Remeber back in the day when Asa and I went out maybe once or twice a year? Like, that isn't even an exageration. We would MAYBE go out when someone came to visit, and that was about it. But, whatever, that's fine. I knew when we moved to Florida away from everyone, babysitting would not be a luxury we were afforded. But, then the kids got older, and we got to have more and more date days. And now, these days, about all we have is date days. And don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with Asa. I know everyone says marry your best friend. But, I really did that. So I'm fine to just hang out with him weekend after weekend.
After all, it's really hard to get the boys out and about all together. So I've kind of taken the attitude of we'll just tell them what we're doing and invite them every weekend. It's not like we wouldn't get any date days anymore, because honestly 9 times out of 10, nobody bites on whatever we're going out to do. But every once in awhile I manage to pique some kids interest. This weekend I might not have been able to get them all together, but I did get them all at one point or another, so I'm going to count that as a success!
My Universal pass will be the first to expire. Asa and I got them a bit earlier than the boys did, but then we got free months on them. Asa got the better pass that includes parking so he got more months than me. Anyway, my pass is done in just a couple weeks and I figured I wanted to get in one last trip. Since Peyton was done with work the night before he was game to go. Hayden STILL has fair money- can you believe he's held onto it this long?!- and really wanted to buy a wand at Ollivanders. I was sure when we tried to wake them up Saturday morning they would bail (that's what happened the previous week when Asa and I went to the zoo and they were cool to go until we tried waking them up before noon). But, they were up and at 'em and ready to go. We decided to start at Universal before making our way over to Island's of Adventure.
The park was super busy though. It was our first "cool" weekend in forever here in Florida, so I think that drew out a lot of locals. Asa and Peyton went off to ride Rip-Ride-Rocket, so Hayden and I wandered through Simpsonsons Land and over to the London cityscape just outside of Diagon Alley. There we knocked on Grimwald Place #12 and saw Kreacher, the house elf, peering out.
We also made our way over to meet the conductor of the Knight Bus, and the shruken head.
And then we visited the phone booth to try and make our way to the Ministry of Magic. If you dial 62442, or MAGIC, you get the Ministry on the line. I told Hayden to go in a dial.
But he picked up the phone and looked around at me, and I realized he had no idea how to dial a rotary phone. Kids today. I showed him how it worked and he was denied entry into the Ministry.
Once we caught back up with Peyton and Asa we made our way to Diagon Ally. Honestly, Universal is cool in that I can go there- not ride a single ride, and be a happy camper just by wandering. It's just ... magical... that way. Not that Disney isn't- I have weekend plans that only involve rides if I happen to be there at the right time for my fastpasses- but the park itself has some really great theming to it.
As a bonus, Diagon Alley is all decoarted for Christmas.
Hayden is on his third read through of the books, so he was notcing lots of new details this time around.
I had one mission and one mission only for this trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Hot Butterbeer! Cold Butterbeer is ok, Frozen Butterbeer is blah. BUT HOT BUTTERBEER IS AMAZING! And, you can't get it all the time- only in the winter. It's like they think people won't order Hot Butterbeer when it's 100 degrees out. But, we would, Universal, WE WOULD.
It's basically like hot butterscotch/caramel instead of hot chocolate. But then it has this foam on top that's sort of cools it down just enough not to burn your tongue. It's amazing. If you've never had it, I promise you're missing out something fierce.
Then we made our way to Ollivanders. Sure, there are plenty of places to get your wand- but why would you ever go anywhere but Ollivanders?
Now, these wands used to be like $35 when we first went. Now, if you want an interactive wand they are up to $55. But, Hayden had the money and he had been wanting a wand for a long time, so he picked out Sirius Black's wand and was on his way.
The interactive wands are cool. You can use them all over both Diagon Alley and Hogsmead to make things light up or swirl. Peyton has had an interactive wand for awhile, so we brought his along too for him to use.
I also let them both dump water over my umbrella with their magic.
We continued on our way with Peyton and Hayden completing magic spells. It is pretty cool, there are like plates on the ground that show you the movement for your wand and what direction to point.
We made our way through Knockturn Alley too, and of course had to visit the Vanishing Cabinet in Borgin and Burkes.
And when we had gone all the way through Diagon Alley we made our way to King's Cross Station.
Which was also all decorated for Christmas!
But, since it was such a busy day it took FOREVER to get through the line.
