Back to Normal, Spring Edition

It’s hard to remember that we’ve only been back a week. It seems SO much longer.

Maybe it’s because we’ve had a hard time getting up in the mornings (early morning seminary is difficult after a week of sleeping in!).

Maybe because it didn’t really warm up this week until the weekend.

Maybe it’s because I worked four days this week instead of my usual three (even though Russell got Good Friday off!).

Maybe it’s because we all realized that Kristen’s birthday was NEXT WEEK and we hadn’t gotten any presents. (That’s fixed now.)

Maybe it’s because teachers who gave kids a break (mostly) for spring break went “OH MY GOSH STATE TESTING IS COMING UP AND WE’RE NOT READY” and piled on the homework.

Whatever the reason, we survived until this gorgeous spring weekend, and have been enjoying having the windows open and playing outside.  (As a side note: our computer/TV usage goes way down in the spring and fall when the kids can play outside. It’s so nice.)

Today has been a good day as well. Russell put together a really good Easter program, I survived the music (when you’re one of three music people in the ward, you end up doing all the music. I did a duet of Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, which turned out really well, and accompanied the choir, which turned out better than expected). We got new dresses yesterday (shopping with Caitlyn is time-consuming, but fun), and basically enjoyed our small Easter. (Now to go buy some chocolate bunnies before they’re all gone...)

Rumor has it that it’s supposed to turn cold again tomorrow, but I’m going to believe it’s an April Fool’s joke. Spring is here, and I’m going to soak up the sun, and enjoy it before it turns hot.

A Vacation in Tweets

I have Twitter on my phone, and actually sent out a lot of tweets about our vacation. I wanted a record of them, so I decided to make it my letter this week.

Friday, March 15 (driving from KS to MS)

Listening to our travel mix (CDs, yes we're retro), when Foreigner comes out & the 9 year old sings "Juice box hero, got stars in his eyes!"

Hey, Arkansas! It's been years. I'd almost forgotten how much I liked you. *air kiss*

Ah, the South. Where people say ma'am and y'all and no one looks at you funny.

I swore when we moved out of Mississippi 11 years ago, I'd never set foot in the state again. Yet, here we are. *eats words*

Saturday, March 16 (Memphis)

Memphis! I have missed you. So glad to be back, even if it's just for an afternoon.

Bummer, though: our favorite memory from here, Mud Island, isn’t open until mid-April. :-(

So we've stumbled across SYTYCD auditions on Beale St. Wild.

Sunday, March 17 (MS)

First my bag broke, and then my shoes fell apart. The state of Mississippi is out to get me.

Monday, March 18 (Driving from MS to FL)

I'm thinking that the way this trip is going, if we don’t stop in a WalMart in every state we go through, we will have failed somehow.

At lunch, we walked in and suggested they seat us far away from everyone else. They put us outside.

Belatedly, we realize we're in Alabama. Roll Tide!

I am as good a navigator as any GPS. Until I take us through a small GA town instead of around. Then, I rethink my decision not to own one.

Tuesday, March 19 (St. Augustine)

The girls' assessment of St. Augustine? It's kind of like Hawaii. #spoiled

Every once in a while, I think, "We should go camping. It's fun." Then we go camping, and I remember why I don't like it.

A beautiful sunny day. Ocean waves. White sand beach. Three hours of pure bliss. Yes, *this* is why one comes to FL in March.

Wednesday, March 20 (Universal Islands of Adventure, Orlando)

At Harry Potter World. "I am exploding with joy!" - 9 year old Alison.

For the record: riding roller coasters with my 9 year old is a blast.

10 hours, 6 pairs of sore feet, and many $ later, we emerge from Universal Studios, exhausted but happy. It's been a good day.

Thursday, March 21 (Driving from FL to TN)

We're on I-75 in FL, and just passed a billboard advertising Bronner's in Frankenmuth, MI. #letsgo #onlya16hrdrive

Why would I be more likely to buy liquor from a store with women in tight shirts?? #pondering #GAbillboards

Also occurred to me: we've driven/flown through GA on numerous occasions, we've never actually stopped to see what there is here.

Friday, March 22 (Nashville)

Hands-on science museums are cool. #geekfamily

My 7 year old: "Mom, you can do *anything*.... Except slide down the banister."

Saturday, March 23 (driving from TN to KS)

One last long day of driving and then home. It's been fun, but everything has to come to an end. :-(

Driving through the hills of Missouri really makes one appreciate the flatness of Kansas. #carsick #nofun

Of *course* it's snowing and a balmy 32 degrees as we pull into town. #justourluck #FLdreaming #whereisspring

There's no place like home. #kansassayings

It's been a whirlwind of a trip, but we're glad to be back home. Now, to reality.

Nashville

Honestly, in retrospect, we should have stayed in Florida one more day and done something in the sunshine rather than trying to squeeze in one more city, and do yet another stop. But, we didn't, and even though we were all dragging and complaining, and it was coolish (especially after Florida!), we did find a couple of fun things to do in Nashville. And now we can say we've been.

