A Day at the Bee

Back in December, Maddie won her middle school spelling bee by correctly spelling “dichromatism”.  I don’t know who was more excited…Maddie or me.  I believe I may have mentioned my love of the spelling bee here before.  Winning the bee earned her a chance to compete in the Central Pennsylvania Spelling Bee, which was the step before the National Spelling Bee in Washington DC! 

However, she was not guaranteed a spot in the Central PA bee.  First she needed to pass a written test.  She and the other 144 students who won their school bees took a 100 word spelling test together at the end of January.  The top 36 scorers would earn a seat at the bee.  After an excruciatingly long week of waiting, we got the word that Maddie had made it! 

Now our study time kicked into high gear.  She studied anywhere between 15 and 60 minutes each day.  Some days when her homework load was heavy and she had swim practice, we didn’t get to it at all, but most days she and I studied hard together. 

Finally the big day arrived.  On Saturday, Grandma H. arrived to watch the boys, and Maddie, Dave and I set out for the PBS television studio in Harrisburg.  She did a little last minute studying in the car:

When we got to the studio, we checked in, then had about 15 minutes to kill before they would separate us.  She was in a good mood.  Nervous, but excited.  She even posed with Henry the 8th.

                                                       It’s like they were separated at birth!

We checked out the bios of the competition in the program.  There were 12 boys and 22 girls; seven 6th graders, three 7th graders, and twenty-four 8th graders; 13 spellers were returning from a previous year at the Central PA Bee.  None of them had a guinea pig or were as cute as Maddie (blog author admits to personal bias here).

                                                                                           Ready!

Finally, it was time for the spellers to head off for instructions, and for the parents to take their seats in the studio.    We hugged and kissed and wished her luck, and watched her walk away.  I felt sick to my stomach, but also felt so darn excited for her.

Soon they ushered the kids into the studio.   Here was our view:

That’s right.  The main cameraman was right in front of us.  I couldn’t see her when she was seated or when she was spelling, although Dave could see her when she was spelling.  Luckily there were two tv’s set up so I could see her on the monitors when it was her turn. 

There was also a last minute drama, as one of the spellers hadn’t yet arrived by taping time.  There were a few moments of waiting and deliberation. Finally, they began the “practice round”.  The words in this round were just for practice, they wouldn’t count against the speller if they got their word wrong.  Luckily, none of them did!  The late speller never showed, and the bee began.

Maddie was randomly given the number 13.  Finally, she got her first real turn and her first word, which was “knapsack”. 

                                                                                    She nailed it!

Then she spelled credentials, chronic, and incorruptible.

After round 4 the spellers were given a break, and we could join her.  The adrenaline was pumping, let me tell you!  Turkey Hill and Hershey were two of the bee sponsors so there was an awesome spread of drinks, ice cream, chips and chocolate. 

After twenty minutes, she headed back to the room with a smaller number of spellers than last time, maybe about ten fewer, and the words started getting harder.  Maddie knocked these words out of the ballpark in rounds 5-12:  opossum, terrapin, rapport, mihrab, charpoy, rejoneador. and nurturance.  There was one more word, and we can’t remember it!

But then…in round 13, she got the word pullet.  They defined it as a chicken and used it in a sentence for her.  I could see she didn’t know it.  She asked them for the language of origin and was told it was French. She told me later that she thought of “poultry” and decided to go with “poulet”.  I told her that was excellent thinking and I really meant it.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right spelling, the bell dinged, and Maddie was led out of the room by a “comfort person”.  Dave and I headed out too.  I knew she didn’t really need a “comfort person”, but I also knew she’d be crushed.

When we were reunited moments later, she was sad.  She knew all of the words in the round leading up to hers.  But that’s the way a spelling bee is. Sometimes you just get a word that is not a good fit for you!

We told her she was awesome.  We told her we were so proud of her.  I told her I would have gotten “opossum” wrong (I would have spelled it with two p’s), we told her that she had two more years to try again. But she was really, really sad.

