Honeydukes

We went to Honeydukes, which is the candy shop, next.  The colors and decorations were wonderful.  It was crowded, but I kept telling myself that this was actually a quiet day.
I did some online reading up before the trip and what people said was that the scale of the stores and restaurants were small and cozy to mimic the actual Diagon Alley, but that it made for a big crush of people when everyone was trying to get their Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans at the same time.  The staff in all these places around the Wizard world were friendly; seeing them dressed with colorful robes and hats, I imagined they had grown up reading the books and this was the closest they could actually get to Hogworts.

The "snow" was charming, but the mind was confused by the 86 degree heat heat and the people in summer clothes with the snow capped roofs behind them.

Here's the joke shop where is jester is saying "Please don't walk on the walls."

The girls picked out their candy and we waited in line.  Georgia got a chocolate frog and Lily some Bertie Bott beans.

Georgia shared a bite of her chocolate frog, but you can see it pained her.

Three Broomsticks

We were really excited to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando while we were in Florida.  Lily, Georgia and I just finished reading the first Harry Potter outloud at bedtime (repeat reading for Lily and I, but we finally got Georgia hooked.  Hooray.)

We decided to go on Wednesday even though it was so hot (86 degrees and brightly sunny.)  Everyone told us it wasn't going to be crowded, but it was packed with people.  I cannot imagine a crowded day!  There were people everywhere.  Rob didn't come; he didn't want to spend the money or go to a hot crowded park.

I had terrible searing shin splint in my left leg so I was dreading all the walking, but I attached an ice pack to my leg and we drove Grammen's car the hour to Orlando in the morning.  I paid extra for the handicapped parking so I could limp around.  We motored through the rest of the park and went right to the Wizarding World.

We started with a ride.  The Flight of the Hippogriff is tame, comparatively, to any other rides in the park.  It was so quick.  It was over just after it began, but I was prepared because the older man exiting from the seat I was stepping into replied, "It's quick!" when I asked how it went.  The culture of "rides" is foreign to me because I am such a puker.  Some people pay double for their "express passes" to the park so they can cut to the front of the line and even have the choice to sit in the front seat of the roller coaster.  Weird. 

For one day in the park the regular tickets cost $88 for adult and $82 for kids.  Yikes!  I wasn't about to pay  more for cutting privileges.

Here's a photo of Hagrid's cabin that we passed during the ride.

We went to eat at The Three Broomsticks.  It was very pleasing and the Butter Beer was great, sweet with a marshmellowy topping.  The building was cool and dark with shadows of house elves and flying owls on the stone brick walls.

I got the turkey leg, which was delicious and made me feel like Hagrid.

Evening Swim

The girls all went swimming in the pool while I sat in the hot tub.  How amazing is that sentence?  Lucky me.  My shin was killing me (I had somehow got shin splints from new shoes.  My nerves/muscles still aren't totally normal in my left foot so I think I compensated weirdly when I walked in new clogs.)  (And then ignored it until it really hurt.  Bummer.)  I was limping around in flip flops, but I decided the hot tub would help me heal. The girls did handstands in the lights of the pool, shadows swimming back and forth.  The night was beautiful and warm.  The stars were dim above and a sweet warm breeze wafted over us.
On the way home our frog-whisperer found a toad.  Happiness!  Look at that face!

More!A tree frog! and another toad!  What luck.

Florida

Time to take a trip to Florida!  It was Grammen's (Rob's mother's) 80th b-day and we hadn't been down to visit her for 7 years!  We got cheap flights ($190 round trip!) and Rob's sister put us up at her apartment complex where she's property manager.  Perfect!

I put on a prescription Scopalamine patch behind my ear for the trip (I have spent too much of my life puking), so I read a book, while the plane was tossed about by intense turbulence.  Everyone else was queasy but we made it without any dramatic vomiting.  Hooray!

 

We got there and it was warm!  We all loved reconnecting in person with Grammen.  She showed the girls how to do crossword puzzles, brought puzzles to do and motivated the whole crowd to play charades, which was silly and fun.

The first day we headed to the beach.  It was 85 degrees and we went to Tables beach for the day.  It was so surreal to be in warm weather with hot sand after a big snowstorm.

