Busy busy bee! (Note: Picture intensive blog)

Wow, I've been busy lately. Okay, maybe not super-busy in June, but in July, I went to Williamsburg for Independence Day (that's one story- I'll get to that), then had a class that took up all my time (but I got an A!), went to Disney World (two stories there), then to visit my grandparents, then to the town that my boyfriend had an interview. Oh, and I was in a wedding (story there, too).

So, in order...

What I did for Independence Day

Kerry and I went to Williamsburg for Independence Day. We had a great time (and walked 7 miles each day on average). I got pearl earrings, we got a cookbook, and had a good time all around. Except that it started raining just before the drum and fife corps performed on Independence Day. And continued raining. We decided to stick it out and wait on the lawn for the fireworks to start. A mini-tent was created out of an old comforter. But the rain continued. My knees started to ache, and Kerry and I decided to go back to our hotel. In the rain. This will probably be our most memorable Independence Day ever, since we watched the fireworks from the patio of our hotel room (of course the rain stopped by the time we'd gotten back to our room).

Adventures of my brother's wedding

My brother got married the only weekend between that class I was taking. Can you imagine the fun this would be for me? My plan for getting there was that immediately after class on Friday, I would drive down to Charlotte, North Carolina (2 1/2 hours away), spend the night in a hotel, take a 7 am flight up to JFK airport on Saturday, and fly back down on Sunday immediately after the wedding reception, staying in the hotel again, then driving back up 2 1/2 hours on Monday morning, to be back in time for class at 1 pm.

Then my class on Friday was canceled. Fun! So what was a girl to do? Well, my parents and I decided that I could spend the extra $100 to change my reservation, to fly out early afternoon on Friday. Yay! That was all uneventful. The wedding was nice, the reception was fun. Then we get back to the hotel, and my dad checks his BlackBerry. My flight had been canceled. The airline was supposed to call either my dad or me, but they called neither of us. So we're scrambling to figure out how to get me back home in time for class on Monday. Eventually, my boyfriend drove the 10 hours back, practically overnight (we had 3-4 hours sleep), and I was back in time for class. But then...what were we going to do about my car? It was still in Charlotte. So we drove 2 1/2 hours down to Charlotte to pick up my car. And drive 2 1/2 hours back. All on Monday. So in 24 hours, we drove 15. Not fun. At all. But it's another story to tell my kids.

Then once class was over...vacation!!

Kerry and I had been planning a nice vacation since May. We'd drive down to Atlanta, see a Braves/Nationals game, go to the aquarium the next day, then continue on our way to Orlando. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I'd work, and Thursday and Friday, we'd play in the parks. We also had plans for lunch at Le Cellier in Epcot for lunch on Thursday and Tony's at Town Square in the Magic Kingdom for dinner. And the reservation for dinner, if we'd gotten seats on the patio, we would have been able to see SpectroMagic while eating dinner. How awesome is that!?!

On Saturday, we start driving down to Atlanta. And we get stuck in some horrendous traffic. We start off thinking "Oh, this won't be long...it's game traffic." Well, not when it's repaving and five lanes are funneled into ONE. So during this traffic, I decide to take the opportunity to take pictures of my Anastasia sock.



How cute is that sock? What I think is amazing about that sock yarn is that it's not self-striping, but it did that cool thing anyway. It was even cooler when I finished that sock (sorry, still workng on the bind-off- I've never had a successful bind off for a toe-up sock...) So anyway. Kerry starts freaking out that we'll miss the game, I start freaking out that he's freaking out, so I take out the limited edition Disney/Pixar "Cars" cover atlas that he got from his insurance agent and start looking for a way out of this traffic. We successfully get to the game. Yay! And the Nationals win. Double yay, considering I was wearing a Nats tank top and baseball cap. I had to be the only Nats fan in Turner Field. And we won! I was all smiles coming out of the game.

Sunday, we go to the aquarium. On the way, I learned that not only wasn't I on the schedule for Disney, I didn't have the right status! Ooh, was I upset. This meant I may not have been able to get my ID, which meant we couldn't get into the parks. I was so upset, I was almost in tears. But we went to the aquarium anyway. And saw some awsome stuff. Lots of fish, and the biggest tank in the world was freaking AWESOME! Seals, whale sharks, otters, penguins, stingrays and fish!


So after we go to the aquarium, we went to Olympic park (sorry, I didn't get pictures of that), then on to Florida! We were going to stop in Valdosta, GA for the night, but by the time we got there, we still had a lot of the day left, so we decided to continue on to Gainesville, FL. We stayed in a brand new Sleep Inn, then continued on our way to Orlando.

Long story short, we check in to Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, I got to ride in the Wooden Pony Parade, and we spent time in the pool. NICE pool, lemme tell you!

Pics of the wooden pony parade:
















Before I go further, let me explain one other thing- my family are members of the Disney Vacation Club. One of the perks is pool hopping! So while Kerry and I couldn't get to the parks on Monday or Tuesday, we lounged in Saratoga Springs on Monday, and went pool hopping to both Port Orleans resorts on Tuesday. On Tuesday, when I realized that one of my bathing suits caused me to be very close to a wardrobe malfunction on a slide, we went to the local outlet mall and I got a cute bathing suit. I think it's now my favorite :D.

Wednesday morning, as Kerry and I are on our way to the Tinkerbell audition, I get a call. Not only was labor ops able to put me on the schedule, but they had my status changed so I could get a red ID! I have been fighting for over a year for this ID. And I finally got it! That was the best news, since I didn't get cast as Tink. Oh well. Wednesday, we went into Disney Hollywood Studios.

I'm getting really tired of typing right now (and need to protect my key lime pie from my dog), so I'll continue this a little later.