AHA Heart & Stroke 5k

Happy Monday Everyone!  As I was putting together my “to do” list and plastering pink post it’s all over my kitchen counter, my sweet girl said “add blogging to your list Mom”.  I guess that means she is not completely embarrassed by my hyper girly, easily excitable, spaz of a human and bloger that I am.  I love that girl!

Topic of the day…my first 5k race post stroke!

A little backstory about this event, it is the walk/run that I went to while I was still in a full time rehab hospital.  It is crazy to compare this year to last year.  In fact I think that is what I will do!

Here I am, about 3 weeks post stroke.  I look normal enough in this photo.  If you look closely though I am still wearing my hospital bling on my wrist.  I recall this pose being very difficult because my left arm was so paralyzed it wouldn’t bend easily and my hand was falling off my hip.  It also felt impossible to line up my shoulders.  My left shoulder was always shifted back, and not because I was being all cute and sassy:)

I was so nervous being at a crowded public event.  I even had a wheelchair because I had no idea how far I could walk before “lefty” aka “Buffy” would give out.  Yeah you heard that right, I named my left side Buffy.  It felt like a completely unattached piece of my body, plus it was a total uncoordinated ditz (no offense to any actual Buffys).  I was not yet capable of running so I walked, very slowly.  I also had a “catch” in my walk that was so annoying.  Needless to say, I made it around Sugar house park a full lap, which is about 1.5 miles.  I have no idea how long it took, but my leg was completely shaky afterward.

Fast forward one year to 2015.  I created a team called “Vickie’s Glitter Army” and I was determined to RUN this race!  I worked on my gait everyday, no joke.  I can’t even tell you when it started to get better or “click” because progress was so slow.  My road back to running was hard.  In fact I still struggle with arm swing and some days my left leg just won’t create the movement I need it to, but I keep trying.  I’m definitely not as fast as I used to be. However, I find more joy in running now than ever before.

At the 5k this year I was not nervous, I was excited.  I knew I could do it and I wanted to show other stroke survivors, especially the young ones, that progress is possible.  I finished the 5k in 32 minutes 51 seconds!

I will be back at this race next year, faster and with more sparkle;) The future is bright and I can’t wait!

Have a spectacular day.  You can do amazing things!  xoxo

One Year Ago Today…

Holy cow it feels strange writing on my blog!  It’s been a loooooong time since I sat here with my thoughts, waiting for them to jump out onto the screen and become something worth reading.  I purposefully took a break from blogging to focus completely on me…for a whole year!  Why?  Well, I kinda had a stroke…ok 2 strokes…in one day.  I don’t really want to get into the deets about the cause and affects today, someday soon, but not today.  Today I want to just express my overall feelings about the past year and put them out there to document this moment.

A year ago today I honestly was lost.  Imagine being in your fully functioning body one second and then literally dying on one side completely.  The strokes made me feel like a shadow of myself.  I was alive and present, but only a fraction of my original self.  How would I ever live a normal life again???  I would ask myself this question repeatedly, constantly, for a very long time.

I woke up everyday and knew that I had to put the work in if I ever wanted to have a shot at a normal life.  This was, and still is, the hardest thing I have ever done.  Many days I felt like I was just going through the motions of therapy, both physical and emotional.  I did my exercises religiously, multiple times a day, obsessively.  Haha, I guess the stroke didn’t damage my obsessive nature :).  I fought with myself constantly.  I was literally Smeagol from Lord of the Rings!  I think I hid my multiple personalities pretty well, but they were there in full force, and still make occasional appearances.  I was up, down, forward, backwards, and inside out.  It was exhausting.  But I kept going.  I knew that nothing would ever get better if I chose to stay still.

