A Universally Good Time!

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Are you as overwhelmed as I am by all of the activity surrounding this time of year?  School starting, summer ending, new afternoon and evening schedules and so many new things popping up on the calendar!

We took our end of summer trip to Universal Studios last week and I have been home for about 24 hours.  The suitcases are half unpacked and the laundry is half done and I am half asleep.  I took 2 naps yesterday between straightening and chatting with my kids and today I have a gob-ton of stuff to do because we have company coming for the weekend.

Our trip to Universal Studios was amazing.  I can’t imagine how it could have been any better.  We took VIP tours of the parks, getting all kinds of education on how things were done behind the scenes (I love that stuff!).  We spent an afternoon in a lazy river and ate at some incredible restaurants.  I mean the best food you ever ate kind of food.

I did make one mistake that cost me $44.95 + $12 + tax.  I only took one pair of shoes.  I know, it is completely against my character not to have at least 3 pair with me at all times and I have learned my lesson.  But I was traveling with an airline that has very limited luggage guidelines and I had to keep it as light as possible.  My Oofos (which you can read more about HERE) served me well on my last 2 trips to Orlando with all of the walking so I decided to just take one pair and wear it the whole time.

But then I got a bug bite on the top of my right foot where the strap goes.  Even though I had my essential oils and they helped the bite not itch or bother me, they couldn’t move the bite to another location and the strap rubbed on it until it turned into a blister.  And suddenly what had been a comfortable pair of shoes became a torture device.  No amount of bandaids or medical gauze would help because everything I taped to the spot kept falling off in less than 5 minutes.  I went through an entire $8.50 box of hotel bandaids in under an hour.

At that point I realized I would need to either buy a new pair of shoes or rent a scooter and ride around all day.  I opted for the shoes.  So I went into a gift shop and bought myself a pair of Crocs that I don’t need because I have a pair of Crocs at home that I rarely wear.  I got a “guy” color so that I could give them to one of my boys after the trip.

I also bought myself a $12 pair of socks because I was worried that the crocs would rub the blister and I’d need a barrier.  I also thought the socks would help the bandaid stay on.  And it worked.  I looked like a dork-mom, but my foot was fine after that.  Believe me, if I could have worn the sock with my Oofos I would have.  But I tried it and the shoes kept falling off because the thong-toe-thingy kept fighting with the socks.

And now boys and girls, here’s the lesson from this experience: Always have 2 different pair of shoes when you travel.

If I had taken my Otz I could have saved money and kept my feet from hurting today.  I will be in extreme arch support shoes for weeks trying to recover from the lack of arch support in my new pair of Crocs.

But since that was really the only problem we had the entire time, it was nothing.  A speck on the globe of amazement and fun.

There were 6 of us on the trip, so after the first day we divided into 2 groups of 3 so we could have some quality time together and the boys could do more of what they each wanted.  I loved that because it gave me time to chat with each guy (I was the only girl) and do exactly whatever they wanted without juggling so many other ideas.  If you have a large family, take it from me…..do things alone with 1-2 kids at a time.  It’s the best!

One day I spent time riding the less intense rides with these 2 boys and exploring the Jurassic Park discovery zone.

And another day I snuck over to Disney with these two and we had a great time, despite the rain! (in fact, the rain made it less crowded so we didn’t mind at all)

Once we got home it was back to reality and getting the house ready for friends to come stay with us this weekend.  I’m looking forward to the fellowship, but if I don’t get to the grocery store this morning my friends will starve.  We ate up everything before we left and there is nothing but scraps in the pantry.

I am also getting the school books out and going through them to get our new school schedule ironed out before we start next Monday.  It doesn’t matter that I have been homeschooling for over 20 years…..there’s always something new to figure out.

Here’s to new seasons and normal schedules!  Have a great weekend.