The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

My family has been looking forward to this vacation since we were here 3 years ago. Every few years my grandparents take their family to Florida for a big Disney or Universal Vacation. Our next trip will occur in about 4 years when my sister is 6 and the twins and Alex are 5, and will be to Disney.


Our trip has included a party of 14 and it's been crazy but fun. My grandparents, mom, Aaron, Mari, Becky, Alex, auntie, uncle Erich, Madi, Jake, and Oliva and Nicholas have made for a fun and eventful week. Of course with any family vacation there is stress and anxiety, but it's full of great times. We are staying in the gorgeous Hard Rock Hotel.

Friday June 18th was opening day for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! We arrived on Saturday, and decided to only venture into Universal Studios. About 2 hours into the park we were poured on by Florida's daily storms. We hid out in the Mummy gift shop till we decided to book it for our hotel. All 14 of us booked it out from the back of the park, umbrella's over the baby strollers. Knowing we were getting up at 6:30am to head to Islands of Adventures I crashed by 8:30!

Sunday morning we got up for what we all were waiting for...Hogsmeade! Half the family was in line by 7:15...I met up with them by 7:45. We were in the park by 8am and in line of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Now, I'm NOT a rides person. Roller coasters or simulators. I get REALLY bad motion sickness (the 15 min drive from Houghton to Calumet is disastrous...). However, the walk through the castle was completely worth the wait. However, the line wait didn't seem that bad. I got a ton of awesome pictures of the castle, Dumbledore's office, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and the Gryffindor common room. They did a great job with moving pictures, which are essentially tvs inside frames. None of those pictures turned out however, because I couldn't capture a picture of the tv. They did a great job recreating the castle.

It's funny because most of the park seems empty, there is 5-15 min waits on all the rides expect Rip Ride Rocket (in Universal Studios) and HP's Forbidden Journey. Once you walk into Hogsmeade you find where all the park patrons are hiding. It's about a 2 hour wait to see Ollivander and see if you're the lucky person in your group of twenty who gets to "pick a wand." We went Sunday night during a rainstorm and only waited an hour. It was worth it though because Madison was the lucky patron who got to find a wand. It was really cool to watch! She of course decided to buy the wand that "picked her" which was a very nice wand. To get into Honeydukes and Zonko's (the candy shop and joke shop that are attached to each other) you usually have to wait in about a 20 min line, but it varies during the day. The same with Dervish and Banges and the Owl Post (these are also attached, Dervish and Banges sells clothing and the Owl Post is the location of all the wands). Right outside the Owl Post you can mail letters, which will be stamped with a Hogsmeade stamp. Sadly it's been hard to get a HP postcard, so I haven't sent any yet.

My most exciting story so far happened this morning however!! I was looking for wands Sunday morning, when they had all of them in stock. I decided to wait for the rest of my family, and to go through Ollivander's, before picking one out. And the store was packed so I wasn't sure that I was getting to see them all.  I passed up what might have been my ONLY chance to buy the Hermione wand. Sunday night when we came back, they were all gone. Sirius Black's was also sold out, and by Monday night Ginny's was added to that list. I was told last night there was a good chance they'd get a shipment of wands in last night and to check back first thing in the morning. I woke up at 6:30 am and headed to line up at 7am with Jake. After waiting for 45min or so we were finally in. Everyone was headed for the rides...so we headed for our only destination: the Owl Post. For the first time this trip I was able to walk right in...and saw the shop practically empty. I was sad when I noticed the shelves stocked with Harry's wand (which was close to sold out) but no Sirius (the wand Jake was looking for) or Hermione. Being smart...I asked the lady behind the counter. She pulled out the LAST Hermione wand. They had found it randomly sometime last night or this morning. They had debated if they should shelve it or not. Wanting to make sure someone who truly wanted it got it, they decided the first person to ask about it got it. Waking up early and waiting in line and being curious proved to be worthwhile. They lady joked that it was meant for me and that it proved good things were to come for me. So, I'm now the proud owner of a very pretty wand. (Check my facebook for a picture)

So far this vacation has resulted in getting very wet from rainstorms, sunburnt from tanning at the pool, and tired from walking so much! However, it's also resulted in some great family fun, some great food, some wonderful new shopping purchases (which by the way is practically all I've done in the parks). Check my facebook for pictures, some will be in a normal album, but some are in my mobile album.

Misty

On Monday my family suffered a great loss. We lost the best family pet we could have ever asked for to cancer.

Misty was a brown Lab and Akita mix who was spunky and full of energy, but also calm and a great family dog. Aaron got her from a neighbor when he was still living with his friend Chris. Chris and Aaron both adopted dogs that summer, Misty and her sister Kaycee. I was 12 when they adopted her, and they got her while I was away at camp. Misty will always be Aaron's dog, but she became a loved part of our family. We all took care of her from the time she was born and she grew to love us all.

When mom had Becca we were worried about how Misty would act. She was always jealous and protective, she didn't really like other dogs being around us and would find any way to get attention. We had no reason to worry though, Becca was part of our family and Misty understood that. She became just as protective of Becky as any of us. The same when mom had Alex. She was a great dog to have around children. Recently Becky learned the joys of having pets and instead of invisible friends, she had her animals. She would take the cat and dog and lock them in her room to play with them. Misty was always calm and understanding, even when Becky was bouncing up and down on her back like a horse. Very rarely would Misty growl or snarl at either of the babies.

Misty loved her daddy and knew when he was gone for work. The days Aaron would leave for training would leave Misty sad and mopey. She's give up her usual spot under the window to lay against the door waiting for her owner to come home. I remember the day he left for Spain, she knew he was leaving and before he walked out the door she came over and hugged him. It was the cutest, most adorable thing you could ever see.

Last fall Misty developed cancer. Determined to save her we had the tumors removed from her stomach. We knew there was a chance they would come back, but we hoped that it was the end of it. Unfortunetly, it wasn't. About two weeks ago mom noticed two more lumps on her hind legs. We knew it wasn't a good sign, but figured we'd leave it, knowing we couldn't afford to remove them again. Last Friday mom came home to find Misty in a state of discomfort. She had been sick throughout the house in an attempt to get outside. She had eaten that morning but thrown it up and refused to eat again. Sunday morning we were able to get her to eat again, but she got sick an hour later. As pet owners it was hard to watch our cherished pet suffer all weekend. We couldn't take her to a vet, but they did tell us how to care for her. We can only hope the Benedryl and Pepcid AC helped to ease her pain in her last few days. Monday mom and Aaron took her to the vet, not sure what to expect. It was worse than we could have imagined. The vet explained that the cancer was back. She was suffering from Mastoma cell cancer which was eating her stomach. The vet explained that the tumors we saw were only part of it, and that based on their size the ones inside must be worse.

It was decided that what was best was to put her out of her misery. Monday afternoon around 5pm we set Misty to her final resting place. Mom and Aaron decided on a private cremation, which means we will receive her ashes back. Misty's remains will be taken to Aaron's parent's house about an 1 1/2 north of our house.

It's been weird not having her around. Anytime I use the ice machine I think of her. She was always at your feet the moment you pressed the button and gobbled up any dropped cubes. Although at times I found her annoying, I miss her. I never expected to feel so attached to her. I miss the feeling of protection of knowing Misty was there.

Our family will always have great memories of our puppy. But now she's playing happily without pain, she's up there with Corissa's dog Indy and the Legros' recently lost Darla. They're all playing happily together.