Day 7: UNIVERSAL

Days 1 & 2

Day 3

Day 4

Days 5 & 6

Oh man, guys. This was the day my family (and I, in particular) had been waiting for! This was

HARRY POTTER DAY!!!

I teared up a little when I saw the castle. It was really, really cool. The first thing we did was get wands:

(Brother = Sirius Black’s, Sister = Hermione’s), and then we rode “Flight of the Hippogriff,” which the kids really liked. We all went through the castle (though Sister and I took the early exit when it came time to get on the ride). We drank some DELICIOUS butter beer:

before boarding the Hogwarts Express and journeying to Hogsmeade.

When we arrrived, we were greeted by the Knight Bus

Although that is NOT Stan Shunpike. Brother asked.

And 12 Grimauld Place (which Brother doesn’t know yet)

And then we entered Diagon Alley:

Wow. It was so cool and special, and the best let is that my kids were just as exited as I was! We rode the Gringotts ride (which was a long line but worth it!), and then stopped at the Magical Menagerie, where Brother got Buckbeak and sister got Crookshanks:

By now it was lunch time, and we left Diagon Alley to find lunch. We wanted to eat at the Leaky Cauldron, but even though you can’t see it, the line was crazy long and we were hungry. We ate some yummy seafood and the boys went to ride some roller coasters in the non-Harry Potter parts of the park. Sister and I browsed a few shops and watched a show, and stopped for some ice cream. When the boys were done, it was time to hook back up with the big group. Tonight was “date night” for us, so we left the kids with the big group and headed back to Hogsmeade.

Husband really wanted me to ride the ride in the castle, and someone gave us their fast passes for it! We were in and out in 15 minutes, and then we found a quiet corner, bought some drinks, and reflected on what had been an amazing trip. Truly, our kids were WONDERFUL. They could not have had a better week. I mean, they did things like this:

(telling secrets in the fort, if that wasn’t obvious). They were really wonderful, and the walking, long days, close quarters, and constant company of extended family seemed to have no effect on the two of them, for which we were profoundly thankful to God. It was clear His fingerprints were all over this trip!

Of all 5 parks we visited (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Universal), Universal ranks as follows by my family:

Husband: 1st favorite

Brother: 1st favorite

Sister: 1st favorite 

Me: 1st favorite 

A HUGE thank you to my in-laws for their enormous investment in this trip and our family! It was magical!

Days 5 & 6: Magic/Animal Kingdom

Days 1 & 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5 we went back to Magic Kingdom, but because we’d already been there, we went a little late and left a little early. We still had time for:

And 

I particularly enjoyed this because of my Arthur class this summer!

And a visit to Belle’s castle where everyone (including Daddy) played a role in telling the story:

For dinner, we visited the Polynesian, where the kids did coconut races:

And we ended the evening at the giant pool before an early bedtime.

Day 6, we headed to our last Disney Park, Animal Kingdom. The boys were especially excited about this one because of a VERY popular ride...so popular, in fact, that this was the line in front of them:

And this is the line behind them:

YIKES. The great part of this was that the rest of the park was completely empty, so Sister and viewed the animal exhibits and rode the flying dinosaur ride four times in a row!

After we hooked back up with the boys, we found out that Brother made a really awesome pin trade:

Pin trading is something I read about a week before we left. Official Disney pins can be traded, both by cast members and guests, so before we left, I ordered a handful of pins and lanyards so the kids could trade. This was great fun all week, but this pin was the icing on Brother’s cake!

We went on a safari on a giant open-air truck, which was really cool, and then saw a bird show:

But the highlight of the day was DEFINITELY the Lion King show. Husband and I had seen it more than a decade ago when we went to Disneyland in Hong Kong, and we loved it so much we went twice. If we hadn’t been at the last showing I would have insisted on a repeat viewing this time, too. It was EXCELLENT.

Dinner was served at the Tusker House, where the kids again got to meet Mickey’s crew:

We headed home after dinner, greatly anticipating the following day: Universal Studios!

