We were lucky to have my mom and stepdad stop through town on their way to my mom's high school reunion and soaked up some time with them! I have been awful about taking pictures so please forgive the lack of pictures for some of this. :/ They were only here for a night, but we sure enjoyed our time with them.
The next day we packed up and headed to St Pete for my little sister's 10th birthday party! How can she be 10 years old??!
Matt was able to come with us which was so nice! It's the first family event since we've moved that he's been able to attend so that was a nice change. Our good friend, Armand, is staying with the Johnson crew in St Pete this month while he does an away rotation so we were able to see him and get him settled in this weekend as well. It was a really nice weekend and we enjoyed every moment with these folks!
On Tuesday Nina (Matt's mom) arrived in town to spend a week with us! We had so much fun while she was here. Matt and I planned a little getaway while Nina was here to spend some time with John. Matt took two days of personal leave and we were off to have an adult trip to Disney for a couple of days (gotta make those season passes worth it right??).
We spent the first day at Epcot and had a brief minute at Magic Kingdom.
Epcot was a lot of fun, but had it's highs and lows. Highs first. We went to get in line for a ride called Soarin' which is like the must do ride of Epcot. We decided to get a snack before getting in line because the wait time was 65 minutes. Ick. As we went to get in line the cast member informed us that you couldn't bring any food or drinks into the line so we stood right by the entrance politely shoving food down our throats to try and get in line as quickly as possible. Another cast member walked up to us and told us to slow down and follow her and then gave us the VIP access to the ride. She walked us outside and directly into the front of the line and into the best seats on the ride. Apparently they do this twice a day on this ride, and we were the chosen ones for the morning! It really knocked us out. We just felt so appreciative and special.
The lows...well I learned that I'm claustrophobic. Never have known myself to be claustrophobic, but I tried to ride some astronaut training simulator thing and made an all out spectacle of myself. It was so weird because somewhere in my mind I knew that I should be humiliated by my panicking, but I didn't care. The ride hadn't started yet, but when they were about to shut the doors and lock me in this tiny fake rocket, I started crying and yelling things like "God be with me! Someone please get me out of here!" Matt looked at me with a little smile at first thinking I was kidding and then realized I was possibly having a psychotic break and was able to get the attention of a cast member to left us off of the ride. It's funny now, but only kind of. As our days went on at theme parks, I have learned that I realllllllllly don't like a ride that has a seatbelt or harness that you can't control. I mean they really give me anxiety! But I digress....
We spent all day at Epcot! We missed our little poopsiedo (aka: John), but it was so nice to run around a park like kids for a couple of days. Matt has never had the opportunity to ride Space Mountain so when the rain started pouring down, we decided we might as well hop on the monorail and head to Magic Kingdom to check that one off the list! I hear that it was pretty fun afterall. I rode it, but closed my eyes and pretended I was somewhere else. Have I mentioned that I like Disney for Mickey Mouse and not roller coasters?
We headed back to Epcot and had a delicious dinner at Italy! It was definitely a fabulous day.
Day two of mom and dad days was spent at Hollywood Studios. We had a phenomenal time there as well!
A little singing in the rain!
The guilt did set in when we saw these fella and knew how much John would have LOVED to see Jake from Jake and the Never Land Pirates (and meeeeeeee).
But I definitely think I made up for it by wearing this hat for his enjoyment. That's a scary picture isn't it?
We headed home from Hollywood Studios to reunite with Nina and John and our weekend guest, Armand! We were so excited to have both of them here for the weekend!!
Friday night, we ate dinner out and Saturday morning headed straight for the beach. It was weird to read all about our MS friends wearing boots and sweaters while we were sweating on the beach, but I guess we'll get used to it eventually.
Beach Bum
Saturday afternoon was filled with mass and Chipotle. I'm pretty sure Matt thought it was the best day of his life. Surfing, mass, Chipotle, and great company...it was a pretty dern good day!
Saturday night we debated whether or not, we should head to Universal Studios while Armand was here to experience Harry Potter World. We all love HP and with a little convincing from everyone I finally agreed to it. (Yes I was the hold up, but I'm also the one who pays our bills so naturally I get more concerned than the others.)
Man oh man! The rest of these pictures will be of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. If you're a fan, you must go! Ah-mazing! (I felt like I was cheating on Disney a little bit, but I still give Disney a higher score for efficiency and cost...Universal charges for a lot of stuff once you get in the park. Boo to that Universal!)
We played Harry, Hermoine, and Ron for the day! Totally pitiful, I know.
I'm pretty sure our excitement at this sight was tangible.
Hogwarts. Boom.
The Book of Monsters!
So excited to try Butter Beer!
Lunch at the Three Broom Sticks!
The food was really good! I was surprised!
Need I say more?
Zonkos! (the joke shop)
Hagrid's House
I took a lot of pictures inside the castle, but they didn't turn out all that well because it was so dark. It was amazing and the ride was the coolest thing any of us have ever been on! It was even a harness ride and I loved it!
We spent over 4 hours in HP World which is pretty long considering that it's pretty small. We tried to squeeze the rest of the park in over the afternoon and did fairly well!
These two...
Just in case a talent scout reads this blog, here's my reaction to the 2 awards I received from Matt while we were there.
World's Greatest Girlfriend and Mom
This is my shocked face.
This is my humble face.
And that's all folks! We've had tons of fun and are now going to go to bed for at least 2 weeks to catch up!
Thanks to all of our family and friends for making the trip over to see us!