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We all slept in this morning.  It felt nice to relax at Brett's and catch up on some sleep.  My left ear took longer than normal to unplug after the flight last night.  It's been awhile since flying has bothered my ears.  It did eventually clear up.  Cal came over around 11:15 a.m. to go to lunch with us.  We wanted to eat at Samira which was an Afghanistan restaurant near the courthouse that we hadn't tried before.  Unfortunately, it was closed this afternoon.  Instead we went to the Italian restaurant next door.  We were their first customers of the day.  The food was delicious and we enjoyed the conversation around the table.  Meg, Cam and I told Brett and Cal about all of our favorite parts of Universal Studios.  I would like to take them at some point as I know they would enjoy Krustyland and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  

Once lunch was over we dropped Cal off at the rec center so he could work out.  Brett wanted to go to the Union, so we left from there.  It was great that we could stay with Brett last night.  It was so much easier to drive to Bloomington in an hour than to make the three hour trek home at 1 a.m.  It was also very nice to see the boys one more time before they get busy with finals.  

The drive back was a smooth one.  We unpacked the van as soon as we got back.  Meg wanted to rest for a little bit before she met Jackie for dinner at Steak N Shake.  Cam headed straight for the PS4.  He was surprised to find several of his friends online already playing.  I put a load of laundry in as soon as we got everything in the house.  Doug wanted to go to dinner in town.  That made for a wonderful evening as we hadn't been alone together since Monday.  I was completely wiped out when we got home and headed to bed early.  It was sad to know that our trip was over, but I was happy to sleep in my own bed this evening.  

Late Night Flight

We slept in this morning as we knew that we had a late night flight out of Orlando to Indy.  We had just enough time to pack and get our luggage to the concierge before our 11 a.m. check out time.  When I printed our boarding passes I noticed that our flight had already been delayed an hour.  I was worried as we were the last flight to Indy for the day.  I knew that it would be pretty late for Doug to pick us up, but he wasn't worried about it.  If we had to be delayed I was glad that it was while we were in Florida as today was gorgeous and Indiana was still cold.

We walked to the Islands of Adventure.  The crowds seemed down from our first day at the parks.  Meg wanted another meatball sub while Cam looked for something new.  He spotted a restaurant selling gyros and waited in line there while Meg went to her new favorite lunch spot.  I hadn't had a sub yet, and definitely could see why Meg picked it two days in a row.  After we ate we walked to Hogsmeade.  We all wanted to ride the Hogwarts Express from there to Diagon Alley.  When we arrived we realized to our good fortune that the line for The Journey through the Forbidden Forest was only 45 minutes.  Meg was sure that I would be able to ride it and I really wanted to try it.  The walk through the queue was fantastic complete with talking portraits of the heads of the houses of the castle.  The cart took us on a ride through the forbidden forest on the way to a Quidditch match.  It was awesome and in my opinion the best ride of the four days.

Once we exited we headed to the train.  The line for it was short as well and we quickly found ourselves in Diagon Alley sipping Butterbeer.  While walking through the shops we once again noticed that a favorite ride had a short line.  In less than 30 minutes we were all traveling down into Gringotts Bank once again.  From Diagon Alley we stopped in Krustyland.  Cam finally decided upon trying a turkey leg.  Grandpa Cutes had been texting him all week telling him to eat one for him.  Cam said that it was delicious.  While he ate, Meg and I took another turn on ET.  We were amazed at how many people in line talked about their love for the ride.  We thought it was more psychedelic than anything else.

We stopped at a few shops on the way out of the park.  It was a hot day, but the walk to the hotel was shady and pretty.  We waited in the lounge area for our ride to the airport.  Cam wanted to watch the Masters.  Phil and Tiger have not faired as well as predicted, but it has been a great tournament to watch.  Our shuttle was ten minutes late, but since our plane was delayed we weren't worried.  Our trip was an easy one.  By the time we got to the airport the delay had been decreased and we were to fly out at 10:10 p.m. which was only 35 minutes late.  It took awhile to get our luggage checked as the Southwest lines were long.  We spent some time shopping at the Disney Store before eating dinner at the food court.  Cam ordered from Chipotle.  He had never been there and like his burrito.  Meg and I stuck to McDonalds.  The flight left promptly at 10:10.  The three of us sat together and enjoyed a quiet, smooth flight.  Doug was at the airport when we arrived which we all really appreciated.  He helped us pick up our luggage and load it into the van.  The cold was a rude awakening after our four days in the sun.  The trip to Brett's was an easy one and by 2 a.m. we were all in bed ready for some rest.