                                Don’t worry…she made that sad face for me for artistic purposes. 

Then we helped ourselves to more Hershey/Turkey Hill products.  I still have some big Reese’s Cups in my purse for her!

She ended up finishing in 12th place, which she was really bummed about, because she missed the top 10 by two, and the kids in the top ten got a lot of prizes.  She ended up with a pair of bumblebee socks and free tickets to the Science Museum in Harrisburg and the Civil War Museum in Gettysburg.  Mostly, though, she didn’t care about the prizes, she just couldn’t believe she had been eliminated.

I wanted her to call people and tell them the good news of her excellent placing, but she didn’t want to, and she was quiet on the ride home.  She came home and held Herbie for a little bit. 

By suppertime she had cheered up enough to make some calls, and now I think she’s feeling better about the day. 

Dave and I are just so proud of her.  I remember when we used to be able to spell things in front of her we didn’t want her to understand (“Did you remember to bring her j-u-i-c-e?”)  She is smart.  She’s our best girl.  And now she can spell us under the table.

P.S.-For local friends, the bee aired last night, but will also air on PBS on Wednesday, 2/29 at 7:00 pm, and on Friday, 3/2 at 1:00 pm!  They cut out Rounds 8-13 though and skipped to Round 14, right after she was eliminated.  Bummer.

I Will Sign Autographs for Cash

I have won an award!  Calm down, mom, it’s not the Good Housekeeping Award for Good Housekeeping.  But it is a lovely award that proves that nepotism is alive and well.  My friend Deb over at her lovely blog, Confessions of an Ugly Mom (and let me tell you, she is SO not ugly), won one of those awards that bloggers pass around (because she earned it, she’s an awesome writer, this woman should be writing a novel) and she probably didn’t know who to send it on to, so she sent it on to me, her friend across the corn field (Hey Deb!  I see you over there!)  If you’ve never gone to Deb’s blog, stop reading now and click on that link up there.  She’s an amazing writer, and has a good heart to boot.  She’s walking in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk for the Cure soon.  That’s 60 miles in 3 days to honor the memory of her friend Yvonne.  See?  Amazing.

Here is my award.  I am looking into getting it put on a plaque.  I’ll let you know if that works out.


Okay, so now I’m supposed to share seven things with my readers that they may not already know about me.  This is going to be tough.  You know I just hate to talk about myself.  (There really should be a sarcasm font, and if there was, I’d just about wear that font out).   Are you ready for some heart-wrenching discoveries about me?  Here we go!

1.  If I could travel in time, I would go back to my 4th grade spelling bee and put  the “c” in excite and then go to my 7th grade spelling bee and reverse my “a” and “o” in the word cinnamon.  I would also go back to my wedding reception and squeeze a short yet competitive spelling bee in between the Dollar Dance and the Chicken Dance. I just love spelling bees.   It really burns me that my bratty brother Dave WON his 4th grade spelling bee.  I have never gotten over that.  When I turn 50, which is not for a VERY long time, I do not want a trip or a big party (okay, I’d like a trip), I’d mostly like to have a spelling bee that everyone lets me win.

2.  I have a Dental and Dog phobia (though generally I am not bothered by dentists and dogs at the same time).  If I could choose to go to either the dentist or gynecologist, it would be  gynecologist, hands down, although I am better now about going to the dentist than I was 15 years ago.  We didn’t go to the dentist when I was growing up (my parents believed in fixing what was broken—not preventive medicine), so when my mouth fell apart at age 24, and I had to get, like, 16 fillings, a root canal, my wisdom teeth removed and a giant slap across my face for being irresponsible (I’m kidding- the dentist only threatened to slap me), I began to cry and hyperventilate in the dentist chair every visit.  When I met Dave, I switched to his dentist, and I love him so much.  In the beginning, he let me cry, and talked me down off the window ledge, and then he lied to me about everything he was going to do.  He hid the drills and told me he was just rinsing my mouth out with a special tool, and he told me I’d be done so fast, and even though he said it 12 times, I believed him each time, and it helped.  He’s a kind,caring dentist, one in a million.   But I’d still rather go to the gynecologist.   Also, a big scary dog barked at me in a field when I was a kid and scared me to death.  I still don’t like big dogs, and I’m not so fond of little ones either. 

