Our Beach Escape

It's summer and the weather has decided to really feel like summer, which means it's hot and humid and not so fun.  Lucky for us, Brad has some good friends/classmates with beach houses.  So when they had last friday off from school, Jill invited our family to have a weekend with her at her beach house.  Tacy and I picked up Brad from school Thursday evening, then we followed Jill (who drove her own car) to Oak Island, NC.  Tacy was a champ and was happy (and awake) for the entire 2.5 hour drive.  We had to stop to eat dinner (Tacy gets excited every time she sees the golden arches of McDonald's and shouts "French Fries!"  I swear we hardly ever go there).  Then we had to take a pit stop at the side of the road to let her go potty.  She told us she could not make it to a potty, so we had a fun road potty stop.  But all was good and we had no accidents.  Just the fun of traveling with immature toddler bladders.

Friday morning we went out to breakfast, then we went to Food Lion to buy food for our weekend.  After this we finally went to the beach.  Tacy was very excited and happy.  That girl loves water, sand, seashells, birds, dogs, etc.  She ran down to the water with Brad, but then when I went down with her later, she got scared and told me a "snake was coming".  I later put 2 and 2 together and realized that she was calling the rolling in waves snakes and was scared of them.  All she would do was run away as soon as a wave started to come in.  I have no idea where that fear came from.  But Tacy managed to have lots of fun picking up sea shells, building a sand castle with Daddy, and running along the beach.  

After 2 hours, we went back to the beach house for lunch.  Then Brad and I went to the little Oak Island theatre to see Jurassic World.  I'm a jumpy person, so seeing this movie in a little theatre really had me worried.  But I survived, I did jump and had my arms wrapped around my legs by the end of the movie.  But the acting was great.  Brad liked it to (it was his pick afterall, he's been looking forward to this movie all year).  

Brad did insist on buying sea food from one of the little markets/shops.  So he got shrimp and some crab for dinner.  Along with the shrimp and crap legs, we had red beans and rice, and lots of fruit.  Tacy would have nothing to do with the shrimp or crab (this girl can be so funny, because has eaten and liked both before).  

Saturday morning we went to the beach again.  Tacy had fun again playing in the sand and running away from "snakes".  It's so nice to go to the beach when you have a beach house, because it is so convienent for toddler schedules so you can play, then go home and eat/nap, then go play some more.  After Tacy's nap we went to an inlet where there were no waves.  Tacy was so happy and ran to the water "Mommy there's no snakes!"  Too bad I forgot her floaty to the inlet so she still had to stay close to me because that girl wanted to go swim on her own.  I seriously considered swimming out deep into the inlet (I hate waves too, so I really don't swim in the ocean) but I decided against it because I did not want to meet a shark or any jelly fish.  Yes, after our trip we heard the news about the two shark attacks in Oak Island.  If I had heard while there I would not have gone anywhere near the water.  But anyways, we had fun swimming and playing in the water.  One of Brad's other classmates drove down that evening and met us at the inlet.  Tacy loved digging in the sand with Brad and Angela while Jill and I watched.  Granted Tacy had the most fun putting more "sugar" (aka sand) in the holes Daddy was digging and climbing into the holes for a better look.  She's a funny girl.

After the beach, we showered/bathed, and then went to a seafood restaurant in Southpoint.  Brad got a sea food plate, I got chicken strips and fries to share with Tacy.  Tacy really loved the hushpuppies and had fun eating these (they were really yummy).  

Tacy and Jill eating hush puppies.  Tacy LOVES Jill

Sunday morning, Jill and Angela cleaned the beach house, Brad vacuumed out our car, and Tacy and I stayed out of the way and found some little frogs outside.  Then we all drove back to our homes.

We had a lot of fun and it was nice to enjoy the ocean breeze/wind and Atlantic ocean.  After so many years on the West coast, I forgot how windy the East coast beaches are, but at least you do not get hot as easy.  Plus, the water is so much warmer than the Pacific.

