Category Archives: Coffee

10 Cups of Coffee: 1 Day!

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Today we are celebrating our last day at home before Disney with Mickey waffles!photo 4Well, if I’m being honest with you, these really turn out more like pancakes than waffles…but tomorrow we will be living it up in the place that sells the real deal.

photo 3And for all of you Disney gurus that like to bash the quality of the official Mickey waffle, the Elrods happen to love the crunchy-outside, chewy-inside, almost-flavorless-until-covered-in-syrup face of the mouse behind the magic. They’re nostalgic. They’re classic. They’re gonna be in my belly in just a couple of days!

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And just so you know, I don’t always eat the ears first.

With love, Malorie

10 Cups of Coffee: 2 Days!

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Today I am longing to walk the breezeway between Bay Lake Tower and the Contemporary. I want the hustle and bustle of happy families in cheesy, matching shirts and tacky walking shoes, preparing for their day at the park as I stroll down the aisle of gift shops to my left and right on the way to the Comtempo Cafe. I want the sound of monorails whooshing overhead as I enjoy a breakfast bounty platter and a RapidFill mug full of terrible coffee.

That kind of morning is far from the morning I’ve had today, but I can feel it. I can taste it. It is so close!

With love, Malorie

 

10 Cups of Coffee: 3 Days and Some Britney Spears Motivation

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Tim isn’t coming home until after the kids go to bed tonight. It’s just Mommy and kiddos from sun up to sun down.

Shortly after leaving the house, Tim sent me this picture in a text message.brittanyspears

Cute, right? About twenty minutes later, Cole puked all over the couch.

I will punch anyone square on the nose if they say being a stay-at-home mom is an easy job. Well, probably not. But I might give it a good hard flick.3Days

So, this cup of coffee went cold as I showered the two-year-old, removed the couch cushion covers that could be washed, and scrubbed and sanitized the ones that couldn’t. All the while, the four-year-old begged for his second piece of peanut butter toast and the eight-month-old crawled around into undesignated areas.

If Britney Spears can get through 2007, I can get through today.

Just breathe.

In other news, the boys are two sets of jammies away from being completely packed, baby girl is only bottles and formula away from being completely packed, and I’ve pulled out most of what I want to pack for myself! We have three days to get our act together, folks. Three. Days.

I might have lost it and shaved my head by then, but here’s hoping I make it to Disney, long locks in tact.

With love, Malorie

10 Cups of Coffee: Best Laid Plans

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The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. 

Day 7: We were on the road early in the morning, going to visit my MeMama, so my cup ‘o Joe was my usual vanilla Pike Place with cream and one sugar in the raw from Starbucks…

Day 6: Due to sickness, I slept in and only drank half a cup of coffee before trading it in for an Airborne and a hot toddy.

Day 5: Sundays are always busy when your husband works for a church, but I did have my countdown coffee in a blue Disney World RapidFill mug. I was feeling a bit better. Praise Jesus for vitamin C and whisky. I prefer non-medicinal remedies.

Day 4: I’m feeling even better, though still a bit sluggish, physically. I’m really hoping this caffeinated pumpkin does the trick, because there is a lot to do in preparation for vacation in just four days. Not to mention mom’s group, small group, homeschool pre-k, and all that other everyday life stuff.

photo-12But this little pumpkin cup makes me so excited to tackle my To-Do list. I love going to Disney in September and seeing all of the fall decor. It always puts me in the mood to change over to my fall decor at home, too.

Have you ever visited Disney in the fall?

With love, Malorie

 

10 Cups of Coffee Countdown: 8 Days!

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Ask me how do you get to Tomorrowland

{echo:Tomorrowland}

Close your eyes, make a wish, and you’re there…

Close your eyes…make a wish…and you’re…

theeeeeeere.

Okay, so An Affair to Remember isn’t a Disney movie, but this is the song that came to mind this morning as I sipped my countdown cup of coffee. And honestly, I think it’s quite appropriate.

