So I'm sitting here waiting for Ricky to get home. He's at the gym, and I'm happy to report that just shy of 4 months since surgery, Thursday is his last day of physical therapy WHOO!! I can't believe it! It feels so weird since we've been going to p/t 2 to 3x a week since the beginning of October. We saw the surgeon yesterday and he agrees with Ricky's therapist that he's ready to move on to a sports-specific program at a sports training facility by us . Athletes go there just to work on their strength/skills/agility, but they also offer specific rehab programs for basketball, soccer, and football players. He's also "upping" his running when at the gym from 2 miles to however long he can go, and he has the ok to do any leg exercises as long as he doesn't have a weight directly in front of his left knee. The surgeon just kept saying "fabulous" and "awesome" when he was checking Ricky out and watching him do exercises, and he said while there are some kids he worries about he's not worried at all about Ricky It's a great feeling!
In other news, we lost power Friday morning through late Saturday afternoon because of a rather huge snowstorm we had. There are still lots of people here without power and tomorrow we're supposed to get hit with another Nor'easter......I got the text about 3 hours ago that they cancelled school for tomorrow. I'm fine with that, as long as my power stays on!
DAY 1 PART ONE
VOLCANO BAY AND THE SUPER BOWL
We woke up on our last Disney day and had to try cramming the crap we'd bought at the outlets into the skimpy amount of luggage we'd brought. Once we managed that we took it over to bell services to hold while we grabbed breakfast at Pepper Market. I won't bore you with breakfast platter pictures but I will show you this:
Because we all need Mickey Waffles every day! After we ate we took a final stroll through Panchitos gift shop where they were just starting to fill the pastry case, so I took a picture of these cute PB Cups:
And then, since this was Cathy's first time ever at CSR and we hadn't yet walked around the resort, we did just that:
I posted quite a few pictures of the Pyramid pool after Steve and I stayed last Nov. but this time, Cathy and I walked up the Jaguar slide for some different pictures:
This has been my boys' favorite slide in all the resorts we've stayed at, including Stormalong Bay as odd as that sounds!
Oh and here's a picture of the tower they're building:
Yeah, it's not attractive right now. I took this on our walk from Casitas to El Centro. I don't actually think it looks horrific by any means but if you're completely adverse to seeing any construction at all at your resort, you won't like CSR right now.
We needed to check in at our Universal resort, Sapphire Falls, by 12:45 and then be in the training room by 1:00. We were thinking we might grab something to eat before 1:00 also, so we said good-bye to Disney around 11:00 and Ubered over to US (I feel so YOUNG and vibrant saying I Ubered!!!) Sadly I fail you here. I did not take any pictures of SF when we arrived as I was too busy checking in, and meeting all the other agents. There were 70 of us in total from my agency and other than Cathy and my roommate from last year, Pam, I knew nobody.
Our rooms weren't ready yet so after we checked in - which took awhile because in between the 70 of us were "regular" guests and the staff there weren't the quickest - we strolled around inside and out. We also checked our luggage with Bell Services. Our meeting was over at Cabana Bay and they provided a bus for us even though it was across the street, so we hopped on that and were there in a matter of minutes. Instead of getting something to eat I ate an energy bar I brought.
Once in our meeting, Cathy and I met our agency owner for the first time and we were divided up into groups. Sadly I wasn't with Cathy and Pam who were rooming together this trip since I signed up late, but I did meet my roommate Barbie/Traci. She was very sweet and as I said, 23.
I will not bore you with too many details except to say I failed you all again. Our first order of business was touring Volcano Bay, and as much as I detest water parks I was looking forward to this.
UNTIL IT STARTED POURING
And this I was NOT happy about at all. As we walked over it begun to pour. POUR! We had gotten a poncho in our Universal backpacks we were given so I put that on and it promptly ripped right up the middle. Now I have to hold it together in front. I also have a big, ugly, non Disney Dooney & Bourke purse since we weren't allowed to have anything Disney there that I'm trying to keep dry since it only had a snap closure. Then on top of that, I have the big clunky Universal backpack that I put my jacket in, because even though it was raining it was muggy with the poncho on. I didn't think the backpack was waterproof so I'm holding the poncho together and trying to keep both bags under it Needless to say I took zero pics. I KNOW! I'm mad at me, too!
All I'll say is, if you like water parks you'll love Volcano Bay They hadn't closed it since there was no lightning or thunder but man, did the park empty out! I'll also say this, someone had an attitude because she does not like being out in the rain. I knew we had a full night ahead and I didn't want afro hair. No offense to anyone with an afro, but it doesn't look good on me.
Finally they let us go inside where it was dry and see our rooms! Now we had a couple hours free park time, again in the rain. I met up with Cathy and Pam and we caught the bus over to Universal Studios where our first ride was a "first" for all of us: Race Through NY with Jimmy Fallon.
Here's a shot of the pre-show:
Like many of Universal's rides this is 3D, which I don't particularly care for. The parts I had my eyes open for looked neat, but the 3 of us all felt it wasn't that great.
On to a snack! Still pouring we needed something we could eat quick and with one hand while we held our hoods on our heads since the wind was blowing so hard. Cathy and Pam chose soft pretzels while I got this:
I think it's a funny picture. But it IS a churro! And it was ok, did the job of holding me over until our group dinner.
We stood under an overhang and ate, trying to decide what to do. We were really just so miserable in the drenching rain that we decided to head over to the restaurant where our dinner was and get a drink while we waited, as it was only 4:20 and dinner was at 5. Oh and let me explain here: after dinner we were supposed to ride the floats in the Mardi Gras parade like Pam, Cathy and I did last year. We had SO much fun! Unfortunately they cancelled the parade due to the rain.
So our dinner was going to be Mardi Gras themed and was being held at Lombard's Seafood Grille. We walked in and explained to the hostess that were with the travel agency and we knew we were early and were just going to sit at the bar. She looked at us like we had two heads and explained
THERE WAS NO BAR
Um, what?
So we sat outside on the deck watching the rain for about 30 minutes.
The dinner was not good and the rest of our time in the park was uneventful, so I'm going to skip to when we got back to Sapphire Falls
This was Super Bowl Sunday, and we got back to the resort around 7:00. Tons of agents were going to meet in the bar in the lobby, Strong Water Tavern. Besides the bar there was a big seating area and LARGE screen TV in the lobby right outside the bar, and after we all ran to our rooms Traci and I walked down to the bar for a drink.
I didn't like what I got. I was hanging with some new peeps as the half time show came on, texting Cathy to see where the were. Pam was feeding her Universal shopping addiction in the resort shop so I walked over, saw them through the window, tapped on it and held up my drink. Cathy came out, tasted my drink and agreed it sucked. We all went over to the bar and decided 1. the drink menu was icky and 2. it was too crowded, so we walked downstairs to check out the restaurant where we'd all be having breakfast: Amatista Cookhouse but not before I informed the bartender I didn't like my drink and traded it in for a good, old-fashioned glass of Prosecco.
Well. The drink menu at the Amatista bar was awesome. And it was barely crowded! There were a decent amount of people eating dinner at tables but of the 8 barstools only 2 were taken. The bartender Jose was great and this wasn't the only time we'd grace him with our presence
Since I had my Prosecco, Pam and Cathy got this:
Havana Colada
Bacardi 8 yr, Cream of Coconut, Pineapple Puree, Myer's Dark Rum Float
This was delicious and I know, because I got me one as soon as the last drop of Prosecco was down my throat.
And see that plate next to the drink? That was.........
OOPS! OUT OF ROOM FOR PICTURES! CONTINUED IN NEXT POST