Trip to Florida - LPGA PTE (May 12-14)

It was finally time to take my Practical Teaching Evaluation for the LPGA! After 4 semesters of online work, it's now time to fly out to Florida (Daytona Beach) to do the in-person evaluation.

Nothing like starting the day with spilling your milk while trying to pour it into your mug. Sheesh!

And actually, at this point - Bobby is out of town for work and I'm also leaving! Thankfully the boys were able to split up and stay with some friends/neighbors.  I love where we live!

Another dilemma when I get to the airport, the golf travel case would not lock properly!  

Thankfully, I had a band in my golf bag.  Perfect to go around the case nice and tight!

Time for lunch at the airport. I'm always a sucker for anything Asian :-)

Couldn't help myself - must travel with gummy bears. LOL!

And off we go! It feels so weird to be traveling alone:

  And it's raining in Orlando:

And phew, talk about humid stepping off that plane!

Cool mosaic on the floor while waiting for the train to luggage:

Ahhhh, the luxury of being a pet!

Finally got to my rental car!

OMG, took me a few minutes to try and figure out this car.  The gear change is on the side like the indicator. These new cars are getting too complicated!

The view from the top is rather cool though!

The speed indicator is projected on the windshield. It was rather distracting!  So glad I figured out how to get rid of it:

Thankfully traffic wasn't too bad to Daytona Beach.  This place must be like a zoo during the Daytona 500:

Made it!

OMG, the amount of bugs on the golf course.  Can you see them on the cover of my golf bag??

Finally time!  Thankfully we had a entire/full day of practice - being a student, teacher, and also an evaluator.

So the test consist of two 30-minute lessons - one for short game (chipping/pitching, putting, or bunker) and one for long game. All the students were volunteers from the Cranes Lake GC community.  Thankfully mine weren't too bad!  

Another part of my trip was also catching up with an old friend, Lisa.  So glad to see her after 20 years!

We were actually able to grab 2 meals together - dinner and then lunch the next day. Yum!

She even took me on a little tour to find manatees.  Well, we spotted some manatee poop first. LOL!

And the manatee "foot prints", as they call it:

There is it!! 

Maybe if I moved to Florida, I would get one of these mailboxes too :-)

Lisa drove me along the Canaveral seashore. Look at that tiny strip of land!

Okay... nudes on the beach coming up soon!!

I'm glad I didn't see any in and around the rest of the drive.  Ha ha!

Watch out for that turtle!!

I had to take this photo for Graham :-P

Atlantic ocean!!

Always time for ice-cream. And yes, I do believe that Ice Cream Solves Everything!

After 3 days in Florida, it's finally time to head home.  And I felt more stressed after than before the evaluation!! Why do we have to wait 2 weeks for the results??!

A quick view of downtown Chicago from the airplane:

Etihad Airways!!

Flight would have been quicker if it wasn't for this storm cell. Ha!

Well, after 2 weeks of anticipation, the results finally came in.  And I passed!! Phew! I think I was more relieved than anything.  Really did not want to do the re-take, although it would have just been the video uploads versus going back to Florida. I did hear it would have been another $500 though, so I'm glad there was no re-take!  

I'm now officially an LPGA Class A member. YAY!! :-)

May happenings

 Okay, I know it's already almost the end of May but here are some photos from last month :-)

Laying on the ground and waiting for Charlie to march up the street during the Memorial Day parade:

Hi Graham!

Hi Charlie!!

I'm glad he's still doing band - although for high school, it will be on the field marching and playing at the same time!

We went out for BBQ one day - this is a platter for 2 people.  Yikes!

Graham working his drone at the park.  Thankfully he has not lost this one in the lake (again):

Nothing like trying to get home and stopped again by another freight train! 

Shhh, don't tell Daddy that I bought a new putter!

Although, this putter did help me qualify for the US Senior Women's Open.  Woohoo!! More details to follow :-)

I started eating more oatmeal recently. And when I don't have enough time to eat at home, I have to bring it with me.  Definitely a bit more challenging than toast on a plate. Ha!

I love these Baby Blues comic strips! 

Yes, Mommy knows stuff! :-D

I told Charlie to find my old Wilson Firestick fairway woods.  Look how tiny that clubhead is! 

I can't remember where we were going, but poor Charlie is so tired - he fell asleep while being on his phone!

Time for some dim sum!

I really love this plate. It's seems like it would be perfect for a kokedama plant:

Ahhhh, the garden.  So messy!!

Haven't had a lot of time to clean anything in the yard.  Hopefully this is enough to keep things somewhat decent for the rest of the summer:

These 2 boys are growing up so fast!

Happy Birthday to Graham! (May 22)

Wow, I can't believe I have a 16 year old in the house now.  I feel so old all of a sudden!!

And this is what I'm dealing with right now - teenage testosterones.  LOL!!

Daddy managed to get some things off his wishlist at the last minute.  A cat shirt:

And funny enough - 3 more additional of the SAME shirt showed up within the next 2 days?! So I guess we can all each have one now. LOL!

Also, some books, but we all know Graham doesn't like to read books.  He's really excited about these though:

Japanese Anime - Demon slayer?!  I have no idea what this kid is up to these days. Ha ha!

And more Japanese Anime items but in the form of plushies??

Graham actually bought these for himself:

And the big surprise for Graham was refurbishing his Great, Great Grandfather's old violin!

Graham's orchestra instructor had mentioned it more than once about getting an instrument that is slightly better than a regular student (starter) violin. And so, a golf student of mine actually recommended a place in Skokie.  I brought the old violin in and they were able to do some work to it, to get it to a fair sounding violin.  So happy we were able to do this!

I always feel like Graham could be just a little bit more precise with his fingers.  Nonetheless, just so happy he's decided to continue on with Orchestra at school 😍

For his birthday, we took Graham and one of his friends from school out to dinner and a movie:

Charlie wasn't around because he was on a Band road-trip in Wisconsin! And since we couldn't pick him up, Charlie was also going to have a sleep-over at a friend's.  So glad we have come to know some nice families!

Graham was not very keen on us singing Happy Birthday to him in the restaurant. LOL!

At least he did get some dessert :-)

Time for the movie!  He insisted on watching the new Mandalorian and Grogu movie on Opening Night:

Glad that Graham still doesn't mind hanging out with me and Bobby.  This kid hangs out so much in his "virtual world" of VR Goggles.  Who knows what this kid will get into next.  As long as he stays out of trouble and improve on his grades at school!!