But, I'll wait an hour for the Hogwarts Express anyday.
When we got over to Hogsmead we discovered it was even more crowded than Diagon Alley. But we were also just there to nose around the stores, check out the Christmas decorations and enjoy the atmosphere, so we didn't mind too much.
And then we made our way to Suess Landing which is also SUPER decorated for a Merry Merry Holiday! For real, nobody does Christmas decorations better than Suess Landing. Those Whos know what's up.
Universal really lacks in good counter service food though, and we were ready for dinner. They have good sit down places, but we're on a budget here people, so we decided to head on over to Disney Springs. Peyton suggested Chicken Guy, which is one of the cheaper options, and is seriously delicious. Plus the dipping sauces- there are just SO many dipping sauces (may I recommend the Avacado Creama and the Hot Honey).
I got a sandwich this go around, Hayden got the SMC (Thats 'super melty cheese' for those of you not familiar with Chicken Guy) Mac & Cheese, and Asa and Peyton got tenders. Everyone went home with full bellies.
Now, I generally eat whatever I want on the weekends, but I had an extra big excuse to eat whatever I wanted on Saturday- because Sunday I was running, sort of. (I'm working on my running. I know it's good for me, and blah blah blah, but I'd much rather ride my bike, use my kettlebell or swim, or basically do anything. But, I am working on it. )
Anyway, Sunday morning Asa, Calib and I were up before the sun and over at One Buc Place, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Training Facility just across the street from Raymond James Stadium, where they play.
For the last 7 years the Bucs have had held a 5K in October to raise money for breast cancer research. Calib and Asa have done it before, but this year they added a fun run, so I said I would do that. With your donation you also get a ticket to the game on the day of the race. Now, I know you're thinking "wait, it's November". That it is. But, we didn't have a home game in October (I'm sorry labeling it a 'home' game in London isn't actually a home game!) In fact, it had been 7 weeks since we had a home game, a move the NFL has now said will never happen again. Anyway, so here we were on a November morning about to run the October run.
And Holy geez was it cold. We've been having some cooler weather and the mornings are pretty chilly by my standards.
But, I did get to hang out with Captain Fear, so I dealt with it.
Then we lined up for the race. I sent Asa and Calib off and made my way to the back with all the "fun run" people. Honestly, I wasn't aware it's totally cool to walk a 5k, or I would have walked it. But, I guess then the guys would have had to wait for me. But, maybe next year I'll be running a 5K if I keep working.
My race was only a 1 K, which is like nothing, and I just lightly jogged it. But, I still got to run on the practice field which was cool.
And, even for the fun run, I got a medal!
Then I waited for Asa and Calib to cross the finish line. I missed Calib somehow. He finished in 27:12, and Asa finished just slightly behind him at 28:20.
And then we got to enjoy free donuts, and snowcones. Oh, America, where we're like "Oh you ran not even a mile, you've earned sugar!" I also had a banana though.
Anyway, we headed home for a couple hours before changing and heading back to the game. It had gotten a whole lot warmer, thank god.
We made our way to our seats which were in the opposite corner from where our season tickets were, which really threw me off. But the good news is this side of the stadium gets shade once the sun is down far enough (generally in the fourth quarter).
Asa hasn't been to a game in a couple of years. The last game I went to in this stadium I took Calib and Peyton to see the Broncos play, and Asa had to work and wasn't with us- so he hadn't seen the new boards yet. They're WAY better than the old ones.
I was a little bummed we didn't get the 'Salute to Service' game (which means you get a fly over!), which is always the game closest to Veterans Day. But, like I said, we still hadn't done the 'Crucial Catch' game for October. I wonder if they'll do a flyover this weekend.
I was fully prepared for the Bucs to lose. I'm used to sitting in the sun baking while the Bucs totally blow it. I had season tickets for like three years.
But this week they kept it close, and through a few official reviews the Bucs won!
So, we were all pretty excited about that. We all also lost our voices and were hoarse the next day, but it was totally worth it.
On the way home we swung by Wawa to have Siptopia one last time. I have no idea how much those Blueberry Pomegranat Smoothies are normally, but I had quite a few of them during Siptopia.
The whole weekend was pretty fun, and we got to spend time with all the kids.
Next Up: Asa and I have some loose Disney plans for tomorrow, I tried to get any kids on board with it, but it seems like we'll be on our own.
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