In a working mom's world there is one very favorite topic that comes up everywhere: parties, career seminars, work place, waiting in line at the grocery store. I mean, EVERYWHERE. It's about how we, the women, the unfortunate (ha!) gender can keep a balance between career and family life. I am among the few lucky (almost) american moms who did not have to worry about this. I knew from start that family will come first always, I was just lucky that I was never asked (by my boss or my husband) to give up my career.
As Catalina grows she is much more independent and she could easily stay home without me in case I had to go to business trips. Last conference I went, Marius and Catalina came with me. This year, the same story. We all went to Florida, not a bad place to "balance career and family".
First 4 days were reserved for my conference. This meant that Marius spent the whole day with Catalina while I attended seminars and received on my phone cute pictures like these:
Catalina had a good time. She missed her mommy and asked for mommy time every evening, pretty much polishing my ego to sparkle like a diamond. Truth be told, during the day I don't think she had too much time to think of mommy. She got any toy she asked for, she met her 2nd degree cousins and learnt how to float, she enjoyed the hotel pool and took make long walks to feed the birds.
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| Ha, ha, I have yet ANOTHER pony! |
Speaking for myself, it was good for my career that I went to that conference. I love meeting new smart people, and when at the end of the day I get to see my family, that's even better. So, with a big load of knowledge in my head, after 4 days I was ready to vacation!!
We started with a nice anniversary dinner in beautiful West Palm Beach.
Then we headed to Disney, Orlando!! On our way we stopped to visit a safari with lions, zebras and all sorts of animals we don't see in our backyard.
Catalina was very adamant about playing mini golf. Considering the fact that we have several mini golf courses within walking distance from our home, we felt it's a waste of new adventures. Well, once Catalina puts her mind to something she does NOT give up. We had to wait until she finished all the holes, sometimes waiting for 5-6 boys who were ahead of her.
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| Hard work, but I'm done! |
After we got our nature fix, we finally got on the road to Orlando and we reached our Disney resort. Shower, change of clothes and we were ready for our mini vacation. Since it was too late to go to any park, we headed to downtown Disney. We really wanted a fancy diner at T-rex, but the waiting lines were...hm hm hm... 2 hours. So we settled for an awesome sandwich and a lemonade. We got ourselves some more presents and walked around some more to enjoy the magic air :)
Next day was reserved for princess and diamonds, so Magic Kingdom! That park never looses its charm, no matter how many times you visit it. The parades are magic, the rides are fun, the ice cream tastes better
Catalina wanted to take pictures with princess as well. Since she had them all from last year, we couldn't care less, but who do you think decided that waiting in line for half an hour is not that long??Elsa and Anna had a waiting line of 2 hours, so we settled for Rapunzel and Cinderella.
We had fun and we were tired, we decided to wait for the fireworks and then head back to the resort. Fireworks done, we were waiting for the crowd to clear when Catalina remembered she still did not take pictures with Elsa and Anna.
So, what do you think we did at 11:30 pm? Stayed in line for an hour...My big, determined girl had her wish. We never had sleepless nights when she was little, so we were happy to oblige for this one :)
We were happy, our girl was happy, and we still had 2 days of vacation. Back to the resort to recharge!
First thing on the list was an appointment with the alligators! We decided to pay them a visit at their own home, so we booked an airboat trip. A little to wild for me, I am definitely not a "mud" fan, but I liked the speed and the alligators!
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| muddy waters filled with reptiles... |
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| bushes that host a vast array of snakes, alligators and other unpleasant creatures |
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| Gone is the scared little girl! Meet my ferocious, adventurous Catalina! |
Next on our list was SeaWorld. For some reason we thought it will be a bust, that there is really not much one can see/do there. We were very pleasantly surprised by fantastic shows and unique activities
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| Meet Shamu, the whale who can dance like a ballerina! |
walking towards the shark tunnel, I found some pretty fish ;)
We were walking pretty much aimlessly in the afternoon heat when Catalina got attracted by a loud man who was talking about pearls. There was a diver who was bringing up oysters and people could pick one of their liking, go through an opening ceremony at the end of which one could pick his own pearl from the oyster. Pearls?? Of course Catalina wanted one!
This was by far the most entertaining activity for Catalina in the whole trip! She was so happy with her pearl, she kept it tight in her hand and told everyone she will take very good care of it. And she did!
We had a wonderful afternoon, more shows, more presents, more laughter.
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| Pearls and diamonds?? YEAH!!! |
We had time that evening for some pool time, a short walk in the resort, and back to our room to get a good rest for our last day of adventures: NASA, Kennedy Center. Catalina is very interested lately in stars and planets, so we thought she will have a blast. Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was just too real, but she wanted to skip on a LOT of the activities we had in mind.
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| No, I will not take a picture with an astronaut! |
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| Fun with mommy while daddy is in a flight simulator. Scary.... |
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| Bye bye, Orlando! |
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