2600 miles later

Florida

Alabama

Tennessee

Mississippi

Arkansas

OOOOOklahoma

Kansas

Colorado

Wyoming

Utah

Idaho

A list of the states we drove through in the past 5 days. Call me crazy, but airfare was so expensive this time, and with needing a car for the month we are here, I decided a road trip was in order. It wasn't too horrible. Kyrie helped drive and the kids didn't fight TOO much. We drove through the worst thunderstorm I've experienced in living in the south. We couldn't see 2 feet in front of the car the rain and wind were so fierce. I kept expecting to have a tornado blow us to kingdom come, but we arrived at our destination safely.

A wonderfully considerate skunk decided to welcome me to ID by spraying right at the open window of the bedroom I'm staying in. To top it off, the apartment smells like wet dog. Joy. Skunk and wet dog made for a lovely night's sleep. The kids and I are actually sleeping in the apartment that Wade and I lived in as newly weds. The home has changed owners a few times and since one of my brothers and his family are now living with my parents we needed somewhere else to stay and we as SOOOOO lucky that this place was available. I went to the store today to stock up on some things we would need there and forgot the most important item...febreeze. I'm losing it.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I have found another little piece of heaven on earth. It is at Universal's Islands of Adventure. Yes. It is Harry Potter World. It was AMAZING!! Granted, it was hot enough to be hell (99 degrees with a heat index of 110), and the lines were another form of hell (2 hours just to enter that part of the park, another 2 to shop at Dervish and Banges, you get the idea), but what do you expect on opening weekend? My oldest, her friend and my friend (her mother) went to opening day. Up at 3:00am, arrived at 4:30am and waited until opening at 9:00 but were amongst the first 100 in the crowd to enter and they saw most of the cast from the movies. They had a blast. Since I was hosting a party at my house that evening with around 100 guests, I couldn't go. Plus, I usually avoid the theme park scene like the plague in the summer, but I couldn't resist. I headed back with them and Kade on Sat and had the most fun I've had in a long time.

Everything I visualized in the books and the movies was there. Universal has outdone everyone in bringing JK Rowling's books to life. Hogsmeade is so cool. The shops built exactly like you imagine them looking. The castle and ride inside one of the best I've ever been on. And the moving portraits in the castle? Still trying to figure out how they accomplished that. I didn't care for the regular on tap butter beer, but the frozen one is delicious!! Didn't want to wait in line to eat at the 3 Broom Sticks, but the girls did the day before and they loved it. Purchased my Gryfindor robes and tie for the next movie premier, Halloween, the winter at the park (of course I will dress up to go when it is cooler) and I think I'll even go put them on now to read some books. The rides were incredible. Zonkos and Honeydukes amazing, Ollivanders exactly as seen in the movies, the owlry very cool (you can even send mail post marked from Hogwarts...how cool is that?), I could go on and on, and can't wait for it to cool down so I can take the other 2 boys as often as possible. They can't wait to go and have a wand choose them, get their own robes and ties, and join in the fun Harry Potter world.

(You know it has to be amazing when even the cast from the movies are left speechless)


If you love the books and/or the movies, you have to find a way to visit at some point in the future. Let me know when you're planning on coming and I'll visit with you. If I could, I would probably try to get hired to work there so I could dress up and live there as much as possible. It was that amazing. So come and join in the fun with me. Nothing is as fun as being a witch or wizard and not having the muggle world look at you a bit odd.

Moshing in the Mosh Pit...I think I'm getting too old for this

Our friend's oldest son is now playing in a band. They had their debut last Sat. Being the good friends we are, Wade and I went. Not exactly my genre of music, but their son rocks on the bass. The event was held at an old gymnastics facility. Man did that bring back some great memories. I haven't done any tumbling for 10 years. Guess what?! Even though my mind thinks it is only about 25 years old, the reality of being a few months away from 40 hits really hard physically when you throw some round-off back handsprings into the mix. Delusions of grandeur aside, yeah I was feeling it the next day. But I can still do some awesome toe touches and I didn't get hurt. I've decided that I need to look for a facility here that will let me tumble some to get in better shape. Anywho...back to moshing. Some big teenage boys were goofing off and moshing. Looked like fun but I didn't want to get hurt. After they left the scene, I went bounding out onto the floor when out of the blue one of the bigger ones turns and walks right in front of me mid-air. I slammed into him good. "Sorry," I laughed as I bounded away. I saw him rubbing his shoulder the rest of the night and he didn't join back in the moshing when the music started again. Wow. He was owned by someone old enough to be his mother, and I didn't get hurt. Maybe this moshing stuff isn't so hard after all?

Hello...Is It Me You're Looking For?

Yeah, yeah. I'm still here. Alive and kicking, just in a blogging rut. Much has happened, but I couldn't bring myself to sit down and blog about anything. The crap spewing forth out of D.C. is mind numbing. And just like the Obummer wants, my mind is going numb. It has to be that he wants us to be numb and dumb so we will believe his lies. And man does he tell some great lies or what? Which reminds me of a joke I read about his lies.

A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.

He asked, "What are those clocks?"

St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie Clock. Every time you tell a lie, the hands on your clock will move." "Oh," said the man, "whose clock is that?"

"That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie."

"Incredible," said the man, "and whose clock is that?"

St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his life.."

"Where's President Obama's clock?" asked the man.

"Obama's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan.."

On to home life:
After hearing about the many times my dad cut the cord on the TV while growing up, my DH has decided that was the best route to pursue in getting the kids away from the upstairs TV (I don't think he would ever do it to the large flat screen, but who knows?) The kids, being the smarties they are, took another power cord and spliced the two and viola. Problem solved until mean ole dad comes along and cuts it again. We have been having a circuit trip on the breaker, the one that sends power to the extra refrigerator. Well, I think I figured out why when I went to let Dan watch a movie upstairs. I was wondering how the kids had fixed the cord the last time around and found out we are lucky the smarty (which would be Kade in this particular instance) didn't burn the house down. He bared the wires, twisted them into two separate lines, and put them directly into the outlet. How he didn't shock the smartness out of himself whilst doing it is beyond me. Needless to say, the cord was cut off at the point where it exited the set and is no longer available for splicing, dicing, or otherwise sticking into the outlet.

Kids have been out of school for over 2 weeks now and I am ready for them to go back. Sigh. All-Stars has taken over our lives, which I didn't want. I can blame my DH again for thinking we needed to spend the summer at the ball park in the hot heat and humidity. Kids and I will be heading to ID for a break regardless of the playing schedule after June.

And finally, Dan told me that if he were a vampire he would suck my blood. As my friend told me when she heard this...isn't it nice to be loved?