Today I am looking back on the last year, proud that I made it!  Happy to say that I found myself again.  I no longer feel like a shadow.  I’m back and sparklier than ever!  I will not look back fondly at this year…it’s been hell.  But I will move forward with the same positivity and excitement that was in the “old me”.  That is what I am ultimately the most grateful for recovering…the feeling of  joy.  So as a reminder to myself and for anyone who stumbles upon this post, never give up.  As cheesy as it sounds, please don’t.  Whatever you are battling, keep going, there is light, things can get better.  Things may have to change, there may be hard work, tough times, and moments of utter despair, but it can get better!  Maybe not perfect, but much better.  Look for the joy.

Cheers to another year!

xo, Vickie

Japan Adventure Part 1

 Hey there everyone!  Happy Monday!  It’s taken me long enough to figure out why I couldn’t upload my pictures to the blog!  I’m outta space, ugh.  Guess I better get savvy and learn how to make my pics smaller:).  But until then I’m just deleting duplicates and boring stuff to squeeze in a few more posts, haha.

Let’s get to this trip report!  We left SLC on a Wednesday and were super excited to be heading out on this amazing adventure. So excited that we all only slept a few hours then night before.  I basically took a nap and then ran a bunch of miles because I knew I would be sitting on a plane for a very long time.  I’m not very good at sitting still for long periods.  I get quite irritable, antsy, and downright annoying.  So the more wiggles I can get out before having to hold still, the better.

This is the age we live in.  Charging away before we take off.

 

I did bring some non electronic entertainment as well.  We had a little cry baby challenge on the flight.  Who ever dissolved off the sour from 2 pieces first, chewed their gum, and blew a bubble was the winner.  I won:).  These really aren’t as sour as I remember though.  Or I’m just getting old and my taste buds are not as sharp.

 

Jumping ahead 14 hours!  We made it to Japan!  I actually survived, it was a miracle.  We took care of currency, luggage, reserved train tickets, and headed to the first hotel.  

Our #1 priority though was find real food!  Luckily there was a ramen shop right across from our hotel.  From what I remember it was pretty good.  But I was delirious from being awake for 2 days straight so you probably could have fed me anything I would said it was great:)

When we got back to the hotel I was ready and in bed in literally 2 minutes.  I fell asleep and didn’t move for 8 hours.  Of course after those 8 hours…it was 4am.  I was wide awake.  So I did a little workout in the room, figured out how to use the water warming gadget, made tea, drank tea, organized our bags, watched tv, and waited very impatiently for a normal hour to roll around.

We had plenty of time to get ready and wander the hotel, which was nice.  There were some lovely areas.

We also sent Cam to the Sev to pick up breakfast.  OMG the convenience stores in Japan are awesome!  They were one of my favorite things, seriously.  Strawberry milk, yes please.  And interestingly enough they do cream and jelly instead of peanut butter.  It was really good.  Not very nutritious but really good.

We headed to the train station after checking out and I loved how everywhere is like a mall!  Not kidding.  Stores and food are just everywhere.  It was pretty much heaven for a foodie shopaholic like myself.  

Our first encounter with plastic food was fun!  Total tourists.  But it is just so cute!

Quite a long train ride later we arrived in Kyoto.  We were checking into a traditional Japanese ryokan.  These places are small, usually run by families, cook you Japanese meals, and have all the traditional provisions.

I was pretty tickled to see my name in the welcome area, despite the spelling:)

When we checked in, a cute little Japanese grandma showed us our room and even dressed Valie.  Val felt like a total princess having someone dress her and tell her a million times how kawai (cute) she is.  Everyone got house clothes and slippers, it was so fun.  

      

After taking a brief rest, we headed out to explore Kyoto.

     

We got to see Nijo castle.  It was closed already, but still fun to see.  It had a giant moat!  So cool.

 

As soon as we took the pic with the castle it started to rain.  And by rain I mean poured buckets!  We wanted to see this cute light festival that went along the river though, so we got soaked.  We even stopped for umbrellas, but those only help so much.  If it had not been pouring the lights would have been much more enjoyable.  By the time we made it back to the ryokan we were exhausted.  No wonder people in Japan are so skinny, they walk like 20 miles a day!

