Friday, April 17, 2009

Florida vacation...

So we have officially been moved in for 17 days, but have only been in our house for about 8... Judy went to Indiana to visit friends (practically family) while Justin and I went to Florida to visit family. We all really needed the time to relax after the big move.

We had tickets out of Tucson so we had to drive there and leave the GEICO car at Catherine's. We flew into Orlando and stayed at a condo with my family... It was really great getting to see them since we haven't seen them since they moved away. The girls were really excited to see us since they had no idea we were coming until the day that we got there! We watched conference on Sunday and went to the Orlando temple. We even were able to have our Sunday tradition for dinner -- roast! Monday we went to Epcot and a bird left me a present on my shirt that was oh-so-fun to clean up... It was first thing in the morning too, and I don't know how it got where it did. So we started out in Future World and then went to some of the World Showcase. We were exhausted already and decided to head out a little early to get rested up for the rest of the week. Tuesday was Hollywood Studios, so we hit up the big rides and got fastpasses to go on them again, and then did shows for the rest of the day. We even got to watch the American Idol Experience, which was pretty cool. We almost tried out but decided against it since it would be an all day ordeal if we got picked. I don't know if I would rather have Simon or this other guy critique me... I'm almost thinking Simon, since he at least has a cool accent when he tells you that you sound "utterly horrific"... Then we got to watch Fantasmic!!! We had perfect seats right in the middle, and we were bombarded with the wave on both sides of us. Wednesday was Magic Kingdom... It's really weird going there when you are so used to Disneyland's layout since it is so different! It didn't stop us from having fun spending time together though. McCall and I were a little scared to go on Winnie the Pooh and It's a Small World after reading Kingdom Keepers, but we survived. We even met Wayne! He told us that the next book is coming out in October... We watched fireworks that evening right by the castle, went on a couple rides, then went back to the condo. Thursday we went to Animal Kingdom and started out at the safari so we could see animals before they decided to hide in the shade from the heat. The rest of the day was mostly spent in DinoLand USA and Camp Minnie Mickey watching shows and taking it easy. Expedition Everest was really fun, but that Yeti was a lot scarier than the one in Disneyland, and now we know why (it's a Kingdom Keepers thing)... The Kali River Rapids were kinda sad though. Justin and I got sprinkled on while everyone who was wearing a poncho got soaked... We WANTED to get wet to cool off, and we didn't get drenched until we went for round two later on in the evening, but by then it was getting colder so we didn't want to get as wet. Friday we said goodbye so that we could drive down to Fort Myers and see Justin's Dad and Stepmom. It was nice spending time with them since we hadn't seen them since our wedding! Saturday we went to the beach and got really burnt, but it was sooo nice being there! I love the ocean!!! I almost got electrocuted in the bathroom at DQ on the beach, which is a story in itself. Hmmm... oh yeah, we went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner and Justin and his Dad ate a LOT of crab. Me and Cindy finished early and took a walk and when we came back they STILL weren't done eating! We flew back to Tucson the next day (which was waaay too soon) and almost missed our flight because security wouldn't let us take the snow globe we bought at Disneyworld for Catherine with us. So after a long day of flights and layovers we arrived in Tucson where I had to tell Catherine the bad news about her souvenir... She gave us the GEICO car back anyway and was happy to see us! Then we drove back to Desert Hot Springs and crashed on the bed.

Judy was supposed to fly back into Palm Springs the Tuesday after we got back. She had a layover in Phoenix and was stuck there for an extra hour since her flight was delayed. She finally boarded her small 50 passenger plane and they were off to Palm Springs. The wind was REALLY strong that night so there was a lot of turbulence. The pilot tried landing and circling a few different times only to realize that there was no way to get the plane down without crashing it. Everyone on the plane was terrified and afraid that they were going to die. Judy was already not feeling well since she got sick while she was out in Indiana, and the turbulence didn't help that one bit... The pilot realized that they would have to go to the Ontario airport to refuel or else they would run out of gas. They were trying to decide whether or not they would refuel and go back to try again or if they would just bus people back to Palm Springs. Then they heard that the Ontario airport was really backed up since there were so many other planes having trouble landing in Palm Springs, so they had to go to Los Angeles! Once they landed in LA around 11, they were waiting since there was no gate for them to go to. They finally got to a gate and told everyone that they needed to refuel and to exit the plane to stretch their legs. Once they were off the plane they were told that they weren't going to try again and that they decided to just bus them to Palm Springs (which is a 2 1/2 hour bus ride) and that the bus would be there around midnight. Which means they wouldn't get to Palm Springs until 2:30 in the morning. So Judy ended up staying at a hotel in LA and Justin left work early on Wednesday to go get her... Now we are all safe and home -- but Judy is still sick.

Justin loves his new job as a field adjuster and I got a part time job at Hollister so that we can have some money while I am looking for a more full time job... If you know anyone in the area that is hiring let me know!

Whew! That was a long blog... I guess I'm good for a while then huh? jk, I'll keep you posted!