Double the Fun for Thanksgiving 2010

     Michael's brother and wife had these adorable twin boys in October and we were thrilled that they were brave enough to drive up to our home for Thanksgiving. It was exhausting, but amazing, to meet our two new nephews. They were barely five weeks old, but already much different in mannerisms. I could have cuddled them for hours!

     My little one became "Mighty Reader" in her kindergarten class. This is the Native American name that she chose for herself and she came to Thanksgiving dinner in full costume this year. Notice that she is missing one bottom tooth. She had the nerve to lose her first tooth while Michael and I were away in Florida!

  

     What can I say other than Michael makes a great turkey.  He got up early and put our bird in the oven while I went off and ran an 8K race on Thanksgiving morning.  He amazes me and I amazed myself.  I finished my race, in the rain, and averaged a ten minute mile. Not bad for someone who had never run outside of her house since middle school!

  

     Here are Hayden and Sydney at Thanksgiving dinner. We had all five of us, plus Michael's two brothers, their wives and our little niece and our twin nephews.  It was wonderful to have a house full of family for the holiday weekend. We had so much fun just hanging out and playing board games.  The girls went to see the movie "Tangled" one afternoon, and all of us went to visit Santa Clause too.  It was a memorable and enjoyable Thanksgiving.

Florida Trip- Harry Potter World

      You may not know that Michael and I are big fans of the Harry Potter series. We have read all of the books and seen the films, which frankly don't hold up to the writing, but that is another topic for another time.  Anyway, we decided that while we were in the Orlando area, we wanted to see the new Harry Potter World in Universal Studios Islands of Adventure.  Overall, it was amazing, it really did seem like we were walking through the village of Hogsmeade and the Hogworts castle was incredible.

     Michael looked pretty good next to this snowman who is wearing Griffindor colors.  I guess the scarves are a popular item because they sold out during the Christmas season.

     This is me in the village window shopping.  You can peek into the windows if you dare to! There are a lot of special effects just in the window displays that catch your attention.  It was cool to peek into shop windows that we had read about and see cauldrons, wands, books, candy, and more.

     Butter beer is something that the kids in the Harry Potter series are always drinking.  It tasted really good, so it was fun to drink something that we could only imagine previously.  It is kind of like root beer or birch beer, but with it's own unique flavor.  Too bad it is not widely available.

     One of the highlights in the village of Hogsmeade is Ollivander's Wand Shop.  We had to wait in quite a line to get in, but it was worth it. Once inside, the salesperson finds the perfect wand for one of the children who is in the shop.  Then you have the opportunity to buy a wand unique to you or one of the wands from the movie.  It is interesting to take a close look at Harry's wand, versus Snape's, Dumbledore's or the Weasley twins'.  We had a great time exploring the shops and ended up buying a chocolate frog for each of our children, complete with a wizard card in each package.  We also brought home Bertie Botts every flavored beans.  Some taste good, but you don't want a second once you have experienced booger, vomit or ear wax flavor!