Monday, May 12, 2008

Orlando

Well, we set off for Orlando Friday after work. It is about a 45 minute drive to Orlando but we were heading towards downtown so it took us almost 1/2 an hour more to get to our destination. We checked into our hotel and relaxed into the hotel life for the rest of the evening. There is something so much more comforting about relaxing at a hotel rather than your own home - and the reason is this: there is nothing there that needs done. At home I would be thinking of laundry or bills or cleaning the fish tank or ....you get the picture. But as we relaxed Friday evening,we really and honestly relaxed. Kyle watched some television while I read a book and then we went to bed early because the next morning would be an early one. Kyle was taking an exam called a NICET exam for certification for his degree in Fire Protection and Safety Engineering. There are four levels to achieve and his test was for his 2nd and 3rd levels. The test started early in the morning at the University of Central Flordia campus in Orlando. We stayed nearby so nothing tcould go wrong to prevent us from getting him to his exam on time.
Well, after we were up and ready on Saturday, we set off to find the testing site. Now this would seem easy as the campus is circular, the problem was that we couldnt find the correct road to turn in. All the streets are named after Astronomy and Astrology terms which is quite interesting. So there was Libra and Gemini and Star, but we were looking for Pegasus. Finally in the deserted campus we located a police officer who pointed us in the correct direction. I dropped Kyle off for his fun filled 8 hour day of testing and headed back to the hotel to go back to sleep. Of course at this point I realized that sleep was not going to happen so I read my book for a while and then got ready, grabbed a smoothie and headed out to do some hard core shopping. This is my idea of fun. 90 degree weather outside, hair in a messy ponytail and off I went to find some bargains. I was quite successful in my adventure (although my husband would not consider it "success" persay) and was back to pick him up with several treasures to add to my busting at the seams closet. I also found a nice new golf polo for him so he was excited about that (Well, as excited as any straight guy can be about clothes).
We went back to the hotel so he could decompress after a tough day of testing. He felt fairly confident so this put him in a good mood although a very weary one. After a good nap and some lounging we decided to go out and hunt down a good restaurant for dinner.
We ended up at Longhorn Steakhouse where neither had been before and had a most enjoyable dinner and excellent service (this seems to be few and far between down here so it is worth noting).
Afterwards we were completely exhausted so we crashed even earlier than the night before!
On Sunday we snoozed until our check out time and then found some lunch and played a fun 36 holes of putt putt at our favorite course.
It was a great weekend and truly refreshing after a long week of work.

Happy Monday!