Happy 17th Birthday, Phenom!

And now we're up to a few random May days! Calib headed to Ohio for quite a few days, which was ironic, because Olivia was there for the summer too, and I was all like 'I thought I taught you guys better'. Anyway, Olivia worked in ride photo, though she's back in the UK now. But it was funny, because she'd constantly be texting me updates from what it was like now- I even had her look under counters to see if my signature with certain crews were still there. Anyway, yea, I didn't go to Ohio, but they did. 

After dropping Calib at TPA, we headed down to Sparkman Wharf for some ice cream at Jeni's. 

The rough part is when Calib leaves- Etta and Porkchop need a new spot to sleep. Asa doesn't love when they're in our room, but I secretly love tucking them all in. 

Hayden got a job at the Rec Center, I think I mentioned that? Maybe not.. maybe it hadn't happened yet? But either way, it was just me and Asa a lot for dinner, so he made me some real fancy stuff, which was lovely. 

We also made it out to Born and Bread, because there was an adoption event in Plant City for the shelter that we volunteered for- and when you're even close to Plant City, might as well go to Lakeland for the best pastries, and (second) best coffee in the world. 

We did get to see some pups get adopted at the event. I was pulling for Nevaeh to find her furever home, and while she did get adopted, she would be returned less than a week later. But, that whole story is for another day. (spoiler alert: a month and a half later, Nevaeh will come home with us). 

Since we were in Plant City, we figured we'd swing by Keel Farms since they have BOGO Growlers and Crowlers. And we had a light dinner. 

And then, on the way home, we stopped by Costco and impluse bought a mattress, because that's the kind of people we are now, apparently. (To be fair, it was totally worth it! That mattress is awesome). 

I also got to watch the Maihacks kitties- which I always enjoy. Apollo and Neptune are always happy to see me. 

Then we spent the rest of the weekend hitting the pool, having yummy food, and hanging with the dogs, before Calib arrived home. 

We also had a lovely lunch with this sweet lady, named Lauren. She's 90 and still just as fun and sharp as ever. There's a whole story behind this- we may or may not sometimes visit retirement 'senior living' facilities, and make friends with residents. Lauren just loved Asa, and it was so cute! 

In other news, the Fazolis by our house finally opened. The sign for it first appeared during covid times, so the second they opened (literally, we were the first people in the door), we had to go get an order of breadsticks! 

Hayden also passed another class, so we picked up Taco Bell, way to go Hayden! 

And we also had a big birthday to celebrate: Phenom was turning 17!! Thats kind of a big deal, so it felt like it needed more than just pupcakes. 

So, we took him around the neighborhood in the wagon to share his pupcakes with all the neighborhood pups, and of course I made him a sign for the back of the wagon. 

Everyone loved it. He visited Bolt, the rescue greyhound; Dom and Pilot, the nosey huskie; and of course Vince and Alicia and the sweet Missy. Oakley and Harley were busy, but did get some pupcakes later on. It was such a fun little traveling birthday party for Phenom, and he got lots of pets and shared his goodies with the neighborhood. 

And then I put the sign by his bed. 17, though! Can you even believe it? That's up there for a pup. He can almost vote! 

 

Mother's Day 2024

 The pictures in this blog are all backwards in timing, but again, no time to fix that. Gotta do a blog catch up.  Anyway, I've made it to the Mother's Day blog, so I'm less than 3 months behind now. Whoo hoo! I, of course, try to make the whole thing into a big weekend and decided we should finally use our free night at a Moderate Resort that we scored when the boats weren't running last anniversary, when we stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter. But, then I realized Seaworld had all kinds of bonus rewards too, so we picked up an inexpensive friends and family Hilton hotel to make it into a two night/three day stay in Orlando. But, we also were celebrating Ama's birthday a little late, and had gotten her tickets to see an orchestra play various video game music at the Straz, so that was also a weekend activity. 

Our weekend started at Aquatica. It'd been a long time since we were there- and not much had changed. But, the rewards scored us free food, and we enjoyed the slides and the lazy river, which isn't so lazy, but instead has a flow that really zips you around. 

After Aquatica, we headed over to Seaworld where we got to feed the seals and sea lions for free, got a couple of food items for free, and then watched All-4-One at their free concerts. Yes, that 90s band. All super fun. 

After all that, we headed over to the Polynesian Resort at Disney. I really wanted some O'hana noodles, and Calib venomed us some money to do something fun for Mother's Day. Originally, we had Kona reservations- but they were so behind, they let us drop those for no reason without penalty, so we did that and headed over to the Tambu lounge, where we got the noodles and the pot stickers from Ohana, and then the famous bread pudding-to go- because the Fireworks were about to start. So, I got to eat bread pudding from the beach while watching Happily Ever After, which is just the perfect ending to a day. 

The next morning, we got up early enough to rope drop Typhoon Lagoon, over at Disney. While all the other rope droppers head for things like the waterslides, Asa and I went to the wave pool, so for the first maybe 10 or so- giant waves, we were literally the only ones in the giant pool (sans a couple of lifeguards, but they barely count). Usually I don't do the giant wave, because there's just too many people and I don't want to bump into people, but there was no fear of that, so I even went out further than I could touch and swam with the wave. So fun. We're going to have to rope drop that again. We were able to do some spins around the lazy river, and ride some slides, before it started getting busy, and we decided to move on to Disney Springs. 

We scored a good spot in the Giddeons line for some coffee (it's the best coffee in the world), and Asa ran to get some poutine to eat in line. And then we were off to Epcot to enjoy the Flower and Garden Festival. Between the veggie and fruit based food, plus the topiaries and the butterfly garden, the Flower and Garden Festival is my favorite time of year. Plus we snuck in some Epcot time with some new shows, a character meet and greet, and a ride or two. 

By now our room was ready over at Caribbean Beach Resort, so we headed over there. I know some people hate the moderate resorts, but I think they're a good deal for the money (free especially!) Plus, Caribbean Beach has the benefit of being on the Skyliner, so we took that back over to Epcot where they have free concerts during the Flower and Garden Festival too. We sat out in the rain, comiting to seeing Simple Plan, and it was worth the wait. Surprisingly, they still hold up pretty well. 

We finished off our evening back at Caribbean Beach Resort with dinner at Sebastians, a totally under rated restaurant at Disney. It's Caribbean food served family style (I am here for the lime dressed salad and the guava butter pull apart rolls), and some of the best priced all you care-to-enjoy-meals on property. I love the rolls so much, I brought the leftovers back to my hotel room, even though they didn't have boxes. My waiter totally said I could. So, I did (also I always bring ziplock bags to Disney because of random leftovers). We finished the night by watching Epcot fireworks from a distance, and Disney cartoons- because you have to watch those when you're at Disney. 

The next morning, we did some swimming at our resort before check out, and then headed over to Wilderness Lodge for some lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We love that stop because they have a brunch type of set up- Asa can get lunch, I can get breakfast, and nobody has to get up early- so it's perfect! And again, the price is right for a Disney meal. We may or may not have snuck into the pool area, a loophole they seem to quickly be closing- before Asa had had enough Disney. (He was so sleepy, and I was like 'but babe, it's Mother's Day Weekend!' and he was like 'Babe, it's TUESDAY!') 

We did have a few stops to make on the way home, which included a dinner at Tibbys in Brandon, and then we arrived to a nice clean house, and animals that had been well taken care of. Older Adult kids for the win! 

Next up: Phenom turns 17!