You Guys!!!

My kids have started new grades at their new schools!  New teachers!  New friends!  New lockers!  New gym uniforms!  New.  New.  New!
7th grade (in a gangster pose)

Prim and Proper 5th grade

This cheeser in 3rd grade

And little miss who is finally staring Kindergarten.  She is sooooo ready!

Are things going exactly the way we planned?  Nope.  Not even a little bit.  We are currently homeless (because our old house sold, and our new house isn't complete yet).

 This is us after closing.  It's is certainly easier on the hand to be on the sellers side.

Which means that at some point (hopefully in the near future) in between homework and regular daily life, we will have to squeeze in a move.  And, you know...  make it comfortable and stuff.

Not to mention that I start college next week.  Yikes!  

But, we will survive.  I think.  We've done hard things before.  This can't possibly compare to the time we....  or how about that time that....  Or what about when.....

On second thought, this is going to be quite an adventure.  

Wish us luck!

Universal Studios: Harry Potter World, Olivanders

I knew going into this that we would be purchasing wands.  I  knew it would be something fun for the kids, and a great souvenir for me.  So I set aside a particularly large chunk of my souvenir fund for this.  We waited for our turn to go into Ollivanders (don't mind Kelsey.  She really did have fun).

And while none of our little group got picked to let a wand choose us, it was still fun to watch the show.

Some of the children picked famous wizard wands (Dylan chose Ron's wand and Kaitlyn got Hermione's).  The rest of us chose wands we thought were pretty, but didn't belong to a wizard particularly.  We had done our little quizzes through Pottermore.com to be sorted into our houses, find our patronuses and find which wand was supposed to be ours.  I'll admit that I was a bit surprised to find that the website (which really doesn't have anything to do with Universal Studios) and the wands available for purchase didn't line up better.  But, when I think about it, it shouldn't really be all that surprising (that would make things sooooo much harder).  In the end, our wands choose us, and they made us feel more magical!

For the extra few dollars, we purchased the wands that were interactive.  That means, throughout the Harry Potter parks, if you were observant, there were markings on the ground that would denote a specific spell (motion) you were supposed to perform.

And if you did it correctly, fun things happened!  This one made the window display dance.

This one could make lights twinkle, or on the other side of the alley, you could make an umbrella spit water :)

Not gonna lie, hubby was better at both getting the specific spell down faster, and helping the children.

But that may be why I married him :)

Universal Studios: Harry Potter World, Hogwarts Express

We knew from the very beginning, we wanted to ride the Hogwarts Express.  It takes you between the two different Harry Potter parks (Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley) which are in different Universal Parks.  We could either buy park hopper passes or buy a Hogwarts Express Ticket specifically.  It worked more to our favor to have the park hopper pass, so we knew we were covered!

As you stood in line, there was all kinds of baggage around waiting to be loaded.  There was even a place where they had arranged it so you looked like you disappeared onto Platform 9 3/4!  I wasn't smart enough to get a video of it, but it was pretty great.

I don't think the train went particularly fast, but I was kind of impressed that it actually moved.  And, guys, they made the train a ride!!!  They had screens in the windows so people "walked" by.  And had all kinds of other things that just made everything so fun!

I made hubby take this picture with me.  He said, by this time, he was out of smiles :)

We got a whole compartment to ourselves!  

I know I sound like a geek, but if you aren't a fan of the books, all of this stuff won't matter to you.  And if you ARE a fan, then you totally understand how cool all this stuff is!