Mother's Day Weekend

Just thought I'd write a little about my mother's day weekend. I decided that I needed to take Friday off since I had an awful week, finding out that I wasn't reappointed at school and then some student breaking my nice director's chair, etc. A couple really great teachers volunteered to cover my classes, which was so sweet, so I was able to have a long weekend and leave early for my mother's day trip. We had planned to take our last trip to Disney as annual passholders this particular weekend.

Also, Keith and I decided to try out a weekend without Colin and let him stay with his Grandma and Nanny overnight. I know, strange weekend to be without my son, but we knew that we probably wouldn't be taking anymore big trips any time soon and we wanted to start having some longer stays away for Colin before the extended stay he would have with his grandmas when Keith and I travel to Paris in November.

So, we packed up the car and headed to the Boardwalk Disney Resort on Friday morning. We got to Orlando around 3 pm, which is the earliest that we have ever arrived for a Disney trip, so we decided to hang around the resort and take advantage of the amenities. First we relaxed by the "quiet pool" and went for a little swim. Our room looked out over the pool courtyard, so it was a really nice view. Here's a picture of Keith at the pool:

After relaxing at the pool, we decided to stroll the boardwalk and check out the little shops. When walking toward the Beach and Yacht Club, we noticed that one of the paths looked familiar, so we decided to check it out. Well, it went straight to Epcot! We could walk to Epcot from our hotel! So, since we were there, we decided to spend the evening at Epcot. We toured the countries, had egg rolls in China and School Bread in Norway, and then decided to take the ferry boat back to our resort. That's right, not only could we walk there, but if we got too tired, there was a ferry that would charter us back and forth!

The next morning, we checked out the map and decided to walk (yes, we were that close!) to Hollywood Studios for extra magic hours! We got there around 8:30 am and went straight to the Tower of Terror! I LOVE that ride! It was so fun! We got right on the ride because the park was only open for resort guests, so there weren't many people there. From there we headed to the Star Wars ride, Star Tours, and both got a little sick from bouncing around the galaxy. Here's a picture of Keith geeking-out:

From there, we headed to the Toy Story ride, which was a blast, literally. It was a shooting game and I am proud to say, that although my accuracy was less than Keith's, my points were higher and I won the game!
After Toy Story, it was time to head back to Epcot for my "birthday-mother's day-teacher appreciation" lunch reservations a Le Cellier Steakhouse in Canada! I was thrilled to be able to eat here because, not only was Canada the only place in Epcot I had never eaten, but it was also the most difficult reservations to get in all of Disney! The food was wonderful! We had lump crab and sweet corn custards and Canadian cheddar cheese soup as appetizers. The New York strip steak topped with bercy butter and potato gratin was for me and Keith had the mushroom fillet mignon with wild mushroom risotto and white truffle and herb butter sauce. It was all SO delicious! The steaks just melted in your mouth and you barely needed the knife to cut them! Then for dessert, we shared the chocolate on chocolate whiskey cake, which they brought out on a cutely decorated plate for my birthday. Here's a picture: (ignore my hair, please!)

After lunch, we road Soarin' and then decided that it was so hot that we needed another swim in the pool, so we headed back to the resort. After a swim break, we ended the evening at Magic Kingdom, riding everything from Dumbo to Haunted Mansion. We made the rounds and then crashed back at the hotel after a long, but WONDERFUL day!

Oh, I forgot, it was also the garden festival at Epcot, so here is a picture of a really cool Chinese Dragon that is created entirely out of plants:

Sunday was our last day at Disney, so we decided to round out our trip by visiting Animal Kingdom. We had a blast watching the Lion King Show, riding the River Rapids, and watching the Jungle Parade, but were soon ready to head home. We had an amazing and relaxing time, but missed our boy. It was fun to get home and see his face light up. He was so excited to see us that his Grandma couldn't even finish buttoning the pajamas she was putting on him because he was scrambling to try to get over to see us. He gave me a big sloppy kiss before practically vaulting into Keith's arms, ready for Daddy to show him things up high and help him turn on and off the lights. Colin did great with his grandparents though. We had good reports from both Grandma and Nanny that he was on his best behavior and ate, played, and slept like a champ. I was so proud of him for doing so well on such a long weekend away!

Here is a couple other pictures to end this post. The first is the cutie plaque that Colin made for me at school for mother's day:

 
And the last is a good picture of my new haircut. I decided to cut my hair off in celebration of summer! What do you think??

Well, see you all later and I hope that all my other mommy friends had wonderful mother's day weekends also!