Washington, D.C.

When Tyler was ten, he and I stole away for a few days to spend some time in Washington, D.C.  It was a great educational trip for both of us.

Tom and I thought it would be great for Collin to visit the nation's capital and this time, Tom went on the trip.  Here are a few pictures from their trip:

I'm happy they were able to have this time away together.

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure - Part Four

We spent our fourth and fifth days going between the two parks revisiting our favorite rides.  Here are a few random pictures from those days.

It was considerably cooler the last two days (only in the 60s), and I wasn't thinking clearly when I let the girls run through the Curious George splash park.  At one point, a boy pressed a button that made a HUGE bucket of water dump out all over Reagan and Kate.  They were freezing, and we had to go back to the hotel to change.  On the way, we saw Woody Woodpecker and Curious George, so we stopped for pictures, but you can tell that Reagan was cold!

We all had a lot of fun during this trip.  It was a very quiet week and because we stayed on Universal property, we had fast passes for everything but the big Harry Potter rides, so we were able to go through both parks without much waiting.

Some random observations:

• The parks were very clean, even the restrooms were clean and well stocked whenever I used them.
• I'm sure the timing of our visit had a lot to do with this, but the park was never overcrowded when we were there; that was very nice!
• I ate a lot of churros (we all did).
• The parks are definitely better for older kids who like big thrill rides, but there was enough there for Kate to enjoy.
• There are a few characters for photo ops, but not many.  This was fine for us.
• If you're looking for a good parade, go to Disney!  The parade was very short and there was no wow factor.  
• We didn't watch any of the shows; none of them appealed to us.

Favorite rides:

Tom - Hulk Coaster
Grandma Susan - Transformers
Tyler - Dragon Challenge
Collin - Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
Reagan - The Mummy and Rip Ride RockIt
Katelyn - She has a few favorites:  E.T., Flight of the Hippogriff, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish are the three she mentions most, but she also mentions the Simpsons and Spiderman regularly; she loves rides!
Me - Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

Food:  It's an amusement park.  We don't like to spend too much time eating when we are in amusement parks.  For us, we are there to enjoy the parks, not sit down and eat.  We ate quick breakfasts in our hotel and grabbed something quick for lunch (usually pizza or something else fast) in the park for lunch.

Once we ate lunch at Emeril's restaurant, and we LOVED Emeril's Tchoup Chop (at our hotel) so much that we ate dinner there twice.  The food at Tchoup Chop was fantastic, really so very good, but the service was over the top.  I think it was the best service I have ever had at a restaurant.  The waiter cut Reagan's steak for her!!!  That meant she got special treatment (right up her alley) and Tom and I got to just sit back and enjoy our meal without having to cut the steak ourselves.  The second time we ate there, we sat at the kitchen bar where we could watch everything going on in the kitchen.  The kitchen staff were 100% cool and collected and incredibly organized; there were no Gordon Ramsay type moments!!  The chefs gave us treats and talked to us and it was a very nice experience!  Reagan had a few flavors of this Ramune soda at Tchoup Chop, and she loved them. She also liked the experience of the beverage because you have to push a marble down into the bottle before you drink it; it was just different and fun for her.

Overall, it was a great vacation and we would all love to go back someday.

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure Part Three - Harry Potter

There are two Harry Potter sections, one in each of the parks, and they are both amazing.  Diagon Alley is at Universal Studios and Hogsmeade is at Islands of Adventure.  We took the Hogwarts Express to travel between them once, and that was neat too.  I wish we had watched the movies before going to the parks because no one in my house has been interested in reading the books yet (I read the first two or three a long time ago, but no one else has), and it has been quite some time since we last saw the movies.  It was all still pretty fantastic though.

We tried a cup of Butterbeer, and it was delicious.  I originally thought it was an alcoholic beverage, but it isn't.  It's like dessert in a cup, kind of like a frozen butterscotch and caramel drink.  We shared that one cup, and everyone thought it was good.  We ordered ours frozen, based on the recommendation of the server.

Flight of the Hippogriff is a roller coaster that Kate was able to ride, and oh boy did she love that thing.  Once while the rest of us were on a Harry Potter ride that she was not tall enough to ride, Tom and Kate rode Flight of the Hippogriff five times in a row!

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts was my favorite ride.  

We all enjoyed the Potter areas, and if any of my children become fans of the books, I would love to go back for an even better experience.  There were a lot of children dressed in Potter type robes carrying wands (there were areas where you could stand on a spot and perform a spell to make something move) and a lot of unique individuals (you know, piercings and brightly colored hair) in Potter world, and that was all well and good, but I did think the adults dressed in costume with their own wands in hand were a bit odd.  Whatever you like, I guess, but I can't imagine spending $50 or so on a "magic wand" for myself.

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure Part Two - The Pool

On day two, Kate and I spent a couple hours enjoying the pool while everyone else stayed at the park.

She loved running through the ice cold splash area, and then warming up in the bath temperature pool.

We all enjoyed "relaxing" (ha, I did not do any relaxing) by and in the pool on our third day in Orlando.  The temperature was in the high 80s and since we had park tickets for four of the five days of our stay, we figured this would be the best day to enjoy the pool, rather than sweating in the parks. It worked out great because the weather was considerably cooler (60s) the last two days of our trip.

The pool was so nice.  I love beach entry pools for little kids, and the water was so warm that I was happy to stay in as long as Kate wanted me in there (all day!).  

 I LOVED seeing these three playing together.  

 Poolside treats are the best!

Collin wins the award for best picture of the day.  Ha!  He enjoyed that cookies and cream milkshake, and his pencil thin milkshake mustache was awesome!  Sunkissed cheeks, a great expression, and a sweet treat!

Our day by the pool was perfect.  I miss this so much right now as I write this post on a cold, dreary day at home; I would love to feel that warmth for a few hours!