Last week, Uncle Kevin and Cousins Sylvia and Tavi came to visit! They visited Granddad and Sujata in Gainesville and came to stay with us in St. Augustine while the kids were out of school on the weekend. Sylvia and Tavi hadn't been to the fort before, so we started with a visit to the Castillo de San Marco.
And of course, we went to the beach! It was a perfect beach day, and everyone enjoyed taking the boogie board out to ride the waves.
Back at the house we swam in the pool and, of course, had "dance party". Kudos to Kevin for joining in!
When Kevin, Sylvia, and Tavi headed back to Gainesville on Sunday, we decided to follow them to enjoy a great dinner with Granddad and Sujata at Mr. Han's. Thank you so much for buying dinner, Uncle Kevin!
Tuesday was a special day for Harry Potter fans, Sylvia and Tavi. We all went down to Universal in Orlando to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
Brielle read part of the first book, and we watched the first movie prior to going. Brielle and Ronan enjoyed it and were excited to go, but we let the experts show us around to start.
The kids each bought magic wands that allowed them to cast spells at certain locations in the park (like turning on a water fountain). Each came with a beautiful map showing the magical spots.
The park was beautifully done, including a dragon on top of one of the buildings.
We ate at the Leaky Cauldron, which looked similar to the dining hall from the movie.
We went on an amazing Harry Potter ride that was an impressive combination of motion simulation, actual motion, and 3D effects. We've never been on a ride like it.
The Harry Potter area is divided across two parks (yes, with two separate admission prices). We decided to stay in the first park, but Kevin's family got to take the Hogwarts Express train to the rest of the park later in the afternoon. This was when we had to say goodbye. It was so great seeing them!
Luckily for us, there was a Simpsons area to visit as well! We started by heading over to Moe's Tavern. It was well done, even including a red phone where Moe receives his prank calls.
The kids had non-alcoholic "Flaming Moes", which was pretty cool.
The Simpsons area also had a surprisingly great motion simulator ride. Even though it was a cartoon, the graphics and movements were done so well that it really felt like we were flying over the city and going down roller coasters. It was truly fun. We also checked the Kwik-E-Mart for "Bort" license plates - they were out, but they did have "Bort" key chains.
Universal was pretty random, with the Harry Potter area, the Simpsons area, New York, San Francisco, and other smaller attractions, like a Minions ride and The Fast and The Furious.
On our way into the park we were surprised to see a Voodoo Doughnut (famous in Portland). We decided to stop in on the way out because they have a large selection of vegan donuts. In the morning we were remarking that this was the first time we had seen Voodoo Doughnut without a line going out the front door. However, in the evening they had constructed an area to line up outside so that it wouldn't get too crowded inside. So authentic.
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