Meal Planning: Week of October 3rd

Review from last week:

Greg has been making a habit of hijacking my beef that I've intended to use for other things and insisting upon BBQ'ing burgers.  And since he cooks the most delicious burgers, I'm always okay with it.  But I'm learning that I need to keep extra in the freezer!

We made some jerk pork (with pork tenderloin instead of pork shoulder, which I will say is much leaner, but I won't be doing again).  We had it three ways this week (only one way documented):

1. Jerk pork with quinoa/rice
2. Jerk pork with macaroni and cheese and BBQ sauce (don't judge, just try it)
3. Jerk pork nachos:

Plan for next week:

Saturday: We are going to Laryd's football game on Saturday afternoon and then heading to Dan and Jeannette's for dinner.

Sunday: Lagered Chili for dinner and Chicken Pot Pie for the week.  (I've been finding myself short on lunch and dinners the past few weeks, so I'm making something extra just in case.  Chicken Pot Pie freezes so well, so if I need to, I'll do that).

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Blue Apron Meal: Fresh Pimento Cheeseburgers with Collard Green & Carrot Slaw

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Crispy Chicken Milanese with Warm Brussels Sprout & Potato Salad

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Seared Cod & Udon Noodles with Shiitake Broth & Togarashi-Spiced Cucumber

Friday: Pizza Chicken

5 Years Old

 

 
Our baby boy is 5 years old, which seems absolutely impossible.  Every day, week and month passes faster than the last, and now we have a bright, funny, silly, and sweet 5 year old kid in our family. 

When he woke up the morning of his birthday, one of the first things he said was "Am I going to Kindergarten???" followed by "I don't WANT my teeth to fall out!" (Both things we told him would happen when he was 5).  So funny what kids hang on to!

Recently, Greg and I have been noticing more and more aspects of his personality that we recognize will likely be part of his personality forever.  For example, I'm pretty sure we have a little Type A child on our hands.  Ben is happiest when he can organize his thoughts and his activities into some sort of order that makes sense to him.  What activities are happening on what day, what order we are going to do things, and what he can expect in the future are very important to him.  He definitely gets this from me, so I'm very happy to oblige!  I need to incorporate more charts and calendars and lists into his life because I know he would absolutely LOVE having a visual for what he can expect to happen.

One example of this is that he only likes to be in his jammies when it's bed time and NO earlier - he will check to see if it's getting dark before he allows jammies.  And once he is in his jammies, he will check to make sure that everyone else is in theirs.  Same thing for being in his "dressed" in the mornings.  

He cracks us up with his preference for the color pink at the moment.  He requested pink balloons and a pink cupcake on his birthday.  At the doctor this morning he chose a Snow White sticker over the Ninja Turtles.  And then in equal measures he loves his car toys. And I just love that he likes what he likes and hasn't yet been influenced by anybody to think these choices should be any different.


This year has been such a big one for him.  He has learned to read and is starting to learn simple math at school.  He has done soccer, flag football, martial arts and is now enrolled in swimming lessons - something he absolutely HATES but I told him he needs to continue until he feels more comfortable in the water.  I'm noticing slow and steady progress so I have hope!  He also has become great at golf and Greg enjoys taking him out to play 9 as often as they are able to.

We have traveled to Hawaii, to Idaho, and to Disneyland this past year with him - and Ben is such an amazing travel buddy!  He has added a 4th day at school and loves it there so much.  He has made so many friends and loves telling us all about his day when he gets home.

This past weekend we celebrated with a big birthday bash at our house!  I reluctantly invited ALL of his classmates (as this is generally what is done in this class) along with all of our friends outside school.  I knew this might be testing the limits in terms of capacity at our house, but luckily - it could not have worked out better!  We rented a bouncy house that took up 1/2 of our backyard and was soooooooooooo much fun.

 

 

We bought Ben a cool light up Flo's Cafe (from Cars) and gave it to him the night before his birthday.  We've been keeping the Disney theme going strong around here :)

 

We love our 5 year old so much and cannot wait to see what this year brings!

Meal Planning: Week of September 26th

Review from last week:

I LOVE this spring green salad.  So filling and delicious.

