Trip to Florida

So, I don't think I mentioned that I was going to Florida for a few days!

Well, I just got back and it was wonderful! I went with 2 of my college roomates for a quick 5 day trip to Orlando. Originally, I had booked the trip so I could audition for Disney World. In case any of you didn't already know, being a Disney character has been one of my dreams! Well, due to the layoffs at Disney, the open-call auditions were no longer being held. Guess I will just have to go back and try again! It is something I have always wanted to do, and thought, why not! Tickets were cheap and I had plenty of vacation time and the travel bug was itching at me again. 2 years ago at this time, I was snorkeling on a remote Fijian Island, last year I was exploring around the island of Crete Greece, and so I needed to do something fun to keep me sane!

On the flight there, I got an email about the decision being made towards my job on campus. I still have it! Phew!! But, unfortunately, I took a paycut. It's only 3%, but with money as tight as it already is working 2 jobs, I am left a little nervous. But I pushed my worries aside to relax and enjoy the trip!

Our first full day there, we did all 4 Disney parks in 1 day; Magic Kingdown, MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot. It was exhausting but so awesome!! I love rollercoasters, so it was great. We even did the Tower of Terror, which was so freaky! I think it was scarier than skydiving! when we were at the Magic Kingdom, we saw this little girl who was all alone, she was yelling for her mom, so we went up to her and asked her if she was lost and what her mom looked like. We searched around and didn't see her mom, so we brought her into the store and told the clerk what happened, figuring she could make a call to help track down the mom. As we walked out, I glanced up the street and saw a woman a ways off that looked like the description on the girls mom, so we took off after her. When we caught up to her she was panicking and talking to another store clerk about her lost girl, so we told her we knew where she was and brought her to her little girl. When they saw eachother they were both hugging and crying. Sometimes God just puts people in the right place at the right time to help out. The day ended with fireworks over the lake at Epcot. It was so great!

The next day, we got to go and see my Aunt Joni and Dewey. Dewey was just recovering with chemo treatments for cancer, so I was really excited to get to see them, especially because he is now in remission! It was so wonderful to see them. Aunt Joni gave us girls a tour of her place and then took us our in the gold cart for a ride. Katie and Kayla sat in the back and I took shotgun. She showed us the little community where she lived and we went gator-hunting. We found a little alligator in one of the ponds. Then we went back for some lunch and my friends left for the beach and I stayed to hang out with Joni and Dewey a little longer. It was so great to catch up with them and to see Dewey was doing so much better!! I couldn't believe how good he looked! They talked about his cancer a little bit, and then Aunt Joni and I just had some good girl talk.

The next day, my roomies and I went to Universal Studios. It was SO much fun!!! I loved all of the crazy wild rides. I wanted to do all of them over and over. Sigh!! I love rollercoasters!! The day went by so quick though!

Sunday was our final day there. We went on an airboat ride, recommended by Aunt Joni. It was awesome!! I absolutely loved it!! We saw some huge gators, some were almost 12 feet long! We even bumped over one on the boat. Then the guide took us into the cypress forest. It was so neat and peaceful. I loved it!! I would totally recommend it to anyone who goes there!

Then we hit up the beach and went body boarding. I haven't done it since I was in New Zealand, so it was really fun to do it again. We couldn't bring our boards back on the plane with us, so we gave them to some little kids who'd been watching us ride the waves. They were so excited! They grabbed their brothers, sisters, and cousins, and ran back out into the water to test out the boards. It was really cool!I swear I could spend the rest of my life just laying on a beach and playing in the waves. It was wonderful. I got to see Aunt Joni again that afternoon for about five minutes because we were running late for our reservation at Al Capone's Dinner Theater Show, which was also very fun.

I posted some pics of us below and the others are on my photo blog. Check 'em out!
http://www.bethwilliamsphotography.blogspot.com/