Beach & Baby

It's time for the second half of our Spring Break vaca.  Seeing how it was a lot of the same...sun, sand, and swimming, I'm thinking I can squeeze all into one post.

Oh, and did I mention, the cutest baby alive is also in this post?  Call me biased, but I am one adoring Aunt right now.

We arrived to Jacksonville Beach late afternoon on Tuesday.  After a short drive of resting our weary legs, the kiddos were ready to hop in the hotel pool.  As soon as we got checked in, that's exactly what we did.

I waited poolside, as patiently as I could, for Uncle Jon and Aunt Bailee to give us the heads up that they were on the way.  I was pretty much dying to meet the newest Dumbacher...baby Brecken.

His arrival did not disappoint. He is as darling, squishy, and perfect as I imagined him.  The kiddos were adoring their new little cousin.  I couldn't help but see the resemblance in Brecken and baby Jack.  We pulled up a few pictures from the blog and the similarities were uncanny and everyone agreed.

The rest of the week was spent pretty much the same way.  We would take a dip in the pool with lots of playful shenanigans.

And then enjoy the beach for a bit.

And then find somewhere local to dine for lunch.

And each day, I waited with bated breath for Jon to get off work, bring Bailee and the baby, and come hang with us before we carted everyone off to dinner.  The cherry on top of beautiful days.

After a couple days of this, {and my girl's first, and hopefully ever, sunburn} I decided we needed to give something other than the pool and beach a try.

And that is how we ended up at JumpStreet.  All of the Florida kids were in school, so we basically had the entire joint to ourselves.  I loved watching my trio romp around and interact...it's rare that we all get this quality time together without any distractions.

It was definitely hard to leave this vacation and even harder to settle back into reality at home.  I think it's fair to say we all have a bit of summer fever...and a tad bit of baby fever...eeek!

The amazing news is, summer vacation is only a few short weeks away and I will be getting my baby fix in May.  I get to spend a whole week watching Brecken while his Mommy returns to work to finish up the school year.  I mean pinch me!

Now, I'm off to prepare for all the wonderful madness that the rest of April brings...wahw wahw wahw...vacation is over.

Mischief Managed

Hello Muggles! 

I'm back with part two of Universal Studios Orlando.  I hope you are ready for a little more "Mischief Managed".  I'm feeling mighty Harry Potter-ish these days as I craft away on Jack's party and find myself immersed in all these pictures.

And although we did re-visit and enjoy a second day of the Wizarding World, we also discovered a few other faves in the park.

We headed out for the park around 8:30 am.  Grandma arrived from her Jacksonville visit the night before so, as you can imagine, the kids were elated and ready to show her EVERYTHING!  

The kids grabbed their wands and we caught the bus straight from the hotel to the park gates.

Universal...here we come!

A park favorite for day 2 was Seuss Landing.  Imagine all things Dr Seuss and rides just the right size for the girls.  We enjoyed a plethora of who's-its and thing-a-ma-bobs and the girls were totally in their element.

And in case you are wondering where big brother was, well, this was not his element, and fairly so.  He was back to all things Harry Potter with Sophia and enjoying it just as much the second time around.

After a few spins around Suess-ville, we met back up with those wizarding warlocks so Jack could finally give Grandma an official tour of Hogsmead and Diagon Alley.

They both had been anticipating this part of the trip for quite a while.

On day two we enjoyed lunch at the Leaky Cauldron.  Apparently everyone else in the park did also...the line was insane.  However, the fish and chips were very worth the wait and truly thematic.

We spent the spent the rest of our day, and well into the night, hopping on every ride we had missed the day before.  And then going back for seconds.  Favorites were E.T., Race Through New York, and the Minions. 

We even caught the Animal Actors Show, which was a joy for all the kids.

We literally closed the park down with a 9:00 pm exit.  If you are doing the math, that was an over 12 hour day!  I am totally impressed with our stamina.  We have never made it that long at any theme park.  We are growing up around here.

As you can imagine, we literally fell in to bed, but only after I made everyone shower off all of those nasty germs.  Both girls snuggled in tight with all the new animals they had acquired over the pst two days.  

What is it with little girls and stuffed creatures?  I'm just so thrilled to bring all this stuff back home with me...not!

I can thankfully say, everyone slept in the next morning.  Next we were off to Jax Beach to meet my new favorite BaBy!

A Wizarding World

I have been immersed in all things magical lately seeing as how my eldest is hosting a Harry Potter birthday celebration in just a few short weeks.  Considering, I haven't read the books or even watched the movies, I needed some inspiration.  

Not too mention, we had promised Jack a trip to Universal Studios {Harry Potter world} if he completed the novels.  Two years later and a second round of reading all 7 books we finally made good on our promise.  The timing was impeccable, I needed some guidance to get this party rolling and hello, its SpRiNG BrEaK!

We spent three nights and two days at Universal in Orlando.  We followed it up with what I like to consider a "real vacation" on Jacksonville Beach to meet Uncle Jon & Aunt Bailee's newest addition...baby Brecken.  I am madly in love, but more on that a couple posts later.

We left for Orlando early Saturday morning.  The drive was no joke.  I think we were all climbing the windows that last leg.  But we made it, got settled in right away at the Cabana Bay Resort, and hit the pool.

There is nothing like Florida sunshine after a long road trip.

Jack got the shock of a lifetime when his bestie from babyhood popped up in the hotel lobby.  It was pure torcher keeping the secret from the kids, but somehow us Mommies did it.  The surprise and elation was priceless.  Both Jack and Sophia have April birthdays and LOVE Harry Potter so Cristina and I worked behind the scenes to pull it off.

Sunday morning, everyone was up and ready to hit the park.  We all donned our Harry Potter garb and we were off.

You will be seeing this attire again at Jack's party...and then, more than likely, never again.  At least for me anyway.

Being a true muggle, I had no idea what to expect.  In fact my expectations, weren't all that high.  But I can't even being to tell you how in awe I was of Diagon Alley.  I felt like I had been transported into the book {you know that one I've never actually read, but heard plenty about}.  It was easy to see why these stories are so captivating.

Our first stop was Ollivander's Wands.  Every wizard must have a wand.  We had an entire experience with the wizard himself, floating books, and some sort of lightning.  Then it was off to choose our own wands.  Or as they say, "let the wands choose us".

We spent an exceptional amount of time using our interactive wands around the alley.  My little wizards were casting spells left and right.

Before the girls lost complete interest, Clay and I swooped them up to take them for some "little kid" fun in the park.  Cristina took care of the two Harry Potter maniacs back at Diagon Alley.

We met up again just in time for lunch.  We hopped on the Hogwarts Express and headed over to Hogsmead....a whole other Harry Potter village awaited us.

The train ride was very entertaining and our destination was nothing short of amazing, once again.  I had to pick my jaw up from the castle floor.  Not a detail missed.

We ate lunch at Three Broomsticks and then caught a few rides.

For fear of wiping my little girls out too much, I opted to take them back to the hotel for a rest.  Daddy and the besties hit more rides and visited more Harry Potter happenings.  It was a must to make the most out of the day at the park.

The girls spent the rest of their evening enjoying the pool and dining with Daddy.  Nothing makes my water babies happier.  So it was super easy to slip off guilt free and enjoy an evening with Jack.

Cristina and I treated the besties to the Blue Man Group Show.  They loved it and I personally could have done with it being about an hour shorter.  There is only so much banging and paint splat I can handle.

We closed the park down with some fun hanging out time.  It was great to let Jack and Sophia basically have the run of the place.  Their excitement was certainly contagious.

Day one and half down...stay tuned for number two!