We're Off to See the Wizards...and Trotting Turkeys Too

We are actually home from visiting the wizards - Harry Potter and friends down at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando.  The girls had a lovely 5 day break last week, so we finally gave in to the begging, and made the trip.

 

We had a great trip, if you don't count flight issues and JP's swollen knee that kept him from walking around the parks.  On the way down, we flew Spirit, and the girls' suitcase got lost.  They were pretty despondent about it, and didn't even want to visit the parks on the first day.  Luckily it was found, and returned to us by about 7:30 PM that night.

A greeting from Spirit Airlines...

We had a very nice time at the Parks - visited Hogsmeade first, and sampled butterbeer and pumpkin juice.

We toured Hogwarts Castle, and rode a ride with Buckbeak the hippogriff.

Then we took the Hogwart's Express to Diagon Alley.

There we did some shopping and the girls did a bit of magic and made it rain.

We also visited Gringott Bank, on top of which was perched this fire breathing dragon:

J & L took a ride in Hagrid's motor cycle,

and stopped by No. 12 Grimauld Place (no one was home except for Kreacher.)

We returned to our hotel via the Hogwart's Express, but this time we had to board from Platform 9 3/4.

On our final day in Florida, we drove about an hour to Cocoa Beach, where L FINALLY got to jump in the waves (she has been jealous that J has been able to go to Myrtle Beach for the past 2 summers,)

The trip home was frustrating enough, with a 3 hour delay for mechanical issues, followed by the need to replace the pilot, and 2 passengers nearly getting into fisticuffs behind us.  We arrived home to cold weather, and snow the following day.  Brrr!

It remained cold today (35*) for the 1st annual 5K Turkey Trot to benefit our local Library.  One of my friends, and L ran with me today, and it didn't rain this year, so I enjoyed it much more than last year (although I am feeling stiff and an nursing a swollen foot this afternoon.)

We made it!

This was L's first ever 5 K, and she was worried that she wouldn't be able to keep up with me.  She beat me by a long shot, though, and place 2nd in her age category!

J's bday is on Monday, and since JP is working today, we are planning to go out for a movie of her choice (you guessed it:  Crimes of Grindelwald) tomorrow.

Busy Weekends

Sorry for the silence from our corner of PA recently.  There have been a LOT of activities lately.  J has had rehearsal every night for the HS theater production, and many days she stayed at school for more than 12 hours!  L has finished the soccer season, but has continued to have a hard time getting Algebra homework done.  J is doing dance, voice and guitar lessons after school as well, and L is doing voice.  In the meantime, I am staying busy at work and trying to get all of my CME finished and logged before the end of the year - even had to take CPR last week! It keeps me hopping!

J sang at another Open Mic Night several weeks ago - and did a nice job.

Last weekend, she and several of her chorus cohorts were invited to go to WVU to work with a young composer, other area HS students, and WVU students.  They sang together all day Saturday, and then had a concert in the evening.

Terrible picture - I just wanted to give an idea of

how many students were involved!

We drove straight home after the concert, picked up my Dad, and went to the annual Mystery Dinner Theater at church, which is a fund raiser for missions.  My Mom was one of the actors - she is at the front right of the photo:

This past weekend was showtime at the HS!  J had shows Friday morning for the Elementary School, as well as Friday and Saturday evenings.  We all took in the Friday night show, and the kids did a great job - as always!

Saturday morning was the annual Holiday Craft Fair at the Elementary School.  L and I like to go and look for Christmas presents.  The 2 of us left from there to drive down to Morgantown, where one of L's friends was dancing in "The Snow Queen" ballet.  We stopped on the way home at Michael's to pick up supplies for L's science project, and for pizza, then dashed home.  I was able to snarf a couple of pieces of pizza, and then dashed back to the HS to take some pictures of J's last performance of "The Emperor's New Clothes."  She played a jester and the school teacher.

Yesterday, L and I worked on her science project for most of the day.  It was assigned on Friday, and due today.  Argh!  She made an enormous mess on the dining room table, forcing us to have to eat dinner on tray tables, and we managed to kill my hot glue gun (R.I.P.), but I think she did an amazing job!

Model of an animal cell.

Model of a plant cell.

Of course, J had to go back in to school yesterday evening to strike the set.  Thank goodness that we have a short week this week, and an extra loooong weekend to make up for all the activity, thanks to 2 Teacher-In-Service days, and Veteran's Day next Monday.  Have a great week!