 

Greg grilled chicken and I threw it on a salad.

Plan for next week: Not much cooking!  We have so much in our freezer to eat that I'm planning to cut back on new stuff for a few weeks.  I'm planning to make 2 meals and then have leftovers and eat stuff from our freezer the rest of the week.

Saturday:  Ben's Birthday!  Not planning to cook this night, as I'm sure we will be snacking all day (and having cake for dessert). 

Sunday: Lagered Chili

Monday: Jerk Pork

Tuesday: Leftover Chili

Wednesday: Nachos (using leftover pork)

Thursday: Lasagna from the freezer

Friday: Leftover Lasagna

Disneyland Day 4

Our last day in the parks!  Our magic hour started at SEVEN AM.  Greg and I were the only willing participants on this day :)  We got up at 6, were downstairs in line with coffee at 6:30, and were able to fit SO much in during this time.

We started off with running to Radiator Springs Racers, stopping for a few picture along the way, then ran to the Tower of Terror, then Screamin, and finally Toy Story!  We then grabbed fast passes for Radiator Springs Racers again.  We had taken my mom and Ben's tickets into the park to get them fast passes too and learned that unless they have scanned you into the park, you aren't able to get fast passes with those park tickets!  Luckily, the cast member working the station overrode it and printed them for me anyway, but something good to know for next time.  We grabbed coffee and headed back to get mom and Ben and went back to Cars Land to race!  And when we were finished, I was able to score another set of Fast Passes to Radiator Springs (aka our favorite ride) for that night when it was dark out and Cars Land was lit up.

I had wanted to let Ben decide how he wanted to spend his last day, so off to Fantasyland we went next.  We rode some rides there, then went to tomorrowland for Autotopia and Buzz (and lunch), and to Adventureland to hit up the Tiki Room.  Since the parks were open later that night (midnight), we knew a mid-day break was in order, so we relaxed at the pool and in the room for awhile.

When we were ready to go again, we had dinner in Downtown Disney at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen and had some great New Orlean's Style food.  Then to Disneyland for more Fantasyland fun :)

We just happened to catch most of the parade as we were leaving Disneyland, which was really fun. 

We then went to Cars Land and we finally got to see it at night - which is even more incredible than during the day.  Disney did such a great job!

After riding the rides there, my mom and Ben were ready to head back to the room.  Greg and I dropped them off, had some food and drinks and then caught the fireworks on our way back to Disneyland.  We had time to ride Pirates and Indiana Jones (we had fast passes for this one) and then headed back to the room.  We had walked a half marathon by this point (which I did in flip flops for some reason - I have no idea how my feet weren't hurting more than they were) and we were done.

Going to Disneyland at this time of year was a great decision!  The crowds were low and we never waiting in a line longer than 30 minutes.  Being strategic with Fast Passes is the way to go for sure. 

Review of Disney's Grand Californian:

It is by far the nicest hotel in the area, and you pay for it.  I absolutely loved the proximity to the parks, the magic hour, the customer service, the immaculate condition they keep the hotel, the beds were amazingly comfortable, the room service/turn down service was great, and the special touches they put on things (like the Disney music being played on the piano and the little leather rocking chairs in front of a TV playing classic Disney cartoons) is adorable.

Would I stay there again?  I think so...but I wouldn't spring for any kind of room upgrade.  We had paid for the premium view (looking towards the park), that ended up being a view of trees - that were next to the park.  I mean, technically we had a "park view", but you wouldn't know it.  Luckily the hotel agreed that the trees had become overgrown and refunded us the difference in cost from the park view vs. the garden view.  We hardly spent any time in the room anyway - and we spent even less time at the pool (which was great, but we didn't use it enough for that to factor in).  I would maybe like to try one of the other Disney hotels and use the extra savings to go towards all the money we spent on food in the parks - but still get the advantage of the magic hour.