3.  My favorite movie ever is When Harry Met Sally.  I practically have it memorized, and when I stumble across it on t.v.,  I am thrilled like it’s Christmas Day.

4.  Okay, you may have heard this one before, because I trot it out whenever I’m asked to share something interesting about myself, as it may be the only really interesting thing I’ve ever done:  I did my student teaching in Brussels, Belgium, in an International School meant for the children of NATO  and European Community officials and any other foreigners living in Brussels.  It was awesome.  Besides the astounding training I got from one of the best teachers ever (she was from Canada, and her husband was in NATO somehow), I got to travel every weekend, hopping on trains with my Eurail pass and seeking out hostels on the fly.  I was there with two other friends, and we went to Amsterdam, London, Paris, Venice, Pisa, Florence, Salzburg, Cologne, and many other places (come on over!  I will pull out my photo album and painfully lead you through it!)  We had so much fun, though I was homesick the whole time. 

5. I was, at one time, a pretty good flutist.  I spent 1-3 hours a day practicing in high school, and made district and regional bands, but missed state band by one chair my senior year.  I also played piccolo and oboe, and took a little piano as an adult, though I am really bad at piano.  I miss playing a lot.

6.  I forget names.  I mean, I am really, really, really bad at names.   I think part of that is not really paying attention when I’m introduced to someone, or I’m half-listening and half-thinking about what I’m going to say next, and then I realize that I missed the person’s name and the last part of what he said, or I see someone from years ago, someone with whom I’ve spent many delightful hours yet I just can’t drag the name from my brain file, or it’s someone I see every day, yet I freeze and panic and hope the name will come to me by the time the person walks across the room.  And I am a bad faker when I don’t remember a name.  Dave always tells me to fake it, to just pull a, “Hey, you!  How are YOU doing?!”  But I can’t do it.

7.  If I could change careers at this point in my life, I think I’d like to become a Sign Language Interpreter.  I wonder if it’s easier to fake names in sign language?

A "Versatile Blogger" brings everything to the table - a little of this and a little of that."    Now, here are the rules for the Versatile Blogger Award:

• Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award (done).
• Share 7 things about yourself (done)
• Pass the award on to (up to) 15 other bloggers whom you have recently discovered and think are fabulous (see below)
• Contact the bloggers you chose and let them know about the award (tomorrow I will, I promise).

I hereby pass this award on to
Jen at 4ever Love-  Jen recently started her blog, and she’s off to a great start!  Her last post showing pictures of her son’s busy little activities in the doctor’s waiting room were hilarious!

Maria at Mangia, Figlie-  Maria’s food blog is not just about the recipes, it is more often about the history of the food, and her history with the food.    She’s a good writer and friend!

Stephanie at Conversations from the Cul-de-Sac-Stephanie’s blog is a hodgepodge of decorating, shopping, bargain seeking, and most recently, evidence of her struggle over her Sephora addiction.  Her blog is lots of fun!

Tiffanee at One Crazy Cookie-Tiffanee posts recipes on her  food blog several times a week, which I find amazing since I struggle to do any more cooking  than required by state law.  Almost all of her recipes appeal to me too---the right number of ingredients, yummy sounding, and a recipe my family would love.  Her most recent post is Parmesan Biscuit Wedges and sounds delicious!

Okay, people, I would nominate more, but I’m tired of all the hyperlinks.  I am too lazy to keep going on this.  If there were a #8, I’d add “Too lazy to hyperlink all the time.”

Buzzzzz

I think I may have mentioned that this was my post planned for February Instagram, but really, it’s not the end of the month yet, so I’ll save that for next weekend.

