I have a habit...

I have a habit of saying I hate things and then turning around at some point and loving them. It's true.

 And you know when you first start dating someone, you'll do those things that you hate, just because they want to, and relatively bite your tongue? (I say relatively, because I am opinionated and need people to know I did something that I didn't want to, JUST FOR THEM. I'm a good friend that way.)

Anyway, Harry Potter was one of those things. 

You see, the first Harry Potter movie came out when I was a senior in HS. I refused to get on that bandwagon. It was stupid. It was about magic. And who cared about THAT? Not this girl.. don't worry. I made my opinion known to all that would hear.

Fall of 2002, the second Harry Potter flick came out. And I went to see it with John. I hated it. It was stupid. (To this day, The Chamber of Secrets is my least favorite.) Then the third flick came out and during the summer, I may or may not have made fun of John for reading the book on the beach. Still didn't care for it.

Then.. I remember this very well. The Fall of 2005 rolled around. We had been married a couple of months. And went to see the Goblet of Fire before heading down for the Iron Bowl- it was in Auburn and Jay was working there at the time and it was one of the worst college football/tailgating experiences of my life- anyway. 

Enter Cedric Diggory.

He sold me. After the disgusting game against Auburn- which John and I left at half-time we were getting our butts kicked so bad- I declared that I MUST read all the books because now I was a Harry Potter fan! I am not exaggerating when I say, John ran to Books A Million.. (okay. He drove a car.) to purchase the entire set. 

I will admit, the first 3 books are thin and look easy to read. At the time? The last 3 books were out and looked like small Harry Potter bibles they are so thick. 

I started reading and fell in love. There is really nothing like falling in love with a character and following his journey into something so magical. 

The last book was set to come out the summer of 2007, I believe. I became uber nerdy. Getting on message boards, speaking my thoughts on what was the fate of "The Boy Who Lived".. and let me tell you, I was right. I have cried numerous times while reading and have never once spilled any info about different characters fate unless tortured.. or begged. 

Yep. I stood in line to get the Deathly Hallows book at midnight. Yes, John was driving in the rain and I read the first chapter aloud so I wouldn't get to read anything before he did and we even had a small competition to see who would finish the book first (It was me.). I can still remember my heart beating as I read that first chapter aloud. 

And I certainly can't wait to start reading the books to the girls.

So, here are my thoughts. If you love to read. You should read this series. 

If you remotely like Twilight, you should read this series.

Because it's not all about magic, it's about a battle for good vs evil. 

It's about watching a boy, with odds stacked against him, prevail. 

Plus. You can go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and have a butterbeer. 

Disney 2011

Hey, remember that time I went to Disney and then I couldn't stop talking about it and bombarding the blog with thousands of pictures? Yeah.. me neither.

Hey, remember that time I went to Disney and forgot a Compact Flash card for my camera? Yeah. Me neither. Luckily, my mother in law brought an extra card. Let's keep in mind that I shoot RAW normally. Let's also keep in mind that the spare card was 512MB. Normally my cards are 4GB, and that evens out to about 200 RAW pictures. So.. I had to shoot in JPEG. Which I am not used to. And I also had to be careful with what I took pictures of. There was no room on the card for bad pictures. Which, in the end, I was thought, "Hey, I can only take around 100 pictures, which cuts down on editing time!" But then.. I forgot I came with my step-dad. Who is a paparazzi. And doesn't delete pictures. And who burned me a disc and turned my 89 pictures into over 1,000 pictures. Insert panic attack over editing here. 

Moving on...

So, we went to the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday afternoon after we got to Orlando. I had visions of a wonderful family picture in front of the park.. yeah. That didn't happen. Addison didn't want to take a picture with me.

The park wasn't that busy, but everything we wanted to do, we couldn't, it seemed like. Rapunzel? The line was 2 hours long. Princess Tiana? Wasn't out taking pictures. So, off the teacups, it was!

My step-dad, Bill and myself, ready for the teacups!

Addison looking into the wishing well outside the castle

We ate dinner at Tony's and then rode the train around the park. 

We watched a little bit of the Electrical Parade.. Super cool stuff!

