"You're staying *where*?!?"

So a few days ago, Mr. at Home announces that he's going to a conference in Orlando and did we want to go with him. My "Yes!" was quickly followed with "Let me check my calendar" because I had a funny feeling that there was something really important happening at the same time. Like our yearly standardized test. Phooey. I had already planned to test with a friend and it wasn't like we don't have a ton of fun stuff already planned for this summer, so I told that we really just couldn't go. And take advantage of the employer paid travel and hotel. And enjoy the warm Florida sunshine. And the hotel pool. Nope, we would be good and stick to our plans.

Then Mr. at Home got on the phone and called the hotel to make reservations.

At The Dolphin.

Resort.

On property.

At Disney World.

You see, I've stayed at The Dolphin before for a conference. And it's very, very nice. With a huge, enormous, super-cool pool...system...thing. And a white sand beach with swan shaped paddle boats. And a fabulous playground.

Did I say we were going to stick to our testing plans? I meant I'm going to try to rearrange my testing plans.

As long as the testing coordinator says I can get K's test at a different time, it looks like we're going to Walt Disney World in April. Woohoo! Of course, we did not have WDW budgeted for April and when I looked at the price of park tickets, I almost swooned. So I decided to break the news to K and L and ask them if they would help us to save money for these next few weeks. It meant giving up getting anything big in their Easter basket, but after a few minutes of looking at pictures and letting the idea sink in, they agreed wholeheartedly. So we have a pact that we won't eat out and we won't buy anything that's not essential and we ought to be able to spend 1 day in 1 park when they're still young enough to fully enjoy the magic that is WDW.

The other days we'll spend fully enjoying the magic that is the Dolphin resort. I even got my first sunburn of the season yesterday, so my pasty white skin is ready to go!

Of course, even more than all the coolness that is the Dolphin and WDW, is the fact that Mr. at Home is actually *working* at the conference. He has been asked to sit on a panel and contribute his vast pool of knowledge to a group of industry experts. He also was notified yesterday that he passed yet another certification test so he's now certified as a something JAVA expert. Very soon he'll have so many letters after his name that his business card will have to be the size of a postcard.