Of all 5 parks we visited (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Universal), Animal Kingdom ranks as follows by my family:

Husband: 4th favorite

Brother: 5th favorite

Sister: 5th favorite 

Me: 5th favorite 

Day 4: EPCOT

Days 1 & 2

Day 3

I woke more excited for this day than any other day so far because 1) I LOVE EPCOT! (It’s the only park I’d been to before), 2) there were EXTRA MAGIC HOURS at the park that night, which meant we would get a break from the suffocating crowds, and 3) I was so excited to introduce Brother to the World Showcase! He’d read all about it in his WDW Guide, and he was pumped.

We arrived and the boys immediately wanted to ride roller coasters, so Sister and I FaceTimed with Gigi and went to get a snack. Since Sister was the first customer at that particular snack cart, the guy let her “open the cart,” which meant she got to talk on the radio, and we each got a free snack!

After the boys rode their ride, we all embarked on “Test Track,” an experience where you build a car and the race it. I thought this was all simulated, but as it turns out, it was a full-blown roller coaster. The kids dug it, but it wasn’t my favorite.

After lunch, my in-laws has planned to take the girls to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique to be transformed into princesses. I’m not going to lie...I wasn’t very enthusiastic about this, mainly because I didn’t want to miss out at EPCOT, but Husband promised me he would ride rides with Brother and they wouldn’t head to the World Showcase until Sister and I returned. So we all took a taxi to the salon.

Once there, they had the “princesses” choose a hairstyle and get into their princess dresses. 

They were then taken to their fairy God-mother, who was in charge of their make-over, which included:

• Make-up
• Hair (and extensions, in Sister’s case)
• Nails
• Sash
• A goodie bag of all the products that had been used)
• A sprinkling of pixie dust

As this operation is one well-oiled machine, we were in and out and back on our way to EPCOT within an hour. We met up with the boys for

THE WORLD SHOWCASE!

We met Mary Poppins in the United Kingdom.

We ate glacé in France.

We met Jasmine in Monaco.

We browsed manga in Japan.

We played the drums at the Outpost.

We met Elsa in Norway.

And we ate the most delicious dinner in China.

And at last, after the park closed and the crowds dissipated, we rode Soarin’ like six times right in a row.

Aaaaaaaaand this was my Fitbit reading when I finally climbed into bed that night:

Of all 5 parks we visited (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Universal), EPCOT ranks as follows by my family:

Husband: 2nd favorite

Brother: 2nd favorite

Sister: 2nd favorite 

Me: 2nd favorite 

Day 3: Hollywood

Days 1 & 2

Day 3 was Hollywood Studios day. Our game plan was to get into the park and go straight for the "Jedi Training" line. Apparently, kids can be Jedi-trained, but only if you can get a spot, and we wanted a spot. So we spent about the first hour of our day at Hollywood in line, first to get into the park, and then to get signed up for Jedi-Training. The good news is that the kids seemed to have no problem with waiting in line, just like they had no problem yesterday, or the day before. *headscratch* The other good news is that if you looked at the Jedi line as a whole, we were probably only 30% of the way back. So...win win!

We rode rides, ate delicious food, and watched three really cool nighttime shows (although I have to say...Fantasmic was cool, but we waited for over an hour, and getting out was a NIGHTMARE! Thousands of people everywhere! Husband had to put sister on his shoulders and I kept a death grip on Brother, who kept saying, "I don't like this, Mom. I don't like this." Me neither, son!

Hollywood Highlights:

• Jedi Training - though we did wait a while, this ended up being a really cool thing. The kids got to dress like Jedis and even fight Kylo-Ren!
• The Indiana Jones Show - This was cool enough because it was Indiana Jones, but it was extra cool because my father-in-law was chosen as an audience extra in the show. Since he had also been an extra when he took my husband 25 years ago, it was “extra” cool!

