extra, extra

Another cellphone upload of pictures doing their own thing. That's ok. I'll explain what most of them are. We are headed home now and I can't even put into words how much this trip meant to all four of us, but especially the kids. I was texting my brother and sister-in-law all the Harry Potter pictures, because they are the ones that got the kids into it, and Jonathan said the real magic was getting so many pictures of Gage. But he's so right. Sometimes I forget just how much the last 18 months has psychologically affected us all, even my two introverts. So I'm incredibly grateful for this experience. And it was so nice to take a week off and not pay attention to what's going on in the world. I didn't experience one person arguing over masks or vaccines all week, and I am not looking forward to reentering that world again. 

Gage spent his money on a robe and all week long guests and park employees kept calling him Ron Weasley, and even though he typically dislikes attention, I think he really enjoyed that. As we were leaving on the last night I overheard two young girls excitedly telling their mom, "Ron Weasley is here! We just saw the real Ron Weasley!"

Universal discontinued their dining plan a few weeks after we booked our trip, but if you had already purchased it you could still use it. It was a little more confusing than Disney's plan, because Universal gave you individual cards for each day, instead of it all being connected to a magic band. Some newer employees didn't really know how the cards worked, so I think some of our meals and snacks weren't correctly scanned, because during lunch on the last day we had someone scan our cards and we still had 5 meals and 12 snacks left. So we went a little crazy with the extra butterbeers, and pumpkin juices and even got some weird pizza tots in Seuss Landing.

This was a snack credit from Lard Lad Donuts. We couldn't finish it, but it really was very good. 

Butterbeer and pumpkin juice were actually much, much better than I thought they would be. 

We went to the Horror Movie Makeup show which was really funny. We were towards the front and Owsley was one of the only kids in the crowd, so he got singled out for throwing a cigarette at the stage. You can never be sure how Owsley will respond, because both of my kids are like me and never volunteer for audience participation, but he was so quick witted and played along. He ended up being a main character for the show and I don't think that moment will be anything we forget anytime soon.

In Diagon alley you could exchange your muggle money for Harry Potter money ( sorry, I don't know all the correct terms here.) We weren't exchanging any money, but the goblins were so interactive. He asked what we wanted and I said that I just wanted to take his picture and he replied, "Well, ok.  I guess that will be all right." 

I thought this swing table was so cool. 

We had Voodoo Donuts when we were in Portland and we got a box last night for the drive home. I can smell maple bacon as I'm putting this post together. 

We had breakfast on our last day at the Leaky Caldron, although none of us were too adventurous. 

Unfortunately our very last hour in the park it started pouring down. Fortunately I still had some ponchos left from Disney two years ago. I hate that it's over, but I'm going to be glad to sleep in my own bed tonight. And I need to do some laundry, because we are all out of clothes.