And so ends part 1 of our adventure.  I will try to get more posted soon, but I have a little project I’m working on…baby girls 11th birthday!  So I may be hit and miss for a bit, but I will be back with lots more stories from Japan!  As a sneak peek, those stories may include a typhoon, Mt. Fuji, and Tokyo Disney!

Have a great day! xoxo

Diagon Alley @ Universal Studios

Here’s another Just Pics post! Diagon Alley!

Springfield @ Universal Studios

Today is a Just Pics day!  I hope you enjoy these shots from Springfield!

Day 5 and 6 Orlando Trip

Happy Friday everyone!  Today we are moving onto day 5 of our time in Orlando!

If you remember, we stayed out a little late the previous night, partying with McKesson.  So the 5:00am wake up call was definitely not welcome.  We had to load up all our junk into the car,  drive to Cabana Bay hotel, check in, and get on a bus to US before early park opening.  I was questioning my sanity at that point.  So was my family.

Val was pretty much zombie girl.

 

We made it through the park turnstiles around 6:40am and headed straight to the new Harry Potter area.  Along with every other person staying at a Universal hotel.

The reason I decided to book a room at the new Cabana Bay was strictly for the early access to Harry Potter.  I knew that without that extra hour, we would never get to ride Escape from Gringott’s, and I just had to ride it.

This line/mob of people is the line to get into Diagon Alley!  They started letting people in right at 7am and it we pretty much just stayed in this giant line in order to get in line for Gringott’s.

When we made it to the ride que the sign already said 105 minutes!  Haha, that would actually prove to be an under estimation.

We wove through a bunch of ropes, chains, and hallways until we ended up here.  Oh man!

 

I knew that the 105 minutes was how long it would take up to just get into the bank part.  The sad thing is that there is nothing really cool to look at when you are outside waiting.  We were all bored out of our minds and tired, very tired.

By the time we made it into the bank it was kind of hard to appreciate the amazing detail and how perfectly replicated Gringott’s was to the movies.  I’m glad I have some photos to jog my memory since I felt completely foggy that morning.

So the wait ended up being more like 140 minutes, ugh.  But compared to people arriving around 9am and waiting 5-6 hours, I guess I can’t complain too much.

Was it worth it?  Kind of.  I never would have felt satisfied if I didn’t get to experience it.  The atmosphere was uncanny and the ride itself was really cool.  But honestly, I prefer Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  My advice would be to wait until the hype dies down to make a trip to Diagon Alley.  Otherwise you may end up feeling underwhelmed by the new headlining ride.

After a mind numbing morning of waiting, a butter beer was just what the doctor ordered!  After that we rode a couple other rides and then headed back to the hotel and crashed.

But before zonking out I had to get a pic of my Hogwarts shirt!  It won’t be making an appearance again for a long time so it had to be documented:)

 

I think we slept for 3 hours!

Val was dying to swim in the cool pools at Cabana Bay, but we got rained out 😦

So we pretty much just explored the hotel, snacked in the dining hall, and waited for the rain to stop so we could go have dinner and re ride favorites at Universal.

 

I must have been suffering from party hangover still because I really can’t remember much from that night.  We went to Springfield, took a bunch of pics, had a Squishee, bought Cam some awesome shirts, and then I think we wandered Diagon Alley.

 

 

Don’t you just love this shirt?!  It had to be purchased.  This is one of my favorite Simpson quotes despite the fact that I love salad:)

 

Ok I think I’m remembering now.  Cam and Val shared some fish and chips at the Leaky Cauldron and I decided that I was going to eat ice-cream for dinner:)

 

There was a line to get in line at the Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour!  But this was a line worth waiting in.  They had unique flavors that all sounded fantastic.  I wound up getting sticky toffee pudding.  It was so good!  All buttery and brown sugary (drooling).

I really wanted to try caramel apple strudel, pistachio, and butter beer, but at $5 a cup I stuck to just the one.  Also, I didn’t want to repeat the previous night with another food coma.

After dinner/ice cream we rode the Hogwarts Express over to IOA wandered around there, made a candy stop and called it a night.

