How to Pretend You're on Vacation
While on a Business Trip, Part 2...
I feel as if we just did Florida
like old people... or normal people...
or something...
The good news is, after six days
of training, I am, indeed, licensed to teach Musikgarten classes in the fall! Yay for that, because it would have been
really awful to have to report that I failed the training, especially because
it would have left me with no legitimate excuse for leaving my children with
Grandma for over a week while traveling to Orlando!
The other good news is, I made
some new music friends. This is pretty
significant for an introvert who sometimes struggles with the very sad facebook
videos that people keep bumping of that time when I was really sick and led
worship. This is super significant when
that same introvert walks into a room full of people who have been teaching
music for many years and who are music majors and who sing very well. I may have started my introduction by
stating, "I am undoubtedly the least qualified person to be in this
room..." Oh my goodness, I often
feel that way... everywhere I go... and yet, I keep going...
Just to give some perspective, this is how I felt at the beginning of the week... all sweet and cute and early-childhood music teacher-like:
By the end of the week, it was more like this... you know... the usual:
The other, other good news is,
Phil and I had tons of free (or very cheap) fun. How about some highlights:
Disney Springs:
If you're ever in Orlando on a
non-Disney trip, at least stop in at Disney Springs to say your feet have touched
Disney ground. It's one of the few
places you can experience Disney magic with free parking, and the free outdoor
concert venues are pretty fun! We went to
Disney Springs twice on this trip. On Sunday
we enjoyed dinner and a movie at AMC (Are you kidding me? You can do that? They bring you food (OK, I ordered Mac and
Cheese with Chicken and Bacon in it, but c'mon, what else do you expect) and
keep refilling your Raspberry Coke, while you sit there? Sweet!)
On Wednesday, we went to Rainforest Cafe, where we dined with the
fish. Also awesome, although I really
did choose chicken parm as opposed to fish and chips, because it's sort of
weird to eat fish while talking to fish, you know, with "fish are friends,
not food," running through your mind...
Oh, I almost forgot... I also had the oldest daughter's lightsaber fixed... because I am a super cool mom who doesn't mind that everyone at Disney Springs thought the lady running around with a Star Wars weapon and no kids was a little crazy...
The Magic Kingdom, It's Who You Know:
On Tuesday, my super incredible friend
Lindsay, who works for Disney, was gracious enough to meet up with us and use
her guest passes to get us into the Magic Kingdom for the evening! It was so fun to hang out with her and y'all
know I am never going to pass on a bonus ride on Dumbo or Small World or Splash
Mountain or Carousel of Progress or the People Mover (we Skyped the kids while
riding that one, I still can't decide if that was an awesome parenting moment
or an epic fail)! And... of course...
there's Wishes. I'm pretty sure I could
never live in Orlando, because I would buy season passes to Disney and insist
on watching Wishes every single night of my life...
Free Sea World Tickets, Yes, Please:
If you know me at all, you know
Sea World is one of my happy places. As
I mentioned in the first post about this trip, I scored free Sea World tickets,
and I was more than happy to use them after my last day of training! Sea World is going through some significant
changes, and I'm pretty sure this is the last time we will have the opportunity
to see the Orca shows as they have been for decades. Please, don't judge, but I
love me some Shamu, rockin' out to loud music and fireworks late at night. I also love the stingray touch pool... a lot...
I mean, I could live
there... We had free dining (which is a
good deal, because it was free, but I would never
pay for it, because Sea World food is pretty awful). The photo booth was not free, but worth every
penny...
We started our trip back home,
Saturday, by spending a couple of hours at the Atlantic Ocean. This feels like a big deal to me, because it
marks that I have traveled from coast to coast over the course of 11
months! The ocean is just beautiful...
We essentially drove straight home, but we did stop to sleep in a Wal-Mart parking lot for about 2 1/2 hours... Too much coffee and way too much chocolate later, it's time to see what else we can accomplish as the summer winds down!
L.
