13.1 Miles of Wining and Dining

Disclaimer: I left my camera in the car at the airport in California, so all photos were taken with my cell phone or a disposable camera.  Quality isn't that great.

The weekend of November 8th, I tacked a personal challenge - to earn the Disney Coast to Coast Medal.  For those non-runners or those not familiar with my personal goal I set nearly 3 years ago now, the Disney Coast to Coast challenge is to run a 1/2 Marathon (13.1 miles) at each Disney Park in one calendar year. 

I first learned about this Coast to Coast (C2C) challenge when I ran the inaugural Tinker Bell 1/2 Marathon in 2011.  I thought I was going to do it last year - 2012 - but finances weren't in my favor to hit Florida - these races aren't cheap.

But 2013 was my year.  I started by running the Tinker Bell 1/2 Marathon earlier this year and then last month I did the Disney Wine and Dine in Orlando.  See I even announced it from my hotel room!

The Wine and Dine is a night time race - the first time I've ever done a long night run let alone a race through Disney World!  We had to catch the shuttle at 8pm for the 10:00pm start (I was corral H and we started about 20 minutes after the official start).

The fun started at ESPN Wide World of Sports and finished at Epcot - but we ran through Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.  I started out very well - despite half-assing my training.  Here I am just shy of the 5K mark... 3 miles in.

After running through the streets of Orlando a bit, we made our way into the Animal Kingdom.

And we were greeted by our first sign of the upcoming holiday season...

This tree was massive!

We then ran through the park to the Tree of life.  I've never been inside this park, but I hear it's the centerpiece of the Animal Kingdom.  Hard to tell by the dark picture, but it was pretty impressive.

Then we ran to Dino Rama... reminded me of the back side of California Adventure in a prehistoric way.

Upon exiting the park I was greeted by a giant lit up Tigger (there was a person inside controlling it)

Again, not great quality on my phone, but you get the idea (yes that's me in the picture with Tigger).

After leaving the Animal Kingdom we ran through the streets of Orlando again reaching the 10K mark about the halfway point. 

Shortly past this mile marker, they had a large Jumbotron in the middle of the road showing you what
was awaiting us at Epcot.  On I ran to the Hollywood Studios park where I was greeted with various movie characters and sites.

Here I am with Elastigirl from the Incredibles, but apparently the flash wasn't on on my phone.

Then I hit the 10 Mile mark... only 5K left!!!

When around the corner who should appear... but Wreck-it-Ralph!  Probably my favorite photo of the route.

I ended up ordering the professional version (this is from my phone) for my C2C frame.

I turned the corner from the line with Wreck-it-Ralph and walked into an amazing Christmas scene - The Osbourne Family Christmas.  It was amazing!  The pictures cannot do it justice.  It think I sat in the street for about five minutes taking it all in!






And here is a shot of me looking back at where I'd just come from.


Leaving the Christmas spectacle, we ran into these familar guys.  I had to snap a picture for Drew - my Star Wars nut.

As we left the park I ran into the Army guys from Toy Story.  He was making fun of me (he was wearing a mic) because I was wearing my earphones the entire time and he thought I couldn't hear.

We then wound around the Boardwalk and off to Epcot.

I snapped this picture just to send Dave - "Are we done yet"?  He was home with Drew watching my email race updates.  I signed him up (as I did on Facebook) to update my times at the various mile points (5K, 10K, 15K, Finish)

At this point I was really winding down.. ready to shut down.  It was really humid that night and I was running out of energy.  When I saw the end in sight in that glorious oversized golf ball.

We ran under the Epcot dome and finished in a nearby parking lot.

I got the C2C medal!!  My time was terrible thanks to poor preparation, 2 bathroom breaks, and waiting in line for taking pictures with characters - but I got the darned C2C medal and that's what I'm proud of!  My final time was 3:25:10.

After the race we were handed either a beer or wine - of course I chose the wine.  But the last thing I wanted to do after running 13.1 miles was consume alcohol.  All I had on the brain was water, and FOOD!.  With the race entry we were given access to an after party inside Epcot where I waddled - because I admit I was ridiculously out of shape for this run and ever muscle in my body hurt - to find food.  The lines were ridiculously long and I made it to the US/Florida side where I inhaled some sliders and then was so so tired realizing I now needed to waddle back to the entrance to catch the shuttle back to the hotel.  I was on the complete other side of the park... oy.

I made it back to my hotel room at 4am.  Here is the bling, bib and wine I was handed post race.

And here are all the medals and bibs I earned by doing the 2 races and then the C2C special medal.

With that I'm likely retiring from Disney races - but I had a blast!

Kindergarten - Report Card

The first trimester is complete for Kindergarten and we had Drew's parent teacher conference as well as received his first report card of the year.  I'll get to the "grades" in a moment, but first the highlighted notes.

