Getting to Orlando

We dropped Penny off at school (she has to be there by 9am) and our flight wasn't till afternoon. We had several hours to kill before the flight so Michael had a GREAT idea. We went to Kinkos or fedex whatever it is now, and we made a sign to attach to his wheelchair when we pack it up for flying.
it says
Please DO NOT REMOVE COVER
you may tip or lay on side BUT
DO NOT DISMANTLE
Uses non-spilable dry-cel batteries
this is vital medical equipment
please do not tamper with and handle with care
thank you!

We added carabiners to the top and bottom to add to the cover we use. 

Now see he's labeled and ready to go!

This is the first time Ive been to Orlando area and rented a car straight from the airport. It was nice being able to go where we wanted when we wanted and not be dependent on busses.

We stayed at the Swan Hotel at Disney. This was the view from our room. 

You can see the Epcot Ball from our room

Thats the bridge to Disney Boardwalk 

The lobby of the swan has a swan fountain. 

Great ceilings in the Swan!

We saw some great sun sets.

We went to Epcot for dinner the first night and went to Mexico. Got this shirt for our nephew. 

Dinner time!

So they brought these crunchy things to the table and they had this sauce on them that seemed super familiar. It was really good. I asked the waitress if it was what I thought. I showed her this picture and asked if this is what it is?

My FAVORITE!

It was! the waitress was SHOCKED that 1. I knew what it was, and 2. Had a picture of it on my phone. I was super excited! So happy night. 

she knows...

Penny knows that were leaving her again and isn't happy. She is laying on the couch watching me pack and do laundry looking totally depressed and following me around. 

I HATE leaving the girl. Especially since we were already just gone. But when you have to go, you have to go. At least she loves her school so much and we can watch her on web cam.

Lots of friends at school today!

16 days left

Michael had his interview with the Magic today. It ended up being a Skype interview after all, so we got ready. 

Me practicing tie-ing a tie

I got a spot on Michaels newly dry-cleaned dress shirt before I got it on him so we switched to a white shirt. 

Business on top, casual on bottom haha!

Here he is getting ready for Skype interview!

It seems like it went well. The interview-er seemed to hit it off with Michael pretty well. They were impressed with the fact that we had already booked our flight down to meet them in person, so its good that we kept our flights. We are leaving in a day, to go check out other parts of Orlando to see if we might live there next. How the tables are spinning, Orlando, Miami, back to Orlando.... We shall see!

17 days left

Sorry for the delay again. We've been so busy. Not always a good kind of busy. 

After getting home from California we were home for about a week before leaving again. 

We came home to find a little caterpillar had EATEN MY ROSE BUSH! bummer!

this is what is left of my rose.

Look at that TINY little curled up. How can such a small critter
EAT SO MUCH ROSE BUSH???

In accordance with eating poorly, here is me with a Pizza box (last nights dinner), full of pizza, balanced on my head. I was impressed that I could have it balanced so well for such a long time. 

Packing more, slowly.

this is from PF Chang's. It was $18.00 for this...
Wow portions have gone down and prices up!!!
 It was NOT even 10 oz and we asked for "Extra Chicken" 

19-18 Days left

I spent a good portion of today and yesterday looking for apartments and houses for rent in the Orlando area. 
We woke up "early" (considering we didn't get into bed till 3am, still on CA time I guess) 
I took Mikes suit to get pressed at the dry cleaners, picked up some mail at the post office, got a coffee. Came home got some laundry going and decided to pack one box and get one for give away. 
Let me be completely open and clear about four things. 

1. I HATE PACKING. 
2. I HATE CLEANING. 
3. I HATE GETTING RID OF MY THINGS. 
4. I HATE MOVING. 

We don't know when we are moving, we don't know where we are moving, we aren't even 100% sure when our lease is actually up now that we have extended. 

Penny was "helping" me today by unpacking every one of her toys I added to her basket. Every one I put in she snuck back and took out. It was simultaneously adorable and really annoying. 

I have discovered, that although I have moved about 20 times I have NO IDEA what I'm doing or how to move really at all. 

I was feeling super efficient a few weeks ago and packed two boxes of towels. I have since had to go back into both those boxes to USE those towels and have yet to put them back. Same with our cold weather clothes. I thought we would be in Miami at this point so I packed ALL our long sleeves and sweat clothes and sealed them up. We actually visited California twice since I had sealed the boxes and I had to open them both up to get out our sweatshirts and long sleeves to stay warm. If I pack it I KNOW I will need it and so Im delaying because I hate spending time and energy packing things in an orderly and organized way only to have to open the box again in a week. I am actually running out of packing tape. 

I did clean out our hall/linen closet and it looks really nice now, but its still not PACKED. 

