Harry Potter forever

The main reason we went to Florida was to go to Harry Potter World!!!!  We are Harry Potter nerds to an extreme degree so when my parents said they wanted to take everyone for Christmas we were ecstatic.  It was kind of a wreck of a day- it rained on and off (mostly on) all day and the park was super crowded with lots of long lines but nevertheless we had a wonderful time.  It is amazing to be there; I can't even describe how happy I was just to walk around and see everything.  And the girls were so, so good.  Jilly was tall enough for a few of the smaller roller coasters which was really fun, and we also spent some time at the kids' areas in Universal.  Mattie took a long afternoon nap in her stroller, and both girls fell asleep at night and peacefully slept while we went on a couple more rides and watched the fireworks.  It was the best day.

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

the Knight Bus

Back Story- HP World was Day 4 of our trip and while driving from the coast to Orlando Bryan realized that both of the shirts (yes both, meaning he only brought 2) he had were dirty.  So he dropped us off at our hotel and went on an expedition to find a new shirt.  At 11pm he got back to the hotel proudly wearing this beaut...  I think Florida really got to him.  Also, the thing Bryan was anticipating the most was butterbeer, and it did not disappoint.  

Before and during Jilly's first roller coaster- it went pretty fast but she was brave and got braver all day long

Our ponchos played double duty- protection from the rain and helping us to always be able to find our "blue family"

I ♥ Harry Potter

There are not words to express my love for Harry Potter.  In my family, there is a wide variety of ages and interests, but Harry Potter is something that unites us all.  We love listening to Harry Potter books in the car.  In fact, it is the only thing that keeps us sane during long trips.  We love playing Harry Potter trivia, everyone trying to think of a question that will stump the rest.  My little brother even lost 6 months of his allowance in a bet with my dad over which house Snape was in.  (Before you call child services, I don't think my dad really took the allowance away, but he may have...)  I knew Bryan was a keeper when he called me and said that he had pre-ordered a copy of HP7 for us at the BYU bookstore.  Both brothers-in-law have been required to become HP fans before receiving approval to join the family, and they have enjoyed them just as much as the rest of us.  This year I re-read all 7 books and, as usual, cried my little eyes out at the end.

I did not see the movie last night.  We have a little girl who cannot adjust being back to Pacific time.  She has been going to bed at 4pm and waking up at 3am.  Watching a movie from 12-2 then waking up at 3 just didn't sound appealing to me, even for Harry Potter.  But you can bet we will be seeing it within the week.  I enjoyed getting texts from my siblings and parents who were there at midnight in full costume.  Someone even asked Katie if they could take a picture with her, she looked that good.  Even though we weren't there, we did celebrate by making butterbeer cookies- yum!

I would probably be sad about the end of Harry Potter, but it's definitely not over.  I am so excited to fall in love with the books all over again reading them with my little Jilly.