagne. CSP picked the sun dried tomatoes off the pizza and tried some of it too. I don’t order chicken parmesan anywhere else- it’s incredible! And Luca was right about the lasagne. It melted in your mouth. It was made with a béchamel sauce instead of cheese and the meat sauce had carrots in it, so it was quite different from the lasagne I make at home! I wish I could make lasagne like that! One of the touches that makes Palo special is how they present their iced tea. Instead of frozen water ice cubes they use frozen tea! So your tea never gets diluted. Arguably the best part of brunch though, is the dessert. They offer an array of tiny little sweet masterpieces and they always remind you that on vacation calories don’t count! They even give you the tiniest of spoons to taste everything with. Love.

After brunch we waddled back to our room to relax for a bit until it was time to meet up with Amy and Kevin. On the way we heard bits and pieces of an announcement from the captain, but we didn’t know the full story. We found out more about that later.

Kevin and CSP went up to the sports deck to play in the golf simulator while Amy, Ellen and I went to the Royal Court Royal Tea Party. We were seated at a table with Ruby (age 4), Ruby’s mom, and Ruby’s Godmother, all from Dublin, Ireland. They were fun to talk to. The event was too cute. Each girl was deemed a Princess and was announced to the room upon entering. At the table there were gifts waiting for each princess. They received a Cinderella doll, a jewelry box with a charm bracelet and necklace inside, a gorgeous autograph/memory book, a fancy pen for getting autographs, and a cookie with their name on it. Once we were all seated Lady Chamomile came out and welcomed us. Then Chef Brule (pronounced like creme brule) came out and the two of them sang songs and worked the room. Next it was time for the princesses to arrive. First came Belle, then Tiana, then Cinderella. Each princess stopped by the table twice. The first time to chat with each girl, then the second time to sign autographs and take pictures and chat a little more. They were all so beautiful and sweet to the girls. And each princess brought the girls a gift- a charm for their charm bracelets. We were served teas of our choosing (the girls received apple juice), and they brought out a serving platter full of tiny finger sandwiches and sweets. Then the adults were brought warm scones with clotted cream and jam while the little girls each got a cupcake in a tea cup. It was all just lovely and I’m sure any little girl’s dream!

After the tea I went down to O’Gills Pub to meet up with the boys. I visited with them for a while then went to the Future Cruise Desk. By this time Amy had filled me in on that captain’s announcement. One of the ship’s motors was out and it meant we would not be able to stop at Castaway Cay tomorrow! Boo! This is the second cruise in a row where we’ve missed Castaway Cay! In October it was because of Hurricane Joaquin, and now this. Because of missing Castaway Cay and it was technically Disney Cruise Line’s fault, they offered us compensation. Each stateroom received a $200 onboard credit and 20% off a future cruise. Normally when you book a future cruise on board you get a 10% discount. So you can imagine the line was pretty long. I found Amy in line ahead of me, and got in line behind a couple we’d met during the cruise. Chatting with them made the wait more bearable. I booked our cruise and went back to the room to meet up with CSP and get ready for dinner.

Dinner tonight was back at Animator’s Palate. Tonight everyone drew a cartoon person on a paper we were given. They were collected by the waitstaff and animated on the big screens around the room. It’s really cute how they do it.

After dinner it was back to the room for bed, where we were greeted by a towel frog!

Tomorrow… ~~Castaway Cay!~~ Nope, another sea day!

fun, travel

Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Day 6

February 3, 2016February 17, 2016 Shannon

This morning we are in St. Thomas US Virgin Islands! We woke up early again today as we had another excursion. We ate a quick breakfast in Cabanas then met up with our group in The Tube. My foot had been hurting and when I sat down at the Tube I inspected it to find out why. Well yesterday we did a lot of walking and I was wearing new flip flops. I rubbed a HUGE blister in between my big and 2nd toe that stretched all down the ball of my foot by a good 2 inches! HUGE I tell ya! So I was not thrilled when we had to walk another eleventy hundred miles to the boat for today’s excursion! We were on the Caribbean Sea Snorkel and Beach Tour. Our boat took us out to this spot where lots of other boats went for snorkeling where we were supposed to be able to see lots of cool fish and turtles. Our group snorkeled there for a good hour then back on the boat and off to Honeymoon Beach for another hour.

