We celebrated Mike's 32nd birthday this month, and it was exciting being in our house for the first birthday celebration. We actually only had a few hours in the house on his actual birthday because we did a little staycation. He woke up to decorations and orange cranberry muffins with lemon frosting-
and then we did some presents and cards (thanks to those who sent things! Very kind of you.).
From here, we packed our things and headed to
Universal Studios Cabana Bay Beach Resort! We were told initially our room wouldn't be ready til the afternoon, but we checked in around 10am and the room was ready straight away! This was extremely lucky, but made our whole one night stay feel totally worth it. Our room was great, with a view of the pool and Volcano Bay.
At check in, they gave Mike his birthday button, and a coupon for a free cake from their hotel food court, so we headed to pick out his chocolate cake.
Next we ventured around the hotel property to look for the lazy river. They offer tube rental and buying services, but we did our research and found we could bring our own. The lazy river was super quiet and my favorite place to spend our time.
Mike's favorite spot was the hot tub. Even when it's 90 degrees outside, you will easily find this man in a hot tub.
There was a pool on this side of the hotel that was lovely as well, we just did not spend too much time in it. Just through the lobby, there was another pool with a slide.
It's here we landed for lunch as well, at Atomic Tonic for a chicken gyro.
We were constantly worried it was going to rain on this day, but somehow the rain held off the whole trip for us. When you stay at the Universal hotels, you are allowed to pool hop. Since Mike had never been to the hotels, I wanted to show him as many as possible, starting with the best,
Portofino. We took the hotel bus to City Walk, and then my favorite form of transportation, a ferry boat, from City Walk to Portofino Hotel.
When we arrived, we headed straight for the pool.
Mike found what he considered to be the most beautiful hot tub he had ever been in also.
After a swim, a snacky was in order, so we got pistachio and caramel cookie gelato, and it did not disappoint!
We took the boat back over to City Walk, and decided to run into Universal Studios for a minute. We took a little lap around the park, stopped for some Auntie Ann's, and then took the bus back to our hotel for more sweets! It was birthday cupcakes time. Mike always requests a cake in a fun shape for his birthday, and this year he got pacman style confetti cupcakes with lemon frosting.
For dinner, we ran across the street to
Aventura Hotel, and first popped up to the rooftop bar to check out the view.
Hello Cabana Bay! We see our room from here!
We had dinner at the Urban Pantry in Aventura's lobby. A little stir fry was what the birthday boy had requested.
Since it was beginning to finally sprinkle, the movie outdoors was moved into this food court, so we listened to Hotel Transylvania while we ate. We also did not have time to grab a to go container for our leftovers so we might have run across the street with a bowl full of noodles. Don't worry, we left the bowl in our room for a very confused house keeper to deal with (don't recommend but when in a pinch..).
We finished the evening with more hot tubbing and late night swims. We started to get our s'mores stuff out near the bonfire right as the first lightning bolt struck and they closed the area. Only disappointment on this trip was not getting to finish our s'more, we were just so close!
When you stay on Universal property, some attractions open an hour early for hotel guests, so the next morning we headed to Islands of Adventure for right at park early opening time.
We ran right to Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure, and were surprised to see it was already an hour wait.
We rode anyways, and actually got stuck on the ride for a bit right after the drop in the pitch black dark, which was mildly terrifying.
The park was open to all guests by the time we got off the ride, so we chose to do our other favorite, the Seuss Trolly before heading back to the hotel.
We finished our staycay with more lazy river and hot tub time before heading home. It was a really fun little vacation, and Mike felt very celebrated.
One very random, cool "gift" Mike got for his birthday was his debut on a Disney World park map! I am actually so jealous, haha. Hard to see in this photo of it, but he is the one in the blue shirt. If you find yourself at Disney, make sure to pick one up!
Fall and Halloween has begun, and at SeaWorld, this means Spooktacular has returned. Although I chose not to hang out with the Pumpkin Queen again, on my break times, some times I go and visit the halloween friends!
Since it is once again Halloween at SeaWorld, this also means I have actually had my one year work-anniversary at SeaWorld. I really didn't think I would be saying those words, but it has actually really worked for me. I am able to make my own schedule so I can keep freelancing with production, Mike and I car pool almost every day, and get to eat lunch together. It's been great, so keep on keepin on I suppose!
We also had a little meet and greet with the Orcas, which was super special.
I also had a very full week of production at Disney, getting up at 1am working 12 hours for four days straight and then last two flipping to overnights for 12 hours. It was exhausting but rewarding. Mike even got to come on for a few days.
Even had to drive a 12 passenger van a few days, which was a new skill unlocked for me.
We have a pretty mighty hurricane making it's way to Florida right now, and after buying a new house I am not thrilled to be putting it through it's first major test, but we are planning to hunker down and seek shelter in it.
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