Florida - Day 3

I got up today with no problems, I actually woke up at 6AM - well before my alarm clock went off. I piddled around a little bit because I was still a little bit asleep, but I eventually got in the shower. I heard my phone ringing and knew it was Robert, but obviously I couldn’t answer it. I called him back when I got out to let him know that I was way ahead of him.

This is on Tuesday – this is the day that we have only a couple of hours in a meeting then we were going to Epcot! :) We made it to breakfast in plenty of time – bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, biscuits, gravy, donuts, muffins, coffee cake, 3 juices, and coffee. I do like all of these things, but I really am not much of a breakfast person. I got a little bit of food on my plate and headed towards a seat. Robert piled his plate high and followed. I ate some of the food, but really just wanted coffee. The coffee they had was not as good as the one I had found in the café the day before, so I opted to go back there and get another one of those. Robert told me that I’m spoiled. Yeah, whatever. :) Just when it comes to my coffee.

I returned in time for the meeting, located Robert and took my seat. The opening for this meeting was 4 small Chinese boys doing acrobatic stunts with the help of some barrel type things that looked like over-sized round cheese graters. They were great! I do not really know how to describe what they did without it sounding really, ummmm, bad. I will attempt to do so….. They could sit on these “barrels” and fold their bodies so that they went all the way down in them – with their feet and heads sticking out of the top. They would then rock the barrel so that they tipped forward and could get out. They formed a pyramid with 3 of them, then the one on the top would bend over and put the barrel on his bottom… and the 4th one would do some flips on the ground and spring up to land with his bottom in the other side of the barrel. They all did all sorts of acrobatic flips and stunts, and it was great! They looked to be around maybe 8 years old.

After their show it got BORING. I was finding it difficult to stay awake. One of the presenters found it necessary to share with us the same slide show that was shown to the managers the day before – the techs hadn’t seen it, but they were finding it quite boring, too. The 1 ½ hours that we had to sit there were longer than any other time. We were finally free to go at 10AM. This was the day that everyone could do whatever they had chosen – Disney World, MGM Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Golf. We had chosen Epcot. It had begun to rain, but we still wanted to go. Robert wasn’t feeling quite up to it at that time, so he wanted to go to his room and take a nap. I told him to call me when he was ready and I went to my room and did some work, then read while I waited. I finally called him at noon and asked him if he still wanted to go. So he got ready and we were off.

We rode the mono-rail and arrived at Epcot. We rode the ride in the big silver ball first. I forget the name of it… it was interesting. After that one, we went to ride a space shuttle simulation-type ride. It was, of course, still raining. Robert was very excited about the space ship ride, but I was very skeptical. It said “if you get motion sickness, or you do not like spinning, you shouldn’t ride this ride.” OK, I do not like spinning at all (I’m getting old and it isn’t fun anymore!), but I only get motion sickness if I am trying to read while riding. So I went ahead and rode it. I must say it was an experience. Not the worst, not the best. I’m glad I know what it is like, but I am not likely to ride it again.

Those were the only 2 rides we had time to ride. We had to be back at the hotel for dinner (which was at 7PM) and closing ceremonies. We spent the rest of our time walking around to the different countries. I absolutely loved it. I loved seeing the various creations made by the different cultures, and the atmosphere and music was wonderful! :)

We ate lunch in France, watched a band performing in Morocco (called Mo Rockin), and were entertained by a Mime in Italy. We walked through almost every store in quite a few of the countries. We were not able to visit them all because we had to leave to get back for dinner. Of course I got yelled at a lot for “wandering off” while we were browsing – I think Robert has some sort of fear of being left behind. He kept threatening to buy a leash and put me on it so that he wouldn’t lose me. For goodness sake, we both had our cell phones and could call each other if we were to lose each other, but that didn’t sooth his worry, apparently. I would walk outside a shop I was done in before he was done looking and he would yell “Katie! Where are you going?” Ummmm… just right out here Robert, I will wait for you… I told him at one point that we were both adults and would both be fully capable of finding our way back to the hotel on our own if we were unable to find each other! Dang! Lol

I got Conor a small drum in Morocco – he likes to pretend he is playing the drums a lot on stuff, so I felt he would enjoy it. I also got various samples of chocolate from different countries. Germany, France, Italy… to name a few. For the girls I got little mini – drum things… like they used in Karate Kid. There are 2 beads attached by a string to each side of the drum (which is on a stick) and you twist it to make it play a beat.

It rained on and off the entire day and we were both pretty damp. It didn’t really bother me, I’m not the type to get upset over rain – I don’t care if my hair gets messed up or anything like that – at least not usually. Now, if I were all dressed up to go somewhere and wanted to look nice, I would care a bit more.

We were late arriving back at the hotel – we did not get there until 6:50PM – because the mono-rail made a lot more stops on the way back. So I did not have a whole lot of time to get ready. Robert wanted to just go on down, so I told him to go ahead because it would take me a little while. He really didn’t want to go by himself, he asked how long and offered to wait… but I wouldn’t give him a specific time and told him it could be a while so he would just go. He called my cell phone to let me know where he was sitting and that he would save me a seat. It did not take me too long, actually. I straightened my hair out and re-did my makeup. I had to iron my pants, too, and I was done and there by 7:40. Not bad. 10 minutes of that is how long it took to walk from my room to the convention center.

The last diner consisted of salad, Lobster, steak, grilled chicken, muscles, red-potatoes, beans, corn on the cob, and dinner rolls. It was served buffet style, all-you-can-eat. They said the record for the most Lobsters eaten had been set last year – 16 of em. Robert only could eat 3. There was, once again, an open bar, too. They did a few prize drawings and then they had 2 guys with pianos on-stage performing. They were great! Not only did they play music and sing, but they did comedy routines, too. It was hilarious. They eventually asked for the members of the Security Advisory Committee to come up on stage (our VP is one of the members). When they all were up there, the piano guys said that they were instructed to embarrass them the best way they could. So, one of them instructed them on how to dance while the other played the Piano and sang. The song and dance? The YMCA. It was absolutely hilarious! They would stop the music in the middle of the chorus to point out that some of them did not know how to spell – that YMCA was not YMAC or ACMY – and there was no e or I in there! Oh, it was great! And the best part – we have pictures…. Really good pictures…. The VP has stated that he knows who to come after should those pictures ever get sent out to the entire company, or to our company newsletter…

The evening actually ended at 10PM, as scheduled. I was invited to a party at the Jacuzzi by one of the other service managers, but I was not up for it. I said maybe and went back to my room. I did consider it for a little while, but in the end I chose to just read in bed for a while. It is not very often that I am able to read anymore, and I have a Jacuzzi tub at home… so, kinda an easy decision for me. I did intend to walk out there to say good-bye to all the new people I had met, but I didn’t make it. I was asleep before midnight. Yep, just a party animal…

The forth and final day will be short and sweet, but it will also be on another post… this one is too long, anyway!