On the way back to the ship we passed by the Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, one of the largest cruise ships in the world! I’ve seen it on tv and the internet but it is a sight to behold in real life! ENORMOUS! It dwarfed the Carnival cruise ship docked next to it! CSP said he’d like to go on it, but I think I’ll stick with Disney. The Allure is just too big for me. Too many people. We docked back at the pier, which was quite busy. They said there were 10 cruise ships at St. Thomas today! Even if each ship only held 2,000 people that’s an additional 20,000 people on this tiny island in one day! We saw more yachts too.
We had to pass by a Princess ship to get to the Fantasy (see Dumbo painting the ship?) on our walk back. Security checks you for your ship’s card (Key to the World Card) and your photo ID if you’re over 18. Disney Cruise Line tells you this a million times. Maybe it’s different on Princess, I don’t know. But there was a couple fighting quite loudly with the security guard because she didn’t have her ID and “no one has asked for it before”. Some swear words were exchanged and the security guard said “If you want to give me attitude you can just wait out here in the hot sun!”. I wish we could have seen how that ended up! But back to the ship for us at about noon.

We took a nap then grabbed a quick bite at Flo’s then headed up to Satellite Falls– our favorite feature on the Fantasy. We read and hung out up there for a good while until it was time to go back to our room to get ready for dinner. CSP watched The Incredibles on demand while I primped.
Dinner tonight was at Royal Court. Colin and Ellen fell asleep at dinner again. Poor things. Dinner is at 8:15 so they can barely keep their eyes open long enough to eat then it’s lights out right at the table!

We came back to our room to find a cool gorilla wearing my ‘Ohana sunglasses! Every night they also leave on your bed a copy of the next day’s Navigator (the daily newsletter with all the ship’s activities) and any other information they need to communicate with you.

Time for bed. Tomorrow is a sea day filled with activities!!!

fun, travel

Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Day 5

February 2, 2016February 16, 2016 Shannon

We woke up super early today and got up to Cabana’s right as they opened for breakfast. We even beat the sun up! I haven’t seen a sunrise in a long time! Our breakfast view: Breakfast in Cabana’s is my favorite meal there. I love how themed it all is. Like the seagulls at the drink station. So cute.

After breakfast we met in the D Lounge at 7:45. Disney Cruise Line is VERY organized when it comes to port adventures. I checked us in and we waited for the next step. Our tour was Tortola by Land and Sea! Our ship and another ship in port at Tortola’s new pier. This was our first time in Tortola and we wanted to see as much of it as we could. Well we picked the right tour for that! We walked down the pier and boarded a boat that took us out all around the island and to nearby islands. The tour guide was great- full of info! We went to Treasure Island (Norman Island), where pirates would hide their booty in caves. And we saw tons of yachts. Who knew there were so many giant yachts cruising around the Caribbean?!? That’s how the other half lives! We were on the boat for about 2 hours. Then the boat let us off at Pusser’s Landing– a small shopping/dining/marina area. We had about 30 minutes to relax and shop. Then a man came into the area where we were all gathered and herded us onto these bizarre open air taxi bus thingies. They were like safari jeeps on a truck chassis. Next started the terrifying part of the tour. The shocks on these bus/jeeps had seen better days. We were bouncing all over the place, barreling up and down these windy, mountain roads, chickens and goats running for their lives trying to get out of our way! We would come to these turns in the road and our driver would just lay on the horn and go. Never mind that you couldn’t see around the corner if there was traffic coming. The roads were BARELY wide enough for one car, so passing traffic was interesting! Our tour guide’s name was Lyndon and he drove us around for about an hour and a half telling us all about the island. Tortola is the capital of the British Virgin Islands. Road Town is their main town and that’s where our ship was docked. Lyndon stopped periodically to let us off the bus to take pictures. There were some really stunning views. Our ship, the Disney Fantasy from atop the mountain: It was a really fun and interesting way to see the island! We made our way back down to the pier and Lyndon dropped us off where we had to walk through a shopping area (smart) to get to the ship. We were back on board by about 12 noon.

