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Tag Archive for disneyland

Setting the Bar High

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Renee Spindle

The definition of a goal is; the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.

My daughter, Hilary, set the bar high for herself, and achieved an awesome personal goal last month. In January of this year Hilary boldly signed up to run in the Disneyland half-marathon at the beginning of September. This was Labor Day weekend by the way. No end of summer parties for this gal.

The starting line for the marathon.

Get going Hilary – it’s only mile 4!!

She joined a gym, changed her eating habits, and set the course for herself to run 13 miles start to finish. It makes me tired just typing that. As the date loomed closer Hilary became more determined than ever to get to the marathon, and get it done. She had every confidence in herself that she could do it, her mother of course was totally worried about her. That’s what I do. And by the way, she wasn’t running with friends or any of her sorority sisters, she did this solo, start to finish. No buddies to run with, and no family members by her side. Just herself and the pack of other runners determined to do what she was doing, and finish what she was finishing. Hilary’s cousin, Mary, made sure she got to the race venue on time, and was probably her biggest cheerleader for this event. The excitement and cousin love between the girls just warmed my heart.

During the marathon, Hilary had to be able to stay within a 16-minute mile in order to stay in the race. She set a goal for herself to run a 13-minute mile and she did it, all the way through the marathon. We were able to track her time, and milestones through an amazing system Disney had set-up for marathon day. My Mom and I were in awe of what she was doing.

During the race we were able to scope out a spot in Angels Stadium parking lot to cheer her on. It seemed like we were waiting a lifetime for her to come around the corner and through an archway that was set up for the event. Thankfully we finally spotted her, and she stopped momentarily to take pictures with us, and then was on her way. I’m pretty sure I got a tear in my eye at this moment in time.

Hilary’s cousin, Mary, and her brother, Bryan raced to the finish line to get a picture of her. Many, many thanks to Mary for sprinting through the race venue to get this shot.

This picture captures all of the emotion of I set my goal, and I met it. My first hug with Hilary after she finished her race was filled with such happiness for her. As a parent, there is no greater joy than watching your kids set their sights on something, going for it, and making it happen.

You set the bar high for this family dear Hilary. Congratulations to my daughter for stepping out there (no pun intended), and getting this done. Wow, there’s no other word to describe this, just wow!!

2 comments Posted in Family, Kidstuff

Is Your Household Battling this Cold Thingy?

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Renee Spindle

Ok New Year’s fans it’s only the second week of the New Year, and I’m tired of my family being sick. We all have had a cold and cough for the past week or so, every single one of us. Sneezing, coughing, kleenex, cough syrup, cough drops, Emergen C. I did not have a big enough stock pile for all of us to have colds at the same time. Yikes!!

Break out the Lysol, Clorox wipes, and hand sanitizer. This thing has got to go away, enough already. This is southern California for heaven’s sake. Land of sunshine, and warm weather. We should be at the beach or Disneyland, not sitting at home sniffling, and coughing. This cold has been seriously eating into my New Year’s resolutions to get fit, and healthy. What’s a girl to do.

What we’ve been doing is watching a ton of movies, and we got hooked on this PBS series called Doc Martin. My parents recommended it, and we are hooked. And of course we’ve been drinking lots of water, eating lots and lots of soup (most of it home-made too!), getting plenty of rest, and just taking care of one another.

Travel Man is scheduled out of the country next week, I’m only slightly worried because he got the cold thingy first and is a few days ahead of the rest of us, and finally feeling pretty good. I know he’ll be fine, he just has to remember to drink lots of water.

Let me know how the cold factor is fairing in your neck of the woods. Is your family flying through winter unscathed by the cold and flu? Or is your house a cold battle zone? I’m off to get some kleenex, the soft variety of course. Hope you all have a great weekend.