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Eight days and counting!

With love, Malorie

10 Cups of Coffee Countdown: 9 Days!

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Goooooood morning, Disney goers! We Elrods have nine days until our next Disney vacation!

As you know, we also make a countdown chain for each trip. Every time we tear off a link, we do a silly little song and dance. We then take turns saying what we are most excited about that day and sing separate verses in the same tune about that day’s Disney happy thought. For example:

[tears off link]

All [skipping]: We’re gonna go to Disney World,

Disney World,

Disney World!

We’re gonna go to Disney World,

When all our chains are gone…

Me: Cole, what are you excited about today?

Cole: Pirates!

All: We’re gonna ride on Pirates,

Pirates,

Pirates!

We’re gonna ride on Pirates,

When all our chains are gone…

Told you it was silly.

Today, my Disney happy thoughts are waking up to Mickey waffles and bacon at the Contempo Cafe, and snagging a front car of the People Mover and kicking my feet up for a relaxing ride with Lorelai on my lap.

What are you most excited about for your next Disney trip? I’d be glad to sing a verse for you.

With love, Malorie

10 Cups of Coffee is Back

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It has already been quite the morning around here.

Cole woke up too stinkin’ early, crawled into bed next to me, and kept whispering a morning breath “Mama…Mama…” into my face. Tim pulled me out of bed a half an hour earlier than I deem reasonable to film his ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video before he left for work. And Lorelai pooped her bed. Again.

I think we need a bigger-sized diaper for nighttime.

Luckily, I caught that before Tim headed out the door, so he changed the crib sheet while I cleaned the Poopie Princess. But, needless to say, I neeeeeeeeeded a cup of coffee this morning. So much so, that I couldn’t even take the time to brew a pot. I just stumbled to the water cooler, filled a glass, and dumped in a Starbucks iced Via. As I sipped my sweetened, iced goodness, a little caffeinated happy thought came to mind…

We only have ten more days until our next Disney vacation!

So with that, I’m going to bring back my 10 Cups of Coffee Countdown. Here’s my number ten!

photo-9Ten days until I can wake up at Bay Lake Tower, have my husband by my side non-stop for eight whole days, and ride the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! Eeee!

How long until your next Disney vacation?

With love, Malorie

Trip Report: How the Elrods Go Disney

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Every time we go to Disney, the Elrods start out our trip the same way.

Early.

Now, I was raised in a family where when it was vacation time, it was vacation time, so we would load up the car and hit the road by 6am, regardless of where we were going. The reasoning is really just not wanting to spend a whole day on traveling. We typically vacation in FL, be it Disney or Ft. Walton Beach, so we like to get to our destination by lunchtime so that we can have the rest of the day to kick back, relax, and feel like we’ve gained an extra day of vacation. Lucky for me, Tim likes to start out his vacations the same way.

In fact, he likes to start them out even earlier.

I’m not what you’d call a “morning person”. I don’t mind getting up early, and I actually prefer it to staying up late, however, I just love sleep and it takes me a while {and often times, several cups of coffee} to get myself up and running. Tim can pop out of bed and start getting stuff done, clarity of mind, right away. {It’s only a few hours into it that he gets grumpy if an iced coffee has not been included somewhere in the mix.}

This year, he had us up and out the door by 4:45am. Yes folks, you read that right. 4:45am. And yes, he is our resident driver, so if he’s willing to get behind the wheel that early, I’m willing to reap the benefits.

Here’s a silly little vlogging clip I made, explaining some parts of our travel mornings to WDW. 

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This year, during our breakfast stop in Tifton, we surprised the boys with a new DVD to watch on the remainder of the ride down. It was fun! We are thinking of making it a little Elrod tradition. “Which Disney movie is Mom gonna surprise us with this year?”