We needed lunch so we headed back up to Cabanas so CSP could get some shrimp. I had a hard time finding anything appetizing. I’m just not a buffet girl unless it’s a breakfast buffet. So we stopped at Eye Scream for ice cream on our way back to our room. We took a nap then got ready to see Star Wars The Force Awakens at 5 in the Walt Disney Theatre in 3D! CSP had been looking forward to this almost more than any other part of the cruise! We met up with the Family and caught up before the movie started. It was a great movie. Afterward we raced back to our room to get ready for dinner at Palo at 8. On the way to Palo we passed Pepe the Prawn’s room. SO cute, I always have to snap a picture.
Palo is the adults only Italian inspired restaurant on the ship. Oh man is it good. We look forward to our meal there all year! CSP gets the same thing each time- cippino (a seafood stew) for his appetizer and osso bucco for his entree. And each time he is amazed by how good it is! I mix it up and try something different each time. We met up with Amy & Kevin in the Meridian lounge and waited a moment until they took us to our table. Our server was Luca from Italy. So classically Italian too, with the accent and everything. He was great! I had the butternut squash ravioli for my appetizer. My entree was the rosemary chicken. CSP and I also shared the pan seared sea scallops. We all had the incredible chocolate souffle for dessert as well as a couple other desserts Luca insisted on bringing out. He wanted us to try a little of everything!

We finished dinner just in time to see the pirate party fireworks. Photos don’t do them justice. Then it was back to our room for bed. Discovered a cool Aztec looking sun god on our bed! Another early morning tomorrow…in St. Thomas!!!

fun, travel

Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Day 4

February 1, 2016February 16, 2016 Shannon

Another sea day! We slept in a bit- right through breakfast! So we got up and got dressed and went to Royal Court for lunch. After lunch we went to the Walt Disney Theatre to see The Good Dinosaur. It was so sweet! Too sweet for CSP. It was funny, but didn’t have enough funny parts for CSP, and I sobbed through the whole thing!
After the movie I checked my face (thank goodness for waterproof eyeliner!) and we made our way back to the Skyline Lounge for Mixology part 2! Today Ashley showed us how to make a Brazilian mojito, Pomegranate Passion, the Chocolate Martini again (which I didn’t mind at all because it is delicious!), a RumChata and Fireball Whiskey shot called Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and a classic Midori Sour.

After Mixology we went back to our room for a nap and to get ready for dinner. Tonight’s dinner was special because it was Ellen’s 9th birthday! Family even decorated their door for the occasion! You can decorate your stateroom doors with magnets. Even the walls and ceilings in the room are magnetic! On the way to dinner we spotted Chip and Dale! Dinner tonight was in Animator’s Palate. Crush the sea turtle from Finding Nemo came out onto the big video screens around the room and interacted with diners. It was really cute.
Here are a couple of pics of CSP and his little buddy Colin. Colin just LOVES CSP! Colin follows him around, always wants to sit by him, defends him if we pick on CSP- Hey! He’s my friend!, and even snuck in a kiss on the cheek one night at dinner. SO CUTE!
Amy ordered a gorgeous and DELICIOUS cake for Ellen’s birthday. I swear I could have eaten half that thing on my own! The waitstaff came around and everyone sang for Ellen. I think she had a pretty magical birthday! Oh, and she loved the shirt we got her.

After dinner…back to the room for bed and found a jackalope! Maybe it’s just a regular rabbit but we like to think it’s a magical Disney jackalope! We have to get up extra early tomorrow because we’ll be in Tortola!!!

fun, travel

Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Day 3

January 31, 2016February 15, 2016 Shannon

Today was a sea day so CSP & I slept in a bit. We had breakfast at Royal Court then went to the Tube for the Castaway Club Gold & Platinum reception. This was our first time attending the reception.They said they sent out about 400 invitations, and about 100 or so people attended. Darren, the cruise director spoke and then came around and spent some time with each table. Captain Thor spoke as well. You could have your picture taken with each of them. No, Captain Thor did not carry a hammer, much to CSP’s disappointment. Wait staff passed around drinks, hors d’oeuvres, fruit and cookies. CSP downed 4 mimosas! He said next year we’re getting there early for the drinks! Mind you this was 10:30 in the morning! Ha! There was a special guest at the reception- Minnie Mouse! Do you know how special it is to be able to walk right up to a character for a photo without a long line?? It was awesome! And she was too cute too- I’m so used to giving hugs with a kiss on the cheek and she “kissed” me back, complete with smoochy noises!

After the reception CSP & I did a little shopping at the gifts shops on board. We drooled over BB8 then picked up our magnet (we get a dated Disney Cruise Line magnet each year), a Stitch pin for my lanyard, a sparkly Ariel shirt for Ellen’s birthday tomorrow, and a cute anchor shirt for MOM of CSP for taking care of the pugs and the house while we’re gone.

We went back to the room to drop off our goodies and met up with the Family (Amy, Kevin, Ellen & Colin). They needed lunch too so we all went off to Royal Court for lunch. We went back to the room afterward to find the stateroom host had opened and linked our balconies together to make one huge balcony! CSP started watching Thor 2 for a little while on demand (so cool, you can start and stop movies by bookmarking them).

