rainy day

Well the rain was falling and I had kids home all day to entertain. What to do what to do. insert idea bulb here

I decided to make swiss bread from scratch. I thought I made bread all the time, but according to Scott I make rolls all the time which is totally different. The little ones loved the idea. The big ones could have cared less. It did turn out pretty if I may say so.

Because it only lasted 1 and 1/2 days I'm pretty sure it tasted as good as it looked.

I realized I like making bread. I like making things from scratch, turning nothing into something beautiful. Especially baking. It soothes me, makes me feel like I can do something great. It is just bread but its something I created, and I can talk and teach my children as I do it. It takes me back to what it would be like in the old days.

Now I probably wont be making bread everyday but I might just make it a little more often.

Harry Potter World

If you are any kind of Harry Potter fan you could appreciate Harry Potter world. It was pretty cool. They covered all the highlights. there was even a moaning Myrtle in the bathroom.

We tried the butterbeer and it was pretty delicious. A lot like cream soda, very sweet so you could only drink one. Don't worry they were all nonalcoholic. the pumpkin juice was a little weird. It tasted a lot like cold mulled cider. So if it was hot it would probably be much better.

I think the group favorite was the Olivander wand experience. those of you who aren't familiar with Harry Potter. Olivander is the wand merchant. He has you try wands until you find the one that fits you. So the store at Universal was the same type of thing, complete with effects. William was awed. Of course they all had to get their own wands after that. Scott and I were hesitant to purchase them. (they were a little pricey) but considering it was their one souvenir for the whole trip we caved with strict conditions. In the end we were glad we did. It totally made their day.

My personal favorite was the dueling dragon ride. The rest of the crew loved the actual Harry Potter simulator ride. i have to admit it was pretty awesome but a little intense for me. William got to ride it twice even though technically he wasn't tall enough to go on it. (It all depended on who and if they measured him.)I have to admit we spent the most time in Harry Potter world while were at Universal studios, even though we spent 2 days there. We didn't even make it over to the super hero area.

The day was great and the weather was nice and the longest we had to wait for a ride was 20 minutes. Mostly 5-10 min.

Now the only problem is Scott promised them I would make them Hogwarts robes when we got home. So it looks like I finally have a sewing project for sewing class.

more fun on the ship

Here are a few miscellaneous pics from the ship. Brennen with his favorite meal BROCCOLI the server thought it was so funny that he liked it so much, they made sure to bring him a big bowl every meal.

*The fun animals they made out of the towels everyday.

*The picture of "squirt" was a tile mosaic. Just another way to show you Disney's attention to detail.

*Scott's birthday celebration.

*Fun things like mini golf on the boat. Sadly we didn't have time to play one round.

All in all the cruise was awesome! We were all sad to leave. Brennen almost cried when we stepped off for the last time. They all complained. "I don't want to leave the boat."

The only thing that cheered them up was the fact that we were going to Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure. ie Harry Potter world next.

Cast Away Cay

The one hiccup in our trip was the weather at Cast Away Cay. The island was beautiful and ideal for playing in the sun on the pristine white beaches. However there was no sun. I was quite disappointed but you can't control the weather.

We joked that Disney can't control the weather, even though they control almost everything else. It was cold and windy. By the time we were ready to pull out of port it was raining. Luckily there was so much to do on the boat that we didn't really care.

We did venture out but not for long. I guess that means we just have to go back.

Water on the boat

Here is us just having fun with the water on the boat. Of course we all loved it. They had an area for every age which was great. They had 3 water slides. One called the AQUADUCK. A clear tube slide that goes from the uppermost part of the boat out off of the boat so you are over the ocean and around the whole boat. It was pretty cool.
While Ellie and I were in line to go down the slide Tom Bergeron from Americas Funniest Videos (one of our favorite shows!!!) was filming on the slide so we got to meet him. That was pretty cool. Later that day when Scott and I were in the adult only section they asked us to be filmed in the pool for their season finale episode. That was one of Scott's highlights. We got free T-shirts. Each time we wore them we got tons of comments and questions.

Nassau

More learning in Nassau.
We went to fort Charlotte to check out more of the history of the Island. Scott the history buff always sneaking things like this in our trips. William actually loved it. He thought the cannons and the dungon were the coolest things. He had is eye out for dead bodies. To his disappointment there were none. He was sure he saw blood on the walls though. (actually it was rust from iron bars, braces, and hooks that once used to be.) Ellie tried to explain that to him over and over but he knew better. It was definitely blood. Such a boy.
The island is really beautiful and the people are funny, although I don't think I would like to live there.
The most amazing thing to me was that the people carved all these spaces out of solid rock. Even this super steep staircase and passage way was carved out of solid rock.