Well, knock me over with a feather!

April 2, 2011

My sister is a follower of my blog!  I obviously have not been here very much of late, so when I checked in today, I noticed I was up to double digit followers.  Who could this new person be?  Kathy?  I have a sister named Kathy?  But she never reads my blog.  Hmmm.  Wait, that picture looks like my hell-raising niece, Julia?  I guess Kathy has decided to check in here every once in a while.  Awesome!

We have returned from spring break.  We were in Orlando, Florida from Sunday though Friday.  Great time was had by the three of us.  While the weather was not perfect-two rain out days Monday and Thursday-we managed to get along and fit in all the essentials of why we went there.

Essential One:  We visited the Harry Potter portion of Islands of Adventure at Universal.  Beth had a desire to ride Harry Potter.  She did and his wand will never be the same.

 Actually, the village was something to marvel at.  The ride was also quite entertaining and worth the wait.   Beth did not hurl-win!  None of us got injured (the ride shakes you up quite a bit as you play virtual Quidditch).   A drink called Butter Beer was consumed and was voted worth the $4.50 it cost by CJ (who did not actually break open his wallet for it). 

I think we would have enjoyed it even more if any of us had ever read a Harry Potter book or watched a Harry Potter movie.  No, we never joined that cult.  We may have then understood why grown adults were wearing shirts that said they were Muggles or Buggles or something Uggles.  Children were way excited to get dad to shell out $30 for a plastic broomstick.  You would have needed the broom to sweep up my marbles if CJ wanted one of those.  Yeeesh!

Essential Two:  Ride the Hollywood Rip Ride Roller Coaster at the other Universal park-the name I never remember....Universal Studios.  I always think it is something trickier than that.

This is an excellent roller coaster-long, fast, and smooth.  And we only waited 30 minutes to get on.  Recommended.  We have learned that we really love the older Universal Studios park better than the newer Islands of Adventure.  It is laid out in a much easier to navigate pattern, it has more rides we like, and no area gets as crowded as Harry Potter land or the Incredible Hulk ride over there at IofA.

The other thing we like about US, is that we have a running competition on the Men in Black ride.  You use lasers to shoot aliens and it keeps score.  If aliens ever invade Earth, draft CJ into your military, not me.  He smoked this old man this trip.  However, if you just need a stand in movie star for your war against invaders, I'm your best choice.  There is an attraction called Disaster at US, in which they cast audience members to help film scenes from a disaster movie.  A couple years ago I was cast as the hunky stranger and this year I was caught on film during a crowd shot.  The camera loves me, what can I say.

Essential Three:  Stick our toes in some sand. 

We drove over to Cocoa Beach on Wednesday and sat on the beach with some Cincinnati friends of ours for a few hours before the storm blew in.  It was not overly sunny that day, but the temperature was perfect, the conversation was good, and CJ played in the ocean with buddies until the sand got into his trunks so bad that we could have built a castle in there.  Chafing much-ouch.  BTW, 14 year olds do not let mom apply lotion to their tenders anymore.  Probably a good thing Mrs. Oedipus.

Okay, before this post gets too long, I will end here and tell you more details on another day.  Besides, I need to check my email and see if William Morris is looking for me.