Thank you, Emily!

Thank you, Emily, for teaching me how to stick up for myself and say what I think.  I had a guy come and tune my piano Thursday, and he broke a string, which I can understand can happen, but then he wanted me to pay $36 for the string, $45 for him to come back and replace it, and $20 for FIVE additional tunings of the string. What the??? So I told him I needed to think about it and went into the room and called another guy who would do everything (buy the string, replace it, and come back twice and tune it) for $60.   So when I told my piano tuner I was going to have to wait and talk to my husband about things (I didn't tell him I'd called someone else) he said, "Oh, well I can find the string for $17 and I'll put it in for free, and then it's $20 every time I come back. Too bad he didn't say that first, and I might have said okay. I didn't say anything until he was done tuning my piano (though he didn't tune the last octave for fear of breaking another string), and then told him I was still going to wait because I felt like he tried to rip me off. Which he wasn't too happy about, but what am I supposed to think when you tell me one price and then drop it by $50 when you don't think the person is responding well to being ripped off!  So I'm glad I have learned from Emily how to tell someone (in a nice way; I was as nice as possible under the circumstances) to take a hike. The guy who came the next day was much better. Anyway, kind of a silly story but it made me realize that I've come a long ways since being a 23 year old new mom!

10 Years!

Tomorrow is Robby's and my 10 year anniversary. He had a business trip at Disney World, so Mom stayed with the kids and I went with him in the middle of April. We stayed at the Contemporary resort, which is the closest resort to Magic Kingdom. This was our view at night. Pretty awesome! 

I got there on a Tuesday and we headed straight for Magic Kingdom. We really enjoyed it, and definitely want to take our kids sometime in the next few years. Though maybe to Disneyland instead. At Disney World the rides are spread out between all the different parks (Epcot, Hollywood STudios, Magic Kingdom).  We really like those Disney Express passes, I don't think I'd go on rides that didn't have one. Once it was dark we went to Fantasyland and Robby indulged me on going on some kiddie rides while all the kids were watching the Electrical Parade. We watched the fireworks from behind the castle, in front of the carousal. They were going off all around us, which was pretty awesome to see. And we were glad we didn't have our kids with us, because they would have hated it. On our way out we got an amazing brownie and cinnamon roll on Main Street. 

 The next day after Robby's meetings we went to Epcot. They were having a flower festival going on and had topperaries of the different Disney characters, which was really fun to see.  We liked Epcot, but it wasn't our favorite.

 This picture is a bit out of order; we went to Universal STudios on Thursday, and went to Harry Potter World. So this is in Hog's Head drinking Butterbeer, which I really enjoyed.  We stayed at a different hotel near the Studios and spent all day at both parks Thursday and Friday. We had no lines on any line except Harry Potty, so we were pretty spoiled.

 And of course the castle. The new Harry Potter ride was great, and we only had to wait 20 minutes both days we went, but the first day it made me sick. I took motion sickness pills every day, but that ride still didn't like me. It really does feel like you're flying behind Harry, which is very cool, but not for the faint of stomach. We ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks, and it was probably the best theme park place we ate at on our trip; we were impressed. 

 This is back at Epcot. We loved the flowers! 

 We went to the World Pavillion at Epcot, which was lots of fun, though it was more fun when I was younger. Robby isn't much of a shopper, and I enjoy going into all the shops to look at the things from different countries. Still fun, and great fireworks. 

 Eating our French pastries in the France Pavillion. 

 Now this is at Universal Studios on the Jurassic Park ride, which may have been my favorite. It was so real, and just very well done. We did it 3 times, the 2nd time in the front row to get pictures. Robby was supposed to put the camera away before it goes down and you get wet; he didn't and got the camera soaked. It seems to be okay, but I wasn't super happy about it! 

My other favorite rides were the Hulk Roller coaster and the Mummy ride. 

 On Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom

 This is the Contemporary. I went jogging and then swimming while Robby was in his meetings. It was amazing to be able to do that without worrying about kids! The only other trip we've been on since we've had kids was when we went to Turkey and Emily ended up in the hospital in California while we were gone, this was much more relaxing! 

 The Hulk was our favorite roller coaster; Robby went on it 6 times in the 2 days we were there. I also loved the one where you could choose your music and listen to it as you went on the roller coaster. The rides were all just so well done, and almost every place you waited in line was air conditioned. 

 I got a little wet on the Popeye ride. Robby wouldn't go on it with me.