Instead, last Saturday was Spelling Bee Day!  Can you believe I don’t have a single picture from the bee? They made an announcement this year that all phones must be turned off, so I couldn’t even sneak in a phone picture!  When we arrived, we headed to the T-Z Registration Table, where we found that Maddie had been randomly chosen to go first.  And I thought last year when she was assigned #13 was bad!  Anyway, this really threw her, and even though Dave and I tried to play it down, the mom of the other girl from her school said, “Number One?  Oh! That’s BAD!”  Which didn’t help.

Anyway, Maddie stayed in the bee until Round 6, when she got the word “springerle”.  Now let  me tell you, I don’t want you or anyone to whom I tell this story to think I am making this up, or making excuses for her in any way. She did spell it wrong.  BUT…

She knew that word.  The spellers are given a 2,000 word list to learn, and all of the words until the last few rounds are from that list.  If you study, and she/we did, you will have an advantage. We had been over the list many times, we had made flashcards of the 20-30 words that occasionally threw her (schadenfreude heading the list), and we made up lots of mnemonic devices to help her remember weird things (like…accommodate has two c’s and two m’s because the word is big enough to accommodate double letters). People, she never spelled that word wrong, not even once. 

But the pronouncer said it wrong.  He pronounced it “springerlah” when it should be pronounced “springerluh”.  And that’s okay. I often mispronounced words so she would have to figure out which word it was just for that reason.  But she was concentrating so hard on making sure she didn’t spell “l-a” at the end instead of “l-e”…that she skipped the “er” before the ending.

As Dave and I walked out to meet her I said to him, “Oh man.  This is going to be bad.  She KNEW that word.  She is going to be heartbroken.”  And when we met up…she was. She cried and cried in my arms. “Mom, I knew that one!  I made a mistake!  I knew it!”  Ugh. My poor sweet girl.

When we watched the bee on Sunday night, we watched the whole thing, and she nearly cried again.  She knew every stinkin’ word in that bee except for “maxim” and “facilely”, two words that were not on the list. 

If you watched the bee, you may have seen that Maddie was also interviewed. Besides the interview she did on the day of the written test, WITF sent a cameraman and the host to our house two weeks ago where they interviewed her some more and took video of her playing with Herbie (who is now a STAR!), playing her flute, pretending to study her words,etc.  The interview turned out great,and I do have a few pictures from that I can show you!

Here is a link to the short interviews, they’ll send me a CD of her interview eventually, but I’m not sure how I’ll be able to share it.

Anyway, she’s already looking forward to next year, so we have to keep our fingers crossed that she makes the top 3 spellers in the school bee next year so she can try for her third and final time. 

Because the third time’s a charm, right?

January Instagram

Happy New Year!  We were invited to a child friendly party this year and had a ball.  Last year we played board games and someone had to pinch me every 20 minutes or so in an effort to keep me awake until midnight.  This year we hung out with good friends and the kids ran around like lunatics and the guys played poker and the women tried not to eat the food but did eat the food, which was really good food.

Look!  I’m in a picture!  And on the right is our hostess, Karen, who is modeling that teen favorite, the “duckface”.  Karen pulls that look off like I never could.  And oh, how I’ve tried.

At midnight we all gathered around the t.v. and watched the ball drop.  We found it odd that New York City was a little off this year.  We noticed they were a minute or so late (based on my phone’s time and Karen’s microwave clock), but we all counted down and celebrated…

…which was when someone remembered that Karen had rewound the t.v. during a Justin Bieber concert earlier in the evening (apparently she’s a fan), which meant that we had actually celebrated the countdown a minute or two late.  The neighbors must have been wondering.

Moving on.

