Peep!
We’re home! For a little while!
We three headed southeastern-ward (not a word? Or..not a correct hyphenated-whatever?) and visited the ocean (hi, Ocean!) and both parks at Universal Studios. It was pretty fast — we drove in early Saturday morning, beached all day and most of Sunday morning, and then went to Universal. We arrived back home at 3:30 yesterday morning, tired and a little (or lot, depending on how long Kaloi has been your last name) tanned and sun-kissed.
Our beachy destination was Cocoa Beach, which I’d never been to before. This was Jasper’s first journey to the Atlantic, and he took to it quite nicely — he was all about jumping (and/or being tossed) over waves and going underwater, which was a semi-first. We saw the sun rise the first day, and after that Sean surfed and we both chased Jasper while he chased pigeons (in between bouts in the sea). We breakfasted on the beach while watching a crab clean his living space Sunday morning and decided coastal life is indeed for us.
Sunday afternoon we landed in Orlando and promptly spent four hours at the Orlando Science Center. If you live there, are planning a trip, or might ever go to Orlando — go here! It’s awesome for kids, but also amazing for adults. We all loved it, and Jasper was especially excited and is still talking about it every chance he gets, asking when it will be open again and when we can go. Unfortunately for Jasper, it’s at least ten hours away by car, so I’m not sure we’ll be going back quite as soon as he’d like.
Then! Monday! We went to Universal Studios! I haven’t been there since I was… ten? Eleven? I’m really not sure how long it’s been. I received two one-day, two-park passes through Offbeat Mama, which was the whole point of the trip in the first place. So we went to the Studios side first, and played in Kid Zone, which also houses a Curious George-themed water park, for a few hours. Sean and I were both not-so-secretly hoping that there would be someone dressed up as George at the water park… and there wasn’t. BUT THEN, when we were getting ready to head over to Islands of Adventure we happened upon such a person and Jasper’s world was soundly rocked. He completely believed it was George, didn’t act surprised or “How did that happen?” or anything, he just giggled and said “It’s George” over and over, like of course it is, what else would George be doing? Jasper fed George some of his rice cracker and we took a few photos with George and my sister.
Islands of Adventure was cool, but SO SUPER CROWDED. In fact, it was so crowded that entry into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was on a kind of wait — you had to get a ticket that told you when you could enter the park. When we were able to enter, we discovered that the bulk of the crowding was THERE, but proceeded to mill around. Sean scored pumpkin juice (new fave), Bernie Bott’s jelly beans (are they just jelly belly? Because we didn’t get any funky flavors), and a chocolate frog (containing Helga Hufflepuff, who Jasper kept saying plays soccer) while we waited in line for the Hogwarts ride.
UNFORTUNATELY, it started raining — and kept raining, turning into thunder and lightning and all kinds of fun. This particular ride is indoors, but the waiting line for it isn’t. I was mildly panicked because I had my Canon 5D with me, but managed to tuck it away underneath piles of Curious George stuffed animals. We ended up ditching the line after we hit a part that had fans blowing now-cold (due to the storm) air and mist on us — while it was still raining. Jasper started shivering, and the Mama in me took over and we escaped. We milled around for a while in the rain, and then I sat down with Jasper while he napped.
Jasper and I ended up hanging with my sister in the Dr. Seuss area for a few hours so Jasper could play, and then the Kaloi boys and I started our trip back home. So, I’m definitely more than a little bummed that HP world didn’t work out the way I thought it would… but already planning a very short (two or three days, including traveling) trip with just my sister in December to make up for it. I’m having my Harry Potter experience, YOU GUYS.
We three headed southeastern-ward (not a word? Or..not a correct hyphenated-whatever?) and visited the ocean (hi, Ocean!) and both parks at Universal Studios. It was pretty fast — we drove in early Saturday morning, beached all day and most of Sunday morning, and then went to Universal. We arrived back home at 3:30 yesterday morning, tired and a little (or lot, depending on how long Kaloi has been your last name) tanned and sun-kissed.
Our beachy destination was Cocoa Beach, which I’d never been to before. This was Jasper’s first journey to the Atlantic, and he took to it quite nicely — he was all about jumping (and/or being tossed) over waves and going underwater, which was a semi-first. We saw the sun rise the first day, and after that Sean surfed and we both chased Jasper while he chased pigeons (in between bouts in the sea). We breakfasted on the beach while watching a crab clean his living space Sunday morning and decided coastal life is indeed for us.
Sunday afternoon we landed in Orlando and promptly spent four hours at the Orlando Science Center. If you live there, are planning a trip, or might ever go to Orlando — go here! It’s awesome for kids, but also amazing for adults. We all loved it, and Jasper was especially excited and is still talking about it every chance he gets, asking when it will be open again and when we can go. Unfortunately for Jasper, it’s at least ten hours away by car, so I’m not sure we’ll be going back quite as soon as he’d like.
Then! Monday! We went to Universal Studios! I haven’t been there since I was… ten? Eleven? I’m really not sure how long it’s been. I received two one-day, two-park passes through Offbeat Mama, which was the whole point of the trip in the first place. So we went to the Studios side first, and played in Kid Zone, which also houses a Curious George-themed water park, for a few hours. Sean and I were both not-so-secretly hoping that there would be someone dressed up as George at the water park… and there wasn’t. BUT THEN, when we were getting ready to head over to Islands of Adventure we happened upon such a person and Jasper’s world was soundly rocked. He completely believed it was George, didn’t act surprised or “How did that happen?” or anything, he just giggled and said “It’s George” over and over, like of course it is, what else would George be doing? Jasper fed George some of his rice cracker and we took a few photos with George and my sister.
Islands of Adventure was cool, but SO SUPER CROWDED. In fact, it was so crowded that entry into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was on a kind of wait — you had to get a ticket that told you when you could enter the park. When we were able to enter, we discovered that the bulk of the crowding was THERE, but proceeded to mill around. Sean scored pumpkin juice (new fave), Bernie Bott’s jelly beans (are they just jelly belly? Because we didn’t get any funky flavors), and a chocolate frog (containing Helga Hufflepuff, who Jasper kept saying plays soccer) while we waited in line for the Hogwarts ride.
UNFORTUNATELY, it started raining — and kept raining, turning into thunder and lightning and all kinds of fun. This particular ride is indoors, but the waiting line for it isn’t. I was mildly panicked because I had my Canon 5D with me, but managed to tuck it away underneath piles of Curious George stuffed animals. We ended up ditching the line after we hit a part that had fans blowing now-cold (due to the storm) air and mist on us — while it was still raining. Jasper started shivering, and the Mama in me took over and we escaped. We milled around for a while in the rain, and then I sat down with Jasper while he napped.
Jasper and I ended up hanging with my sister in the Dr. Seuss area for a few hours so Jasper could play, and then the Kaloi boys and I started our trip back home. So, I’m definitely more than a little bummed that HP world didn’t work out the way I thought it would… but already planning a very short (two or three days, including traveling) trip with just my sister in December to make up for it. I’m having my Harry Potter experience, YOU GUYS.