We ended the night late with both girls passed out from exhaustion. But, the next morning, we were having breakfast at the castle!! 

You walk into the castle and Cinderella was there to greet us. Watching Claire was adorable. She was so excited! She just kept touching Cinderella's dress and when it was time for us to go upstairs to eat, she just kept staring at Cinderella.

We saw Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Jasmine at breakfast. The food was really good and it was definitely worth the price tag to see my little girls. Claire wanted to follow Sleeping Beauty around. 

Once we got outside, The Fairy Godmother was outside the castle! Claire was so excited to see her too! But when The Fairy Godmother took her autograph book, C sat down and screamed, "NO!" Only my daughter would tell her Fairy Godmother "No."

I promise Addison was more excited than this picture shows

We tried to go see Rapunzel again, but her line was an hour and a half at 9:30, so we sent John to stand in line for Princess Tiana. Score! We were third person in line when they got there. 

The princesses loved them! Claire gave Prince Navine a kiss on the cheek and just kept hugging them. 

They were probably one of my favorites. Navine sounded JUST like in the movie and they stayed in character and kind of bantered back and forth!

We left the Magic Kingdom and went to Epcot for the day. We rode the Nemo ride, did Turtle Talk with Crush and tried to go find Alice and Mary Poppins for the girls... they weren't around when they were supposed to be, and hadn't been out all day. Don't know what was up with that. 

While we waited for Turtle Talk, Addison wanted to sing a duet.. "Fire"-- the Glee version 

They had these amazing topiaries out of the characters all around the park. 

I visited the UK.. and got in a phone booth- I've always wanted to do that! Yes, I am super cheesy. 

We ate lunch in Japan and then headed over to the Mickey and Friends line.. Claire hated waiting in line, but once she saw Mickey, she was sold. She would run to the characters and even cut in line. It was funny to watch the difference in how Addison was petrified of them and Claire runs over people to get to them. 

Giving Donald a kiss


John, Mom, Bill and I rode Soarin'... Wow. Everyone must ride that ride! So awesome! 

We called it an early day at the park and headed over the Downtown Disney to shop and eat at the Rainforest Cafe. The girls hated the animals and the rain storms that happen about every 30 minutes.

Friday, MeMac and Poppy and the girls went to the pool while the rest of us went to Universal Studios. 

We talked Mom into riding The Hulk rollercoaster.. she loved it!!! 

Of course we were there for one thing.. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. 

Oh, I was in nerdy nerdy Heaven.  

The Hogwarts Express

They did a fantastic job with everything. I honestly wanted my Hogwarts robes and my wand and wanted to go to Potions class or something. 

Honeydukes!!! They really had Chocolate Frogs and Bertie's Box of Beans! 

"I wanna go to Hogwarts" 

We waited in an extremely long line for the "Forbidden Journey" but MAN OH MAN, was it worth it!! That ride is fabulous! It's inside the castle and the line wraps through the greenhouse, the dungeons, past the Fat Lady-- and the pictures really talk and move! And finally, we got to go through Dumbledore's office. Seriously awesome. 

After the ride, we headed down the another long line for a butterbeer! Y'all.. seriously delicious!! Definitely worth the $11 it cost per butterbeer. Yes, you read that right. $11. 

We did the Hippogriff ride and it was fun! Then we headed out of the park through the Dr Seuss area. 

We ate lunch at Bubba Gump and it was SO GOOD!! Seriously. 

Hi. I'm weird and don't know how to pose for pictures. 

Saturday we headed to Hollywood Studios. I, of course, donned a crown. My Princess race was the next day.. I had to get in character! 

Claire was excited and ready to go! 

We talked Mom into riding the Aerosmith Rockin Rollercoaster.. I wish I could ride it right now. :( 

I love Fantasia! 

No one rode the Tower of Terror.. they had scaffolding all around it.. No thanks. 

We rode the Backlot Tour and Addison didn't care for it. 

We ate lunch at the 50's Prime Time Diner and it was delicious but I had to cut my time short so I could go meet the Princess Media Group. 

I really love Disney. I wish I could live there. I promise not to talk about it anymore. Unless, perhaps, you might want to see my playlist for the race?