Whirl Wind Trip!!!

Not me.

Sondra and the girls.

They flew in Thursday afternoon.

They had a GREAT tail wind and arrived

30 minutes EARLY!

They were scheduled to land at 3:56.

I was scheduled to arrive at 3:52.

They texted at 3:11 and said they were HERE!

LOL

Once I arrived and they found me,

we headed EAST to the OCEAN!

YEA!  Warm ocean water!

(warm compared to the ocean in California...

I think it's FREEZING!)

We had a great time walking down the beach

Gathering shells and taking selfies...

 Then we headed back to Ron Jons

(a really BIG surf shop)

The girls got some shirts and a hat

and suddenly Uncle Rod and Kyle were 

standing right there!

A fun surprise!

We walked next door to a fun little

burrito shop and had a yummy dinner

and a great time talking and laughing.

The food was really good and the shop was fun!

They even took our picture!

The guys headed back to the farm and the girls

headed over the swamp to Orlando to our hotel.

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Which I didn't take any pictures of.

LOL

Ocean air really takes it out of you

(as does flying across the country)

and we were planning to get up early

so we headed to bed and got a good night's sleep.

Up Friday morning and down to the snack bar

to grab a day starter and then we WALKED

down a beautiful path over to Universal Studios

to spend the day at Harry Potter World.

It was like walking into the movie!

Every detail was perfect!

We started the day in Olivander's Wand Shop.

Sydney got picked to play Harry Potter

in the opening scene!

It was really cool!

(But also SUPER dark and not good for photos...)

And then we tried out a bazillion wands to

find exactly the RIGHT wand for each of us.

They were all beautiful.

And very magical!

Then it was off to Gringott's Bank

to ride through the caves and fight

dragons.  

Sondra promises to send me her pictures,

but they are on a plane right now....

It was a GREAT ride.

We found the Leaky Cauldron

and had a yummy English lunch.

Sondra and Zoe had Bangors and Mash.

I had Toad in the Hole

and Sydney had Brunswick Stew.

It was delicious and "stick to your ribs"

kind of food!

Then off to ride the Hogwarts train!

The telephone actually connected you to

the Ministry of Magic!

We even walked through the wall at gate 9 3/4!

Everything was so perfect!

The train station.

Waiting for the train to arrive.

(Sondra got us express passes, so we actually

didn't have to wait in ANY lines the whole day!)

We rode the train over to Hogwarts.

And even that was a ride!

There was something to see the entire time!

And then there it was!

The famous Hogwarts Castle.

Where we learned to ride a BROOM!

and we even played Quiddich!  

What a FUN ride!

As close to a roller coaster as I can do...

we dangled, feet free, and swooped up and down

and even upside down!

Laughed and screamed and had a blast!

The girls kept us hopping the whole time.

They are SUCH FUN!

Here they drew quite a crowd...

We were finished with the Wizzarding

World of Harry Potter

and moved on to Jurrasic Park.

Another family favorite movie...

This is what the rest of the world saw.

There was much

"move left, one more step, now toward me,

now a little more, not so much, now forward... etc"

And this is what the lucky FEW saw.

She is one brave girl!!!!

The whole park kept the themes so well.

It was really amazing!

And through it all everyone had a wonderful time.

We ended the day at a fancy 

"San Francisco Pier" restaurant for 

delicious SF sour dough bread,

yummy burgers and Syd had a 

delicious big bowl of Chinese noodles.

Then we walked back to the hotel,

hung out by the pool for a bit

(but a COLD wind started to blow, so the

girls hung out in the hot tub and Soni and I

wrapped up in towels and chatted pool side...)

Then back to our room to change

and down to the lobby to visit,

people watch and drink hot chocolates.

We FELL into bed and slept like rocks!

And this morning, after packing up,

a quick trip to McDonalds

and a short drive to the airport,

they were up up and away.

Heading back home for Zoe's 16th birthday party.

This afternoon!

Hahahahahaha

BUSY LIVES these women live!

All in all, it was super fun, super fast,

super jam packed with laughter and visiting

and catching up and making memories!

I miss them already!!!!!