Spring Adventures and Happenings

Other than potty training, we have managed to have some fun this spring.  I love Spring in North Carolina!  It is so beautiful here and we had a great few weeks of nice mild 60-70 degree temperature with breezes.  I LOVE it!  I have been walking around my work building during work, because after sitting at a desk it is nice to move, and the weather has been so perfect.  I would love to stay outside all day!

One weekend, Brad and I had talked about going to the beach, but with a potty training toddler we decided to stay close to home and went to Jordan Lake.  It was nice because we were able to run errands, let Tacy nap and then we went and spent 2 hours at the lake (granted we did not wear swimsuits much to Tacy's dismay).  Tacy kept trying to walk right into the lake to swim, needless to say even with me holding both her arms, she managed to drench her shorts by jumping and squatting.  Oh well, she loved it.  

The bathrooms at the lake were in a building that kind of looked like a barn, at least to Tacy anyways.  She got excited and started saying "Mom, I wanna see e-i-e-i-o"  I was getting so confused and asked if she wanted to sing Old McDonald, but she said no and pointed to the bathrooms and said "e-i-e-i-o" again.  I laughed and we walked over.  She was so excited and then so disappointed to find only bathrooms in the building.  She kept asking where the animals were.  But we did find a pay phone and she had a lot of fun with that.

April and May have a lot of birthdays in them (7 to exact).  With all the birthdays, Tacy would get confused and say it was her birthday.  So we have kept telling her that her birthday is in a few months.  Tacy still gets very excited about birthdays, but at least is better at saying it isn't her birthday anymore.  My mom sent me a package for my birthday and she told me that she put a present in there for Tacy...yup she is spoiled.  

My birthday was exciting because one of Brad's friends watched Tacy for us so we could go out!  We went to this resturaunt in Raleigh called Cowfish.  They have the biggest (as in a LOT of items) menu I have ever seen and it took our waitor like 5-10 minutes to explain.  Basically they have burgers, sushi, bento boxes that have both, and their own creations called hamushi or something.  Well I got a boursin bacon burger (seriously the boursin cheese was delicious!) and Brad got a bento box so he could have sushi and a little burger.  It was all very yummy.  Then we ran across the street to go see Avengers: Age of Ultron.  I was very excited for this movie and we both really liked it.  In preparation we spent the previous weeks watching Iron Man 3 and The Avengers (I really wanted some good RDJ humor).  We had a fun childfree evening.

For Mother's day, we bought a grill.  I'm not the easiest person to shop for because I want clothes, but I'm picky.  So Brad suggested a grill.  Yes, this is normally more of a gift for a man, but you see, I love when Brad BBQs.  So if having a grill meant that I would get hamburgers, hot dogs, ka-bobs, etc. I was all for it.  Brad made a meat sushi for mother's day dinner (bacon as the seaweed with marinated hamburger and cheese rolled up inside).  It was delicious and we all loved it.  I got him to try grilling a banana (they grill plantains so why not a banana) and it was so yummy!  The banana gets a little watery but it becomes so sweet it's like eating candy (except it's gooey banana).  I can't wait for peach season so we can try grilling those!

the meat sushi!

On Saturday, May 16th, I went to go see Pitch Perfect 2 with Jill and Tiana (2 girls from Brad's PA class who we have done stuff with).  It was fun to have some girl time and get to watch a movie.  Tiana and Jill had bought so much food it was ridiculous.  But we laughed and had a good time.  I like the first movie better, but this new one was still fun (I could have done with less Fat Amy humor and more singing and more Jesse/Beca times but oh well).  

Mother's Day

Memorial Day we had over Jason, the other mormon guy in Brad's PA class, and his family and did a BBQ.  Jason has 2 little girls that Tacy loved playing with (once she warmed up to them and stopped being shy) but she did struggle with sharing her toys with them.  We even managed to play a card (by putting Little mermaid on for the girls).  It was fun.

Tacy counting out all of her strawberries

That's been our lives.  Brad only has 2 months left of summer semester which is exciting.  He has been doing short little 2-3 hours rotations (I think they have to do 7-8 this semester) to help get them all ready for their real clinical rotations to start in August.  Life will be really crazy then, but we almost have the first year done so it's exciting!