We found a science center and went and played there for a couple of hours.

They're moonwalking, if you're wondering.

And then, driving around, we found the Parthenon, and all the Percy Jackson fans insisted we stop and get a picture, though we didn't go inside.

And we wandered around the downtown, seeing what there was to see. Which is gaudily decorated guitars. Nashville: they've got class.

And then it was time to head home. It was a fun vacation!

Universal Islands of Adventure

There was more to Universal than Harry Potter. We spent time in Seussville:

Marvel comics:

Where three of us rode the Hulk roller coaster. Twice.

Poseidon's Fury, which wasn't a ride but a cool show that involved water and fire and a battle and walking through the dark and a swirling tube of water. And our favorite ride outside of Harry Potter, the Jurassic Park water ride (we went twice), but I didn't get a picture, so you get a one of the "lame" pterodactyl ride instead.

And we walked through cartoon town, but didn't ride any rides because we were all exhausted by this point. We did get some pictures, though.

It was a terrific day.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I took 193 pictures on Wednesday at the park. Narrowing it down is difficult at best, but I thought I could split it into Harry Potter and Other. We spent all day at the park, soaking up everything. We all got along, and aside from some rain in the morning, there wasn't any headaches or hassles. Even the lines were relatively short. Needless to say, we had an AMAZING time.

Things we want to remember:
Getting there early enough that there were no lines. Or hardly any. Granted, that was luck that held all day, something which we were grateful for.

The Forbidden Journey. Everyone went twice, and it was amazing. Part movie, part ride, all fun. And half of the fun was walking through the Hogwarts castle on the way to the ride. The sets were amazing. And the talking pictures! They put a lot of money, time, and imagination in it, and it was wonderful.

View of the rain from inside Zonko's.

Breakfast at the Three Broomsticks was good enough, but that's where we tried pumpkin juice (like liquid pumpkin pie, which is good if you like that sort of thing) and butterbeer (a carmely soda with whipped foam on the top. Delicious). We ended up buying about four cups of butterbeer throughout the day.

Honeydukes and the candy. We got about six chocolate frogs.

The rides -- the Flight of the Hippogriff, which everyone could go on (and Kristen loved that she was tall enough for most things!), and the Dragon roller coasters (Alison went on both, one with Megan and one with Russell -- he regretted it afterward) were enormously fun. As were the shows that popped up at times during the day. We caught both of them. There was just so much atmosphere in Hogsmeade (Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom! The owl post! The Monster book of Monsters!), and we loved wandering around, soaking it up.

One of the highlights was getting into Ollivander's (Russell waited in the longest line of the day -- about 45 minutes for it) and then Alison being chosen (they only choose one) to have a wand "choose" her. She was SO excited for that, she kept grinning and bouncing. The guy playing Ollivander was great, and he measured her, and looked at her, and chose a couple wands (which of course failed). Eventually he looked at Alison and said, "You're quite joyful, aren't you? I have just the wand for such a joyful person."

I think this is one of the failed wands, but you've got to love her face.

The wand is an 11-inch willow with a phoenix core. Of course we bought it. (And Kristen was a little sad she wasn't chosen as well. But she got a t-shirt and a Gryffindor cup, which made her happy.)

We spent about 4 1/2 hours there in the morning, all told. And went back in the afternoon, after we'd exhausted everything else the park had to offer. We also spent a boatload on souvenirs there, too. But we didn't mind.

We couldn't have asked for a better experience.

St. Augustine

St. Augustine comes in three parts.

Part 1, camping:

We did. It wasn't pretty. We got in at 9:30 p.m., set up the campsite by car headlights (draining the battery), we didn't really have a fire, and the girls were cold and cranky. It rained in the morning. We were all grumpy. But then we called AAA, and got the car jumped, the skies cleared, and aside from a bit of a stomach bug, things were looking up.
Part 2, the city:
St. Augustine is a beautiful old city. We stopped in at the Castillo there to see what it was like (cool old fort!) and then bummed around the old part of the city to see what there was (a lot of shops). We went into this historic reenactment place, which was small and overpriced but not too bad, and then we drove around for a bit, looking for a place to buy a mug.

Then it was time for lunch and....

Part 3, the beach:
We were there for 3 hours, and even though the water was a bit cool, we still all got in to wave jump. A couple of us got sunburned, which we regretted later, but mostly, we had a fabulous time. It was so worth all the driving just to play in the ocean for a few hours.

The Berthelsons

We met them way back in Jonesboro, and although they've stopped by our house a couple of times, we'd never returned the visit. Well, they're in Mississippi now, and since it was about halfway to Florida, we decided to stop for the weekend and let the girls play.  They had a grand time.

Alison and Kristen's favorite thing while we were at the Berthelsons.

Exploring.

Playing games on Sunday afternoon.

Cooking With Mark.

Alison loved baby Rachel.

With Mark and Janice.

Exploring, part 2.

Silly, silly girls.