Harry Potter World - family style

So a few weeks ago my family (Mom, Dad, Spectra, her hubby Sawyer, Elliot, and me) went down to Orlando to celebrate my dad’s retirement. And by, went to Orlando to celebrate, I really mean went to Harry Potter world to celebrate our own wizard and witch skills!

Before I get started on Harry Potter world, let me first say crazy that my dad is retiring, for several reasons i) he is a really magical teacher and seems to have so much fun with it all (from dressing up as a knight and knighting a child from each class who exhibits strong character, to using Google earth to pretend he is an astronaut with the kids landing on Mars….this is just the beginning, ii) he does not really have much gray hair, which seems like it would be a requirement for retiring, iii) my parents have crazy amounts of energy….as an example – when we were planning Orlando they decided they wanted to do theme parks 3 days in a row, and when I say theme parks I mean arrive at 9am leave at 10pm after the fireworks…..wow-zer, I really needed a vacation after the vacation, and finally iv) for him to retire, means I am really old enough to be an adult (hence the name Growing Up Thyme – always weird when I remember I am an adult)

Here are some highlights of the trip

1)      Butter Beer, butterscotchy cream soda goodness…nuff said

2)      Picking out own wands at Ollivander’s Wand shop….now most people would select a wand by either their birth month or which character in Harry Potter they most relate to….not my family – Wally (dad) insisted of having us open a bizzillion wand boxes (without him knowing which wand was which) and glide the wand over his head until his Chakra energy felt powerful….let’s just say it is kinda scary Elliot felt the Voldemort and Harry Potter! I hope my hubby is not evil!!

3)      Moaning Myrtle moaning in the bathrooms

4)      The amazing window displays

5)      The state of the art ride where I got to fly….so neat! Even the line was amazing – going through Hogwarts

6)      Honeydukes candy shop – yes I did buy a chocolate frog and bertie botts jelly beans (my favorite of the weird flavors was grass and pepper!)

7)      Unrelated to Harry Potter, but playing Settler’s of Catan late night with the fam

Having geek parents that would rather do Harry Potter world vs. some stiff dinner or party sure is awesome…WINNING!

Here are some pics

{Wandering the streets}

{Obvi they are in costume}

{Family Photo - don't pretend you don't like the fanny pack!}

{Hogwarts}

{Enjoying a butter beer}

{It moved around the talked!}

{Mandrake}

{Frog choir}

{Lots of small touches scattered around}

{Wally wearing his sorting hat drinking another butter beer - non alc. of course!}