Mase's Bachelorette Party!

So, this kinda became a tradition from my bachelorette party, but we pretty much go ALL OUT for our bachelorette parties for the SKANKs. Every party is also a surprise. The bride knows what weekend we are going (except in my case), they just don't know where we are going.

So Mase knew we were headed down to Pittsburgh to pick up KT and Nikkie, and thought we would be going somewhere more South, but we kept saying, "we are going to Niagara Falls again! . . just kidding! We are going to have a sleep over at Ikea . . . just kidding! We are just going to hang out here in Pittsburgh . . . just kidding . . . we are going to go on a plane . . .just kidding!" We all thought it would be funny to walk into the airport, and then walk back out or maybe even drive to Pittsburgh, but fly back to Erie as a joke (but realized it would waste our time and money), so we finally told her that yes. . . we were going to go on a plane. . somewhere.


Everyone saw our shirts and kept saying, "Vegas!??!" To which we replied, "we can't tell you! It's a surprise!" But after making Mase walk back and forth through the airport for a while, we finally let her discover her destination . . . . Orlando, Florida! (Here she is twittering, facebooking, buzzing, etc about it)!

The original plan was to go down for the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but . . . . Universal lied to us and said they were going to open in the Spring, and never ended up opening until June 18th!! (come on Universal . . that's freaking summer . . . school is out, it's 100 degrees outside)! So needless to say, we were KINDA bummed we wouldn't be able to go since we (Mase, KT, and I) are all big HP fans. So we had to settle for a billboard in the airport instead.


That night we made our way to our suite (we each got our own bed and we had 2 bathrooms), enjoyed the free wine/beer at the manager's reception at the hotel, decorated, went out to dinner, and made Mase sign the Bachelorette Oathe of Secrecy (you know . . what happens at the Bachelorette Party STAYS at the Bachelorette Party . . . and gets told to all of you guys).


So we were going to go to Disney 1 day, Universal 1 day, and the beach 1 day, but since the WWOHP didn't open yet, we went to Disney twice. And thank goodness for Mase's bff, Alicia, who lives in Orlando and works in downtown Disney, because she got us in for FREE for both days (park hopper!)! We could not have done this trip without her!


Here we are at Animal Kingdom on our first day! We rode the main rides (Safari, Everest, Dinosaur), saw some animals, then headed to Epcot.


We went to Mexico for a margarita, China for some Chinese lunch, Germany to walk around, Italy for some gelato, England for some beer, and Canada to relax. We rode in the big ball and headed back to hotel to get ready for the night. We ended up going to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, but didn't start eating until like 10:30 or 11pm, never finished until after midnight, so we originally were going to go out, but decided to go back to the hotel to go to bed.


Next day was beach day!! Alicia rented a Chrysler Town & Country for us (it was awesome). We ended up going to Anna Maria Island (Manatee Beach). It was absolutely gorgeous.

















White sand. Crystal clear water. Sun. BFFs. (Can you tell which one of us lives in Florida and which ones live in Erie?!)

















At the beach house enjoying some drinks and dessert before we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the night! We needed to go out and celebrate at least one night!


Headed to Universal City Walk (on a Sunday night). Not very busy, but we still had a blast!


Went to the Red Coconut Club and they waived our cover charge (not sure if this was due to the fact it was Sunday or to the fact that we were 6 girls ready to party).


We danced and danced and some great quotes were said during this part of the trip. Here's a few for you.
"It's so bright in here, . . . yet I can't see a thing." - Bride-to-be
"I feel like somebody else. Am I somebody else?!" - Bride-to-be

"Stace. Take a picture of me between these two guys" - Nikkie
"Umm . . . . Nikkie. That one is a girl." - Me


"I'm sorry for making you go out and stay up late. Are you mad at me?" - Bride-to-be to me
"I hate you right now." - Me (not a fan of going out and staying up late . . I just love my sleep and routine, but I will admit. I had a lot of fun.)


Proof that we made it out to last call and to 2AM! I don't know if I have ever done that before? I know. I'm lame.


We were a little slow to wake up and get ready the next day, but headed to Hollywood Studios first, where we rode the Tower of Terror. Aerosmith rollarcoaster was broke. Kristen was in the Indiana Jones stunt show, and then Alicia had to go to work. (KT had to unfortunately go home earlier than expected for a funeral). We then headed to Magic Kingdom where we spent the rest of the day.


We got Mase & Nikkie to ride Thunder Mountain (and they loved it . . . they hate rollar coasters). Went on the haunted mansion ride, It's A Small World, Pirates of Caribbean, train ride, tea cups, and Buzz Lightyear. Watched tinker bell float down from the castle (my dream job), and the fireworks display, then headed home.

It was a great Bachelorette weekend! Can't wait for the wedding!

Nikkie's Bachelorette Party!

So for Nikkie's surprise Bachelorette Party we went to Toronto! But stopped @ Niagara Falls on the way to throw her off. Actually first we started driving west (b/c KC forgot her passport and had to go back to her apartment), which REALLY threw her off. And once we got to Canada we left and had to go back through Canada (which threw her off again!!). . . actually we kinda got lost and ended up back @ the duty free shop, where the lady said we had to go out (couldn't buy anything) and had to go back through customs and pay the toll again. The same customs guy was like "Hey! Welcome to Cana . . . . oohhh . . . ".

We ended up going on the maid of the mist! It was a fun excursion! I was like (in my head). . woah we are really close to the falls .. .. oh my gosh we are getting even closer . . oh my gosh are they going to drive right under them, because that would be scary?!

The girls @ the falls!

We went to the Toronto Zoo on Saturday. I took this pic because I looove that monkey the little girl has on her back! And the mommy uses the tail as a leash! We saw a little boy with one of those too! And I think the monkey has a zipper so you can put stuff in it too!!

The Toronto zoo was nice, but you definitely had to walk to see the animals. They aren't all compact like our Erie Zoo. Actually we were kinda bummed, because once you do get to the exhibits, the animals are waaaaaaaaaaayyy in the back (you can barely see them because they have acres to roam . .which is nice for the animals, but bad if you want to see them up close), but I think every exhibit we thought was the "Canadian Geese Exhibit" because there were a ton of those everywhere! This was probably the best exhibit, because the zebras were super close up and not much fence separating you.

The CN Tower!! We did not go up in it because Nikkie does not like heights and because it was a ripoffy amount of $22 per person just to go up and down.

We did make our way to the Steam Whistle Brewery!

This apparently was the place to be because there were a TON of people there, and we could not take the tour because it was already booked up for the rest of the day! Bummer.

We each did get 2 free glasses of beer though!

Heading out to dinner. We really had no idea what restaurants and clubs were good in Toronto (mainly because we've never been there before), but I think our final picks were good! Definitely recommend the Pickle Barrel!!

No, they are not pointing at Goodlife Fitness or Sears, they are pointing at the awesome Harry Potter billboard (Harry was on the other corner, he's glared out by the sun)!

Jack Astor's for dinner!

Yummy food and drinks! I ended up getting Chicken Stir Fry (which seems to be a diminishing entry on local restaurants around Erie . . . if you know anywhere that has a good stir fry dish, let me know!)!

Sunday we headed back after a stop @ Tim Hortons for breakfast and my first trip to Ikea!

Nikkie & Matt's wedding is next weekend!! Their wedding also ends my booked summer! Now I will actually have free weekends to do as I please! Too bad it won't be warm enough for the beach.