Moving on to Day 6!!

We were much more rested for early entry on our second day with the Universal guest privilege.  Not totally fresh, but enough to get by:).  IOA is way way way less crowded for early entry compared to Diagon Alley.  We arrived just after 7am, no crowd and basically walked on to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  We even had space to wander the shops and streets, it was so nice to feel non claustrophobic in Hogsmead.

We rode some coasters, despicable me, and whatever Val wanted to do since Cam and I were both pretty theme parked out.

I even let her get Dippin’ Dots at 9am.  It was the last full day of our trip so why not?!

We also figured that since it was our last day we should ride the water rides.  I am not a fan of water rides.  I am that girl wearing a poncho on Splash Mountain.  I do not care what people think of that.  Because I don’t like walking around humid Florida with wet underwear!  But that day I was throwing all caution to the wind, mostly since we planned on leaving immediately after:)

Before and After.  Yeah it’s hard to tell.  But let me tell you.  The raft ride will soak everyone from head to toe and everywhere in between!  Don’t even think you might get lucky and only get a little wet.  There is no lucky on that ride!

Haha, you can tell more with Cam.  Not an inch of dryness.

Back at the hotel I burned off some sugar while the afternoon down pour was going on.

 

But hooray it didn’t last as long as the past couple of days and we were able to get in some pool/beach time.  Cabana bay has a lazy river, two big pools, hot tub, and water slide!  But believe it or not, I think my kiddo liked all the games they had the most.

 

That evening was pretty relaxed.  We went back to Universal one last time to grab some dinner and ride the Simpson’s and the Hogwarts Express.  We actually closed the park and hung out in Springfield for quite awhile enjoying the atmosphere.  It was my favorite thing about the parks.

And so ends our time in Orlando.  Until we meet again…in October;)

Have a great weekend!  I’ll be back on Monday with my “just pics” posts for all the Harry Potter stuff and also Springfield!!

 

Day 4 Orlando

Wake up, wake up, wake up! Time to start the day with a run!  A sweaty, sweaty, sweaty run.  Day 4 in Orlando I did another long bout on the treadmill since I knew we were going to an end of conference party that night and there would be lots of fabulously fatty stuff I wanted to consume.  I was basically a puddle after that workout.  My entire outfit except the very hem of my shirt was drenched.  I grossed myself out, I can’t imagine what all the other gym goers were thinking.

When I got back to the room I found this.  Apparently she had gone to breakfast with Cam and then fell right back asleep, face down, zzzzz.  I decided not to disturb her and let her get a bit more sleep since I planned on staying out late having some F-U-N

 

When lunch time finally rolled around though, I was starving and had to wake sleeping beauty.  Oh how I loved not having to worry about cooking or even finding a restaurant.  McKesson is the man.  They had minions and mini desserts at lunch!

The rest of the afternoon Val and I goofed around, went swimming and waited for Dr. Dawson to finish up some conference stuff.  I was like an impatient child waiting for the evening to come because McKesson was hosting a party at Universal and it was going to be awesome.

When it was finally party time we got our cute lanyards and tickets and boarded a bus to Universal.  We had park to park access from 4-close so we hit up some rides before the dinner.  Thank goodness we rode the coasters before eating:)

Antojitos is one of the new restaurants on City Walk.  McKesson had a food set up in there that was very tasty.  But honestly I wish I had wandered around more before eating a giant plate of mexican food.  There were soooooo many food options, it was foodie heaven.

Love that they had a red carpet, adorbz.

They had everything from paella, to seafood, to bbq.  Oh but I loved the mini burger station and the hot dog station.  Probably just because we were in a theme park.

The food was so good I tried to restrain my sweet tooth.  But if it has coconut, I must eat it.  These little coconut cuties were so good, can’t believe I stuck to just one.

Thank goodness I did!  We found an incredible cheese display, another one of my favorite things. And don’t look now but yes…coconut shrimp!  Cheese and coconut shrimp in the Karaoke Lounge!  It doesn’t get any better.  See my crazy face?  That is pure foodie joy right there:)

K, by now i was literally going to explode.  Thank goodness there were balloon guys on stilts to distract me from eating anything else.