We are all happy to be home, but so many amazing memories were made and I am excited go again (in a couple years) :)

Rides Rode:

Radiator Springs Racers (X3)

Hollywood Tower of Terror

California Screamin

Toy Story Midway Mania

Mater's Junkyared Jamboree

Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters

Autotopia

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Alice in Wonderland

Mad Tea Party

Storyland Canal Boats

Enchanted Tiki Room

Tarzan's Treehouse

Astro Orbiter

Indiana Jones

Pirates of the Caribbean

Food Ate:

Chicken Sandwich, Cheeseburger, Turkey Sandwich at Galactic Grill (Tomorrowland)

A big Disneyland sucker (for Ben)

Frozen chocolate banana and ice-cream cookie sandwich

Pasta Bolognese and salad (and wine and mojitos) at Wine Country Trattoria

Jambalaya, salad and a sampler platter at Ralph Brennan 's Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney

Cotton Candy

Personal Pizza (for Ben) at Whitewater Snacks

Miles walked: 13.46

Disneyland Day 3

Each day our extra magic hour started earlier than the last.  After 2 full days at the parks, I should have known to set my alarm on Thursday!  We slept in until 7:15 and had to hustle a bit to get to Disneyland early enough to take advantage of our extra time there! 

 

We started in Tomorrowland with Buzz Lightyear.  I'm happy to report that I still am the champion at this game and it was fun to beat Greg again ;) 

 

My mom and Ben went head to head and proved to be equally matched ;)



 

Next, we went to Star Tours - where Ben left his hat.  I somehow managed to discover he had left it as we were exiting Tomorrowland, so I sent the rest of the group to head towards Adventureland while I retrieved it and then ran to meet back up with them. 

 

Next up was getting Fast Passes to Indiana Jones and going on the Jungle Cruise.  We had read online that you can ask your tour guide for a special map, which they gave us and Ben thinks is cool.  (They did ask him to do an impression of his favorite animal he saw - elephant).

 

Then we did Indiana Jones.  The extra tall shoes I had bought for Ben paid off because he was measured at each check point to ensure he was tall enough - and he just BARELY was.  The ride was scary for him, but I think it was more because it was SO loud.  He seems to be much more sensitive to loud noises than anything else - which is exactly how he has been for his entire life.  But I think he enjoyed it a little....just as long as he was clear that we were not going on it again ;)

 

We moved on to the Haunted Mansion Holiday. In the past I have always preferred the OG version of the mansion, but this time totally changed my mind - it was AWESOME!  Ben really liked this one, too.

 

 

 

 

We finished our time at Disneyland that day with Splash Mountain!  Ben was REALLY not wanting to go on this one, and let us know this multiple times as we stood in line, but he ended up thinking it was super fun!  Particularly the part where Greg got SOAKED.

 

 

 

We moved on to California Adventure next because we had Fast Passes to see the Frozen show that started at 3:45.  We had enough time to hit up a quick ride in Bugs Land first.

 

 

Frozen was a really cute production and I totally recommend it!  It was essentially a recreation of the movie, on stage, and they did a really good job.  Ben leaned over to me during "Let it Go" and whispered, "Mama, I wish I was on stage with Elsa" and I about died.  It was so sweet.

California Adventure closed at 5pm that day (Disneyland stayed open until 8) for a private party for Disney employees who have been with the company for 10+ years.  I had known this for several weeks and had originally been SO bummed to miss a few hours at the parks, but after 3 days, our feet were so tired and it was almost a welcome break!

Greg and I made dinner reservations to dine at Napa Rose, an amazing restaurant at our hotel I had always wanted to try.  We had a great time and had a fantastic meal (and lots of great wine!) and enjoyed sitting down for a few hours!

Meanwhile, my mom took Ben out for pizza in Downtown Disney and to a place called Ridemakerz - which is essentially Build-A-Bear, but for trucks/cars!  He had the BEST time - such a special thing for them to do together!

Rides Rode:

 

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Star Tours

Haunted Mansion Holiday

Winnie the Pooh 

Indiana Jones

Splash Mountain

Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin

Frozen life at the Hyperion

Heimlich's Chew Chew Train

Ridemakerz (Build a Truck)!!

 

Food Ate:

 

Bengals BBQ (Adventureland)

Napa Rose (Grand Californian)

Churros and Frozen Lemonade at Disneyland

Napolini (Downtown Disney)

 
Miles walked: 7.65