Salt Lake City Marathon

Every year, my dad and I like to participate in the Bike Tour of the Salt Lake Marathon. It's a super fun tradition to share with my daddy. The Bike Tour starts an hour before the runners, so we had to be at the starting line at the dark and cold hour of 6 am. We made sure to bundle since it was such a chilly day!

We got in line with the rest of the bikers and left the starting line in batches. They changed the course a couple of years ago, so now we tackle four big hills right at the beginning, it's a pretty rude wake up call for my sleepy legs.

There were numerous times were I wanted to stop to take pictures of the beautiful course, We start at the U of U, ride all through downtown, sugar house and holiday, so we get awesome views of our fun city, right as the sun is rising. It took so much self control to not stop my bike every 5 minutes to snap a photo. I did stop once, when I was in Sugar House Park, and the sun was rising behind the majestic mountains, I just couldn't resist snapping a quick pic, which, of course, does not do the scene justice.

Both dad and I were super anxious to get to the finishing line, not because our legs or arms were tired, but because our entire bodies were FROZEN! It was the coldest Marathon Race to date for us and for 90% of the ride, I could not feel below my hips, which made it extremely hard to pedal, Dad said it was the coldest he has ever been, which is intense since he never,ever gets cold ever.

Once we crossed the finished line and received our medals, we headed to a spot in the sun to sit down, un-thaw, and enjoy a post race snack. We sat and enjoyed the sun for a long time before my dad set off on his bike back to the starting line to pick up our car. We have learned in the past, it's a bad idea for me to attempt to go back with him. Even though he is 69 and I'm 29, he is still in much better shape than me, even though I work out hard!

Leading up to the race, Dad and I went on a few practice rides to make sure I still remembered how to use a bike since it had been a hot minute since I had been biking. Dad would come down to my place and we would bike 30 or so miles on the Murdock Canal Trail. The trail had some stunning, spring views full of sunshine and blossoms as we zoomed along. Since we weren't up against any deadline, I stopped plenty of times to take pictures of what we were witnessing on our ride. I also took a few pics on the go from my bike.

I love sharing this fun and rewarding hobby with my dad. It's so fun to bond over long relaxing practice rides, and share memories of freezing race days.

Love you dad! Thanks for sharing your passion with me!

Until Next Time Disneyland

On our second and last morning in Disnyland, we woke up to storm clouds and scattered showers. Which made for sweater weather and frizzy, out of control hair. But by the time we made the short walk from our hotel to Disney's entrance gate, the clouds were beginning to clear and there was some beautiful, blue sky peaking through.

We headed straight for the Galactic Grill for a Star Wars themed breakfast. Jenny had been excited to try the Bantha Blue Milk french toast, you may remember Luke drinking blue bantha milk with his aunt and uncle in Episode IV. I got the Lars family breakfast, eggs, hash browns and bacon, and bethy got the Vader barrito.

After we were filled to the brim, we headed over to Fantasyland to take a relaxing cruise around Storybook Land. they have added  little Arendelle section that we were excited to see. I hadn't been on that ride in ages! I forgot how adorable it is!

I saw this sweatshirt in one of the shops and I couldn't resist getting it

By now the clouds were pretty much gone and the sun was shining it's little heart out, it turned out to be such a beautiful day!

A Mary Poppins sighting!

This little door reminds us all of our childhood. Our mom loves this little door and took pictures of us by it when we would take trips to Disney when we were little. I wish I had the pictures of us back then to do a fun side by side

I love the teacup ride, I think it's one of the cutest rides in all of Disneyland. 

Then it was back to the Galactic Grill to get some last minute Star Wars treats before we headed to the airport. I'm not joking when I say the Galactic Grill cast members knew us by now, they excitedly welcomed us back... 

We got some treats to share:

Darth by chocolate 

BB8 rice crispy

Light side Lemonade with light up Millennium Falcon

Dark side Lemonade with light up Death Star

The Light side Lemonade was delicious. It was a combination of lemonade and Granny apple flavoring with yogurt meteors that would pop in your mouth.

The Darth by Chocolate was probably my favorite. Besides having the coolest name, and a pretty awesome presentation, it was delectable. It was made up of layers of red velvet cake, chocolate ganache, chocolate sponge, chocolate pudding and a layer of chocolate cookies.

This last picture was too cute not to add in. Bethy bought Vienne a collection of the classic Disney characters so V would know who they are when we meet them all this summer on our Disney cruise. As you can see, Vienne loved them!

This trip was quite the whirlwind, but it was so fun!!! 

I still can't believe we just picked up and went to Disney so spontaneously,

it makes me want to do that more often!

Paint The Night Parade

Our night at Disney was pretty serendipitous, we took our time waking up from our naps, getting ready for the night, and walking back to the park. When we got through the gates we saw everyone lining up for the parade, we didn't plan on seeing the parade but the timing seemed too perfect. Bethy and I got dinner to go from the Village Haus, while Jenny saved us seats for the parade. 

I am so glad we happened upon the parade, 

it was much more magical than I had anticipated it being.

After the parade we were off to ride a few more rides, our first stop, after a mini photo shoot at the castle since it was so breathtaking all lit up and sparkling, was Adventureland to redeem our fast passes for Star Tours.

Bethy did Jenny's hair in Leia buns, they looked sooooo cute on her!

I mean, just look at those buns!

After riding a few more rides, we headed to Pooh's Corner to get some essential treats. One of my favorite treats at Disney are the chocolate covered pineapple wedges. They are divine! 

I thought this mug was adorable, and now I am a little bit sad I walked away with just a picture and not the actual mug... however, I did walk away with....

This awesome, limited edition, 60th anniversary stein! I got it from the Village Haus when we got dinner before the parade. I just couldn't resist! All of the lands are represented with iconic rides from each land. And the castle on the top was just too much. I still gush over how cute it is!

We were one of the last ones out of the park, but we had to stop and view the cute animated windows they have at the top of main street. They were so magical!

Whew! What. A. Day! The pedometer on my phone said I took 21,911 which comes out to a little over 10 miles. We were exhausted, but so happy! We had had so much fun, and covered so much ground. We slowly made our way back to our hotel to get a good, long nights rest before we got up at the crack of dawn to fit in as much Disney magic before we headed to the airport.

One more Disney post coming up next!