That Part When I Admit I Was Too Tired To Blog While In Florida...

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...

And the Ocean:

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.