Maddie’s birthday…

My birthday…

Dave made me crème brulee, and Jack designed a beautiful sign for my classroom door through Cathy Williams’ business, A Fly on the Wall.  Dave and I went out for dinner and drinks with my birthday twin, Carol, and her husband.  Carol and I share the exact same birthday, same year and everything!  It would be neglectful of me if I didn’t mention, however, that Carol is slightly older than I, being born in the morning hours, whereas I was born in the evening.  Just thought I’d mention it.  Just for the sake of accuracy.

Dave’s dad hosted Jack’s scout troop at LVC for a lesson on bones. The kids had a great time, and Jack was so proud to show off his Papa to everyone!

Basketball has begun!  This is Ben’s first season in basketball, and he’s definitely showing improvement and a lot of natural talent, probably inherited from me, but possibly, though remotely possibly, from Dave (who is helping coach).

Maddie’s swim season is also going strong.  Let me tell you we are always totally riveted on the action in the pool!

Ahem.

(That’s my birthday twin’s husband Dane, then Jack, and two of Carol’s daughters, Maddie and Ellie.  Carol’s other two daughters swim).  That’s an actual, unposed picture, people.  I’m sorry Maddie.

Anywho.  Did you know that swimmers only swim 4 events in the whole meet?  And to remember their events they write them on their hands.  in Permanent marker.  So by the time it all washes off, it’s time for a new meet and a new list!

Apparently using a ballpoint pen or your memory is a ridiculous suggestion.

Do you remember Maddie was in the WITF spelling bee last year?  Well, I’m proud to say she won her school bee again, so she and the other two finalists got to travel to the WITF studios yesterday to take the 100 word test to see who qualifies for the televised bee (they will take the top 36…out of 150 students…scores).

Maddie was chosen to be interviewed ahead of time!  (I think they figure if she made it last year, there’s a good chance she’ll make it this year).  If she does make the bee, she will be in the pre-show!

She was so nervous, but she did so great! 

Parents were ushered out of the testing room and into our own, cold, dark, cave of a room.  Although we couldn’t see the kids, we could hear the pronouncer, and we were given testing sheets of our own.  Here’s my test after the first half:

I only got two wrong on the whole test:  tintinnabulation and aitch (that’s letter “h”, people!  Who knew?!)  I’ll let you know after Friday if she makes it.  Keep your fingers crossed for her!

P.S. School is going great!  I am really and truly loving it!  Of course, I can’t really talk about it here, to protect the privacy of my class, and to protect the privacy of one of my readers, whose son is in my class, how cool is that?  Thank you for asking about it though, Pam!

February Instagram

So are you ready for a bunch of lame-o pictures?

Yes, please!

 

Back at the beginning of the month, as I was making deviled eggs for a Super Bowl party we attended, the movie pictured above was showing!  I loved this movie!  It came out when I was in college, and the Roxy, our only theatre in little old Lock Haven, showed this movie for three straight months.  Needless to say, my friends and I got to know it pretty well.

Whenever annoying children happened to walk into the kitchen, generally with the common goal of bugging me, I’d shush them saying things like, “Go away!  Baby’s about to get pulled out of her corner!”  or “Seriously, people, have some respect! Johnny is sooo tortured and overacting here….this is an awesome scene!” I loved Jennifer Grey’s hair most of all. It was like another character in the movie for me.  Now I follow her on Instagram:

It was a great Super Bowl party too (thank you Sue!), the food was amahzing, though I couldn’t tell you anymore who played, so hopefully you know already.

One day I opened up my Jack’s iPad and found this picture on the screen as the new background. 

Yes, I’d say he’s taken complete control of the iPad and has appointed himself President and Historian and I am just hoping I’ll be given the right to vote when the time comes.

Forge Road Elementary 5th grade held their Talent Show in February.  Ben applied to be the host, but that job was given to someone else (who was absolutely hilarious…that kid is going places!) so he decided he would be part of the stage crew.  I didn’t take my camera, knowing that he was only going to be behind the scenes, but I did snap this (bad) picture when they all gathered on the steps to pose for the crazed paparazzi (mamarazzi??)