When the dinner party part was over we headed to Springfield to ride the Simpsons and then over to Diagon Alley to wonder a bit.  Diagon Alley was surprisingly uncrowded.  We were the only ones in the owlery!

  

We explored Knockturn Alley as well without crowds.  It was so cool and creepy and amazing.  I’ll do a post of just Harry Potter pics later.  I took a ton.

 

When the park closed I swear I was more full than when dinner ended.  It was definitely time to head back to the hotel and go into a food coma.  Which is exactly what I did.

Ta-da, end of Day 4!  Tomorrow we move over to the new Universal hotel Cabana Bay!  See ya then!

Day 3 Orlando

Hey there my fellow obsessors!  I hope your week is going well.  If it’s not, here’s your virtual hug xxxxx!  And you know what always makes me happy.  Food pics!  And guess what?  I have a bunch for ya:)

Day 3 in Orlando, Cam was up early and off to sessions all day so Val and I were left to our own devices to dig up some trouble.

While missy was passed out in the room I ran a few miles in the fitness center.

She seriously slept like 12 hours!  I finally woke her up, dressed her, and hauled her booty down to the convention center for lunch.  Steak is always a good motivator for Val:)

My motivation?  If you don’t know by now, this is clearly the very first post you have ever read of mine!  Oh the desserts!  I never eat dessert at lunch, but heck I just ran 6 miles, so why not?!

 

Oh wait.  Shut the front door.  They had a dude making ice cream with liquid nitrogen!

Can’t say no to that!

After Val and I were done eating and properly sugared up it was time to hit the pool.

These are the faces we make after 3…ok 4 desserts 🙂

 

It was the perfect afternoon at the pool with my chickie.  We even played her favorite trivia game.  Which is where we ask each other questions about our favorite things, hobbies, junk like that, and if you get it right you get dunked.  Yeah I know, you should not get dunked for getting it right, but Val made up the game when she was like 5 and she still loves to get dunked.  Anyway, my girl knows so much about me!  I think she might know about me than I know about me:)  Love that girl!

After swimming, I decided to round out my mileage for the day with an extra run.  Since I was going for a record of desserts eaten in one day I had to burn them off somehow.  So Val did some strength exercises in the room and showered while I sprinted it out in the gym one more time.

When I got back…she had popped out her last baby tooth!  She was doing burpees and said that it just came out!  I love that she tries to keep up her cheer/tumbling fitness while on vacation and I can’t believe that is how her last baby tooth came out.  That molar will forever be know as the burpee tooth.

So after I finally got it together and realized my baby would be getting her last visit from the tooth fairy.  It was time for dinner!

Haha, desserts first please.

Then shrimp of course.

 

Oh yeah, and I suppose I should eat some salad.

Ooooeee glad I did, that was some tasty salad!  I must make salad with pineapple and blue cheese now.  It was so good.

We lingered for awhile until I thought Cam was going to fall asleep in the banquet hall.  Poor guy he literally crashed at 8pm and didn’t budge until the next day.

Ah I almost forgot to tell you!  Cam attended a meeting that day for IPC and they had a raffle for 3 trips and he won one!!  No Joke! A trip to Miami.  What a day.  Swimming, 10 miles, 10 desserts, last baby tooth, and a trip to Miami!  What are we going to do next Val?

Froyo?  Sounds like a plan.  Add it to the dessert pile.

And a trip to the arcade to top it off.  Don’t tell Daddy we spent $10 playing crappy games, only to get a prize worth a quarter.  Shhh he was passed out upstairs, he’ll never know 😉

 

 

So ends our day hanging out at the hotel/conference.  Stay tuned tomorrow for more Dawson antics!

Day 2 Orlando/Universal

Our second day in Orlando, we decided to hit up Universal early in the morning since Cam had meetings in the afternoon.  It was definitely an early wake up call since we were still on Utah time.  Riding simulators and coasters when your body thinks it’s 6am, not always the best plan.