No comments Posted in Around the House, Family

My Domestic Goddess Status – Just an Update

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Renee Spindle

It is almost the end of April, and it has been just about a year since I quit my job in the Corporate arena! My how time flies!! I was crowned by my beloved Travel Man as the Domestic Goddess of our household shortly after I decided to stay at home for a while. Little did I know how much I would love this title. If you follow my stories you know I left my job a year ago to pursue other interests. Here’s a link to my post from last April about my life change-Our Girls Vision Luncheon.

In the past year I have had the opportunity to spend time with my grandson, do lots and lots of baking, do a little bit of sewing ( I want to get more of this done soon!), start and finish some little home improvement projects, take a few trips with Travel Man, try some new recipes, add to our list of family favorite recipes, read more books, and generally have the luxury to just come and go as I please. This has all been so personally rewarding for me. Getting to discover what I love to do again, and who knew that I had a passion for writing. I always felt that I had some stories to tell that people would relate to, but I did not realize how much I would enjoy sharing them.

My Domestic Goddess title was given to me by my loving husband. It is because of his encouragement and support that I am able to do what I want to do. Thanks Travel Man for all that you do.

One of my biggest perils in my new-found title is getting side tracked when I am working on things around the house. Does this happen to anyone else? I have had a few discussions with my sister, who works from home, about this, and she tells me the same thing I am already feeling. If you don’t stay focused on the task at hand you get sidetracked to some other task, and then you have to re-focus to get back to the task at hand. Was that statement too confusing, it made my head spin just typing it. That’s why I am really focusing on my lists everyday. To stay away from the “side tracks”.

Also, I have had the good fortune to just pack my bags and take a few short trips with Travel Man. We went to Reno to visit my parents, and last year I was able to take a long road trip with him from Franklin, Kentucky to home. Lots and lots of fun being on the road with someone who travels for a living.

For awhile Travel Man’s days off were falling during the week, so our “weekends” would be happening on a Tuesday/Wednesday timeframe. No worries for us, we are just able to do what we want to when he is home. Sometimes at Disneyland, maybe out to dinner, a visit to the parentals, some time with the grandson, and hopefully a dinner together with the twenty-somethings.

This has been a great year of re-discovery for me. A big hug and thank you to all of my family for your loving support and guidance. I’m looking forward to more and more new discoveries in this next year, and hope to share the stories with each and every one of you.

No comments Posted in Around the House, Blogging, Family, Organizing, Recipes, Travel Man

Can you just set your electronics aside?

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Travel Man and I have had the good fortune to be able to go to the Disney Parks this year quite a few times. We have annual passes, which for a Southern California resident makes a whole lot of sense. The parks are close by, and with a schedule like my husband’s we can take the little mini-trips between his business travel trips, and feel like we’re escaping from reality for just a bit.

I have two pet peeves when I go to Disneyland these days; stroller drivers who don’t pay attention to where they are going, and parents glued to their cell phones. Now we don’t have small kids at home any longer, but we do have a grandson so I am always observing, ie. people watching, what people are up to with their kids. The kids get so excited to be at the amusement parks, they just want to have fun!

There have been numerous times (more than I can count on one hand) where we will see a family walking along, and both parents have theirs noses glued to their cell phones. What! Put your phone in your pocket or purse, and don’t touch it again, unless you have an emergency phone call. We were sitting in a small snack area one evening, and I will never forget this, a mom and her two sons were sitting next to us. The sons were eating their ice cream, and their mom was fiddling with her phone the entire time. There was no conversation, no true interaction. They didn’t say anything to each other the entire we were sitting there. I felt really sad for the kids.

There is no app, or game, or Facebook post that is so important that you can’t just leave it alone and interact and play with your kids. Did you pay the big bucks to be at an amusement park and play on your cell phone, all day? I honestly don’t think so, but I do know that time with your kids is precious. Play with them, talk to them, listen to them, teach them, hug them, just be with them when you have those moments together. I will step down off of my soap box now.

No comments Posted in Family