Last day :(

DL Half Marathon weekend-o-fun!

Oh, it's early.... Early entry at DCA is 7 am! What?

Ok... here we go. They have a Starbucks in the park... I will be ok... I will be ok ;)

Sun is coming up over downtown Disney... walking to rope drop

Ready to go... open, open, open. 

Crowds at rope drop weren't that bad at all. We buzzed over to Radiator Springs Racers and were on it within 20 mins... Awesome! Our brave lady remembers crying through this ride back in 2012... but this time she LOVED it.

Welcome to CarsLand! 

Line at opening... 15 mins, not bad. 

Monument Valley in black and white... cool

Moving on... gotta get in as much as we can before the crowds start :) 

Toy Story Mid-way Mania, California Screamin, Goofy's Sky School, Ariel's undersea adventure. Then the kids and dad hit Bug's land and I went to...yup Starbucks! 

We met up once I was caffeinated and rode Soarin. 

But now we need to go back to the hotel and check out. We were able to get a later check out time of noon... which gives us some time to pack up.

Then it's back to the park! We were lucky to get the most popular rides under our belts before we broke to pack. And as an added bonus... we snagged a 4 pm fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers.. so we can ride it one last time before we depart.
Grizzly River Run proved to be the hardest ride to get on, for hubby and our lady. But they got fast passes and then waded through the sea of people who also had fast passes and were able to ride it! Yay!

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree... we have the whole soundtrack for this ride at home.. it was hard not to sing along.

We enjoyed the rest of the park, including lunch, rides, ice cream, and some shopping. Then ended with a great run on Racers. This time our car even won! The perfect way to end the trip.

The walk back to the car seemed longer than usual... but we made it and were at the airport before we knew it.
If anyone knows why Orange County/John Wayne/Santa Ana airport has three names that people use interchangabley... please let me know. Anyway... I was able to get two mugs at "the" airport! Shockingly I got Edmonton! It's not cheating, because I've been to Edmonton... and in the last half dozen years... so it's all good. (Listen people these are my rules, I get to decide what's cheating... no judgement!)

Our flight home was uneventful. I am glad to sleep in my own bed tonight.
What an awesome weekend!

Two thumbs up... they look a wee bit tired, don't they :)

Race Day!!!!

DL Half Marathon weekend-o-fun!

DCA was all lit up for the runners

It's here! I am sure Hubby has a lot more emotions about this than I do, as he is the one running it. But I am crazy excited none-the-less. 

As promised, super early in the morning, things got started...
Runners needed to be in the corrals by 5:15 am for the 5:30 start time. 

I watched the corrals go by from my birds eye view in our room... and these corrals were rather large.

You can see the runners on the street at the bottom of the pic... they will loop around and into the park

The lights in DCA were on for the runners and it was fun to see the shadows of the runner in the early corrals turn into regular runners, as the sun came up and the later corrals hit the streets. 

Hubby sent me lots of pictures from along the course (his pics at the end). 

Off to cheer Daddy

Mostly awake.. but in our matching Cheer Squad T-shirts

The kids and I were up early too, just not as early as hubby. We ventured out about an hour before we expected him at the finish. This gave us time to find our seats in the Cheer Squad area and settle in. 

We picked up some of the food that was provided.. but other than my coffee none of it was really eaten. Between the early hour and how excited (over stimulated) we were... food wasn't high on the to-do list.

Most unique assortment of foods... Whole grain (seeds included) Croissant and Rita's Italian Ice..... Hmmm?

People watching is sooo much fun at a RunDisney event. The finish line entertainment was as much fun as watching the runners finish. The kids had fun seeing all the costumes 

The finish line! 

Selfie time! 

and with my little lady! 

So true... and this runner carried that flag 13.1 miles.

And of course we got to see our runner cross the finish line. He was all smiles as were we.

There he goes... in his signature all black 

We all met at the room for a time... to rest, change, recover a bit. Then we were off to Disneyland!
We haven't been since 2012 and we are not sure what the little lady truly remembers from that trip. So we dove right in and go quite a bit done. Focusing mostly on things that Disneyworld doesn't have, or that are different here in CA. Plus a few that we just HAVE to ride, or it's not a trip to Disney ;)
Gotta have a mint julep and mickey beignets..... right?
We left the park around 4:00 to return to the room and rest a bit before dinner.

The castle.. in its birthday best! Happy 60th to Disneyland! 

This is what happens to you when you do a half marathon... then your family drags you all over the park - small world nap.

The line at the DL Starbucks... much longer than any I encountered at WDW Starbucks. 

Dinner was with old friends who live in the area. We loved getting to see them. The kids were a wee bit bored, but managed ok. These are the type of good friends that are more like family... years may go by, but getting together its like you were never apart. Such fun!

Hubby decided to grab a massage so he dropped us off and ventured out. I got the kids to bed and once he got back... we weren't too far behind.

The medal. Cool, huh? The middle diamond spins to show the castle on the other side. 