She said Drew was very smart, off the chart for everything and her biggest challenge is to make sure he stays challenged and feels so.  She commented that he's lacking modesty (my paraphrasing) and being a bit of a know it all (again my paraphrasing).  So we'll work on him with that... I think its a bit of maturity.

She also mentioned that Drew has some work to do in the social development area - things that all of his teachers have said since day one and the sole reason we did Transitional Kindergarten last year instead of pushing him into Kindergarten.  She said he's short tempered at times and I added the "disrespectful" comment when he's mad... and while she was polite about it she agreed.  It's one of the things we're constantly working with Drew on.

OK so the grades.... we still aren't receiving letter grades, but rather:

•  √ (checkmark) = Meets/Exceeds Standard
• O = Working Toward Standard
• AC = Area of Concern
• X - Not Taught yet/Assessed

* Some X items are no longer graded in Kindergarten under the Common Core Standard taught at our schools

Language Arts
Word Analysis, Fluency, Systematic Vocabulary Development
Identifies Concepts of print (left to right, spacing words, top to bottom - √
Names uppercase letters (26) -26
Names uppercase letters (26) - 26
Names & identifies all letter sounds - consonants- √
Names & identifies all letter sounds - vowels - √
Phonemic Awareness (oral) - Blends sounds - √
Phonemic Awareness (oral) - Substitutes sounds - X
Phonemic Awareness (oral) - Segments Sounds - √
Identifies/produces rhyming words - identify - √
Identifies/produces rhyming words - Produce -O
     (she commented that he was stumped trying to rhyme for "sun")
Distinguishes beginning and ending sounds - Beginning - √
Distinguishes beginning and ending sounds -Ending - √
Reads sight words and CVC words - Sight words - √
Reads sight words and CVC words -CVC - √
Identifies the number of words in sentences and syllables in words - X

Reading Comprehension/Literary Response
Uses pictures and context to make predictions about story content - √
Retells familiar stories including character, setting and important events - X
Asks and answers questions about story elements - √

Writing Strategies, Applications, Conventions
Writes name correctly, First - √
Writes name correctly, Last - X
Writes upper and lower case letters independently - √
Writes consonant - vowel - consonant words - √
Writes from left to right and top to bottom with proper spacing - √
Writes words and brief sentences that are legible - √
Uses letter and phonetically spelled words to write about a specific topic - √

Listening and Speaking
Shares ideas using complete sentences - √
Recites short poems, rhymes and songs - X
Narrates personal experiences - √

Mathematcis
Number Sense
Counts objects accurately to 30 - √
Represents 10 or less by grouping objects - √
Understands more than/less than/equal - √
Counts by 1 - √
Counts by 2 - X
Counts by 5 - X
Counts by 10 - X
Recognizes numbers to 30 - √
Writes numbers to 30 - √
Uses estimation strategies -X
Demonstrates the concept of +/- with objects - X

Algebra and Function
Identifies, sorts and classifies objects by attribute - √

Measurement and Geometry
Compares length, weight, and volume - X
Understands time concepts - O
    *she said his struggle was confirming what day yesterday was, today and tomorrow
Names the days of the week - √
Identifies geometric shapes (square, circle, triangle, rectangle) - √
Describes common geometric shapes - √
Identifies 3-dimensional shapes (sphere, cone, cube, cylinder) - √

Statistics/Data Analysis/Probability
Understands and uses pictographs - X
Recognizes/describes/extends patterns - X

Mathematical reasoning
Models and explains problems/solutions - X

Science - Earth Life Physical
Observes and compares - O
Communicates findings and observations - O

Social Studies
Geographic, Historical and community concepts - O

Creative Arts
Participates in music, art drama - O

Social Development
Exhibits self control - O
Follows Classroom rules - √
Follows Playground rules - √
Respects others and their property - O
Takes responsibility for own actions - O
Cooperative with adults - O
Resolves conflicts verbally - √
Participates in classroom activities - √

Work Habits
Follows Directions - √
Completes tasks in a timely manner - √
Works neatly and carefully - √
Maintains appropriate attention span - √
Works independently - √
Works well with others - √
Follows classroom routines - √
Exhibits organizational skills - √
Returns notes and homework - √

Physical Development
Gross Motor skills (i.e. hop, balance, ball skills etc.) - O
   * mostly because she doesn't really monitor/grade this
Fine motor skills - (i.e. cut, copy, pencil, control etc.) - √

NOTES: Drew is a bright student who often gets right to any task at hand.  His rich prior knowledge base adds to our class discussions.  We'll set a goal for Drew to work towards in the coming trimester at conference time.

Other fun stories - 
She mentioned there is a new student who doesn't speak much English and is shy.  Drew has taken to him and is working on teaching him how to write or do whatever task is at hand.  One day he was so excited and shouted across the room "He's getting it! He's actually doing it!"  Apparently he was quite the teacher, proud of his "student".