• Light Saber Assembly- The kids got to design and build their own light sabers with the help p of a professional Light Saber Engineer.

• The Toy Story Ride - This ride was AWESOME! You are in these carts and you have a shooter, and you shoot at targets. There’s a screen that gives you your total. I went with Brother. I’m sure you can guess whose score is whose...
• Star Wars Light Show - This was very cool. It was in the middle of the park in this big square, and it was packed and standing-room only, which meant we had to hold the kids (yikes), but it was a great show!

Of all 5 parks we visited (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Universal), Hollywood ranks as follows by my family:

Husband: 3rd favorite 

Brother: 3rd favorite 

Sister: 3rd favorite 

Me: 3rd favorite 

Disney World: Days 1-2

After many years of planning, my in-laws took the whole family to Disney World. It was an INCREDIBLE trip. Normally, when I travel, I document my trips by spending time in the early mornings before anyone wakes creating a write-up of the former days' activities (as I have done with Montreal and Singapore). It was my intent to do the same with this trip, but after day two, I realized there was no way I was going to be able to keep up because we did SO MUCH and we were all up early. So these were written after our return.

We stayed at Disney's Art of Animation Resort. This resort is designed for families and large groups (and also has the biggest pool of any other resort! The kids were really impressed with that.) and houses four complexes, each based on a different Disney film: The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Cars, and Finding Nemo. We stayed in the Finding Nemo complex. It was a great location because we were right next to both the food court and the ginormous pool. Each family unit had a suite complete with dining and living areas (each of which housed extra beds) and a bathroom in the common area. In the back was a bedroom and en suite bathroom, so there was plenty of space.

One day we took a walk down to the Little Mermaid complex

We flew out early and arrived midday, spending the afternoon getting unpacked and swimming in the huge pool. (Mercifully, Sister also took a nap.) That evening, we traveled by bus to Magic Kingdom where we ate dinner at Club Mickey. As we were dining, characters came to each table for autographs and pictures.

We had a little hiccup on the way home (as in we wandered around for 45 minutes before we finally found the bus pickup), but everyone hit the hay pretty much the second we arrived back at the suite. The next morning, we were up and at 'em, ready for our day at Magic Kingdom.

Here we are in line for the bus on Day 1. The selfie stick was confiscated upon entrance into the park though :(

Magic Kingdom Highlights:

• Breakfast @ Belle's Castle - this was AWESOME and it got us early entrance into the park (which, if we ever come back, I think we will try to do every day, if possible. Waiting in line for the park to open is kind of terrible). 
  
• Rides - namely It's a Small World, the Carousel, and the Mad Hatter (I'm not much for Roller Coasters) were my faves
  
• The Parade - every day at 2 PM, they have a huge parade. Sister and I had separated from the group, and I'm so glad we did because we got GREAT seats! We were right on the curb and everything passed right in front of us.
  
• Dinner - We took a boat out to another resort for dinner and this place was COOL! It was family-style BBQ and, in addition to the delicious food, the atmosphere was really fun. The waiter was sarcastic and anytime anyone asked for ketchup, they made the table yell "We want ketchup!" and ALL the ketchup bottles in the entire place were delivered to that table. I think a lot of folks just went without ketchup...

Soooooo many ketchups...

Of all 5 parks we visited (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Universal), Magic Kingdom ranks as follows by my family:

Husband: 5th favorite 

Brother: 4th favorite 

Sister: 4th favorite

Me: 4th favorite

The Magician's Nephew

My earliest memory of being read to is being curled up on my parents' bed in our house in Montera. My dad was reading the beginning of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to me, and I remember being mesmerized by the concept of a fawn. Half goat, half human? How was that possible? (Of course, I was to learn later on that it is not.) The excitement and wonder of that moment was enough to not only stick with me (I couldn't have been more than four at the time), but it sparked a lifelong interest in stories.