Pictures from the course... a runner's perspective (captions provide by the wife)

Walking to the corrals

Entering Radiator Springs... just after the 1 mile mark

Headed over to Disneyland

Gonna run through the castle... just after mile 3

Runners thinking, "Hmm, that looks like a great place to nap later" ;)

Just one of a many marching bands lining the course

more entertainment for the runners... hula anyone?

Nothing beats running along the Santa Ana river on a hot day... wait? where did it go?

You can see this icon from Disney property, and it looks really far away... just saying. 

Someone has a sense of humor :)

Rest day - Gearing up for the fun

DL Half Marathon weekend-o-fun!

Today we are lazy. The day will consist of eating, resting, and well.... relaxing.
With his longest race ever... in the morning, we want hubby to be rested and ready to go.

So let the hydrating and carb loading begin :)
The Cheer Squad needs to carb load too? Right?

Breakfast today was a longtime favorite, Kings Hawaiian Restaurant in Torrance California.
If you haven't been and didn't know it was a place... next time you find yourself in the area.. check it out. I can't speak to Lunch or Dinner.. but Breakfast is gooood.
POG juice, French toast from Hawaiian bread (yumm-o), coconut syrup... I could go on.
We were lucky enough to meet a up with family for breakfast. Loved catching up with her! So glad that worked out.

Hidden Mickey's everywhere!

Then we wandered back to the hotel for part two of our day... resting.
Books and music were enjoyed for a few hours before we decided to venture out again. We wanted to get a feel for where to go in the morning. So we walked down a ways to where the finish line is, and saw some of the prep already underway for tomorrow.

After a light snack we headed back... time to relax :)
Our lazy day isn't quite as exciting for the kids as for us... and I think having the picture window view into the park, might make it harder.

But our park passes start tomorrow and we will make good use of them... at least those of us who don't need to recover from 13.1 miles. He may take a more leisurely pace than the rest of us.

We found some time in all the R&R to hit the pool. Paradise Pier has a rooftop pool..if you can roll with the roof being on the third floor.... The rest of the building is 14 stories, but it still feels roof top when you are there.
It is complete with a great waterslide that our young lady had a blast on. (On a side note, we didn't see any restrooms out on the pool deck - so plan ahead people!)

Slide "California Streamin"

Chillin poolside

Dinner was found at Earl of Sandwich, a place we have been before, but at Disney World. This location provided us with the same yummy fare - the Holiday Turkey Sandwich, seems to make me say "Best Sandwich Ever" every time I eat it.
(It was a day of good food)

Surveying the parks from our room

runner... resting up for tomorrow

Last on the list is final prep and sleep.
Clothes are now laid out, bib number is pinned in place. Shoes, running watch, energy chews are all packed up and ready to go. Alarms have been set, with a back up wake up call.... we should be good.

I have yet to decide when the kids and I will venture forth to our seats to watch the runners cross the finish line. I will let you know tomorrow... how it all worked out.

Yes, we were lazy today, but we did walk over 4 miles.... I know this because (fitbit, yes.. but) our sweetheart girl was saying she didn't move enough today. It was bedtime and she just wanted to run. So I checked... Yup, see here... you moved today :) and tomorrow, you will move more, I promise.

On a side note:
If you ever see these... they are simply King Hawaiian Rolls covered in cinnamon sugar... lots of cinnamon sugar.

And no one said this was a bad thing. 

Surprise!!!!

DL Half Marathon weekend-o-fun!

We pulled it off... we surprised the kids with a trip!
It wasn't really planned as a surprise for them... it was planned as hubby's first half marathon... but we just never told the kids about it.
And somewhere along the line we decided, we made it this far without them knowing, let's see what happens if we tell them on the way to the airport.

Ok, more on that in a minute... let's take a second to acknowledge why we are here....
This year is the 10th anniversary of the Disneyland half marathon. It is also the 60th anniversary of Disneyland. Together, these things were part of what pushed hubby to go for it with this race. Lots of other things came into play, but the extra specialness of the anniversaries.. helped.
He has run a 5k, 8k, 10k, 12k, 13k, 15k, and 10 miler.. but this is his first Half Marathon.
And I wasn't about to miss it. It's over a holiday weekend, so we decided to all come.. yes, it's another trip, awfully close to our big summer trip.
I have no excuses.. we are nuts.
The big event is Sunday at O'dark thirty. And will be followed by a day and a half in the assorted parks here in Sunny California, with a little bit of time to see family and friends, if we are lucky. And maybe even some time for our runner to rest and recover..... so he doesn't regret bringing his cheering section :)

Back to today.....
I mentioned to the kids earlier in the week that I would be picking them up from school at lunchtime on Friday. They asked why, and I replied... somewhere we have to be.... apparently they both assumed we had a therapy appointment or something like that (between PT, OT, etc... we have done them all). So I picked them up and we went home.
When we walked in the door our boy was questioning my choice in coming home. And then he noticed the suitcases. Hubby and I said very little.... "Well, Dad is running the half marathon on Sunday", wait for assorted looks and comments... "Hey, what do you need in your carry-on for the plane?", more looks and confusion... "What? you didn't want to go to Disneyland?".
There were no shrieks or tears of joy... but they were shocked and happy. The car ride to the airport was spent getting them up to speed.

