The Everglades

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Everglades. Our first hike was ranger led on Anhinga trail. We saw a great number of varieties of birds and some gators. The kids were nervous about going to the park thinking we were putting them in danger, but the trail had a raised boardwalk to keep us away from the gators. In addition, since it’s dry season the water level was low so the gators were further from us. The low water level means that the animals congregate in the areas with water. We were thrilled to be able to see so many in one spot. We learned that the Everglades is not a swamp because the water is moving; it doesn’t become stagnant. (Click photos to enlarge)

The Anhinga- the trail's namesake

Gumbo Limbo was our second trail and it was more of a forest. The Gumbo Limbo trees are also called tourist trees because the bark is red and peeling, just like a tourist’s skin!

Saw grass. You can slowly run your fingers up it, but it's still pretty sharp. The Everglades are called a sea of sawgrass

On the Mahogany trail we saw the biggest mahogany tree in the US. There were some photographers there looking to capture a photo of a barred owl. We could hear it but we didn’t see it.

Hammocks appear as little islands in the Everglades. They are created when the material from the decomposing leaves eat away at the limestone creating a moat. This moat keeps the island hammock safe from fires and protects wildlife.

Our last stop of the day was in Flamingo. We immediately saw an osprey on the flag pole ripping apart his fish dinner. We saw several others enjoying their dinner, too. A gator cruised through the water. We were hoping to see a manatee as they’d been spotted here earlier in the day, but no such luck.

Disney Fun

We squeezed the most out of our Disney days. In fact, it was a blessing in disguise that I had a doctor appt on the 29th. We’d planned on leaving on the 27th, but we had to stay for my dr appt. Disney had a Leap Day promotion where they were open from 6am to 6am so we took advantage of that as our last day at Disney and stayed until 6am! They had Snow White out with all the seven dwarves, Mickey and Minnie and Chip and Dale were in their Pjs for photo ops, Captain Jack Sparrow was there and Cinderella’s step sisters were running around being crazy.

They had a DJ by the castle and a big dance party going on. Most of the rides we went on had short lines, but we couldn’t believe the thousands of people there. There weren’t many people at the parks our other days and it was packed even into the wee hours on Leap Day.

Our other days at Disney included Hollywood Studios where we love Star Tours and the Toy Story Midway Mania game; Epcot where we enjoyed eating French food; Animal Kingdom where a giraffe got a little too close to our safari jeep and bonked his nose; and floating around Blizzard Beach water park. We found a new favorite place at too- Quest. It’s five stories of arcade, interactive and virtual games- perfect for my family!

Our trip started here with Faith's 10th birthday and ended here at 6am on March 1st

Disney's Princess Half Marathon

I don’t consider myself a runner, but I guess I should since I finished a half marathon on Sunday. My run was at Disney World in Florida and half way through the 13.1 miles I realized it was just like a Disney movie- happy beginning, a scary middle, but I had faith it would be a happy ending and it was.

From the http://mydisneymarathon.com/Princess/ website

I started running in August as a way to focus on my health while traveling the US. I’ve run in 21 states so far. My friend Cami, who's run on all seven continents! (read about her here http://www.7marathons7continents.com/), mentioned she was going to run the Tinkerbell half marathon at Disneyland in January. I thought that would be fun so I looked into that, not even able to run three miles at that point. It filled up before I could figure out how to register. I was slightly relieved because I wasn’t sure I ‘d be ready, but there was another Disney run in Florida in February. I had to be in Florida for a wedding anyway so I decided I’d sign up for that. It was such a huge goal for me it really kept me on track because I was nervous. Disney’s events are timed so you have to have a 16 min/mile pace or you run the threat of being passed by the “balloon lady” and being swept off the course so that was constantly on my mind.

Obstacles I've faced while running- snow in TN, dogs in TX, bullets at Tinker AFB in OK lol

I knew a run at Disney would be fun and it was. They had Disney characters you could pose with for photos along the course, bands, stilt walkers and more. I wore a basic costume for the Princess half marathon while others went all out.

I chose the Disney Princess Rapunzel as my favorite because of this line at the end of the movie "No, I won't stop. For every minute of the rest of my life I will fight"

The weather was perfect and the first part of the race went by quickly. Half way through we ran into Magic Kingdom, down Main Street USA and through the castle- it was so fun! Rick and the kids met me there waving signs and a cow bell.

I contemplated a photo with Minnie Mouse, but it was a 5min wait. I contemplated using the port a porties that didn’t have a line, but I didn’t have to go so I kept moving. I’m so glad I did because I heard a murmur through the crowd about the balloon lady. I looked around and found her in FRONT of me!

You don’t want to be on this side of her! She was telling the crowd there was a pick up at mile 8 meaning there would be buses to pick up anyone that wasn’t keeping up the 16min/mile pace. This is where my story got scary! But I talked myself into running and walking for 30 seconds each and was able to stay ahead of her. I took a couple more photos around mile 10 and looked back, relieved to not see the balloon lady. Then I started running and found the balloon lady was in FRONT of me! She'd passed me again! Argh! I kept going and at mile 11 was told I was a minute ahead of pace. My happy ending is that I finished the race, I didn’t have any injuries and I got some fun photos- and those were my goals!

And just like a Disney movie, there is a sequel- I decided to run another half marathon in September at Disneyland. I didn’t do it because I love running, I did it because I will get TWO medals because I will have completed a half marathon on both coasts in one calendar year. I’m looking forward to this race because my friend Ginny will be joining me; and my kids and my mom will be running the family 5k the day before. It’s going to be great fun!