Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Busy month!

Wow, looking at my blog post list tonight is making me feel guilty....this will be my first post in the month of February- and probably my only one!  I'm so sorry that I've fallen off the face of the blog world this month- I wasn't home for 2 weeks and had very limited access to a computer.  Then I came home and was swamped with work...I know excuses, I'm

And the reason being was because, I was in....

Magic Kingdom with Adrian!
If it looks like we were cold, it's because we were.  Apparently February in Florida can actually be cold at times.  Yeargh.  The day that picture was taken it was around 40 deg F with winds blowing all day.  I was wearing a winter hat and gloves all day, and was still cold.

I was actually mostly in Disney for work.  I know, such a hardship...

My view from my balcony at the Dolphin Hotel

Coronado Springs Resort

The second picture is the main resort I stayed in- Coronado Springs Resort.  I also stayed 3 nights in the Dolphin Hotel for another work conference.- which had a MUCH better gym since it is owned by Westin, not Disney.  Although Westin chain hotels are typically out of my traveling budge for work, I stay there when I can because I LOVE their gyms.  They all are really great and have updated equipment like foam rollers and massage sticks at every location.  It figures, that the only disappointing thing about Coronado Springs was the TINY and poorly equipped gym- and I was there for 8 days!  It did give me more incentive to run outside, and around the beautiful lake you see above- obviously a hardship. ;)  In all reality, though it does get rather cold in February in Orlando.  We were lucky during the conference to have higher than average temperatures, but then we were inside all day, unable to enjoy it....

Animal Kingdom with Heather
Except, they gave us some time to play- we had a night in Animal Kingdom that we had the park to ourselves!!! It was so cool, we were set up in Africa and there was live African musicians, dancers, flame eaters and throwers, stilt walkers, and of course- Mikey and Minney!!  Then...the icing on the cake....they opened up this roller coaster just for us for an hour!!!!!

Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom

If it seems totally incredible and you are insanely jealous....it was and you should be! :D

We also had an afternoon in Epcot and then had front row, saved seats for the Epcot Illuminations light show.  Unfortunately it rained most of the afternoon, but my friends and I enjoyed some delicious food in Mexico before walking around in the rain, jumping in puddles, and having a grand old time getting wet before having another big group dessert and cocktail reception while we waited for Illuminations to start.  I love my job! :D

After the end of the conference, Adrian joined for 4 days, which was AWESOME!  We had a great time going to a fancy dinner at a South African restaurant, enjoyed the wonders of Epcot and had great Moroccan food and entertainment, felt like kids again in Magic Kingdom, and discovered the wonderful world of MagicQuest!  Downtown Disney has so much to offer, we were shocked- we even saw some live Irish dancing, had fresh made sushi at a luxury bowling alley, and listened to live Australian music on the street!

Disney does Morocco!

All in all, it was an amazing time, but we were also very happy to come home to this little bundle of joy:

Ding! <3

So, tell me- where have you been lately?  Ever go somewhere really cool for work?