Happy Thanksgiving 2012

Tom's sister and family came for the holiday and we spent two days at Universal Studios touring both parks.  I've written in the past about my experiences at both of these parks and for the most part they were any better or any worse.  The crowds were heavier and the employees not as outgoing and the weather was chilly, but otherwise it was entertaining.

I didn't really remember many of the rides from the last time so it was sort of a new experience because of that.  Madison and her cousin Eli spent quite a bit of time on the roller coasters so the rest of us shopped and rode different rides.

Darcy, Joey, and Olivia enjoyed each others' company while the other two rode the coasters.  They didn't really need a ride to find fun and entertainment.  They found it in everything.

I only insisted on one thing and that was standing in line to see:

I wanted to take a picture of Spiderman with the girls so that I could tweet my nephew who at the moment is dressing like Dr. Who, but who wants to be a super hero when he grows up.

I tweeted: @Awsomemason Look who we ran into at Universal Studios...an associate of yours I believe.

I thought it hilarious, but he didn't respond.  Something about phone issues.  Hmpf.  The big excitement was getting stuck on the Harry Potter Castle Ride. Darcy and I didn't ride this last time because we thought it would be scary, but we did walk through the castle with Madison and Tom and then we exited before the ride.  Now Darcy is reading the Potter books and is interested in everything Harry Potter.

Madison and Tom said the ride was not scary and Olivia wanted to go on it so we all got in the 75 minute wait line.  Once inside the castle you have to put your things in a locker so while everyone was doing that I stood off to the side avoiding the crowd.  An employee was telling people that single riders go up the stairs and multiple riders go straight.  I inquired to the single riders and found that those are for people who don't mind not sitting together.  When a ride isn't full with 4 people they throw on a single rider.  We all opted for the 10 minute wait in this line.  While we were in this line Olivia and Madison departed for the restrooms and Nancy, Darcy and I moved on.  I was behind a Steelers fan and so he and I discussed the Baltimore game of the night before.  He ended up with the three of us on the ride.

The chairs are like being on individual ferris wheel chairs.  It was the Steelers guy, Nancy, Darcy, and me on the end. The ride began in darkness with Hermoine casting a spell on us that had us flying. Harry Potter met us in the air and led us on a journey through the woods, past Hagar's cottage, and up, up, up into the air so we could clear the roof of the castle. Right as we began to fly over the castle we stopped in mid flight. The ride was dead. We were left hanging over the castle. We leaned out and looked at one another giggling. It was still dark so we couldn't see much except that we were up in the air.

We sat there for several minutes while a recorded voice told us to relax and the ride would begin momentarily. There were noises of the ride trying to start; sort of like an engine that was frozen. We hung there and eventually the recording stopped its pep talk and the lights came on. We were hanging above a curtain, a movie screen hanging in front of us, and we were higher than I thought. We sat like that for ten minutes and than suddenly we were spun around facing the front and a giant mechanical spider.

While I could describe the entire trip through the castle I won't. A ride like that shouldn't be ruined. We followed the spider in front of us until we arrived at the end where employees gave us tickets to bypass the line when the ride was fixed. It didn't seem much of a concession after discovering the secrets of the ride, but when I was able to bypass the line and ride the ride I wasn't as disappointed as I was sure I would be. It also wasn't a favorite of mine as there was a lot of jerking and shaking on the ride which made me a tad nauseous.

The girls had a great time at the park and spending time with their cousins.  Two of Tom's sisters have one red haired child in their family.  Nancy enjoyed telling her red haired daughter, "Go with Aunt Cara.  You look like you belong with her more than me." 

We left on Tuesday to head home.  Darcy had her first babysitting job down the street and Madison had a movie date with friends.  On Wednesday Tom and Madison flew off to New York City.  It has been a dream of my husbands to see the Macy's Day Parade.  Every year he says he is going to do it the next year.  It is no interest of mine, however, to stand in the cold, crowded streets of NYC to watch overgrown balloons float down the street so I suggested he take his about to be 16 year old daughter with him.  They departed leaving Kelly, Darcy, and me behind to have Thanksgiving dinner.

We opted for ham this year instead of turkey.  Kelly cooked up a delicious, moist ham with all the turkey trimmings; stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, and gravy.  We ate and then took food up to Grandma Connie.  We were so stuffed that we forgot the dessert.  Later that night we left to pick up the New York travelers at the airport where we then took them to Grandma Mary Anne's house where we ate another Thanksgiving dinner this one with Nancy's turkey and trimmings.

Another nice holiday full of food, friends, family, and plenty of activity.