You did great for your first time out and your mom will be very pleased! It's obvious that you read a lot and were well prepared before you ever got started..... and there was a LOT of paint on that Expedition to work on.
Some things you just have to learn by doing. As you get more experience things will go faster and you'll develop a "flow" or "rhythm" that will speed things along. I did my first Zaino job on the wife’s mini-van last weekend, and after the first application by hand I went to the PC. I used a grey 4” finish pad (primed with a touch of Z-6) and it was much easier doing the last two applications that way. Since I got started late in the afternoon, and I was running out of daylight, I also skipped the Z-6 after the first and second coats, but it still went on/off easy and looked great. I also liked the way the PC worked the Z into the paint….. seemed better than what I was doing by hand.