Quote of the Week

"Actually, if you could see close in my eyes, the American flag is waving in both of them and up my spine is glowing this red, white, and blue stripe."

-Walt Disney

New Babies at the Animal Kingdom

There were some new members born to the Animal Kingdom family recently!

A few weeks ago, a new elephant was born into the family.  He was named Jabali.  He is the sixth baby elephant to be born at the Animal Kingdom.  There are pictures of him out on the savanna as recently as this week.  I rode Kilamanjaro Safari twice yesterday in the hope of seeing him, but no luck.  I did see one of the older baby elephants though.  Check out the adorable picture of him with his mama on the Disney Parks Blog.

I did have better luck over in Asia.  I almost always stop to check out the apes and this time I was surprised to see a new born clinging to mama's belly.  I'm not even sure that this has been announced on the Parks blog yet so it was a very pleasant surprise. 

We hung out there for a while sipping our frozen chai and trying to snap a good picture of the baby.  It wasn't easy because the mom kept her back to us unless she was climbing to a different feeding location.  The cast members that are nearby to answer questions said that it was a very good sign that the mom was hiding the baby from us.  The is a definite sign that she has accepted the baby and will raise it.  Here are some of the pictures I took:

Here we can see a hand gripping mama's hair.

Here we have the whole arm.  So tiny!

And here we get a little peek at the face.  Aww!

Wildlife Wednesday

Fall Has Arrived in the Magic Kingdom

I know that other bloggers have already shared their pictures of some of the Halloween decorations that are already in place at the Magic Kingdom, but I wanted to share some of my own.  I made my way over to the Magic Kingdom last Friday night to see the Magic, Memories, and You and Wishes!  I got these pictures before the sun went down:

And something that I don't think I've ever seen in the evening at the Magic Kingdom.  A few of the Main Street vehicles were still out.  I thought that they were only out in the mornings.  Hmmm...  Does this have something to do with a closed Toontown?  I'll keep my eyes out for them and let you know if I see them in the evening again.

Happy Anniversary La Cava del Tequila!

Yesterday one of the most popular new additions to Epcot celebrated it's 2nd anniversary.  Happy anniversary La Cava del Tequila!  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get out of the house to join in the celebrations.  According to their Twitter account there was cake, chips and salsa, and tequila shots!  Darn.  I wish I didn't miss it!

La Cava (the tequila cave) over 100 different tequilas for you to try.  (I think I've only tried 4.)  There are also many different Margaritas on the menu.  I've had the Magic Blue and the classic.  The Magic Blue was really good and if I was staying on property or having a drink early in the day I would definitely have it again.  It is a little bit strong for me when I need to drive myself home.  I've heard good things about the Cucumber and the Avacado margaritas and I plan on trying them in the near future.  I'll be sure to let you know what I think!

A few weeks ago, I took a break from my unpacking and headed over to Epcot to hang out with friends in the Mexico pavilion.  One of my favorite places in the World Showcase is La Cava del Tequila.  I'm not a big drinker of tequila.  We had a bad breakup in college.  Only recently have I started drinking tequila again.  I enjoy it, but mostly in the margarita's that are served there.

When we were planning our night, we were all communicating on Twitter and making sure that the Cava account was included in the tweets.  A message went out from the account that we were to ask for the Ambassador of Tequila when we got there for a special treat!

When we got there we told our server and found out that our treat was a round of shots.  Score!

How awesome is it that we were able to get free drinks?  That plus the free chips and salsa that you get with a purchase if you are a follower on Twitter made for a fun night!  (Sorry, no picture of the chips and salsa, but the salsa is yummy!)

I also ordered the table some guacamole and chips to share.  I love the guacamole there and that night it didn't disappoint.

I haven't tried much else from the menu at La Cava, but I've got all the time in the world now so I will be trying out more things each time I visit.

Have you visited La Cava del Tequila?  Do you have any fun pictures that you would like me to share?  If you send me some pictures I will happily post them on the blog.

OMG!!! Off Property?!?!?!?!

Since I am now a local in the Orlando area, I'm going to take some opportunities to share some of the fun things that I find off Disney property.  The other day I found myself near a frozen yogurt place called Menchie's that my friends had told me about.  I decided to stop in and try things out.

Menchie's is a self service frozen yogurt operation.  It is set up kinda like a salad bar.  There are several different flavors from which you can choose.  After you chose your yogurt flavor, you then have the opportunity to add as many or as few toppings as you like. 

This time I selected Butter Brickle and Apple Pie.  I then added chopped walnuts, honey granola, graham cracker crumbs, toffee crunch, caramel and whipped cream.  Wow!  Listing all of those sounds like a lot of toppings, but I promise you that everything was perfectly balanced.

Here's the end result:

There were healthier choices too.  I went in there with the intent of adding fruit to my cup, but none of the choices were calling to me this time.  I do plan on going back (hopefully tonight) and this time I plan to make a very fruity cup.

Juno Mission

Hi everyone!  I'm sorry that I haven't posted on here, but I've had some pretty big, life-changing events.  I'll be sharing more about that in the next few weeks, but I wanted to show you the view from my balcony last Friday.

What's that?  You can't see it?  Well, let me zoom in a little bit.

I was one of the lucky few that were selected for the Juno Tweetup by NASA, but unfortunately, the aforementioned life-changing events prevented me from attending.  I was thankfully able to view the launch of the rocket from my balcony.  Not too shabby, eh?