Monday, October 15, 2012

The one where I start to write about our trip

I don't even know where to start. I'm still on such a high from the events of this past week. It all started with a 16 hour drive (that went surprisingly well!) last weekend to Orlando. We got to the resort we were staying at around 4:00 on Sunday afternoon and plotted out our Disney adventure. Monday morning, we loaded up the car and headed to the Magic Kingdom. It started off something less than magical. We waited in line for 30 min to meet Tinkerbell, which ended up being one of the highlights of the trip, but starting off with a 30min wait was taxing on interest and attention of our 4 small children. Excitement started to build after that, and continued with a ride on Aladdin's magic carpet ride. The next stop was Pirates of the Caribbean, which quickly induced both fear and panic and had everyone wanting to go home. It was 10am. Throughout the rest of the morning and early afternoon, our time was split between waiting in lines to meet characters or go on more age appropriate rides. They were all really enjoying themselves but they were beat. We made it to the parade at 3pm and then headed home, exhausted. They are all a little too young to really understand all that was going on. I can't say that we saw sheer excitement in anyone. It was more of bewilderment and confusion filled with some laughs and smiles.

The second day of our trip took us to Hollywood Studios. Disney Junior resides here and we probably could have sat and watched that show a dozen or so times before anyone really got tired of it. We did the Toy Story ride, saw Beauty and the Beast, the Cars Stunt Show and visited with Sully and Mike from Monsters Inc. Tuesday also ended with a parade, definitely a high note for ending a hot day at the park.

On Tuesday night, my parents flew down to meet us and joined us at Animal Kingdom on Wednesday. The Safari was pretty neat to go on. We met Pooh, Tigger and Eyore and also enjoyed a character lunch where Goofy, Mickey, Donald and Daisy visited with us while we ate. We decided after lunch that we wanted to head back over to the Magic Kingdom to wrap up our trip. After $45 worth of balloons and $150 worth of hats and stuffed things, we watched the parade, met the princesses, and called it a trip. Everyone had their favorites, but the parade each day was top of the list for everyone. The whole trip was exhausting but a lot of fun and we have tons of great memories.

Then came the North American CF Conference, otherwise known as the primary reason for our trip to Orlando. It was so amazing. There were dozens of sessions going on at all times over the course of three days and we couldn't go to all of them. We picked out everything that we found to be most interesting and divided and conquered. I thought that much of it would be over our heads, but it wasn't. It was definitely mostly scientific, with doctors and researchers presenting the results of different studies and projects. I haven't even unpacked yet, but once I have the chance to go back through my notes and the program with everything that was covered I will definitely have more to say and share. I tweeted the sessions I attended and some key things that I heard @ekeeleymoore for anyone who cares to check it out. I already put a pitch out on Twitter for a sponsor for the 2013 conference because I would love to go back.

Alas, I must get back to reality and do some dishes and wash and drive the bus to and from school. Hopefully the excitement from Disney and the conference will stick with me for a while...at least until the holidays get here :)

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