Category: kids

Day 4 at California Adventure

by Ariana Peters, posted in kids, life, travel

California Adventure kind of sucked hahahahaha. There were only a small handful of rides my son was tall enough for and even less for my daughter. So many rides were closed, things didn’t open when the park did. There was just a lot that was disappointing. We did manage to occupy ourselves for the whole day but we were super glad we only went there for 1 day.

My son loves the Cars movie so Cars land was a hit
Frozen snacks……so cold they almost broke your teeth
The rare picture of just us
I found the Starbucks!!!! Both parks had a Starbucks in them but they don’t outwardly advertise that they are Starbucks until you get up close.
He thought Chip or Dale (not sure which hahahaha) was cool but he was a little wary. My daughter wouldn’t even go near him.
There was this cool redwood forest place in the park with lots of fun stuff to climb and explore……but even parts of this had height requirements. What the heck??!!!
Nap time
My sister and brother-in-law got to come and spend part of the day with us! The kids were so thrilled
The ‘san Francisco Pier ‘ area in the park.
My sister!!!!
They both like Monsters inc.
He LOVED this wrecked car outside one of the shops in Cars land. It would smoke and make a noise like it was trying to start. He stood there forever! And we went back several times.
Micky’s philharmonic 3d show.

And that’s a wrap!!!!

It was long and exhausting but I am so glad we did it. I loved watching their little eyes light up and watching them explore so many new things.

I wish the food was better for the prices they charge. I wish some of the characters were more easily accessible or accessible at all. There were no characters from Encanto which my daughter loves and to see Anna and Elsa you had to wait in a line forever and they were behind doors until you got up there so you couldn’t even wave at them and see them if you didn’t want to wait in line.

I don’t see us going back for a very long time, if ever. It’s just soooooo dang expensive! They really do nickel and dime you…..or should I say like $20 and $50 you.

I was very happy with the time of year we went though. Granted with small kids we didn’t go on some of the most popular rides with the longest waits but with the use of watching the app for wait times and trying to be smart the longest we waited was about 20min for a ride. So, I am incredibly thankful for that because I don’t think they would have tolerated much longer.

All in all I am so glad for the memories but I don’t need to do it again.

Disneyland Day 3

by Ariana Peters, posted in kids, life, travel
Oh man, by day 3 of Disneyland and day 10 of traveling I needed all the coffee! But how dang cute are they??
She loved Dumbo……I tolerated it hahaha. I don’t love spinning things.
So freaking cute!
She loved Winnie the Pooh from a distance but was skeptical up close…… brother was napping during this time.

Sister’s nap time!!! We took it day by day and nap by nap hahaha
Goofy’s house in toon town. We spent time there everyday.
Just before the rocketships in tomorrow land. Robert loved these and apparently so did she…..I HATED them!!!! I felt like I was going to fly out!
Sometimes they have sweet sibling love…..othertimes it’s thunderdome
It’s a small world. We did this every day, short lines and air conditioning!!! Need I say more?
Snacks, snacks and more snacks. This is how we survived most lines.
Every body of water had ducks, which she is obsessed with.
Sleeping Beauty’s castle
His nap
He LOVES to drive!!

Another long, fun day.

Disneyland Day 2

by Ariana Peters, posted in kids, life, travel
Good morning!!
It was fun to see Disneyland decorated for Halloween.
Runaway railroad! Ella loved it! Robert not so much, I think it was a little herky jerky for him.
Fun in Toontown
Mini’s house!
It was fun to explore the houses and see what was just decoration and what you could really interact with.
Mini me.
He LOVED the rocket ships……I took Ella on once and she loved it…….mama did not lol. I do not like spinning things and it leans to the side and goes pretty fast! Not for me lol.
Napping on the Jungle Cruise
Star Wars land. Sort of a mini date for us to walk around together while the kids napped in the stroller.

Star Wars land is freaking cool! Very immersive feeling….but! Only 2 rides and the rest is all shops……seems gimmicky for a whole land….but 100% worth exploring…..if you are there.

It’s a small world after all!!!! The kids loved everything you could look at and mom and dad loved the air conditioning
Tom Sawyers island. Robert LOVED the caves. Lots of fun to look at and explore.
He was so stinking proud to get his ‘licence’ lol. $7 well spent. He still has it. He spent the rest of the trip showing it before every driving ride.
We ended the night on the carousel.
Hi Papa!
IT’S NOT PAPA!!!!!

