Tuesday, June 22, was Andy and my 25th wedding anniversary. And I have to say that, 25 years ago when we got married, I didn’t expect to spend my silver anniversary in a crappy hotel with my kids and an extra child along. But that’s what the schedule dictated, and it turned out just fine.
We got up early because Andy was going to his office, and Madeline had an audition. Andy switched jobs a couple months ago, and the new company is headquartered in the Orlando area. So he was able to go to the location and meet people. Before we left he visited the front desk and was able to get some extra towels for the suite, and bedding for the hide-a-bed. We decided that the hotel was minimally acceptable, and that packing and changing hotels would be a pain, so we didn’t call Marriott and ask to move.
Madeline’s audition started at 8 am, with check-in starting at 7:30, so Andy dropped us at the competition hotel, the Hilton Orlando, on his way to the office. As we were leaving the Residence Inn we grabbed some food from the breakfast buffet: a boiled egg, coffee, a bagel and cream cheese.
When we arrived at the Hilton, Madeline and I followed people in dance hair and makeup until we found the main stage, where competition was already starting. It took a bit more wandering to find the audition room, but we got to it without too much delay and checked her in. At that point I checked work email because I was also planning on working Tuesday through Friday. I was able to work a bit, but another IDA dancer was auditioning, and I was frequently distracted talking to her mom. The audition ended at 8:45, but they weren’t posting the results until 9:30, so we grabbed second breakfast at the Hilton market. Madeline loved the strawberry-banana smoothie, and my latte was not bad.
When they posted the audition results, Madeline did not make the cut. She was slightly disappointed, but she said they only cast older girls, so she was not too upset. I was a tiny bit relieved, because making the final number would have meant a LOT of extra rehearsals over the week.
Her friend who also auditioned also didn’t make the final number, but they were staying at the Hilton and invited her to stay and go swimming with them. I had about an hour until an important work call, but I told her she could swim for about 20 minutes. Of course, it took 20 minutes to get changed into swimsuits and down to the pool. So I decided I could give her another 20 minutes and start the call in my car.
The pool at the Hilton is really nice. It’s large, with a lazy river and a slide. The girls were having fun, so of course we went over a little bit, and I ended up starting my call by the pool. We ubered back to our hotel, and the three girls got ready to go back to Universal for some more rides while my call continued. It was a lot more peaceful in the room once they were gone! I ended up getting about five hours of work in before Andy returned and it was time to leave for our anniversary dinner.
Several of Andrew’s work colleagues had recommended a place in Winter Garden called The Ravenous Pig. It definitely was a restaurant worth recommending. It was small and interesting and not at all pretentious. But the food, the service, and the beer they brewed there were all amazing. They even brought us a special dessert.
After dinner we walked around a little shopping area in Winter Garden. The shops were all closed, but people were coming and going from the restaurants, and there was a park across the street, so it was a nice atmosphere. I was keeping an eye on the weather, and we made sure to get back to the car before the next rain came in.
When the rain came, it came hard. We were on the interstate, and it was so heavy you couldn’t see the lanes, and most people were driving with their flashers on. While Andy drove I was texting the girls, who were still at Universal. We decided we would pick them up on our way back, at the car/ride share garage. That worked really well, and we arrived just a minute or two before the girls got there.
Although I would have loved to have gone straight to bed when we got back to the hotel, I really needed to do a load of laundry, so instead I gathered everything from our pop-up laundry hamper I take when we travel, got some coins from the front desk, and hit the laundry room. Fortunately, the washer and dryer each only took about a half hour. Unfortunately, one of the items in the wash was a maroon sweatshirt, which left big red stains on the special IDA nationals t-shirt I’d bought for the trip. IDA arranged an online order, but when my shirt arrived it was too big. I washed it in hopes of shrinking it, but instead I ruined it, so it went right into the trash can. I’m glad, though, that shirt was ruined rather than anything else in the wash. And everyone was thankful for the clean clothes!