Florida Week 2 Highlights!

Hi everyone,

I’m writing this after having finished packing, all set to fly home tomorrow, though it probably won’t be published until I’m back in the UK. I can’t quite believe that these 2 weeks have passed, and it’s time for our holiday to be over. Whilst it’s been a holiday of a life time, I’m quite looking forward to getting back to a bit of familiarity!

In my last post I spoke about some of the highlights of the first week, in this one I’ll talk a bit about our second week, which was just as fun and action packed as the first!

Epcot 
On Monday we went to Epcot, which is one of the Disney parks. It’s a futuristic themed park and some of the ride highlights included a rocket simulation and a racing test track. It also has a themed walk around different countries across the world which was really interesting and it was especially funny going around the English part and looking at the stereotypical things we are known for. (Fish and chips, pubs and tea!!).

Animal kingdom
I think that altogether this was my favorite Disney park. It was a cool cross between a theme park, with rides and also a zoo. We went on a Serengeti safari where we got up close to  lions, hippos, giraffes among other animals. There was also a really fun ‘Everest’ themed rollarcoaster and a ‘it’s tough to be a bug’ bugs life 4D cinema. All in all a really fun day that was filled with lots of new experiences. I also got a beautiful Pandora bead to mark the day

More outlet shopping!
My poor credit card took another beating when we revisited the outlet mall. Both me and Alex got some great bargains and we are both very glad that we had extra baggage allowance!! It was fun to be able to shop and fit into adult sized clothes again – something that you take for granted when you’re not seriously underweight.

Water park
We visited Blizzard Beach one morning. I’m not gonna lie, I was initially very nervous about going to a water park and chose not to the first time my family went to one. I was not keen on being in a bikini as my body image is not the greatest at the moment and I was worried that I would spend the whole time feeling really uncomfortable. However I remembered that Rhiannon loves water parks and it’s only the gremlin that doesn’t. By not going I would be letting the gremlin win.

In the end it was fine and I had a great time with Alex and my family, going down the water slides, going in the wave pool and lazing in a rubber ring in the lazy river. Yes the gremlin tried to compare me to everyone else with better bodies, but I ignored these negative thoughts and had a great time.

Wonder works
This was an interesting one. WonderWorks is a really unique attraction, that has loads of interactive exhibits. These include weather simulators, lying on a bed of nails and mind and memory games. Neither me and Alex had been to a place like this before and we both had a really interesting morning here.

Revisiting universal studios and islands of adventure
These are classed as 2 separate parks, however they are in walking distance of each other so you can easily do both in one day. We went back to both of these parks 2 more times in our second week. Both have some really amazing rollarcoasters that we went on, as well as Harry Potter world, which features both Hogsmeade and Diagon Ally. We had great days at these again and managed to do all the rides we wanted!

More eating out and facing restaurant fears!!
I mentioned in the week one highlights, that we were staying in a self catering villa, so were able to make packed lunches and eat a lot of our evening meals there. However I really didn’t want to go back to the UK having not pushed myself with eating out and regretting not trying american foods.

Some of the food places we went to included:

• Subway – so I’ve had subway once already in my recovery so it’s not one of the biggest challenges however America has different options so it was pretty cool to try. I had a chicken sub and also a can of soup as I felt like I needed to eat more than just the sandwich. I was proud of myself for listening to my body and not to what anorexia wanted.
• Applebees – this was a diner/pub which had a really massive menu and made it quite tricky to decide. It was also a spur of the moment decision as my family were going, so I thought it would be nice for us to go too. I had grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli. It was really yummy and I was really proud of myself for choosing what I wanted and not trying to restrict like the gremlin was urging me to do.
  
• Chilies – this is a Mexican restaurant and the atmosphere was amazing. I went for chicken with black beans and rice. Initially the portion scared me as it seemed pretty big, however I finished it all and it was really good.
• Wendy’s – this was definitely one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced during recovery as it’s the closest to fast food that I’ve had in a very long time. However I pushed through the negative thoughts and had it anyway. Yes, I felt super guilty afterwards and the gremlin was very loud, however I also felt empowered and strong. It was also delicious, which helped a lot!
• More Ice Creams! In my last blog, I mentioned that I had pushed myself to have some ice creams and that there would likely to be more to come. Well there certainly was and I had lots more ice cream in my second week!
  

  

  

  

The Holiday in Summary
So it definitely was an amazing holiday and one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I am so grateful that I chose the road to recovery as none of this would have been possible otherwise. Every day was full on and the fact that I had the energy to do it all just shows how far I’ve come as just a few months ago, even doing simple household tasks was impossible. We are already looking into planning our next adventure and I am looking forward to seeing what life brings when I’m further into this journey. Yes every day is still a struggle and food is always in the back of my mind, however the gremlin is nowhere near as loud as it used to be and I am able to practice the skills I am developing in order to shut it up.

I’ll get back to writing my frequent successes and setbacks blogs now that I’m back in the country and am hoping to get some more published in between as well.

‘We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.’

Rhiannon

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