Here is Penny's room half full of random odds and ends and half filled with boxes. 
Being honest here, I don't show anyone but my mom my crazy mess until now. 
LUCKY YOU! 

left side of Penny's room

right side of Penny's room

Michael's Office 
(theres a very full bookcase and recliner chair too) 

The living room complete with a dog and folding laundry

Now that you see some of what Im dealing with here, also knowing that were searching for a new place to live,in a new city, in a new state, trying to find a job, trying to keep to a schedule and get closer to the Lord while eating healthy and mindfully. IT IS A LOT. 

Right now Im feeling very overwhelmed. Not thrilled. Low ebb of the journey. 

I don't want to go to Orlando in a few days. Another trip just sounds exhausting! I have been gone form home for 8 full weeks so far this year! Thats a LOT of not being home. I want to stay home and pack and stick to my cozy Hobbit schedule. But, I guess that is the point of a journey to Rivendell its not going to be easy its a epic journey and trials and monsters to face. We have to find a rental van still, and  depending on that (if we get one or not) then we can book our hotel. Bilbo wanted to stay in his Hobbit hole and didn't want to leave either. So here we go...

I am sad to leave my pup again. She has been acting a bitt off since we came home. I have been trying to spend time with her too. SO many things competing for my time. 

Im praying for focus, determination, productivity, and some good sleep. 

20 Days left

Today was Thursday.
20 days left to Rivendell 

We are half way done on our journey and today was really inspiring and I think will help get us back into our "schedule" now that were back from California. 

We got to go to George and Martha Washington's home, Mt. Vernon, today. This was really amazing. It was absolutely gorgeous. It makes you think of grand and epic things. This man accomplished so many things in his life. The founding father and the birth of our nation, designing Washington DC, farming, general, husband, patriot. You feel very patriotic walking around. He and his wife were so in love she would join him in the camps to nurse soldiers and raise moral of the officers. When George died Martha closed up their bedroom and moved into another part of the house. 

It was so crowded we were surprised! Lots of school groups, grandparents, and history nerds like us.

Today was hot, about 93 but not too humid only about 55%. I have not been to Mt. Vernon since 8th grade and Michael hasn't been since he was a very young boy. It was under construction when I was there last and I didn't get to do much. We got one of those audio tour handsets. It was $6 but we really think it was worth it. We both always want to know more than what they write on all the plaques. We were not disappointed. It was very interesting and well done. I really didn't remember how beautiful it is! I HIGHLY recommend coming to Mt. Vernon. I wish I could go back again! WORTH every penny to get in. 

Welcome!

View of the house form the bowling green

What a beautiful view of the Potomac through this beautiful curved covered walkway.

Riding Chair

This is like the worlds first power wheelchair. It is for narrow country lanes. Its a wooden kitchen chair bolted to a cart that is pulled by a horse. It has arm rests and reminded me of Michaels wheelchair and I made a joke that in the great outdoors Michael would have used it with a horse and he could use a smaller one pulled by a dog inside. His faithful colonial hounds. 

The Washington's final resting place, It was open (a rare occurrence) for a wreath laying ceremony. 

General Washington on the right and Martha on the left.

It was pretty cool being so close to the ACTUAL George Washington. 

In front of the Potomac on the lawns.

Michael posing for me. 

The gardens were amazing. I love the garden! It was lush and the flowers were being tended by several workers today. 

There was more formal boxwood knot hedges.

More wild-ish looking areas with flowers.

Flowers and veggies. 

The greenhouse. Its big!

Beautiful groves of fruit trees. 

Flower Girl!

Then some organized flower beds with boxwood borders. 

Michael said the most romantic thing to me while we were walking through the flowers today. I was saying how much I love flowers and want a garden when we get a house someday. He told me that he  thinks of me and thinks of flowers. He says he thinks that flowers are somehow tied to my soul. It made my heart go pitter pat. 

Leaving the Washington's beautiful home. 

As we were leaving Michael got another email from the Orlando Magic about his interview. Now if you recall, we have bought airline tickets, canceled, rebooked, and now.... 

The email told Michael that in fact, he was not currently being considered for an in-person interview as he was not living locally and it was no longer an acceptable option to come in person, even if we had already purchased out tickets. Apparently Michael did that on his own volition.  Oh and by the way its moved back to Monday. So the interview was scheduled on the 8th in person, moved to the 15th in person, moved to the 18th in person, now back to the 15th over Skype. CRAZY! 

SO we have now downloaded Skype on Mikes laptop and we don't really know what to do about our non-refundable flight to Orlando. We might want to keep them to go see if we can find an apartment. It would be a complete different side of the city as Disney World so we didn't see any of it last scouting trip. 

Since its summer now, handicap accessible vans are going to be a serious struggle. Last time we called (last week) they said they had been booked out for weeks. So IF we do still go, we might have to stay at the hotel at the airport and take handicap accessible cabs OR a regular car and leave McGee at the hotel and take the Quickie and have Mike ride shotgun next to me and hope the cars not too tall for me to lift him in. 

We came home and got the girl. She was so happy to be home with her pack. She jumped into bed and crashed out. She slept from about 6pm-1pm the next day. I keep taking her out and she wants to go back inside and crashes out.