As I grew older, the Chronicles of Narnia became favorites of mine, not just because they were great books, and not just because of the sentimentality that tied them to both my father and my childhood. I loved the writing style. CS Lewis had a way of storytelling unique and unmatched by any of his contemporaries. He also seemed to understand children better than perhaps most authors. As if all of this weren't enough, his stories, though often incorrectly labeled "allegories" are, in fact, "suppositions." This means that, instead of directly representing a story already familiar to our culture, he wrote a story "supposing" that there was a world like Narnia, and there was an evil that had snuck in (the devil), and the land needed to be redeemed. If that were the case, let's suppose that God sent his Son in the form of a Lion...

As Brother took off with chapter books this school year, I decided it was time to introduce him to these favorite books of mine. He's watched the animated movie with which I grew up, but he was completely unfamiliar with The Magician's Nephew, which is the first chronological book in the series and possibly my very favorite. I gathered both kids on the couch this morning after breakfast, and we read chapter 1. Brother begged me to keep going. Sister wasn't quite as interested, so she went to play with dolls. But we kept going, and went all the way to chapter 4 before we had to run some errands. I have the audiobook upstairs, so I asked brother if you like to listen as we drove. He said "Ooo yes, please!" so we listened and listened. By the time we got home, we were on chapter 7… halfway through! "Mom, can we please keep reading?"

As you can imagine, my mommy/teacher heart was exploding. Thankfully, we didn't have any big plans today other than a few things around the house and some errands, but even if we had, it's likely that I would've canceled them to stay curled up on the couch with my boy reading one of my very favorite stories of all time.

As it was, we finished this evening, and Brother immediately pronounced "Let's start the next one! I'll go get it." It was getting late by now, so I told him I would read the first chapter and he could take the book to bed with him if he would like to continue to read. I have no idea how far he got, but I have a feeling we will be reading the entire series in the coming weeks (days?).

I had always hoped my children would be readers. I had also look forward to introducing them to my very favorite stories. We called Pepa (my dad) and told him how we read an entire book in one day and how awesome it was.  It was an exciting thing to share with a third-generation! 

It's hard to put into words what today meant to me. ❤

First KU Game

Having been raised in a KU household and graduated from KU, Husband is a *huge* KU fan and always has been. It's no surprise, therefore, that he is raising our children to be the same. It is also no surprise that we have not taken our kids to a KU basketball game because there is no way on God's green Earth we could ever afford it. So when our great friends (the same ones who invited us to BILL SELF'S HOUSE and Husband got that awesome new job) suggested a road trip to an away game, we were in!

The game was in Stillwater, so we went down on Friday night and spent the night at my brother's house a few hours away. The kids spent the morning playing with their cousins (have you heard of Doggie Doo? It's their new favorite game. It was...actually really fun!) and then we met our friends at the Pioneer Woman Mercantile. We had grand plans to eat there, but this was the line, folks:

And with four kids between us, we opted for the store and the bakery upstairs. Somehow I don't have any pictures of the bakery, but it was really cool and fun. We got the kids a snack and hopped back on the road to Stillwater. We ate Hideaway Pizza (which was NOTHING like the one I'm used to) and went to check in at the hotel. We decided we wanted to get to the game early, so we headed out on foot to Cowboy Arena, or whatever was called.

These were our seats, but they were great! We were surrounded by OSU fans, which was to be expected, but they were super nice and friendly. Jo had the great idea of going and seeing if we could find where the players would run out on to the court. Even if we somehow got tickets to go to Allen Fieldhouse with the whole family, the place is packed and the kids never would have been able to see, so this was a GREAT idea. And, lo and behold:

The kids got to high-five EVERY PLAYER WHO LEFT THE LOCKER ROOM! It was amazing! The highlight of the trip, for sure!

We were a little nervous that the kids wouldn't want to watch the game, but they did great. Brother was yelling and hollering like a maniac, and though Sister asked me a few times when it was going to be over, she did really well, too.

What a fun trip. We are planning to go again next year!