It was a great show!  There was a lot of typical 5th grade talent-y stuff (Justin Bieber wannabes and trumpet solos), and there were a couple of amazing acts in there too.  It was a thoroughly entertaining evening!

Well, I’m almost through Season 3 of Downton Abbey, and then I will be all caught up. Which will be a darn stinkin’ shame, because I don’t think the next season will be for another year!  Boooooooooo.  Spoiler Alert….stop reading if you haven’t seen all of Season 3…  I knew to expect stuff with Sybil and Matthew because I saw they both wanted out of the show, but Sybil’s death was just heartbreaking!  Oh my gosh, I loved the take where the camera was on Mary from Sybil’s point of view and Mary was saying something like, “Sybil, Dahling, Sybil!” and then all of a sudden Mary looks shocked and she backs up in utter fear…then they show Sybil turning all white as she dies.  Good editing, Mr. Fellowes!  I haven’t seen Matthew’s death yet, but I know it’s coming.  And I know Mr. Bates is going to be set free, and I just can’t wait!  I hate him in that prison, and am glad they’re springing him out soon.  Poor Branson.  Poor Edith. Poor Ethel.   And Lord Crawley, get your head out of your privileged butt and let Matthew take reins of the estate before he dies, you dummyhead. I like him so much, but he has seemed a little bit like a bumbling idiot this season.  Enough already.  But I found this funny blog if you’re interested!

Woo hoo!  The geese are on their way home.  I cannot wait for warm weather!

Look what book I found at the library!  I’m thinking of suing the author for stealing my non-copyrighted name.  That’ll show her. 

I know I showed you photos of Maddie’s Spelling Bee Interview in my last post, but I forgot this one.  The host noticed Maddie’s swim ribbons, which she had neatly organized the weekend before, hanging in her bedroom.  She thought it would be a cute shot to have Maddie throwing them in the air, and it was, though they never used the shot.  P.S.  the ribbons are all still laying on Maddie’s floor.

Last Sunday Maddie wanted to make cupcakes.  I suggested a box mix and icing in a can because I had 5 loads of laundry on the floor, the grocery shopping to do, a geometry test and narrative dialogue essays to correct, and a house to clean, but she wanted to do homemade.  I pulled out my cookbook, said “Go for it” and then headed to the grocery store.  When I came back, she had made the cupcakes!  Now I was a little more interested.    I helped her a teeny bit with the peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache, which we had both seen on Pinterest, and the result was these little cups of joy:

And even though I’ve been dieting, these I ate.  And they were totally delicious and worth it and I apologized to Maddie for being a grump and I’m glad she talked me into it.

This week my baby missed every single day of school.

He had a fever for over 6 days,  a little throwing up, and now some coughing.  Thank goodness Dave was home all week. I missed being able to take care of him though.

And finally, I’ll end with some happy valentines…I got my first school valentines for the first time in thirteen years!

Here’s looking forward to March…and no lions, just lambs PLEASE!

Day 5-Harry Potter!

Oh my gosh, are you as tired of these vacation posts as I am?  I’m sorry.  I must push forward with them for the whole family record thing blah blah blah, but I promise there’s only one more after this one.  So…

When Universal opened their Harry Potter section in their Islands of Adventure theme park a few years ago, I knew that someday we would go there.  Maddie, Ben, and I are huge Harry Potter fans. 

[Please, if you haven’t read the books, I am begging you to do so. Why haven’t you read them?  Do you think you’re above reading a book aimed at children?  Are you too intellectual for fantasy literature?  Are you too busy exercising your body to exercise your mind?  Get over all of that and get started.  Now!]

I did my research on the park ahead of time.  One source told me that even now, two years after its initial opening, the HP section is so popular that they must sometimes deny entry to some guests, or give them raincheck-like passes to return at another time.  Excellent mother that I am,  I knew I couldn’t let this happen to us, so I chose the day Undercover Tourist said would be the best, and we got to the park about 30 minutes before it opened.  We parked in the first row of the parking garage, then once we passed through the front gate, we raced to the Harry Potter section!  We were so excited when we saw it for the first time!  It’s absolutely stunning!

