What a trip!

Whew... vacations can be crazy. Just got back from a trip to Disney World with my husband's work. We had a good time, the hotel was beautiful, the entire Disney property was beautiful, but there are not enough hours in a week to do all I wanted to do out there. We did a lot of walking and a little waiting in steamy 90 degree weather with probably 90% humidity. Record breaking highs for Orlando this time of year, I'm told.

It's nice to get away with Tim once in a while. I'm so glad I have my parents to watch the kids. I never worry about them when I'm gone because I know my mom will take excellent care of them. They made it through the week with only a bruised cheek on my dare-devil daughter. Pretty good considering how crazy she can be.

I'm so glad to be home, but the return trip was not an easy one. I got so little sleep on my "vacation", and was surrounded with hacking-coughing kids whose parents seem oblivious to the concept of teaching your children to cover their mouths. You should have seen the 3 year old girl on the shuttle from the airport to the resort. She was standing in front of her seat, next to her spaced-out, blank-faced mother hacking and coughing on the arm of the lady in front of her the whole 30 minute trip. The mom never once even motioned to the girl to cover her mouth or sit down or anything. The older lady in front (with the spit-on arm) kept turning around in disbelief, trying to glare a plea to the mother to contain her child's spittle, to absolutely no avail. When that lady left the bus, the offending child switched to our aisle of seats, and our whole party moved WAY back on the bus. What is wrong with people? I've traveled with kids before. It's hard, but they're YOUR kids, don't make them everyone else's problem. Unreal.

9lb lemons in the hydroponic gardens in Epcot!

So, my point is that I ended up with a cold. It started to hit me in Atlanta on my extended-lay over on the way home. My flight from Orlando left the gate late because of a security issue. There was a scary looking dude in a black, ankle-length tunic/gown talking on a hands-free cell phone thing at our gate prior to boarding. Before boarding, 3 TSA agents showed up to run a security check for our aircraft. They checked "random" ID's as we boarded, and when they showed up, Scary Dude took off to another gate, said something to some lady and then disappeared. I was glad to see him go. It sucked to miss my connecting flight because of the delay, but that's better than the alternative! There was also some anti-terrorist support agent on my flight. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. For one, I am comforted by the diligence of the agencies we rely on to keep us safe, but on the other hand, that was scary. Ignorance is bliss, as they say. That was too in-your-face for me, even if there was no real threat. It reminded me of the real threats that are out there.

So I arrived in the huge Atlanta airport 10 minutes before my connection departed, and didn't make it in time to board. I got placed on stand-by for another flight about 4 hours later, and thankfully made it on that plane. I was sooo tired by this time. Disney's Magical Express shuttles you to the airport 3 hours before your flight, so I started my day very early, and had almost no sleep. I made it home, though, and got some sleep last night. Tim is actually in the air on his way home as I type. I hope he's having a better trip than I did. I know he was having a hard time finding gum to chew on the plane since they don't sell gum on Disney property, but they sell it at the airport, so he should be ok.

Anyway, I know I haven't said much about the actual Disney trip, but there just isn't much to tell. It was a lot of walking, not a lot of actual doing. It wasn't particularly relaxing or exciting. It was fun, though.

By the way, the Disney employees were deightful, with the exception of the waiters. The waiters were awful, but the rest of the staff, from the bus drivers to the housekeepers to the sales people and ride operators, they were all cheerful, helpful and seemed very sincere. Delta needs some Disney training.