Florida Trip with Matt

Wow it has been forever!! So my last few weeks will be in multiple posts. I keep track of key things to mention in my blog, but sometimes I forget to sit and write. I'll get into another weekly groove soon.

After over five months of being apart from my husband I finally went back to the US! After leaving on the 4th of July I was able to arrive the evening of the 4th of July and I'll tell you that Portland fireworks are crazy!! As the plane was landing you could see literally thousands of fireworks going off in all directions! It was a neat experience, but not as great as giving a big hug to Matt!

As we drove back to Eugene he told me that he discovered his car had been stolen just that morning! We hoped it might be a blessing if the police didn't find it and instead of trying to sell the car we could just get an insurance check.

We got a whole four hours of "sleep" on a couple of small pads Matt had as a bed at his sister's place before we had to leave to the airport the next morning. Our three planes to Fort Lauderdale, Florida took all day so we were more than happy to finally arrive. Unfortunately after getting our rental we discovered there were multiple Doubletree by Hilton Hotels and could not find the one with our actual reservation. After over thirty minutes of calling a whole bunch of hotels we finally found our reservation and were able to get to the right place.

The next day we were able to just sleep in and relax. Matt slept in for a LONG time, while I got to finally get some summer sun outside by the pool. It was super nice to have no plans and just sit around and do nothing for an entire day.

Sunday we went shopping around until it was time to get onto our short Bahamas cruise. The boat was a lot smaller than I was used to, but it was still nice. The food was good and later while wandering around we stopped in on the karaoke competition. It went on forever so we left early but we both really liked this guy from Venezuela who was amazing!

The Bahamas was awesome. When we first arrived our room at the resort wasn't ready but we still got to use all the resort amenities. So we swam in the ocean, the pool, jumped on the ocean trampoline and got yelled at (didn't know we had to pay), and took a great banana boat tour to see the dolphins and a rusty old ship that had actually been used in the Pirates of the Carribean. It was all fun until by the time we got into our room we could see how badly burned my shoulders and legs were.

As we got settled in our room and checked our email I found I had a skype message. It was the police - they had found Matt's car! Matt had given them his number as well as his sister's and my skype number, but apparently they didn't call his sister. Because we didn't get the message until later, the car was towed and stored until we could pick it up. We had to send his sister to the towing agency with a letter signed by Matt giving her authorization to pick up the vehicle and $275 for the towing charges! At least the car could be driven.

Right before the storm hit

Our second Bahamas day turned out to be quite a disappointment as our kayak/snorkeling tour got cancelled due to weather. It didn't seem that bad at first, but it started pouring later and was rainy most of the day. The real bummer was that I was so badly burned that getting wet made me FREEZING! I was shivering really bad everywhere. Still we did some shopping and were able to watch Jack Reacher on a big screen they had at the resort that night.

We spent our last hours in the Bahamas eating Domino's and feeding a huge group of birds. It was amazing how bold some would be and actually eat right out of Matt's hands. Finally it was time to get on the cruise ship.

These two got in a fight

Last day in the Bahamas

The cruise back to Florida we went for a fancier dinner place and ended up on a table where all eight of us didn't drink alcohol! How crazy is that! The couple across from us we also discovered are LDS members from Arizona (although they've been inactive for a few years)! Hopefully we inspired them to go back, they are an awesome couple.

We also decided to get involved in the Bingo night, which we never won even after playing three games with multiple bingo cards in play at once. It was a lot of fun though and there was hilarious girl in front that even the announcer made fun of. Apparently she asked "What time is the 8 o'clock show?" earlier that day.

Matt and I were pleased to discover we could get off the ship really early the next day so we would be able to get to Orlando quick. It was even better to discover our room was available at 11am when we arrived so we could drop our stuff off. The rest of the day we spent at Typhoon Lagoon and we spent our last couple hours at DisneyQuest. The water park was a blast, but we were so tired at DisneyQuest that it was difficult to enjoy all the video games and the build-your-own roller coast made us motion sick.

The next two days we spent at Walt Disney World focusing on all the rides that Matt hadn't ever experienced at Disneyland. I was determined to help him see that WDW is WAY better than Disneyland. Although I don't think I convinced him entirely we still had fun.

The first day we went to the Animal Kingdom (my fav since I worked there and I love animals) for the day and Hollywood Studios at night. The second day we did Magic Kingdom in the morning and hit Epcot early afternoon. I could talk about both days a lot, but instead I'll just show pics.

 

It rained both days from 1-4 hours, but luckily it didn't affect our ability to still do all the things we wanted to in the end. I'm very grateful to finding the Unofficial Guide To Walt Disney World and their touringplans.com website and Lines app that saved us so much time!! Seriously, if you are going to Disneyland or Disney World I really recommend their book and sites because it saves hours and it's amazing how much we were able to fit in without having to run all over and still have unscheduled snack, bathroom, and rain breaks.