The photo above was taken when we first arrived…

The photo below was taken mid-morning!  Note the crowd!

Maddie, Ben, and I headed straight to Hogwarts for Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey.  There was no line, so we moved quickly through the castle, but I wish we had gone slower, there were so many things to see, the detail was astounding to Harry Potter geeks fans like us!  We passed through Dumbledore’s Office and saw the pensieve, the Gryffindor common room, Professor Sprout’s green house, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, etc.  It truly looked like the real thing (not that the real thing is real…).

The ride itself left the kids excitedly breathless and me a little sick (I’m prone to vertigo if I turn my head the wrong way, also I had to keep my eyes closed for some of the ride.)  It’s not a coaster, more of a simulator ride, wherein you are to imagine you are riding on a broomstick with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. As soon as we got off we joined Dave and Jack (who had ridden Flight of the Hippogriff—very tame coaster, Jack loved it) and Dave and I switched places.  He rode Forbidden Journey with the big kids while Jack and I did Flight of the Hippogriff three times.  Dave loved the ride a lot more than I did.

View from the top of Flight of the Hippogriff.

We also rode the Dragon Challenge twice with no waiting (I’m telling you…get there early!).  This was an excellent, smooth roller coaster, similar to  The Great Bear at Hersheypark.

Then it was time for some shopping in Honeydukes, where the Maddie bought a Chocolate Frog, we went through Zonko’s and saw some of Fred and George’s inventions, and then we waited in line at Ollivander’s Wand Shop for about 20 minutes.  Yes.  We waited in line to get into a shop!  But customers are only allowed in 25 at a time, where a small show is put on for you before you shop:  one of the children in the group is picked to pretend to be a Hogwarts student trying out their new wand for the first time.  It was really cool, but very short after such a long wait.

Here is Ollivander, finding the right wand for the chosen girl.

Afterwards, we looked at wands, but didn’t buy any.  They were very authentic looking though, and boxes are labeled so you know whose wand you’re buying (Snape’s, Voldemort’s, Dumbledore’s, Harry’s, etc.)

Ben tests out a wand.

We had lunch at The Three Broomsticks!  Maddie chose this as her special meal for her hard work in the Spelling Bee.  Apparently, J.K. Rowling was very picky about what she wanted the Three Broomsticks to serve.  No soda, for one thing.  And the food was very English, including items such as pasties, shepherd’s pie, and fish and chips.

And Butterbeer!

Maddie loved it!

Ben and Jack liked it, but didn’t like the foam.  I had to scoop that off for each of them.

Then it was time to check out other areas of Islands of Adventure.  I took Jack through the Seuss area, while Dave rode The Hulk coaster with the big kids.

Jack met the Grinch and then we walked into a book store and found The Cat in the Hat hiding standing all alone in the book section!  You could just tell he wanted some company.  He was probably so bored not having a bunch of little kids hanging all over him like I’m sure he usually has…

So Jack read to him!

            Look at the Cat’s face!  You can tell he is enthralled with my baby’s reading! 

Afterwards, we joined Dave and the big kids and it was my turn for The Hulk.  It was awesome!  Then we walked through the Toon Lagoon section, where Maddie tried desperately to stop Marmaduke from running away…

And then Dave and the kids rode a bunch of water rides, while Jack and I played at the Camp Jurassic Playground (well, Jack played, and I mostly sat).  This is the best playground EVER and Jack could have spent hours here.  Eventually, we went looking for everyone else though.  We tried squirting them when they went by us on the Bilge Rat Barges.

Looks like they all got their ponchos on okay.  Hmph.

Really, an awesome day was had by all.

Tomorrow:  Last  Vacation Post (It’s rude to cheer.  I can hear you, you know).  Disney’s Hollywood Studios coming up, detailing, among other things, some of us being stuck at the top of a major, scary ride!