But Miss Val just loved the Despicable Me ride and I have to say it is pretty cute and funny.  This ride always had a massive line so you have to ride it early in the morning unless you don’t mind 90 minute waits.

My favorite ride had to be the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket.  Everyone gets to pick their own song to play while they ride, so fun.  We rode this one back to back times since there was zero line, score:)

A fun spot we found was the Fievel Goes West play area.  I’m sure it was meant for little kiddos, but I’m really immature and loved it.  There are lots of water features and tons of things to climb.  I was dying to climb all the ropes, but alas…wore a dress and didn’t feel like flashing the other mom’s.

Val and I did do the water slide though!

Ok, time for some Spongebob!  I just love how Spongebob is cute, gross, and ridiculous all at the same time.  I mean come on, he lives in a pineapple and has a pet snail named Gary.  How can you not love that?:)

  

Selfie!

One thing I found interesting about Universal is that the parades don’t actually move.  They just roll out to an open space and do a little show.  Kinda weird, but I don’t think many people come to Universal for parades so they require less crowd disbursement.  Unlike Disney, where parades require an overnight campout.

I loved how the characters just came down from their floats after the “parade” and did pictures.  OMG if Disney attempted that, there would be riots in the street for sure!  Haha, I can just see it.  It’d be like black friday and the $99 laptop would be a picture with Anna and Elsa!!

Totally went off track there for a moment, sorry.  Back to more characters!

You would not believe how excited I was when I saw Side Show Bob chillin’ by the graffiti wall.  He was the first Simpson character we saw and yeah…I bounded toward him like a crazy person.

And then oh my goodness! Homer and Lisa!  (Insert squeal of delight here) I adore Lisa Simpson.  I told her that I want to be just like her when I grow up:)

They were standing outside of the Simpson RV!  And guess what?  The RV actually works and moves around the park!

Alright, so much excitement.  Carbs were needed.  PB and J cupcake!

Universal really knows how to set a scene.  The streets were so much fun to explore.  We even found the perfect photo op for Mr. Pharmacist:)

I’m just tossing a bunch of random photos right in the middle of this blog post, because I can:)  Do you like my blue tongue?!  Blue raspberry Jolly Ranchers had to be eaten while waiting in lines.

We didn’t do many shows at the park, but if there is anything involving animals, I must see it.  The animal show was cute, but it made me miss my little fur baby.  So Val and I loved on this cutie after the show.

After we had thoroughly worn ourselves out that morning it was time to head back to the hotel/conference.

I blogged about McKesson last year and how family friendly they are.  They give all family members badges and allow them to attend everything.  Not that Val and I wanted to sit through CE stuff or sessions on pharmacy things we know nothing about, but it’s cool to know you can hang out with family.

Oh man, the best thing about McKesson though…the food!  That night we went to an open floor/party event and it was way fun.  Cam was running around talking, getting info, being productive, while Val and I  were ummm, eating everything in site.

Whoever decided on the potato chip nacho bar, they need a raise.

   

Ah and a cheese area!  Heaven.

I did eat some veggies too.  They had chinese take out boxes for salad.  How darn cute is that?!  And if the drinks are green they must be healthy right?

One box of salad, done.  Desserts? Yes please!

On our way back to the room we stopped at the Koi pond.  This would become a theme for pretty much every time we left the room.  Val loved those dumb fish.  Haha, I suppose it’s the little things in life that can bring the most joy.