It was sad to leave the vacation to go back to Eugene, but on the up side our 20 min break at Salt Lake City on the way allowed my dad to see me! He was able to meet us at the gate we got off and walk us to the next gate...and no his is not normally allowed so don't ask how he was able to do it. Since I won't be able to see him for a long time I was glad we had the opportunity at all. I'm also really glad we had some great luck on the planes and had an extra seat so we could actually sleep somewhat. Nothing like going back to Eugene and sleeping on the hard pads equivalent to the floor....

.......to be continued

Furnishing the New Place

Sometimes when too much time passes it’s difficult to motivate myself to write a blog when I feel like so much has happened!

I finished my last Stats exam last week and I know I did terrible, but at least it’s over! Hopefully I did well overall, and I’ve already gotten some marks back that were pretty good. I nearly got an HD on that literature review I spent hours and hours working on and revising that I thought was terrible. According to my classmates the work load for this last semester has been overwhelming, but as I had nothing better to do I didn’t think it was so bad. Since Matt will be here next semester, I’m hoping the work load will be easier.

I got keys to my new place last week!! Since then things have been pretty crazy. As I walked into the new place I noticed a lot more flaws than I remembered. Nevertheless it’s still heaps better than my previous place! Check out the pics...

 

 


Since I’ve had the new place I have been working to get all the things I needed. Luckily my friend Kaytlin didn’t have work for a couple of days last week so we spend Monday buying some things I needed like a microwave, a mattress and whatnot. I had to move out by Friday so it was a blessing Kaytlin could help me move and get the things I still needed. In one trip we were able to move all of my stuff, however I didn’t have a fridge so she had to store all my refrigerator food.

My favorite part of that day was when Kaytlin and I went to Costco and at the entrance was a giant stuffed panda!! Kaytlin thought I was crazy as I searched for the perfect one and stuck it in the cart. We got some seriously great looks and some people asked me where I got it. I also have some sentimental reasons since my favorite stuffed animal was a large panda that got wet when I was at a sleepover on a friend’s trampoline. We stuck it in the dryer only to discover it completely fried the fur. So, in my opinion, this even bigger panda was $30 well spent!

Also early last week I got a washer, but when the guy showed me how it worked the door wasn’t locking so he had to come back later with his boss. Unfortunately this was quite a hassle because I had to go back and forth from Marsfield and Dundas (about 50 min by bus) since I didn’t have the things I needed to live at the new place. Also I had arranged to look at a refrigerator on gumtree (Australia’s Craigslist equivalent) which resulted in me having to ask Kaytlin for a ride to meet the washer guy in time.

The refrigerator proved to be a huge frustration. The Indian family I got it from couldn’t get rid of it until their new fridge came on Saturday and I had to arrange a way to get it picked up. I arranged with my ward to find someone with a ute (truck) to pick it up Saturday at 5pm with hopes I would be able to make my 7pm meeting for Vemma in the city. I grossly underestimated the time and it took us 3.5 hours to get the fridge down the family’s stairs and safely stored on the ute, then pick up a TV unit nearby, and be able to unload it all.

I’ve learned my lesson…in Australia it is easier to just buy stuff new that is deliverable, or pay for a courier to pick up and deliver things. There’s a reason why most Australians hire removalists to take care of all their stuff when they move. Nevertheless, I was able to get a nice couch set, table, TV, bed frame, and dryer to be delivered.

Over the last couple weeks it hasn’t been all moving and furnishing. I hung out with a new couple in my ward and we went to Pancakes onthe Rocks.

Last Wednesday I also went to a friend’s house to watch the 2^nd State of Origins game. We had a terrible loss and there wasn’t even a great fight. It was great to see old friends there though that I haven’t seen since I studied abroad here!

On Sunday I had to get to my ward in Greenwich from Dundas. It took me three trains to get there and it was difficult trying to hold my umbrella in the rain and stare at my phone to figure where I was supposed to go. Church was fun as our last lesson was all about modesty. I got a ride to a train station to save me time getting home and on the bus ride home I missed my stop and got stuck in a different city. Although I got home 2 hours later than planned I was mostly glad I had a granola bar in my bag to eat. It's a good thing my new ward is just down the street.

Yesterday was fun as well as I went to see Man of Steel with Brock and Kaytlin for FHE. It was AWESOME! I didn’t realize it would go so much into the background of Superman so I thought that was pretty cool.

Now I have just a couple of days before I go back to the US! I’m excited to see Matt after all this time, and really glad we’ll be able to have a little vacation in Florida and the Bahamas! Life is pretty good!