if grown-ups could laugh this slow

Yes, I know I began my last post talking about Melanie, snow, and Austria...but I just have to do again. She sent me pictures, and they literally brought tears to my eyes. Being in Epcot made me miss Europe enough, and then to see these amazingly gorgeous pictures - wow. I really have to go back soon. Anyway, I'm going to share these pictures with you all:


Austrian snow, and snow covered mountains

A snowy hill

There is also a picture of Melanie's city in Innsbruck, but for some reason, it's not uploading. So, when I put it online, I'll add a link - because I think it's the most gorgeous little city ever, and I want ya'll to see it! :-p

Oh, there's something else I wanted to share with everyone. A couple of posts back, I found this article by Tony Pierce about blogging, and I posted it because I found it humourous and informative. Well, this guy came and commented on this post of mine, telling me that he was flattered, and appreciated my grammatical corrections. :-p Anyway, I go to his website again and am looking around ... and it seems that he's really more than just a random guy with nothing better to do than blog. Okay, the second part might be true, but he's not really just a random guy. He's actually written a book, How to Blog, and I think, based on his bloggings, that he is very intricately involved with very important people in the blogging/computering/internet world. Anywho, I just found this extremely interesting - and if he ever comes back, please be nice to him. He has the power to shut down my blog and everyone else's with it. ;) Haha.

So, Epcot was an absolute blast. I'd never been there, along with lots of other people in my "walkaround group" so we had a fun time getting oriented. 10 of us walked around the park together, and it was awesome. At first, I felt very strange being at Disney World without my parents. Then, as the day went along, I realized that I wasn't sure I could ever go back to a theme park without friends. It was nice, because we weren't required to have a chaparone with us - in fact, Mrs. Dill flat told us that she didn't want to see us all day except for the 2 check-in times that we had. So, we were able to be "big kids" and make our own decisions and have a lot of fun. I mean, even waiting in lines was exciting! We were playing concentration, trust falling, making jokes, laughing, slipping; it was awesome. And, the only real conflict we had was deciding where to eat. But, what else is new? Haha. Italy was crowded (or saw we thought...), France didn't open until 5, the Pub food looked wierd, Mexico was too far away, we had eaten at China for lunch...so we just went to the Electric Umbrella and had hamburgers, hotdogs, sandwiches, etc. Ah, good ol' America. Anyway, I've compiled a list of some sort...


Liza, Erin, Rachel, me, Katie, Andrea, Victoria and Katie in front of the infamous fountain.

10 Reasons to go to Disney World/Theme Parks without your parents and with friends (in no particular order):

1. There are no obnoxious plans: "We have to do this organized. First, we'll walk this way and do this, then wa'll walk toward this and on the way do that, blah blah blah." You get the picture.
2. You are willing to wait in a line for 90 minutes, because you decide that that's the nature of theme parks, and there's not much else to do. Where as parents will get grumpy because they want to cram in as much as possible in the wee little space of time you have to be there.
3. You can have fun in lines. Rather than being in a line and arguing with your little brother about how much longer it's going to be based entirely on assumption, you can spend your time laughing, catching up, making jokes and skipping each other all the way through the tangled web of massive people - be it for 90 minutes or 1 minute.
4. You can eat as much junk food as you want (or as you can afford, since you don't have your parents standing beside you dishing out all of their cash) without someone nagging at you: "You don't need that. You've already had a cookie. You should eat healthy..." Give me a break. We're at Disney World! 99.9 percent of their profits come from the food we stuff in our mouths. You don't want Disney to close down, do you? :eek: Okay, sorry.
5. You don't have to go into all the boring places and read about all the boring historical stuff that we learn about in school. You see, parents have forgotten about all of that stuff, and for some reason, they feel the need to re-teach themselves all of this information that went in one ear and out the other, and they attempt to teach it to us, though we already know all of it. Haha. I had to laugh though when the group of us didn't even pay any attention to the buildings unless it had an "attraction" sign beside it. There were a few places I wanted to go in, i.e. the British castle, but it wasn't a ride, so we weren't allowed. :-p But, it was nice to not have parents trying to shove all of this information into your face.
6. You can spend as much time as you'd like in the gift shops. But, once again, not nescessarily spend as much money, because you don't have your money tree with you. Of course, whatever money you do have probably came from that tree, anyway. It's just limited at the present time (Mine was limited to $40, which barely covered my 2 small meals).
7. You can goof off and play with all the random toys without having parents yelling at you to "not touch something unless you're going to buy it." Blah. What fun is that? We tried on all sorts of hats and took pictures with them. That never happens with parents - unless you're going to buy the hats.
8. You can sing as loud as you want, and the only people who are annoyed are the ones around you, who usually don't have the nerve to ask you to shut up.
9. You can ride the rides as many times as you please.
10. You don't have to "be in [anyone's] sight at all times." Though a buddy system is a good idea. :-p

Well, I just thought I'd share those thoughts with you, since that's what a blog is for - I think. We have a competition tomorrow, and we practiced hard today, so hopefully that will go well. I'm also hoping to meet with Ellie, my mentoree, tomorrow for the first time, so I'll need lots of prayer for that! I'm praying that it goes well and that I'm an example for her. It will be a challenge, because she is 15 as well, so I really need to work on being her mentor, but keep her on the same level, since, she basically is (besides being in 9th grade). The scary thing is...she's probably taller than me! Haha. Anyway guys, I would appreciate prayer for this. Let me know if there's anything I can pray about for you all. Whether you're struggling with something, you need healing, whatever the case may be ... I would love to pray for you, so please let me know what I can do.

Have an awesome 3 day weekend, ya'll. :)

God bless,
lv

P.S. Yesterday was Spencer's birthday! I didn't see him at all :( But, if you guys see or talk to him, please give him some birthday love. ^_^

P.S.S. Another note: Blogger has updated its commenting structure, so you can now enter your name and webpage instead of posting anonymously, and you don't have to be a member of blogger. So, that way, I won't have a bunch of anonymous posts that aren't really anonymous! Fabulous, aye? I think so. Let me know if you computer illiterate people (no offense -- just stating facts :-p) have some trouble with this setup. :)