Did You Miss Me At All?

I can't believe I have let my blog go for so long. It's a combination of several things: I got behind and hated to skip over some posts I wanted to do which meant I didn't post anything, we started school back up in September and we're using a more Mommy/Teacher-intensive curriculum than before, and I have a new hobby that takes up my "spare" time.


But I am biting the bullet and skipping over a bunch of things I wanted to post and going right to the last excuse on my list: my new hobby. I am now a "sweeper." I enter sweepstakes and contests, and I enter a lot of them. Which brings me to the topic of my post: My biggest win so far was a four-night/five-day trip for two to Orlando, Florida, to go see the 2009 Dew Tour Finals. What? I know it doesn't sound like something I'd enter, but the odds were good and my hubby's dad lives near Orlando, so I figured it would be worth trying.

The Omni ChampionsGate Resort
It turned out to be an incredible trip! We flew first class to Orlando, had a car rental which wasn't listed as part of the prize, we stayed at an incredible resort and were given an upgraded room which gave us access to all kinds of things for free at the resort, we had breakfast at the hotel each day, four-day VIP passes to the Dew Tour, a meet and greet with one of the skateboard celebrities (Paul Rodriguez), and $500 cash!


The view from our room which shows one of my new
favorite things...the lazy river.

Another view from our room showing one pool,
jacuzzi, fountain, and golf course.
Once we arrived in Orlando and got our cute little rental car (Mazda 3), we picked up our VIP passes and grabbed some free food from the VIP lounge before heading to our hotel. We were duly impressed with our accomodations! The staff was incredibly friendly and did everything they could to make us comfortable.


We spent the next day relaxing and enjoying the resort, including a delicious breakfast. They had a Par 3 nine-hole golf course that was free, so I played golf for the very first time. I stink at it, but it was still enjoyable and pretty good exercise too.


After golf, we got into our swimsuits and played in the water. The lazy river was so much fun! I was talked into going down the water slide once, and hubby went down a couple of times. Mostly we just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company, which is something we don't get to do a whole lot. After the pool, we explored the resort a little before heading back up to our room to get cleaned up for dinner.


We aren't really into the whole skateboarding and BMX scene, but we decided to go to the Meet and Greet that was set up for us and to watch the Vert BMX finals that evening. We enjoyed the evening and were glad we went, but we were happy when we were able to sell our VIP passes on CraigsList for the remaining two days.


Us and Paul Rodriguez, who doesn't look much like his comedian dad.

Can you believe the height this guy is getting? These people are crazy!
Saturday after breakfast, Eddie went to play golf with his dad while I relaxed at the hotel. In fact, I ended up falling asleep for almost an hour while watching TV. I was fighting a cold, but we bought some Zicam and it did the trick. I had a special lunch and afternoon with a friend I haven't seen in over ten years! Bonnie drove 90 minutes to come visit with me, and we had a nice lunch and great afternoon chatting. After Bonnie left we played another nine holes of golf and went to dinner at the glamorous Waffle House. They have the best waffles and hash browns and our whole meal including dessert was $12!



Sunday we went to church at St. Andrews where R.C. Sproul preaches. They have just moved into their new church building, and it is huge but lovely. We spoke briefly with Dr. Sproul and even had a chance to say hi to Alan Keyes who was in town for a conference.


After church we met Ed's dad and his wife Irma for lunch at Mt. Dora. Irma is Cuban, and we actually ended up eating at a little Cuban restaurant, which was a first for Ed and me. Unfortunately, the golf game pretty much wore Ed's dad out the previous day, so he needed to go home after lunch. Ed and I walked around a park there in Mt. Dora for a few minutes before driving back to the hotel.



After making a stop at the hotel, we decided to drive to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We haven't been before, and it was a fun experience. After dinner we browsed some of the shops and found something to bring the kids home. I'm not much of a shopper and we only made it through a small fraction of the shops before I was ready to leave.



I took this picture just for my Disney-loving sister-in-law.
In case you can't tell, it's a power pole! Cute, huh?
Monday was our last day, but we requested a late check-out so we slept in, had breakfast, relaxed in the jacuzzi, went in the lazy river, went back in the jacuzzi and just generally enjoyed our last few hours at the resort. Finally we packed up, checked out, had lunch, turned in our rental car and made the long journey home.


One of the days maybe I'll remember to look at the lens and not the screen.
It was a totally unexpected vacation, but it was one of the best vacations my hubby and I have ever had. We missed the kids quite a bit, but it was just the break we both needed.