See ya tomorrow! XO

Orlando/Universal Studios Day 1

Hey there stranger!  I hope you are ready for a marathon of blogging from yours truly!  I am back from our trip to Orlando and I have tons to tell you!  This trip was mostly business for my hubby, but we managed to squeeze in quite a bit of fun as well. Our first day in Orlando was just registration for Cam’s conference so we headed to Universal right after to hit up all the awesome attractions. Val had super cute Simpson’s nails to match the new Springfield that opened up not too long ago.  I actually think I was equally excited about Springfield as I was for Diagon Alley, go figure. We went to Island’s Of Adventure first.  Hit up the coasters and super hero rides.  Then we moved over to the Jurassic Park area.  Since my girly just finished paleontology camp, she was very into the whole theme. The Jurassic Park indoor area was super crowded since it decided to pour rain.  So Val explored all the little thingies they had.  She even cross bred herself with a dinosaur.  Haha, kind of creepy, but she was fully entertained:) Ok, now I’m going to skip ahead to Springfield over at Universal Studios because I’m lazy and don’t want to rearrange my pics:).  We took the Hogwarts Express over to US, OMG I can’t wait to tell ya about that…so cool!  But first… I just loved how they did Springfield!  There are so many details and the humor is fantastic.  I took lots of pics and I’m planning on a whole post just for Simpson’s pics.  But for now I will just highlight our afternoon. We had a late lunch on Fast Food Blvd which had restaurants like Krusty Burger, the Frying Dutchman, and Moe’s Tavern.  We all took a turn at the Love Tester!  Ummmm I got “Cold Fish”!  Clearly this is a very smart machine since I am anything but a casanova:) I may not be romantic but there is one thing I know…DESSERTS!  Look at this pink glazed beauty!  And let me tell you, it was delicious.  I may or may not have eaten 3/4 of this myself. Oh yes, and we had to order The Clogger!  It’s basically a double cheese burger with bacon on steroids. This is definitely a meal to share.  I forgot to get a shot of our Buzz Cola!  It’s just cherry coke, but you get to feel all special drinking it in Moe’s Tavern. Fittingly we rode the Twirl N’ Hurl right after 🙂 There are tons of fun photo ops in Springfield!  I enjoyed taking pictures and just looking around more than the actual rides. Oh my child.  We are moving into the crazy pose/face stage.  Gotta love her. It really was like walking into a cartoon. Alrighty, moving along.  Let’s go back to that whole Hogwarts Express thing!  The London facade was perfect!  It looked so much like the movie.  You scan your park ticket at the station since you have to have a park hopper to ride and then make your way to the platform.  I have to say, this is the most clever way to milk more money out of vacationers that I have ever seen!  Kudos to the dude/dudette that thought up this genius plan. And look at this sign!  I was jumping up and down.  It was just so exciting and felt so real!  I had to explain the sign to my husband and kid!  How could they have not remembered!  What a travesty 🙂 When we finally got to Platform 9 3/4 I was literally spazing out.  Seeing the Hogwarts Express pulling up to the platform was insanely cool! I took a little video while I was getting on the train for the first time.  Please ignore my high pitched excited voice.  I know it’s annoying, but I just can’t help myself.  I think my voice goes up an octave when I ‘m trying to contain excitement but it’s trying to explode out of me. Ok, a few more Harry Potter pics. Grimmauld Place! And of course a frozen Butterbeer.  Mmmmm so good.  Especially when the cream on top gets all frozen like ice cream about half way through your drinking experience and you just want to smash your face in it.  Oh wait, that’s just me…K…well you should really try it 🙂 Have I mentioned how much I love this little nugget?  Sometimes a mama just has to snap random pics of their babies adorableness. Eeeeeee! It’s the Night Bus!!  Oh my goodness they should make this a ride someday! And lastly for today…Honeydukes! I could stare at this wall all day. I bought some Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans to entertain us while waiting in lines.  An excellent way to pass the time.  I however forgot that these were “Every Flavor” for the first few candies and freaked out when I thought I was going to be eating peach and it wound up being spaghetti.  GROSS!  And the flavor just lingered in my mouth, ewe. I didn’t get a pic of the spaghetti one but I did get shots of these two.  The one on the left is dish soap and the one on the right was some kind of vegetable soup or something.  See the tiny nibble?  Yeah, that’s how I went about eating these. That is all I have for today! Tune in tomorrow for more Universal Studios antics! Hope you have a wonderful Monday!!