Harry Potter

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is actually just a tiny area inside Universal Studios. I must say, I was a little disappointed at the size, but the amazing details around the park made up for it. One employee told us that they never anticipated so many people visiting the park, so they thought it didn't need to be very big. They were wrong. It's incredible. Everyone should go :) I liked what Marcus said about the park-- apparently, despite all the magic, the Wizarding World has yet to figure out a solution to the humidity problem in Florida. Haha. But you should still go!

I probably have a billion pictures of just this part of the trip. I picked only a couple from each major attraction, so hopefully you'll get the feel.

The Hogwarts Express

Hogwarts

Herbology

(walking through to enter the castle)

Inside the Castle

Dragon Challenge

(awesome roller-coaster)

Entering Hogsmede

Walking Around

(with hundreds/thousands of other people)

Hogs Head

for butterbeer (loved it!)

The Owlry

Dervish and Banges

Ollivanders

Honeydukes

What a great day! Well, great morning three different times :) Due to the crowds, we woke up early to get in line for either the castle ride, roller-coaster, or Ollivanders. But we did it all.

Moral of the story, I LOVE Harry Potter!

Good thing Derek and Cozette do too. :)

Florida!

The end of July/beginning of August was our trip to Florida with Marcus' family. We had so much fun enjoying Disney magic, while trying to ignore the humidity :) I have a couple pictures from each park (and Nasa), but first some of us swimming at the pool.

swimming in the toilet bowl :)

Nicki, Derek, and Kate

I gave up trying to get in the tube

ANIMAL KINGDOM

me with Chip

We loved this bird show, especially when the bird would stare the trainer in the face

mommy and baby elephant

EPCOT

The Epcot Photo Op :)

Marcus watching Off Kilter-- I love this picture

The Canadian Band, Off Kilter

The Little Drummer :)

The firework show-- I really like this show, maybe because we couldn't see the big ball floating across the water or something odd like that

THE MAGIC KINGDOM

Stitch (Marcus was so excited to see him first)

Marcus decided this would be his retirement job :)

Cactus Mouse :)

The Castle

Splash Mountain

More Splash Mountain

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

The Mouse :)

I love this picture of Derek and Mickey

the Toy Story Ride

NASA AND CAPE CANAVERAL

Marcus in a Mercury spacecraft

Marcus and me with a real astronaut!

a Mercury/Red Stone Rocket

Pad 34, site of the Apollo I tragedy

Launch Complex 39A for the Space Shuttle

the vehicle assembly building

Marcus touching a moon rock :)

Outside the Saturn V Center where you can see the LC-39A shuttle launch site

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

I love this picture because we got to the park so early to go to Harry Potter that we were the very first car in the parking lot!

Marcus and Doc from Back to the Future

Jurassic Park!

And of course, it wouldn't be a Hardy vacation without some great food... So here are a couple pictures at some amazing restaurants.

Ohana (loved the bread pudding!)

Sci Fi Drive In (you can't tell as much here, but we're sitting in cars all facing a big screen showing a SciFi reel)

Brown Derby

We had a lot of fun on vacation. It went by super fast, but we were extremely tired by the end. I loved going to the Happiest Place on Earth!

I will have a whole other post of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Yes, I have that many pictures :)

Finally as old as Marcus :)

Seriously, how is it already August?! And I'm 23?!?!

We just got back from Florida a couple days ago, and I will definitely be posting pictures soon. I bet most will be from Universal Studios because we went to the Harry Potter park, but you'll just have to wait and see :)

My birthday was on Monday, and I had to work all day. Really, like 7:45 A.M. to 8:30 P.M. At first I thought that would be so horrible, but it was nice to be back to a routine after so much playing in Florida and California before that. And of course it was fun to see some friends at work. Marcus did spoil me by bringing dinner and some white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for me at my break. He's so great. :) And there was my favorite ice cream when I got home!

While we were in Florida, Marcus told me my birthday present was a pair of Converse that I got to design. Sweet! Sadly they are taking longer to ship than anticipated, but here's the picture of what they'll look like. They're brown with blue inside and around the edges. And Marcus thought it would be fun to personalize them, so they say eKicks on the side. (He's referencing my iPod which is named ePod-- an idea I stole from Brian's bPod.) I am so excited for them to come!!!!
It was exciting to have birthday cards waiting in our mailbox when we got back in town. I love getting mail! And when we were in California, my mom and my grandma bought me some birthday clothes. I may or may not have worn them before my birthday :) I don't have pictures to post of those, but I do have a picture of the bag Marcus' mom gave me. She bought it in Florida. How could you resist when it is bright purple?! And the style is called "Erica," well, it is the 'large "Erica."' Haha. I've used it everyday since.

Definitely a great birthday! It is fun to have it spread out from the end of the Florida trip to whenever my awesome eKicks arrive :) Thanks so much to everyone!