Jeff Is Officially a Graduate (Again)!

We spent the past four days traveling up and down the state of Florida looking for warm weather. Unfortunately we didn't find any, in fact, we found even colder weather but we had a great time in Orlando and Gainesville celebrating Jeff's graduation. Jeff finished up his MBA program in July but the graduation finally took place this past weekend. We decided to break up the drive by adding Orlando into our trip (since it's on the way of course) and my parents happened to get a timeshare there for the week so we had a place to stay (thanks mom and dad!) Our trip started on Friday when we picked Allison up from school and drove straight to Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's great having a season pass to Disney because you can go to a park for half a day and not feel bad about it. I really wanted to see the Osbourne Light Show again because it was just so spectacular last year and this year it was just as great. We met my parents at the park and tried to fit in as many things as we could before the day was over. The park was pretty crowded but we managed to have plenty of fun. Daniel specially enjoyed the Muppet 3-D adventure. This was the first time he actually kept the glasses on for a 3-D show and he really got into it (screaming and all). I didn't take too many pictures on this trip, in fact, I only took about 50 the whole weekend. I know, that's not like me but once the weather turned cold on Sunday I was afraid to take my hands out of my pockets! Here's a few shots from Hollywood Studios:
The next day we headed up to Gainesville. The weather was actually quite beautiful - in the 70's - and Jeff had to go to campus to pick up his regalia so we walked around the University of Florida and saw at least one corner of it. We had actually stopped by there once before, a few years ago when we were driving to New Orleans but it was neat to check it out again. Although it still feels weird for me to be on any college campus that isn't the University of Maryland (go Terps!). The kids had fun posing for pictures on campus:
After we visited the campus, we checked into our hotel. We walked into the lobby and saw this:

Yes, I was the guest of the day...roll out the red carpet people, the guest of the day has arrived! Basically I got a bunch of extra Marriott points (woohoo!) and we got a free movie (woohoo again!) which we actually had time to watch because it was only 4pm and we needed to kill some time before dinner. So we watched the third Shrek movie which was really cute. Then we headed to dinner at The Swamp which apparently is one of the popular hangouts there. The next morning we got up bright and early and headed to the graduation ceremony. Jeff was dressed and ready to graduate:
The kids were excited to see daddy in a cap and gown:
and they didn't look to shabby either:
The ceremony was very nicely done and luckily only lasted for about an hour. The kids were getting restless since we sat down about 45 min before it even started (thank goodness for the ipod touch!!). Here's Jeff walking into the auditorium (does he look happy or what?):
A couple more pictures from the ceremony:

And to prove that he actually graduated, here is a video of his name being called. Not the best video I've ever shot because I was trying to watch it live, so you may not see Jeff the whole time:


After the ceremony we went outside and realized we weren't in Kansas anymore. A cold front was moving through the area and with it came rain, wind and and some chilly chilly temperatures! I was so cold that I decided I need to ditch my dress and heals and throw on some jeans and boots for the lunch reception that was taking place in the basketball arena. Yes, I chose comfort over style and I have no regrets! I did manage to get a picture of the kids and the new graduate:
We filled up our bellies with lots of yummy food, said good-bye to all of Jeff's fellow graduates and headed back to Orlando. It was actually a very pretty drive. We even got to see some trees with leaves that were changing colors (a sight not seen in south Florida!). The next day we knew it would be cold but we had been planning for weeks to go to Magic Kingdom and of course we couldn't disappoint the kids. So we bundled up in as many layers as possible and headed to the park. I must say, I've never been there when it's been that cold but I have been there in extreme heat and I will take the cold over the heat (I know, doesn't sound like me at all but at least with cold you can keep adding layers!). We managed to survive the day and actually rode quite a few rides. Although I must say, I was quite surprised at how crowded the park was. I thought it would be pretty empty. Silly me, it is Disney World after all. People come from all over the world to visit and their not going to cancel their trip because of a sill cold front. In fact, for most of them it probably felt warm compared to what it is in their home town! Despite everything, we rode a good amount of rides and had a great time. Here we are on the teacups:
And Daniel wasn't about to miss out on his favorite ride: Goofy's roller coaster. I had to make sure he got to ride it since Mickey's Toontown is closing for good in February and I'm not sure if the roller coaster will be gone forever (or put somewhere else - anyone know?). Here he is sitting with grandma in the 4th row:
And one last photo from the day...like i said, I didn't take many pictures at all because it was just too cold (can you tell??)!!
We left the park and headed back home hoping it would be a bit warmer there. Unfortunately it was not. In fact it seemed even windier! Good news is that it's supposed to be in the mid-70's here this weekend. I can handle cold when I know warm temperature are right around the corner...