Next it was time for our first Mixology class! We went to the Skyline Lounge and for the next hour or so we learned about making fun drinks from Ashley the bartender. Kevin even got in on the action! We had 5 drinks: a champagne drink, a mojito, a rum drink, a chocolate martini, and a shot called the Big Elephant. Forgive me for not knowing all the drink names. They can’t print off recipes for us anymore and I had both mine and CSP’s chocolate martinis and shots! I was lucky I remembered how to get back to our room!

After Mixology CSP wanted a coffee so we went to the Cove Cafe in the adults only section on the pool deck. CSP asked for a 4 shot cafe latte. The barista could not believe CSP actually wanted 4 shots of espresso in his latte! We were walking around and realized that all of deck 11 ( the pool deck) was deserted because of early dinner (our dinner is at 8:15). I mean, NO ONE around. Perfect time to ride the AquaDuck! So we ran down to the room and CSP got changed, then we ran back up to the entrance of the AquaDuck. They wouldn’t let him ride!!! They said he needed a partner and there was no one around to ride with him. I couldn’t do it because of my vertigo + mixology = I was already dizzy! So we went back to the room to get ready for Formal Night and dinner.

Everyone looked so lovely for formal night! We saw Daisy Duck on the way to dinner in her sparkly dress! I love her little tail sticking out! Some people really go all out with floor length gowns and tuxedos! Disney sets up backdrops all over the main atrium for professional photographs. So we had some taken before dinner, but we totally forgot about them the rest of the week so we never saw them! Who knows if they even turned out! Doh! We were back in Royal Court for dinner, which is a gorgeous restaurant. Dinner was a French theme tonight so CSP was happy with his escargot!

When we got back to our room after dinner there was a little sign to set our clocks forward an hour upon retiring for the evening. Plus a cool dinosaur!

Next up….Day 4- Sea Day and Ellen’s birthday!!!

fun, travel

Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Day 1

January 29, 2016February 15, 2016 Shannon

Today we drove down to Orlando. Well, I drove while CSP slept! He looked so funny in his get up. He had his neck pillow, his sunglasses, and headphones all on at once along with his neck gaiter pulled up over his eyes to block out the sun.
The drive was pretty uneventful except when we ran into a bunch of traffic because of 3 car fires and a semi truck fire! Why were all these vehicles on fire?? It wasn’t even hot out! Weird.
We got to Orlando about 5pm and pulled into Old Key West Resort at Disney where Amy, Kevin, Ellen, & Colin were waiting for us! It’s a beautiful resort. We got settled in quickly. Then it was time for dinner at ‘Ohana! We had a wonderful dinner and even got to see the electric water parade! Back to the resort for bed! Big day tomorrow as we head to the port!

beauty ho, fun

Essential Oil Make & Take Spa Party!

April 29, 2015April 29, 2015 Shannon

Saturday night I threw a fun Essential Oil Make & Take Spa Party! 8 of my friends came over to make bath and body products and learn about essential oils from my sister Sara. I put out some food. And some kick ass punch. I’m so mad I didn’t get a picture of it. But trust, it was awesome. Recipe: 2 bottles moscato wine, 2 bottles Sprite, 2 cans/tubes of frozen pink lemonade. Mix together, slice up a lemon or lime to float in the punch and serve. SO good. Everyone loved it. Thanks for the recipe Bonnie!

Sara arrived a half hour before everyone else to set up. She set up the table in such a cute way with trays with all our supplies we’d need. Here’s a close up of each place setting. We were able to take notes in the inside of each flier that she made. So cute! First Sara told us all about essential oils and what they are, how to use them etc. Then she passed around each of the eleven oils that come in the Premier Starter Kit from Young Living. We all smelled the oils and picked out our favorites (Stress Away!!!) Then we got to work. We made body wash, linen/room spray, and sugar scrub. Sara had made lip balms for all of us ahead of time. And at the party she made us whipped body butter. It was all so easy! And by the end of it we all smelled amazing! Check out the finished products! If you’d like to smell amazing like us and be able to make all your own bath and body products, you can sign up for the premier starter kit here.

csp, family, fun

Tampa

November 2, 2014 Shannon

Last weekend CSP & I took a quick 4 day trip with his parents to Tampa. The main goal of the trip was so CSP & his mom could go to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game against CSP’s beloved Minnesota Vikings. The trip down was fairly uneventful, if loooong. We found our hotel then went to grab a quick dinner at Mimi’s.