We had a few delays along the way... low lying clouds in Seattle... um? is that fog?
And traffic in LA... but then, there is always traffic in LA, right?

We are staying at Paradise Pier and it's great... themeing is fun, beachy, surf-y with lots of hidden mickeys. Our room has a great park view.

We made it to Packet pickup and got all our stuff... race stuff for hubby and Cheer Squad stuff for the kids and I... yes, we take this stuff seriously ;)

Our big splurge this trip is staying club level (sometimes called concierge). The easy access to munchies and drinks was a bit of a draw, and as luck would have it the concierge host called hubby while we were walking to packet pick up. She was putting away the evening appetizers and wanted to see if we'd like any set aside for us, since she knew we had just checked in and maybe didn't have dinner worked out yet.
Soo nice!
So when we returned with all our gear, we popped into the Beachcombers Club (the concierge lounge) And as the kids and I picked out a few desserts from the selections that were now out, hubby picked up a HUGE tray of crackers, cheeses, veggies, and fruit. Huge. This was all hubby and I needed, but we ordered up some more substantial food for the kiddos.

After eating and some time to chill, we hit the hay. You can see World of Color from our room, we didn't add the soundtrack tonight, maybe tomorrow.

No more "Rambling"

Bye to our old blog.....
We started our blogging journey back in 2011 with Rushing2Ramble as our blog.
It was a title and blogger address we landed on while driving on that first trip that we blogged.
So somewhere in Eastern Washington/Idaho we said... "Hey, let's blog this trip"... followed by "Hmmm, What should we call our soon-to-be Blog?"
And that, folks, is the sophisticated process that landed us with Rushing2Ramble.... well, that and it was the first idea we had for a title that wasn't already taken :)

Fast forward two years to April 2013. Somewhere along our assorted travels we came across the phrase "Comfortable Adventure". The words resonated with us and I wrote a short post on the blog so we would remember it....See, Told ya! 

And now... another two years have passed and we decided to make that the title of our blog. Well, something close to that.
So our days of Rushing and Rambling are over... but, only in the blog sense.

Home Sweet Home - Trip wrap up

Ah, Home.

We flew home in the morning, early, early, in the morning.
The flight was non-stop, which we love.

Now we are trying to return to normal life.

But for the sake of wrapping up the trip, here are some stats :)

The mugs collected on this trip! 

Final Stats:

Miles total: 2661

States Total: 13
Starbucks Mug Total: 10
Editor's roller coaster total: 40
Number of unique roller coasters ridden by anyone in the family: 42
License plate state count: 39 states and 2 provinces

Wow! We had an amazing trip. All of us visiting places we have never been before and made lots of great memories. I have no idea when we will do our next road trip. But until that time, theses memories and pictures will remind us of the fun.
Thanks for tagging along.

Disney World Recap

East Coast Driving Trip 2015 - Days 20-22

Two parks, One day (Wednesday)
Adventurous, right.
We made it to Animal kingdom for rope drop and were in line for the safari before we knew it.
Lots of wonderful animals to be seen... some much closer up than others.

On the Safari Ride

Up close :)

people on a behind the scenes tour

From here we decided to split up. The boys went to ride some rides and the girls tried out hands at becoming a "Wilderness Explorer" from the movie UP. With our guide book in hand and a map of where all the badges could be earned... we were off.
With 4 badges earned we reconnected with the boys and did a few things together, including letting hubby have a run at Everest.
At this point we were thinking of lunch and moving on to park number 2.

Coconut Mocha Frappachino :)

We lunched at Pepper Market, which I always enjoy. The food is fine, but I like the space and the quiet - it's rarely crowded. Plus, at this point in time, its kind of a tradition.
Then we went to the studios to finish up our day.
With stunt shows and rides to keep us busy, the afternoon went fairly quickly. We split up again before we left the park for the Frozen Sing-A-Long, which was very enjoyable, but not the boys' cup of tea.

Frozen Sing A Long

I happily picked up two more YAH mugs today!! I am starting to get concerned for how we will get them ALL home :)


Epcot, or "let's see if our fitbits can catch fire" (Thursday/Friday)
Despite it having fewer rides than most other parks we have visited, Epcot is the biggest for walking... and walking, and walking. Oy.
The first day this whole trip that my feet have hurt -so that should tell you something.
We all enjoy Epcot and this trip was no different. We did see the circlevision movie in China, which we haven't done since the kids were old enough to remember.
And we returned to Epcot on Friday. After some pool time at our town home and checking out.

A fun day in Epcot

enjoying being a family

Our last hotel of the trip.... home soon! 

Tonight we sleep at the airport. It's better than it sounds. It's the second time we have booked a room at the Hyatt in the Orlando airport. Very convenient and a very nice hotel. This works very well if you have an early morning flight (as we do), or are coming in the night before a cruise.