It snowed!

We went from nice Florida weather to rain and then to snow!  It snowed on Friday and then we woke up to snow on Saturday.  I'm glad we didn't have to go anywhere because people cannot drive in the snow in St. George.  

It was melted by Saturday afternoon.

Flying Home

We had a really early flight home.  We woke up at 3:30 am to get to the airport in time to return the rental car and get through security.  We flew from Orlando to Phoenix and then from Phoenix to St. George.  We slept on the plane to Phoenix, which actually had a lot of legroom so it was nice.

Courtney got a stuffed T-Rex at Universal but he wouldn't fit in her bag so she put him in her backpack.  But he needed to have his head out.  It was hilarious!

By the time we landed in Phoenix we were super tired.  We got breakfast and waited for our flight to St. George to board.  It made for a long morning but we were home by around noon.

Bryan was able to go to work for half a day and not have to use a vacation day, so that was a plus.  It also helped get him back in the swing of things after a vacation, so that was another plus.

But flying into St. George has ruined us for other flights.  It was so nice and convenient.  It was a great trip and I am glad we were able to get away!

Universal Studios and Island of Adventure

Wednesday morning we woke up and went to Universal Studios.  Courtney had been there the week before so she was our guide.  It didn't feel too crowded to me but there were quite a few people.  We had to wear masks and socially distant, but they would squirt your hands with sanitizer before each ride instead of having to sanitize each ride after each rider.  I felt it was better than Fun Spot when they took the time to sanitize.

We had park hopper tickets but started in the Universal Studios part of the park.  There weren't as many people and there weren't as many rides, but we had a great time getting on rides easily.  We rode on a few rides and then went on the Simpson ride, which did Bryan in.  It was a rough virtual ride and I thought Bryan was going to lose it.  After that ride, he decided that he is going to retire from rollercoaster riding.  I don't blame him because it was a rough ride!

We went to Diagon Alley and got some frozen Butterbeer.  There was a huge long line to get the Butterbeer.  I had the Universal Studios app and had noticed that it had a payment button.  I checked it out and realized that we could order the Butterbeer (or any food for that matter), pay for it on the app, and then we could go and immediately pick it up.  So we tried it.  I placed the order and then waited for a little bit.  I decided to check to see if our order was ready and when I went to the front of the long line, the woman asked what I needed.  I told her that I had an online order and she said it was ready.  So we got to skip the line and drink our amazing frozen Butterbeer.

When we finished getting our frozen Butterbeer, we loaded on the Hogwarts Express to get to the Island of Adventure.  The line was super short and it was a cool train ride.


There were a lot of rides on the Island of Adventure. I loved the Harry Potter rides but we never got on the Hagrid ride.  You had to get a virtual ticket and we tried but couldn't ever get one.  It was so annoying.  We ate at Captain America's cafe, rode on the Hulk ride (that went upside down a ton of times, it was so fun), and rode a bunch of other rides.  We tried to go on the pterodactyl ride but it was for little kids and we were too tall.  It looked like a nice, calm ride though.

We went to Seuss land, although the rides were mostly for kids.  The pipes told you a story if you listened long enough.  We went on a ride through all the different stories and when we got over the water and looked down, there was a real turtle swimming in the water.  It was so cool!

My favorite Seuss book growing up was (and still is) "And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street" (which is now banned so I'm glad I have a copy already).  I was thrilled to find that I was on Mulberry Street!!

We went to Hogsmead and went to Diagon Alley.  They had Knockturn Alley and we went to Borgin & Burkes.  It was a creepy shop but fun to look at all the Slitherine-inspired stuff there.


When we were ready to go home we got back on the Hogwarts Express to get back to Universal where our car was.  It was a really long line but the video they show was fun to watch. I was impressed by how authentic everything was with regard to Hogwarts.  The castle was cool and the ride that took you through the castle was amazing.


By the time we finished on the second train ride, we were ready to go.  Our feet were tired and we were exhausted.  We met Mike and Lisa at Cheesecake Factory for a "date night" with Courtney tagging along.  It was fun and the food was good.

We went back to the townhome to get things packed up and ready to leave the next morning.  We had an early flight so we wanted to get some rest.

Disney Springs and the pool

Tuesday morning we went to Disney Springs to look around. Bryan can say that he has been to Disney World, he just doesn’t have to say that he went to any of the parks. 😂

After getting our temperatures checked and going through a line to get in, we, of course, made a bee-line to the Lego store. It’s a must and we had fun looking around. I found a Lego grand piano kit that was really cool but I think I would lose patience. 




We got chocolate at Ghirardelli and then split up. Bryan, Courtney and I went shopping for shirts for Courtney. 

I loved playing with tinker toys when I was a kid and they had a statue of them!! I was so excited.


In the afternoon we went to the community pool. They had told us that the heater was broken but that it had been fixed and the pool was now heated. But the pool was freezing! We still got in but it was so very cold!! 

Then we spent the evening watching movies and hanging out. It was a great day.

Fun Spot

Monday morning we went to Fun Spot to play.  We were doing the birthday party deal so we were celebrating Charlie's birthday.  We could get in for less, get pizza, and have a great time together. We had a great time.  There were a few rollercoasters, bumper cars, bumper boats, go-carts, and so much more.  

Courtney had a great time with her cousins, getting them to go on rides with her that they weren't sure they wanted to ride but then loved...or pretended to love.  She played in the arcade and had a great time.  It was so cute to watch the little ones ride the same ride for hours and love it.  It was a fun day.

Courtney raced Carter and Ally on the slide.  

They had a little gatorland that we were able to go to while at Fun Spot.  The gators STINK!  But we got to watch feeding time, which wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be.

It was a full day of fun and there weren't too many people so the lines weren't super long.  It did take a while because they had to sanitize between each rider so that took a while and it was hilarious to watch these teenage workers sigh each time they had to sanitize.  Hilarious!  They loved their jobs!

IMG Videos

Here are a couple of videos from the IMG Tournament.  I only took 2.

Orlando

After Courtney's game was over, she loaded in the van with the other players, went back to their townhome, packed up, and we picked her up so we could drive to Orlando.  She was thrilled with the van we had rented because it had USB charging ports at each seat so she was able to charge her phone.  The simple things in life.

We drove to Orlando and met up with Lisa's and Jeff's families.  We all stayed in the same townhome that had a pool in the backyard (a really tiny one), a community pool (that was unheated), and a playground.  It was a great layout for a place for 3 families to share but it wasn't exactly what we thought it would be.  However, we had a great time catching up with their families and watching Bryan's siblings with their children.  

We had fun chatting and watching movies that night.  Family is fun!