Climbing by herself at the playground

One little cute story, so Tacy went 3 weeks with no runny nose (a record for us since moving here) and then she got one and has had a cough.  Well she would tell us that she was sick and needed medicine (before she had much of a runny nose or cough) so I would say "No".  Brad then told Tacy that he is practically a doctor and that he would listen to her.  So he got out his stethoscope, and made her cough while he listened to her lungs (she never let me doing this during nursing school because she was scared of stethoscopes then).  He then told her she was better.  So she got excited and told me that she saw a doctor and was better. Adorable!  A few days later Tacy had coughed and starting digging through Brad's bag.  He asked her what she was doing when she pulled out his stethoscope.  Haha so he listened to her again and she coughed without him asking.  She is a funny girl.

Toddler Potty Humor

Tacy is a potty champ!  Basically we consider her potty trained, but we do still occasionally have accidents.  I'm so glad she got potty training down so fast!  That first week I was ready to put up the white flag and give up, the second week got better, and then finally week 3 she got pooping in the toilet down.  Hurray!!!

Since Tacy is so funny while going potty, I thought I should continue to share some of the Tacy bathroom/potty funnies.  Once, while sitting on the potty Tacy told me she was trying to poop.  Then she scrunched up her face (she really likes to show us that she is trying) and makes these loud noises that I would say you would hear during an arm wrestling fight or tug -of-war (URGHHH).  Ha ha it cracks me up when she does that.  But sorry, the really funny part was when she told me that you "have to squeeze your WHOLE body" to poop.  I was laughing and told her ok.  I love when she gives me instruction.

We always ask Tacy if she is done (this is more to save toilet paper and not waist it with multiple wipes).  Well Tacy now likes to tell us how many poops she will have.  Basically the conversations go like this:

Me: Are you all done?

Tacy: No, 3 more poops coming.

What's even funnier is when she is right.  Tacy also loves to turn around and see what the potty looks like while she is going potty.  We try to discourage this so she will just focus on going potty but she can sure be determined and stubborn.

For a good week, Tacy refused letting us help her in the bathroom (the downstairs bathroom is small and she just moves her stool around so she can turn on the light, get on the potty and wash/dry her hands).  By refused, I mean Tacy would put up her hand like she is directing traffic and telling you to STOP and would back up into the bathroom and shut the door.  Then she started skipping turning on the light but opening the pantry door and leaving the bathroom door opened a little (the two doors can almost touch and make a triangle with the corner of the kitchen) but this left enough light for her.  It was hilarious to watch.  This past week she has requested help every time again though.  

Last Friday, the sister missionaries were over for dinner (basically we have them over on a weekly basis and we all love it).  Brad was cooking qua-bobs on the BBQ so Tacy and I were playing with the sisters (Sis. Salakielu AKA Sis. Sally and Sis. Mortimer).  Tacy then said she needed to go potty and jumped up to go to the bathroom.  I went to go help her but she told me "No, Sister Sally come help me" (she can be quite demanding).  I told her that I would help her but she would not have it.  I tried to bargain with her that Sister Sally could help her wash her hands.  She threw a tantrum and finally slammed the bathroom door while crying.  I just let her be.  Then we heard the stool moving, she went potty and then after flushing she called Sister Sally and Sister Sally (while laughing) went into the bathroom and helped Tacy wash her hands.  Gosh that girl is something, but we all laughed about it.  Tacy LOVES the sisters and they love her too.

Who knew I would ever find potty happenings humorous?

Potty Training Funnies

Potty training definitely is not easy, but there are so many funny things that have happened.  Tacy cracks me up all the time as it is and potty training just makes life funnier (and harder, more stressful...).  

So Tacy is a big fan of Dora the Explorer.  She requests to watch this show every morning (I let her watch some if we have time weekday mornings, but usually she watches Dora on Saturday mornings before we run errands).  Well, Dora has quite a few phrases that Tacy loves to say, like "Swiper no swipee!" and "We did it!"  Tacy says these a lot while playing and talking to herself (so funny to here all the times and places she throws the "swiper no swipee" phrase into).

