Farewell Party

July 25, 2011

We are so grateful to our friends, Scott and Dina Roberts, in the Oviedo Ward who hosted a farewell party for our family at their home. Also to Mary Beth North who sent out the evite invitations to everyone.

Everyone had a wonderful time visiting with one another. The biggest hit was the pool. Most of the youth spent almost all afternoon/evening in the pool. Everyone provided delicious food too. (We had more food than just the pictures shown here, but Anuhea didn't get pictures of all of them.)

A beautiful view of the lake and the sunset behind the Roberts' home:

Food, food, and more food!

These were cute cupcakes with Teddy Grahams bears in gummy "lifesaver" or "floaty" rings (+blue icing for water), made by Cheryl Bateman:

Tony Camarato holds a baby to show Kahren Amstadt:

Courtney Nixon and Anuhea:

Heidi Winters and Courtney:

Hunter Winters and Courtney:

We gave out packs of gum that said "Thank you for being EXTRA kind to our family!" Then we gave our new address and other information for party-goers to keep in touch with us.

Jason wanted this cake since he's almost finished with the PhD program:

The youth loved the rocky area that leads to a slide. Of course, few of them were sliding and most of them were diving:

We will miss being in Florida, and all the people we have met there over the past 4 years!

Harry Potter mania!

July 19 - 21, 2011

For all of you Harry Potter fans, I'm sure you were right along with us as we anticipated the arrival of the final movie for the series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2. Nalani is the biggest Harry Potter fan in our family, but the 4 oldest of us in the family couldn't wait to watch the movie. We finally got to go on July 19th--4 days after it came out in theaters.

Nalani & Anuhea are always disappointed in some way; Nalani, especially because the movies are not quite like the books. However, we all enjoyed the movie this time. There was a lot of action and it was a good wrap up. I hope you all enjoyed the movie. I sure did!

Two days after watching the last Harry Potter movie, our family went to Universal's Islands of Adventure so we could see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!! We had been wanting to go since it opened, but didn't want to pay for it yet, and didn't want to be with the millions who would also be there. We went early in the morning, but we were still too late to beat the lines. When we arrived, we still needed to wait to get into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

The theme park wasn't quite as exciting as we had hoped it would be, but it was still a great experience. We enjoyed the shops that were similar to those in Diagon Alley in the books/movies.

The Hogwarts Express:

If you read the books (and maybe it was in one of the movies?), then you should recognize this picture. It was behind glass, but still noisy enough.

We also tried some Butterbeer...not bad...and got the souvenir mug. :)

Some of us also experienced Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. We went through the castle for that virtual ride. Everything in the castle was neat to see. The ride was fun, but I had to close my eyes or squint for a lot of it or I would have been sick (since I get motion sickness).

Nalani got a WAND from Ollivanders! We didn't actually go into Ollivanders wand shop, because the line was so long; however, wands were being sold at kiosks, which made it easier.

My cousin, Carol, and her family were also visiting in Orlando and went to Universal on the same day we did. It was great to see them all. We hadn't seen one another for many years!

If you're thinking of going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter sometime in the future, then I suggest going just for the experience; however, don't expect it to be huge like the theme parks at Disney World or Disneyland. It's only one part of the Islands of Adventure.