She also mentioned she wants Drew to do some extra projects STEM to create things at home/homework and then come to school to discuss them further.

We have the online reading program - Raz-Kids - that Drew will read books online and take quizzes to progress and challenge him.  She wants to encourage him to do this during computer time at school.  Currently he's reluctant to do so because other kids are doing something else.

All Aboard for a Getaway Weekend

For Christmas last year, my parents gave us a gift certificate toward a B&B we found out about while camping and wine tasting.  The Featherbed Railroad is a unique railroad themed B&B on the north shore of Clearlake in Northern California (about 2 1/2 -3 hours north of us).  Your room is an actual caboose and each has it's own theme.

Get ready for a lot of pictures!

To set the scene for the amount of stress Dave and I were under ahead of this trip - my parents were watching Drew, but that morning our plumbing went out - a tree root broke into our sewer line and they couldn't fix it.  So we were fighting with plumbers before trying to get up to the B&B before the 7pm deadline.  We didn't make it.

Thankfully they were nice enough to leave us a key in the lockbox at our room so we could get in whenever - so we stopped and had dinner in Ukiah.

We got to our room and I said a jacuzzi bath with wine was all I wanted that night. 

The next morning we enjoyed coffee from our cupola - the "upstairs" of the caboose (notice the cupola on the train next to us - it's sort of hidden in the trees).

Looking directly down from our cupola you can see the fountain.  While we were here in November, if it was a bit warmer it would've been so relaxing to have our windows open and hearing that!

The selfies from the cupola with our coffee.

The view behind us on the other side of the cupola.  We stayed in the Wine Country caboose.  Each one has it's own theme.

Here is the tour of our Wine Country Caboose... View from the cupola to the back...

... View from the tub to the front door.  The cupola is just before the front door.

 ... See Dave was still up there!

The caboose from outside.

They are all still on tracks.  It's really really cool.  They even have their own Featherbed Railroad radio station!

The view of the private pier/dock.

View from the Main house (where they served breakfast every morning) looking out toward our rooms and Clearlake is in the background.

Here is the main house.

The detail is so amazing here - right down to the bird houses!!

And there are cute little antiques... the telephone booth (no telephone inside.. only spiders)

And back at our caboose.  We made friends with our "neighbors" and after taking this picture we looked inside both of their rooms.  Next time we'd pay the extra to go for theirs (the Orient Express or La Loose Caboose).

Dave inside the train up in the cupola.

After posting for pictures we set out on our Wine Tasting adventure.  We met a few friends along the way...

First stop (and our only intended stop) was Brassfield.  We've heard folks talk about this winery the last two times we camped up this way, but we never made it there because it's on the opposite side of the lake and well when you've dragged kids to a few wineries the last thing you want to do is take them 45 minutes out of their way.

While this wasn't a convenient location - it was amazing!

We really enjoyed their wines - and the grounds are amazing.  Here is a shot of the lake and town on our drive back down the hill from Brassfield (we took home maybe half a case).

We then hit up 2 other wineries - Gregory Graham (the former winemaker for Rombauer) and one of our favorites Loujor Estates.

After wrapping up at the three wineries we headed back to the B&B and we played one game of bocce ball - where I whipped Dave's butt!  Then it was time to head out to the pier to watch the sunset.

Of course you had to have wine to watch the sunset...

It was a perfect night!  It was cold and windy as the sun set, so we just went grabbed dinner then went back to sleep - Dave caught a chill on the water and wasn't feeling well.

The next morning it was more coffee in our cupola.  I also filled out the journal they have in our room - where guests write their thoughts.  It was awesome  to read everyone's thoughts over the past nearly two years.  All of which stayed in our room.

While many said how great the place was, thank to the owners etc... here's what I wrote:

11/1-11/3, 2013

Our list of recommendations:
1) Enjoy wine in the tub to unwind
2) Walk the grounds
3) Savor breakfast
4) Play bocce ball through the grounds
5) Make friends with others (so you can see inside their cabooses!)
6) Wine and snacks while you watch the sunset over the lake/hills on the dock across the street
7) Coffee in the morning in the cupola while you take in the sights of the lake
* Must play FRR Radio while doing so

Wineries we visited:
Brassfield - beautiful grounds & great wine
Gregory Graham - Former Rombauer winemaker
Lajour Estates - views cannot be beat!!

Mix all together with lots of love and R&R = perfection!
Brenda & Dave

Then it was getting time to say goodbye to the B&B - so we walked the pier again..

And hung around our caboose...

Did I mention they pay serious attention to detail?  In the room where we have breakfast, there's a train that travels over your heads!

It was an amazing weekend and one we needed in a bad way - especially with the plumbing drama (which is ongoing).  But one slice of peace.

I warned you there was a lot of pictures!