Well as part of potty training, we try to emphasize how awesome it is when she goes potty in the toilet.  So I always tell her "You did it!"  Tacy loves to say "I did it" when she goes potty and usually starts to dance too (Dora dances while singing "we did it" at the end of every show).  Tacy is really cute how excited she gets when she goes potty and gives Brad and I high fives and makes sure we both know she went.  Today we had the sister missionaries over for dinner.  During dinner Tacy told me she needed to go potty.  So I took her into the bathroom and she went poop (this is a big deal because she is great at going pee pee in the toilet but this is only the second time she has pooped in the potty).  Needless to say, Tacy and I were pretty excited (I think she was also a little shocked at first).  So after flushing and washing her hands, Tacy ran out of the bathroom shouting "I went poop in toilet!!!" and Started dancing in the kitchen while singing "I did it!"  I'm sure the sisters were not expecting such an announcement and dance but we all laughed and told her good job.

Our happy faces after a 'no accident' day.  Today was our second! Yay!

Tacy loves to be in the bathroom with me when I need to go potty.  Before Brad and I would always tell her we were going potty to try to show her that we went and so she should to (back when she refused to sit on the toilet because she did not want to).  However, Tacy can be quite clingy and likes to know where I am, so I tell her when I go potty and then she runs in with me sometimes.  Oh well.  Well this morning she started clapping and told me "Great!" when I went potty.  ha ha it made me laugh so hard.  It was adorable even if I would prefer to go to the bathroom alone and not have an audience.  

The week has slowly gotten better each day with potty training.  Tacy now makes it to the potty almost every time to go pee pee, she is dry after every nap (she still wears a pull-up or diaper over her underwear just in case when she sleeps, which is a must for night because she pees and does not wake up at all even though pull ups over wet undies do not hide the wetness), and she is good at saying when she needs to go potty.  With today being Saturday, we had errands to run.  I was a little nervous about going places and making it to the potty if she had to go.  Well we would wait to leave until after she went potty to try to help.  In the afternoon, Tacy and I went to Carters to get her summer jammies and she started holding herself and doing a potty dance.  I asked her if she needed to go and she said no.  But as soon as we were walking out of the store she announced that she needed to go.  So I picked her up and ran into TJ-Max which was right next door.  I walked as fast as I could to the bathrooms all the way at the back of the store.  And guess what?  We made it!  I was so happy and proud of her.  She also had no problem going potty on a big seat (we had no time to set up her little seat on top).  Thank goodness.  I feel like we can go places after that.  

Playing with one of her potty training dollar prizes.  She love bubbles!

I'm still a little nervous about church tomorrow and long car rides.  Seriously, before potty training, well and even the beginning of this week, Tacy only went potty like 3-4 times a day.  Today I think she went potty 7-8 times, and sometimes it felt like she went within 30 minutes of the last time.  It makes me wonder if as soon as she feels a little pressure she just announces she needs to go.  That can make life really interesting when we are hoping to drive 2.5 hours to the beach next week...or the week after when we have to drive 1.5 hours to the zoo.  

I'm hoping next week I can start letting her only sleep in underwear at night and get her potty trained for night time.  I'm not looking forward to it because I love to sleep and waking up to clean up a wet bed does not sound fun, but we got to do it sometime.  The past few nights I have stopped letting her have water at bedtime and she has gone from whinning to telling me ok, so progress.  

I still think diapers are easier, but I'm so proud of Tacy and I swear she is morphing into a big kid before my eyes.  I swear she has grown the past week and no longer looks at all like a baby or little toddler.  The fact that I considered getting her 4T shirts scares me a little (seriously, where has my baby gone?!).  

Can I Get Some Prozac?

Haha sometimes I have a little too much fun naming these posts.  This weekend Brad and I both had Good Friday off (thank you Bible Belt) so I decided I would use this 3 day weekend to potty train Tacy.  I read up on blogs, talked to my mom, etc to try and prepare myself.  Brad had gotten invited to go the beach with a couple different friends from school (by invited I mean our whole family was invited) and while that would have been fun, I knew I really needed to potty train.  So I put fun aside and put on my mommy jeans.  

