After not much sleep following a lovely Anniversary Dinner, I was up bright and early on Saturday morning. I had pretty much packed everything for both Nathaniel and me, including have travel clothes ready for him. I had purchased shirts for both of us. His said on the front, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good" and on the back "Mischief Managed." Mine just said, "Mischief Managed" on the front (I couldn't find his shirt in a women's cut shirt in my size and I liked his better). For those who are unfamiliar with Harry Potter, this is from the Marauder's Map - a map that shows where people are located within Hogwart's Castle. The way to activate the map is to tap it with your wand and say, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." In order to turn off the map you say, "Mischief Managed."
I took my shower, dressed in my shirt (and some pants and other appropriate clothing items
), and finished my last minute packing. I then went into Nathaniel's room to wake him up. I shook him a bit and announced that he needed to get dressed because we had a plane to catch. He gave me this weird look so I said, "You need to get dressed. We're going to Florida." He said, "Are you serious?" I said, "Yes. You and I are going to Florida. You need to get up and get dressed so we can catch our plane."
It was one of those precious moments as a parent. He was in a state of disbelief and excitement. We got him dressed in his new shirt and grabbed some breakfast items. My nanny arrived shortly thereafter and took us to our local airport.
Waiting at our airport.
Our flight was wonderful. There was a very gay but super fantastic flight attendant named Matthew who liked us a lot. He brought us free snack boxes (JetBlue usually sells them for a few dollars), extra drinks, extra snacks, and even pillow and blanket kits. He packed a "goody bag" for me before we landed. Really great flight! Nathaniel was a bit wound up and super excited.
When we landed in Orlando the driver from
FL Tours was waiting for us. We didn't have any checked bags so we hopped in his car and headed to Universal Studios.
In the car service car heading to the resort.
The driver gave us a bit of a guided tour as we headed over to Universal.
A bit distant but this is the entrance to Universal!
We were booked at the Hard Rock Hotel. Our room wasn't ready yet so we left our bags with bell services and decided to head over to Universal Studios to go on some rides.
I had pre-purchased park tickets but, unlike Disney, these weren't on our room key. Nor did they give us park tickets when we checked into the hotel. Nor we were told what to do. We walked over to Universal Studios, stopping to visit the butterfly garden on the property of Hard Rock.
(And obviously eating a very healthy snack...
)
It took a few minutes to figure out the deal with our tickets. We basically had to wait in a relatively long ticket purchase line. A not-terribly-nice woman was able to print out our tickets and we were able to enter the park. I had purchased a book on Universal and started following their touring plan. Unfortunately Nathaniel was about a 1/4 inch too short for Mummy (which meant that he was too short for Forbidden Journey, too). So the first ride he could go on was Jaws.
I knew that this would be our one and only chance to ride Jaws because, well, Jaws no longer exists. I had queried everyone I knew about the "wetness" of Jaws and was reassured that Jaws was NOT a wet ride. Unfortunately Nathaniel and I had tremendous bad luck because we not only got wet, we were completely and totally soaked!
On a hot summer day this would be delightful. On a day where the temps were low 70's and we were wearing long pants.... Not so much. Nathaniel was miserable and I knew we'd have to find dry clothes. It took a while to find a shop selling bottoms that would fit us but we finally succeeded. Nathaniel was very, very grumpy about getting so wet but cheered up considerably once we were dry. Needless to say this wasted a good portion of time.
It's probably hard to see but we are both drenched in the above pictures!
The other issue with having to shop for clothes - already - is that I had intentionally brought a belt pack so we wouldn't need to use the lockers. Now I had to drag a bag of wet clothes all over the park and use lockers for every ride...
Amanda
I just think it's different.
I think I got into the series when the 2nd book was out. I read the 3rd book in the hospital when Ben was born. The thought occured to me that it would almost be worth it to have another baby so I could have some free uninterrupted reading time at the hospital.
I know it may sound cheezy to have a Mickey Mouse wedding band but it's great for me. I can't wear rings in the OR and big rings are a disaster in the office when seeing patients. This is thin and not bulky. And it helps me remember the wonderful family memories we are making together at Disney World.
Can't wait to hear more...
. So nice that something you wear every day brings aa smile to your face with all the great memories it stirs up
