Linked to
Three weeks ago, the Gaylord Palms hosted the FPEA {Florida Parent Education Association} Homeschool Convention and we signed up {over 3 months ago} to attend! We are currently learning about homeschooling to see if it would be the right fit for our growing family, so we decided to attend the largest Conference in Florida! Well, I was soooo excited and had our entire day scheduled with various lectures, information sessions, and time to walk the Exhibit Hall. Our children stayed home with my parents and in-laws {and I think everyone knows just how hard it is to escape for 24 hours! ha}, and we headed to Orlando for an exciting day and night out on the town at the Gaylord (we got a discounted rate for being members, too!).
The night before, I started to not feel well. Sweats, chills, sore throat, cough. By the time we left at 4:45am on Saturday morning, it was as if I had been hit by a train! Every muscle ached, my head was spinning, I was nauseous. It seriously was the worst cold/flu I have EVER had. By the time we arrived, I could barely walk in. My husband helped me shuffle indoors, we grabbed our badges and packets, and slowly made it to our first lecture. We sat in the corner attempting not to infect and entire homeschool population. By the time the second lecture started, I was done. I just could not do it. It was horrible.
So we started the trek to the front desk...and if any of you have ever been to Gaylord, you know exactly how ginormous this place is! *ugh* Despite my begging, they refused to check us in early, until...I started having the urge to vomit in the main lobby. All of a sudden a room became available *ummm hmmm* and they took us up. It was a horrible 4 hours of throwing up, aches, all the flu symptoms you could imagine. Finally, around 5, I started feeling much better so we decided to just wander through the Exhibit Hall which was full of curriculum's, manipulative's, all the learning tools you could dream of! Of course, I didn't want to touch anything so we really weren't able to be nearly as thorough as we wanted. But we did find some items.
The excitement of the evening happened when we also got to meet "Hazel," from the
Dolphine Tale Movie!!! She is a young girl, and I think I scared her to death when I flipped out and started chatting her ear off {at a distance} with my raspy voice. "Oh my gosh! Could I have your autograph!?!? My daughter is OBSESSED with Winter!!! Please, please, please!?! Seriously, this is SO cool!" If you are not familiar with Dolphin Tale, it is a movie starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman based on the true story of Winter the Dolphin. Winter lost her tale in a crab trap off the coast of Florida and she was rescued and rehabilitated at our local Aquarium, The Clearwater Marine Aquarium! They created a prosthetic tale for her and my daughter is in love with Winter!!! I truly believe she is the reason for my daughters' love of sea creatures. It will be out in September and is sure to be my children's generations, Free Willy!!! Can you tell how excited we are!? haha
Well, that night we cancelled our dinner reservations :/ ordered food, and just had a very low key evening. The next morning I felt a little better, so after my husbands morning run, we went to lay out by the pool before we headed home. It was disappointing considering all the time, money, and planning that went into the trip. However, I am happy that I got to experience such a large convention and see that there is a HUGE homeschooling population in Florida! So that was VERY encouraging. And I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who took care of me the entire time!!!
Once they FINALLY let us check in early, I literally collapsed on the bed. And don't let my smirk fool you...that is a "thank you GOD!!!" smile.
*sigh* The view from our room of just one of Gaylord's AWESOME pools! Didn't get to enjoy any of this one :/
Finally, after 4 hours in the room, I decided to brave the HUGE Exhibit Hall {which my sweet husband ran down to comb through before hand} The quality of this pictures is an accurate visual description of EXACTLY how I felt! haha I was ECSTACTIC when I saw and met "Hazel" from
Dolphin Tale!
Small portion of the exhibit hall!
To document our first FPEA Homeschool Convention!