We did kick off the weekend by going shopping for Tacy.  Every spring and fall we have to buy her new shoes and clothes because she has outgrown her shoes/clothes and it's a new season.  So we bought her some shorts and t-shirts.  I did look at some shoes, but I'm so cheap and seriously, she grows out of them so fast so I'm just going to get her some sandals at Walmart and hopefully find some good new church shoes for her and call it good because spending $10 or less on shoes is much better than $25.  After the shopping we went and watched Cinderella.  I figured this was good movie to take Tacy to see since she LOVES princesses.  I was a little worried about how she would handle a movie theatre and sitting still in one seat, but we got popcorn and she did pretty good.  It was disappointing that 11 was the earliest movie we could find. So the movie pushed her nap back, which led her to be a little tired.  She was so excited by Frozen Fever (we hadn't told her she would see Anna and Elsa).  Frozen Fever was really cute and funny.  I let Tacy wear her Elsa dress to the theatre too.  She got a little scared when Cinderella started, not because of the movie itself but because of the dark theatre from the dimming house lights.  But she sat on her seat for half the movie and then sat on my lap the rest of the time.  She says she loved the movie.  I thought it was really good.  As soon as the movie was over Tacy asked to go home and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with strawberries.  Ha ha my sweet girl is easy to please.  But she passed out in the car and was taken right to bed.  When you ask her about Cinderella she will tell you "Cinderella mom broke shoe!" or "Cinderella mom broke dress!"  Apparently the evil step mother really stuck with Tacy so we keep talking about the importance of being nice to people (courageous and kind is a little over her cute head right now). 

After her nap I took off Tacy's diaper and let her be in the kitchen naked from the waist down.  Tacy thought it was a little wierd but was okay with it after a while.  We played games (thank goodness for the games/toys my mom sent her for easter).  I kept trying to ask her if she needed to go potty, and we sat on the potty but she never went and then all of a sudden she had an accident.  She was so confused and kept trying to back away from the wetness.  It was pretty funny because she was oblivious to the fact that she was peeing and causing the wetness.  Oh well.  That was Friday.

Saturday Tacy and I camped out in the kitchen ALL day.  She wore underwear (I showed her her Frozen underwear in hopes that she would be motivated to stay dry to keep wearing Anna and Elsa).  Brad ran all our grocery errands alone while Tacy and I played in the kitchen, kept sitting on the potty, and I kept trying to get that girl to drink water.  Well she had 3.5 accidents which made for lots of cleaning up.  While it was a lot, she started getting better at recognizing that she was going and running in the direction of the potty.  We have a bathroom right next to the kitchen and I brought her little potty down into the kitchen as well.  But she did manage to make it to the potty twice.  It's amazing how happy I felt when she did.  I was so excited and proud of her.  She would also look at me and look so overjoyed.  She would say "Momma I did it!" We would then sing a little Dora, high five, and hug.  Then she got a treat and to put a sticker on her chart.  For her nap and bedtime she wore a diaper.  When she went to bed I was exhausted.  It had been a long day in the kitchen.  So I ran to Target to get more underwear and walked over to Cook Out to get a shake.  The fresh air felt so nice (sad that we had such good weather for the weekend and I was inside the whole time).

reading Daddy's PA journal, just some light bathroom reading

Sunday, Tacy got right into her underwear again.  While I was showering/getting ready, she told Daddy that she needed to go potty and went!  That made me so happy because she didn't forget everything we had done the day before!  We let her go in the living room.  She took her nap in her underwear.  Everything was going great except she kept insisting she didn't need to go or would only sit on the potty for a second then wiggle off saying she couldn't go.  So disappointing.  I kept catching her holding her bum and trying to get her to sit on the potty but she insisted she did not need to go and would fight me.  Needless to say she had 2 accidents.  Brad kept looking at me and asking if I wanted to put her in a diaper, and as much as I wanted to give in and do it, I said no.  That was my weekend.  I felt like we would take one step forward and then 2 back.  My mom told me that this is normal.  But goodness, it is hard on me.  I feel like I understand depression now, because I would be so happy and feel it was all worth it when she made it to the potty but would be so sad, down, and ready to give up when she wouldn't make it and would fight me.  