The next morning we got up and had the hotel provided breakfast. We were in a Homewood Suites and it was quite nice. CSP and I had one room, then there was a living room, then CSP’s parents in their room. Great set up. After breakfast we got ready for the day and hung out in the room planning our route for the day. Once it was all figured out we headed toward Ybor City (pronounced EEE-bore) to go to the Columbia Restaurant for lunch.

The Columbia is Florida’s oldest restaurant. It’s SO cool! And as you can tell by the pictures, it was a GORGEOUS day!!! Such amazing details and architecture. You could spend a whole day there looking at everything. We arrived right at 11:30 am and it was a good thing because the place really filled up and had a wait by the time we left. CSP was so excited to order a real, traditional mojito, complete with sugar cane! They bring each person their own warm loaf of Cuban bread. And all the waitstaff are in tuxedoes. Very nice. I ordered the Pollo Riojana. It was so good. CSP enjoyed his Bean Soup and the 1905 Salad that they make right by the table. So mad I didn’t get a picture of our sweet server tossing that up! We even had desert. We shared an incredible White Chocolate Bread Pudding. The best I’ve ever had.

After lunch we went into the Columbia’s gift shop. CSP bought the salad dressing from the 1905 Salad, some hot sauce and a cigar (which he still hasn’t smoked!). Then we hit the road looking for the beach!

CSP’s mom really wanted to see the Gulf of Mexico since we were so close. We thought about going to Clearwater Beach where I used to go as a child. Boy has it grown! It was so busy you’d think it was the middle of the summer, not the end of October! So we drove over to Sand Key and drove until we found a public beach access. It was such a gorgeous day I would have been happy to nap on the beach and swim but we had other plans. We did get to walk around a bit on the beach and put our toes in the water. I could have stayed all day!!! But it was time to get back in the car and drive over to St. Petersburg. We drove around looking at the city a bit and went to a park for a little while. Then we found a Starbucks for drinks. I tried the Shaken Green Tea Peach Lemonade and it was delish! By now it was starting to get late in the day and we were thinking about where to have dinner. There were a couple of ale houses CSP was interested in located in St. Pete so we did a quick drive by. Oops! They were having their Halloween parties a little early so they were packed with costumed party people. We even saw a clown throwing up on the side of the road. At 5:30 in the afternoon! They party hard in Florida!!! So we headed back to Tampa. Let me tell you that each trip from Tampa to Clearwater to St. Pete were not short. Traffic- the struggle is real in Florida. And people drive like maniacs. So we spent the better part of the day just in the car trying to get places!

We found ourselves back in Ybor City (Tampa’s Latin neighborhood) for dinner at Tampa Bay Brewing Company, a place visited by Guy Fieri on Diner’s, Drive Ins, and Dives. I had the beer cheese soup and the Firecracker Shrimp. Best beer cheese soup ever! CSP really enjoyed the wings and house brewed beer. You can see the big brew tanks behind us. After dinner we were all tired from our long day so we went back to the hotel and promptly to sleep. I love sleeping in hotel rooms. It’s so dark and the sheets are so crisp and smell faintly of bleach. Ahhh.

Sunday was game day! We woke up and had hotel breakfast again then I laid down with a nasty headache. CSP came in to say goodbye and he was off to his game. I napped until about 1:30 then showered and got ready for the day. FIL wanted to go to Mimi’s again for lunch so we headed over there. After lunch we went down toward the stadium to find a place to park and wait for CSP & MIL to get out of the game. We found some shade in a grocery store parking lot and waited. Then the game went into overtime. Luckily I had my phone with me so I passed the time texting friends and cruising Facebook. We were parked on the main drag so once the game let out all the fans were walking by our car. So fun to people watch! Drunk people, families, people all decked out in team wear. We found CSP & MIL and they were starving. So we went to Miller’s Ale House back near our hotel. I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of CSP & MIL in their jerseys. They looked really cute. At Miller’s we heard a play by play of the game. I needed a cocktail so I ordered a creamsicle. Very yum. We hung out at the Ale House for a couple hours watching the late football game. Then it was time to go back to the hotel and pack up to leave!

We hit the road fairly early the next morning but ran into major traffic around Orlando so we didn’t get home until about 11 pm. CSP fell asleep as soon as we got in the car. The pugs were happy to see us and we were happy to see them! They were very well taken care of by our BIL, who stayed at our house the whole weekend and sent us funny text updates throughout.