Oh, and the sheriff badges Jack and Cole are wearing? A small group of officers were having breakfast at Chick-fil-a while we were there. They thought our kids were cute, so one gave them badges to wear. It’s amazing the free stuff my kids get for being cute. I need to be cuter.


IMG_8477 IMG_8487 IMG_8483So here are the official Elrod WDW Tips for traveling by car:

1. Leave early. As early as you can get your family up and going. Pack the car the night before, so all you have to throw in the next morning are bodies and maybe a bathroom bag or two.

2. Pre-plan your stops. Our stops are exit 62 in Tifton GA, and a good gas station before we get on the FL Turnpike. This trip we found Loves on exit 358 in FL.

3. Make check-in easier by doing online check-in before you leave!

We have several friends in WDW right now, and many more leaving in just a couple weeks for the school break in October; so drive safe and happy travels!

With love, Malorie

VIDEO: WDW Trip 2013

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We’ve officially been home from WDW for a week, and I have only had one day where I wanted to cry.

I think that’s a success, yes?

Part of the reason I haven’t slunk into deep PDD {Post-Disney Depression} is because we are already planning and booking meal reservations for our trip in March. The other part is because I have been working on a video montage of our trip, and being able to look back on all of our fun times and live vicariously through our memories captured via iPhone has somehow curbed the pains of withdrawal. I finished it a couple of days ago, but because I am not very computer program and technology savvy, I had to seek help from Tim in figuring out how to export it. He finally found the time today, and I am so excited to share it with you.

I know it’s amateur, but I am still quite proud, considering this was my first time ever attempting a project such as this. I pretty obsessed with it and plan on making one for each trip now. So get ready for that.

Without further ado and rambling {for which I am infamous}, here is our WDW Trip 2013. 

With love, Malorie

Here’s What We Think: Rapid Fill? No Big Deal.

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I hereby promise this is my last post on Rapid Fill. On our trip this past week, I was able to experience it first hand, and the official Elrod opinion is that Rapid Fill is no big deal.IMG_5912

Although, Rapid Fill was not in use at the Wilderness Lodge during our stay, the pricing for the mugs was, since they could be used at other resorts that already had Rapid Fill in place while resort hopping. The drink machines at Roaring Fork where already Rapid Fill machines, they were just not turned on to that capacity. We were able to use our Rapid Fill mugs just like the old mugs. Any refill, anytime. To experience the system for ourselves, we took a boat over for dinner at the Contempo Cafe at the Contemporary to try it out.

IMG_6181IMG_6182IMG_6177 IMG_6176 IMG_6174Basically, nothing was different. Set your cup down under your drink of choice and press the button. An image of a cup filling up will appear, to let you know how much more you have available in that refill, along with the expiration date of your mug. IMG_6175Next I wanted to see what would happen when I “ran out” of my current refill. With ice in my mug, I could fill it all the way up to the top and the cup on the screen indicating the amount of refill that I used would only be about halfway full. In order to reach the max amount, I literally had to empty my mug of all ice, fill it up, dump about half of it out, then fill it up again, at which time I received this message. IMG_6186When I tried to get more drink at this point, this screen appeared. IMG_61872 minutes and 14 seconds. That’s it. Then I could start again. And if I can drink a cup and a half of soda and desperately need more in under 2 minutes and 14 seconds…I may need to seek medical help…or just drink water, which is free and unlimited on the Rapid Fill machines.

See? No. Big. Deal.

The coffee, tea, and hot chocolate machines are not Rapid Fill machines, so they are unlimited just as they always were. Although, even if they weren’t, I can’t imagine it being wise to guzzle a whole hot beverage in under 2 minutes and 14 seconds, either!

As for re-using your mug, they can be reactivated on a separate trip, but I am unaware of any pricing discount in doing so. In which case, I’d just prefer the new mug.

So have any of you used the new Rapid Fill system? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Especially any from folks who have stayed at the value resorts where the system has been in place a bit longer.

With love, Malorie