I am glad it was conference weekend so that while potty training I was able to listen to some wonderful talks about family.  I can't say I remember a lot of what I heard because Tacy takes up a lot of my attention, but I was grateful for the bit I did hear.  I am grateful for youtube and that even though we don't have BYU tv we can still watch General Conference live on Youtube or through lds.org.  

Tacy wanted to take a picture of General Conference

We did have funny times during the weekend.  Tacy did have a little easter egg hunt inside Sunday morning.  She was adorable and would put her hands on the side of her face to help her look better when we told her that we still saw eggs.  She got some candy from the dollar store, change (she loves money and put all the change in her piggy bank to "save for later") and some Ariel underwear.  The true meaning of Easter was a little hard for her to understand since she does not understand death.  We did watch Because He Lives video on Monday for FHE.  She loves Jesus but was sad when she saw Him getting hurt and hung on the cross.  My sweet and tender girl.  

I love when people say that diapers make it easier for the kids.  That might be true, but I think diapers are easier for parents.  It is so much easier to not have to worry about accidents, to be able to run errands without worrying about potties and what to do if she has an accident.  This morning I had to pack extra underwear and clothes for her to take to my friend's house.  I also put a towel in her car seat.  I told my parents that potty training is great birth control.  We will get through this....one way or another.  My mom told me to "be patient and wait".  Haha, not near as nice as "Have courage and be kind".

making jewelry!

Our Last Adventures in Orlando

We had planned to do a beach day while in Orlando, however it did not happen because other than Wednesday and Thursday when it was hot and humid, Friday and Saturday were both cloudy and cool.  So we improvised and spent Saturday going to the the outlets to buy Tacy new shoes.  

The nice part of Saturday was that we were able to relax and take naps.  So I read while Brad and Tacy slept.  Then when everyone was awake we went to play a round a mini golf at Disney's Summerland/Winterland Golf Course.  

Tacy loves castles now

After minigolf we headed over to Disney's Boardwalk.  It was crowded but we managed to have some fun with all the Lego sculputures and Princess statues.  

Then we ended the day eating at Logan's Roadhouse.  I thought it was a lot like Texas Roadhouse with the peanuts, but I did not think the food was that great.  Oh well, Tacy entertained herself with the window by singing into the window or pretending that her straw was a wand.  Tacy made sound effects every time she waved her wand.  Brad and I tried to get her to say spells but she preferred making sound effects.  Tacy and Brad also drew lots of pictures with her crayons (our waiter was slow so we waited a lot).

Overall we had a fun time in Orlando and I'm glad we were able to do so much and for relatively great prices.  

This was funny, she was trying to catch the golf balls as the twirling thing spit them out

Butterbeer or Bust!

So, I love Harry Potter!  The first book was gifted to my family Christmas 1998.  We had never heard of it but it sounded interesting.  My older sister read the whole thing that night.  I took three days to read it (I was only 11).  We loved it!!!  It was not until the third book came out that everyone else seemed to hear about Harry Potter and it became really popular.  Since I was 11 I have been dreaming about Hogwarts and how awesome a place/world it would be to visit.  Hence, why Brad tried to talk me into going during this trip.  However, Disney was definitely a great place for the whole family.  So I had given up on Harry Potter world. But when we were driving into Florida, Brad saw a sign about tickets for $39.  So he pulled over and I went in and found out that if we went and listened to this 90 minute timeshare presentation we could get tickets for both of us for $78 (less than a pull price ticket for one adult and Tacy was still free).  So we did this.  The presentation took 2.5 hours and I was pretty grumpy by the end of it.  But then we got to Universal Studios, Island of Adventure and I got so excited I practically ran all the way to the back where Hogsmead was in the park.  

It was a pretty cloudy day and only got into the 60s so the park was never super crowded (except the street is really narrow in Hogsmead to feel like the movies so it was pretty packed around lunch). Brad and I walked right up to Dragon Challenge and asked if they had a rider swap deal - they do, it's called Child Swap.  Both adults walk through their fast pass line (which you have to pay for at Universal) and tell the workers you are doing child swap.  Then once you are at the ride one parent waits in a room with the child while the other rides and then you swap.  It was fabulous!  We seriously walked right onto the rides and then when we switched the next parent just went out of the room and got put right onto the ride.  Dragon Challenge was a crazy fast loopy roller coaster, but it was fun.