People were surfing in the big waves.  One surfer said the dolphins were out there with him in the waves, guiding him through and showing him which  path to take through the wave.

It made me want to be a surfer.  I watched them out there and many of them sat for a long time, just watching and riding the sea before they caught a wave.  I liked the looks of that.  Of the quiet part.  Of the watching and feeling the rhythm of the ocean.

I talked with two men, one older and one younger, while Georgia washed off her feet in the outdoor shower.
"You could do it."  said the older one looking me up and down."You could get out there."
Maybe I will.
Maybe I will.

Got to work on those abs.

February Blizzard

Snow Day!!

I feel like I usually have to work during the big snowstorms so I was thrilled to be home Friday to just hunker down and enjoy a snow day, although most of the snow came after we were asleep.  What a surprise to wake up and find 16-20 inches!

 

The sun shines in on the pleasing Valentine's garland my sister sent.  She-of-the-care-packages-cushioned-with-dried-rose-petals.  She did not disappoint; this year's Valentine package was beautiful, filled with candy hearts and packed with white and red rose petals.

I had forgotten the holiday was coming,
February came so quick!

 

Rob bought me a Jasmine plant at Trader Joes.  I adore Jasmine.  I drink the tea every morning and find the scent perfect.   I can't wait until it blooms.  I think the whole house will smell divine and hopfully I can keep this plant alive.  Rob had forgotten I have slowly killed a couple of these over the 23 years we've been together, but maybe this is a different variety?

The power never went out during the storm, so we all watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind together.  I have been wanting to see it for a few years.  I remember seeing it as a kid of 7 when it came out and it made quite an impact.  My favorite website for evaluating the appropriateness of TV and movies is Common Sense media and they gave this a raving review for kids 8 and up.

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind

We gave it a try watching it and had a great time.  The kids were very drawn in and not too scared (We talked them through the confusing/scary parts)  I wanted to see it because sometimes I feel like Richard Dryfuss making the mashed potato hill as I try and follow my heart's desire and intuition towards the life I want to live.  It is an urge and a pull but sometimes it doesn't make sense at the time.  I have to trust there is a bigger picture guiding me even though I can't see it all now.  I am working hard toward my Aromatherapy certification and my Emotrance energy healing certification hoping it will be beneficial to me and others, but sometimes I can feel like I'm running alot on faith.

Don't worry, though,  not faith in aliens.

But, instead, in some divine beneficent power that infuses everything around us.

Nothing I can make with mashed potatoes, yet.

Sweets

My dear friend made me a spectacular gluten free chocolate cake for my birthday (It was a couple months late, but I didn't mind!)  It was amazing and a hell of  way to come off the 21 day sugar detox I had done for the new year.

http://balancedbites.com/sugar-detox

The detox was great.  It was a huge amount of work to cook all those veggies and stay on top of the grocery shopping, but I did it with Rob, and it was fun.  I really do feel, for me,sugar is an addiction that is painful to break, but once I do it and few days go by; I feel so free and healthy.

This cake got me right back on the sugar train, but it was interesting to see how deeply satisfying it was to eat a piece of perfectly balanced homemade chocolate cake.  The friend/baker asked me if I liked it and I hardly knew how to respond.  I felt like I had a deep relationship with the cake.  I thought about it when I woke up in the morning and before bed at night.  I told her I spent the week making out with it, and eventually hid it from my family, hiding it in the back of the freezer and eating it in fudgy delicious chewy bites until it was gone.  I'm sure there's alot that can be said about that response.  It was a compelling cake.

Now it's gone and we'll see what I do.  I might end up doing the detox again, just to remind my body of the good wholesome fun of a kale smoothie.




This here is piece of an enormous jaw breaker that Lily saved up and got after a successful violin lesson/practice week.  Lord, my children love candy.  Again, it is very compelling.  Look at the colors.  Isn't it beautiful? 


My friend told me her husband was buying his grandkids candy at the drugstore and the oldest child was so beside himself with joy and delight he spouted from his height at the counter, "Oh Grandpa I just love you and your big hairy legs!"

There you have it.  The power of sugar.

Sunshine Angel

Santa brought this angel made of felted wool.  The sun was shining through it today and it cheered me when I looked out the cold snowy window.