Disneyland Day 1

by Ariana Peters, posted in kids, life, travel

As if I wasn’t crazy enough to sign up for a long race with 2 kids under 3 I then decided that with only 1 day of rest we would spend 4 days at Disneyland.

I loved watching them look at all the new things and explore everything.
It’s impossible to get a picture where we are all looking at the camera and smiling.
Churros!!!! Oh the amount of sugar we consumed.
This was goofy’s house playground. The kids loved these kind of things just as much as the rides.
I love that there were things for them to explore and help their minds work and not just rides.
Daily stroller naps.
Both our arms were dead at the end of each day. Even though we had a stroller half the time the kids wanted to be carried.
I love the wonder in their eyes.
Ducks! My daughter is obsessed with ducks and they are all around at Disneyland.

Don’t know how but we picked a great time to go. During the day, we were almost always able to find a ride that had less than a 20 minute wait. I can tell you anything longer than that and your kids are going to freak out. Even the 20 minutes my daughter would get really fidgety by the end. Snacks are key.

Weekly Workouts

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, kids, life, running, training

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday -OFF it’s been a weird week hahahaha

Thursday – 3 miles

Friday – OFF

Saturday – 18.5 miles……..was gonna try for 20 but it hurt so much, had to have my husband come pick me up since I was still a little over 1.5 miles from home.

I’m starting to think I might drop down to a half marathon. I’m just so tired. With 2 kids under 3 I have been sleep deprived for over 1.5 years now, I stopped doing cross training or weights because I’ve been so tired. I haven’t 100% decided to drop down to a half yet but I am seriously considering it.

Book review: How to be a Happier Parent

by Ariana Peters, posted in books, kids, life

I enjoyed this book. There were some dry moments and I skimmed the parts that didn’t really pertain to me right now…like busy school mornings and homework battles.

It is a lot about how you react to the issues that come up, the attitude you have and setting yourself up for success.

I am by no means perfect so I did learn a lot from this book hahaha. I still have days that are a struggle, I still lose my cool quicker than I want but I am trying and also trying to implement some strategies from this book and I think it’s helpful.

I would recommend all parents read this.

Weekly Workouts

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, kids, running, training

Sunday -OFF

Monday -OFF we started a 1 day a week preschool on a farm and it’s on Mondays

Tuesday – 3 miles

Wednesday -2 mile walk with the kids

Thursday – 3 miles

Friday -OFF

Saturday- 16.37 miles

Total running miles – 22.37 miles

Weekly workout

by Ariana Peters, posted in baby, kids, life, running, training

When life happens……

Sunday -OFF

Monday – 3 miles of walk/run intervals

Tuesday – 2 miles walking

Wednesday – 3 miles walk/run intervals

Thursday – OFF baby woke up with a fever

Friday – OFF baby had diarrhea all day with some blood, ended up in the ER with her

Saturday – baby sick and wanted mommy all day. No long run.

Thank goodness she seems to be on the mend. I was starting to get a little worried. Hopefully the upward trend continues and everything can get back to normal this coming week.

I am a Runner

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, kids, life, running, training

After so many years of not consistently running; moving in with my now husband, getting engaged, getting married, enjoying being married then kids. I find myself having to remind myself that I AM A RUNNER.

Even if I run slow, even if I have runs where I walk more than I run, even if I have bad training months, whether I finish first or last in a race (I have finished last lol) whether I run a marathon in 3 hours or 7 hours….I ran it…..I am a Runner.

For some reason now, I don’t know if it’s tackling the marathon or maybe having had kids, but I seem to be much harder on myself than I was 5 years ago when I was running. If I have a bad run or a run where I’m really tired or even a bad month of runs suddenly I think I’m not a good enough runner. I don’t remember ever feeling like that when I was training for half marathons before kids.

I think it might be because this has been such a bad month with my kids sleep and my stomach issues that I feel like I’ve backslid in my training a little. But I don’t ever want to be a perfectionist. So I have to continually remind myself that there will be seasons in life where it just doesn’t go the way I want it to.

But I am STILL a runner!!!!!