After Dragon challenge we did the same thing at the Hogwarts ride. Brad had to keep reminding me that we were walking through Hogwarts Castle to get me to slow down and enjoy walking through the line and looking at everything, like the talking portraits, Dumbledor's office, the Fat lady and gryffindor tower.  It was awesome!  The ride was so fun, it reminded me of Soaring over California because it was 4 seats that move all around.  You do go around a track while watching a lot of stuff on a screen (but you feel like you really are flying through the video).  They had stuff from several movies, like the giant spider, dementors, quidditch, the whomping willow and dragons.  Oh it was fun!  Brad got a little sick from motion sickness but I loved it!  And Tacy had fun because the Child Swap room had the first Harry Potter playing so she was entertained. 

Since Brad wasn't feeling good, Tacy and I stood in line and rode Flight of

the Hippogriff without him.  This was the longest line we waited in (about 30 minutes).  Since Tacy was tall enough we had to stand in the regular line.  But it was okay because you walk around Hagrid's hut and Buckbeak.  Tacy really liked Buckbeak and kept asking where his mommy and daddy where (she is very concerned about everyone/thing having mommies and daddies).  Brad had my phone so I didn't get any pictures.  Tacy kept practicing her imitation of people shreiking in excitement while riding the ride.  But once again, once the ride started she just stayed close to me and did not make a peep.  But she was happy again afterwards and kept talking about "beak".

inside Three Broomsticks

After the rides we went into Hogsmead and ate lunch at Three Broomsticks.  There was a bit of a line, but it moved so fast.  They sure know how to move people in that place!  And my goodness it was so awesome inside!  I seriously felt like I was in the Harry Potter movies!  Brad made sure to order butterbeer to try.  The food was fine, nothing I'd go crazy over, but the experience was totally worth it!  I thought butterbeer tasted like a really sweet/sugary cream soda.  

After Three Broomsticks we walked into some of the shops like Honeydukes, The Owlery and Filch's Emporium.  We also visited the restrooms and got a kick out of Moaning Myrtle.  Then we headed over to the Jurassic Park area of Universal.  Tacy loves dinosaurs and they had a big junglegym, slide, play area.  So we all climbed around in there.  Tacy loved it all except for a part where you step on dinosaur footprints and when you do you hear the sound that dinosaur makes.  That scared Tacy so we had to hurry through.

After Jurassic Park we went to the Dr. Seuss world area.  It was so lame because Tacy was too short to ride the Dr. Seuss version of the Peoplemover (you sit in a cart and ride around a track that goes slow, and just goes around the whole Dr. Seuss area).  It made no sense to Brad and I when she was tall enough for Flight of the Hippogriff which had ups, downs, and turns.  Oh well.  We did a Cat and the Hat ride and then Tacy and Brad rode One Fish, Two Fish which is like Dumbo (Brad said he would do it because I was a little tired of all the spinning rides).  The funny thing was that for this ride while you are controlling the height of your fish, their are fish around the ride that spit water at you and Tacy liked getting wet (despite it being pretty chilly) so Brad and Tacy came out of the ride damp.  Tacy and I then did the Dr. Seuss carousel.  Then we decided we were done because Tacy and I were cold and Brad and I did not feel like riding The Hulk or Spiderman.  So we stopped in one of the shops along City Walk and I picked out a Harry Potter shirt and Tacy picked a little HP owl (I showed her a purple minion shirt but she decided she liked the owl better).  Brad wanted an HP shotglass, but JK Rowling apparently said no to shotglasses.  Oh well.  

Tacy once again feel asleep instantly once we were in the car.  But she woke up once we got to BJ's Brewery and Resturaunt (my favorite pizza!).  We ate yummy pizza and pzookies.  So yummy I did not take a picture because I was too happy eating it all fast.  That was the end of another good day in Orlando.