Avalanche!!!

We're right in the middle of Avalanche Ranch VBS. We spent all day Saturday setting up. (Yeah, that's the Saturday following the midnight release party. No, I don't want to talk about how I forgot that detail when I picked VBS dates.) I didn't take as many pictures of the set-up this year, but it's scaled back anyway because until last week, I thought I had only 12 kids participating!! I probably would have gone for more if I had known that I'd nearly triple that number, but it's the message that counts, not the decor! I'll add more pics of the fun later this week, but here's a few of the basics.

I really do love teaching VBS. It's a lot of work, but it's completely worth it. Just hard to remember that when you are as tired as I am right now!!!

And then, there were seven....

After years of being Potter fans, our journey with Harry ended on Saturday morning at 12:01 AM. That's when the seventh and final Harry Potter book was released. We had to continue our tradition of dressing up and going to the midnight release party, so I spent quite a bit of time sewing this past week. First, I created two Gryffindor quidditch costumes for the kids. I TRIED to tell them that Oliver Wood and Ginny Weasley never played on the team together, but did they care?? I think not.

Here's our "Oliver" bracing to catch the quaffle he helped me make - felt, foam tape, and a styrofoam ball, with sharpie stitches. Let me tell you, that thing was HARD if you missed the catch. Of course, I should have realized I needed to make it play-able! You can't just have a prop when you're Nicky - you have to USE it!
Kai, as Ginny Weasley, also helped make her prop, the Golden Snitch. She got tons of compliments on it at the party - but whenever either of them wanted to do something (which was most of the time) guess who got to carry the balls??
After all that sewing, I had to be the wizarding dressmaker, Madame Malkin. Best of all, my costume was NO sewing required! (40% off all Slytherin Apparel!)
Scott's hilarious costume (which got him noticed for sure at the party!) was a Chudley Cannons fan. He dressed up a la Super Fan - with a quidditch twist. Too bad even the book mentioned how BAD the Cannons are!! But, Ron Weasley and Scott agree "Let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best."

The crowd at this year's party was unbelievable. We got there when there were just a few people wandering around.... but soon....And that's just a tiny fraction of the people there. We were in group 16 to line up for the book (and each group had about 20 people in it). BUT. We were there EARLY. There were at least 50 groups total - and that's just the people with wristbands - some people were there with friends or family who were buying the book (we had three wristbands and five people ourselves).

Still, we enjoyed the dancing with live music at Platform 3/4...

And Nicky made a replica of Hogwarts while the girls made wizard clocks.
We all played games, entered the costume contest (lost, but oh well), watched potions being created, and waited.... and waited.... and FINALLY got called to get in line and around 1:30AM....
Ka-ching! The girls faces when the books were finally on the counter say it all...

Now, I DID finish reading that night. And Scott finished on Sunday. But I won't give a detailed spoilery review here. Suffice to say:

It was absolutely everything it should be. The book felt like an old friend on the first reading - someone you already knew, but were just catching up with. Everything made perfect sense, and all the pieces fell into place. And while it's astronomically unlikely that she will ever see this, I just have to say it.

Thank you, Jo. It's been wonderful.

The Great Cousin Visit Day Four

We spent our last day together at Hershey's Chocolate World. We went to the 3-D show, on the Great American Chocolate Tour, and did the one thing I think was the highlight of Faith's WHOLE trip - we "made" Hershey kisses. Faith is a kiss FIEND, and she was so excited to get to work on the kiss production line. She kept saying "I made kisses all by my own self!"


Even Juli was an honorary worker! (Still smiling!!)
Then, we heard singing. A chef had broken into song and then asked for a volunteer to tell their favorite Hershey's topping and get a free cupcake decorated with that topping. Guess who he picked??

Yup! Baby Faith! And what did she pick? Kisses, of course!
Lucky for everyone else, she shared!

Finally, we had a complete surprise on the way home - we were driving down the highway, when what should we see but the Knight Bus, headed to NYC for the release of Harry Potter Seven!!! How cool is that??? Thanks, sis, for driving like crazy just to let us "stalk" the Knight Bus! You ROCK!

The Great Cousin Visit Day Three

On our third day, we headed for Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom. Let me take a moment here to talk to you about my youngest niece, Juli. This was Juli at the start of a LONG, HOT day at Dorney. She was in her stroller, giggling and laughing, with big beautiful eyes. Stay tuned for updates... Obviously, we rode on a lot of rides. But it's WHO we rode with that made all the difference. Cyndy got to ride with Barry - a rarity when you're parents to young children.

Hannah, Nicky, Faith and Kairi got to ride together. A rarity when you live far away from your cousins.

And Aunt Jenn (that's me) got to ride with Baby Juli. Who, as you'll notice in this update is STILL laughing and smiling. Faith LOVED the Little Laser and the Dragon Coaster. Hannah rode with her on the Little Laser, but I got to ride with her on the Dragon Coaster... and hear her giggling and shrieking with delight all the way around. Too cool.By then, everyone was pretty hot. So it was off to Wildwater Kingdom, after a picnic lunch in the parking lot.

Hannah loved each new attraction in the water park so much, she never wanted to move on to the next one - and then she wouldn't want to leave that one! She's such a daredevil, too - she has no fear, and went on waterslides that I'd never attempt!

Baby Faith was a little sunbeam once we hit the water - and no, I could never have caught her in that sunglow of light if I had tried for a million years - but by accident, all sorts of photo effects happen.


Uncle Scott was thrilled to pieces to take Baby Faith everywhere. He thinks she's just so neat - like the way she told him this waterfall was just like it was "waining".

Faith had a blast in the kiddie fountain area. She liked to stomp on the water to stop it from spraying, and then let it spray up in her face and run away shaking off.

Even Juli (STILL smiling!) got in on the action. Is that not the CUTEST bathing suit you've ever seen??I just love this picture of Hannah and Barry. No explanation necessary! And that brings us to the end of our very busy day two. And where's Juli??? You guessed it! Still in her stroller, still smiling and laughing and being a complete sweetheart. You NEVER met such a happy baby!!

The Great Cousin Visit Day Two

On the second day of our family visit, we went to church, and then Cyndy and I worked on a very special housewarming present she had planned for me. I knew my bedroom would be the LAST room in the house I wasted time on, and said so on this blog several months ago. So, she planned to make me a soothing and beautiful beach themed room (I ADORE the beach) and on Sunday, I helped arrange all of the beautiful things she had brought me (and distress some of my existing furniture). She did SUCH a beautiful job! I love my new room!!

Then, we had yummy pulled pork BBQ for dinner, followed by "THE WORLD'S LARGEST SUNDAE BAR!!!" (At least, that's what the kids thought it was....

We ended the evening with some pinochle. Scott's playing was SOOOO boring, it even put Baby Juli to sleep! Just kidding! We played partner's best, and both sets of married couples won once. Sounds fair to me!