A Cool Down

Today was a nice break from the heat.  I can't really complain about the 90 degree weather these past two days as we there was snow in Indiana.  The weather change, however, must have affected Meg's allergies as she woke up feeling terrible.  She was a trooper, nonetheless, and made it to Universal well before it opened.  We really wanted to ride Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.  We knew that we had to be there early to have any chance of getting on it today.  It by far had the longest lines of the week. The ride was well worth the hype.  We traveled on carts down into the tunnels of the bank while avoiding Voldemort.  We all really enjoyed it, and none of use had problems with motion sickness afterward.

Cam grabbed a Butterbeer afterward while Meg got a Coke.  We ate breakfast at a bakery inside the park.  I have been impressed with the variety of food that they have.  I also noticed that it is cheaper than Disney world prices.  We bought a refillable mug that we took turns filling.  That saved us quite a bit on drinks.  Meg made a bracelet for Macinsy and did some more shopping for the rest of her friends.  Cam rode in the single rider line for The Mummy.  He enjoyed it very much and was able to save a lot of time by going by himself.  We ate lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp.  Cam had wanted to eat there ever since we saw the sign for it several days ago.  The shrimp was delicious.

After lunch Meg took our packages back to the hotel room.  She wanted to lie down for awhile.  She still didn't feel the greatest.  I went back to Islands of Adventure with Cam.  We did not know until today that they had a water raft ride much like Kali River Rapids ride at Disney.  This one featured Bluto and Popeye.  Cam came off the ride completely soaked, but with a smile on his face.  From there he and I headed back to the hotel.  I wanted to rest before going back in the evening.  Cam used the time to watch The Masters and try out the arcade.

Once we had rested we grabbed some snacks from the New Dutch Bakery and headed back to Universal Studios Island of Adventure.  Cam rode the Spiderman ride.  He hadn't been able to get on it yet.  After that he rode Kong Skull Island next.  That line was longer, so Meg and I decided to get  all of us something to eat for dinner.  Meg picked meatball subs for them and I had a fruit cup and pasta salad.  By the time we got our food and I walked back to Kong, Cam was just exiting the ride.  He liked it, but thought it'd be better if he had seen the movie first.  The food was very good, and he appreciated us getting it for him.  Once we ate we walked to Hogsmead.  We wanted to see the Hogwarts light show.  We were one of the first groups to arrive and didn't have to wait long before it started.  It was short, but I really liked it.  All four houses were showed cased during the performance.  It was crazy getting out of Hogsmead as it was packed with visitors wanting to see the next show.  We were going to take the Hogwarts Express back to Universal, but it was too crowded.  Instead we headed back to the hotel, ready for some rest and relaxation.

Universal Islands of Adventure

We all went to bed early last night.  We were wiped out from our trip and the excitement of the first day.  It felt great to start our day well rested.  Cam, Meg and I headed to Hogsmeade along with everyone else.  One of the perks of staying at our hotel was getting into Harry Potter World an hour earlier.  They first went to The Forbidden Journey which took them on an adventure through Hogwart's Castle.  While they were riding it I had a chance to walk through the shops at Hogsmeade and even listened to Moaning Myrtle in the girls' bathroom.  Cam and Meg loved the ride.  I had opted out of it as the reviews said that it caused severe motion sickness.  Meg said that it didn't bother her at all, so I might try it another time. We had already ridden The Flight of the Hippogriff, so we left Harry Potter and went straight to the Hulk ride.

The wait for the roller coaster was short.  I sat this one out as well as it had several loops and turns.  They liked it, but it bothered Meg's eyes just like the one they tried yesterday at Universal Studios.  Cam went on a couple of rides on his own.  We found that the single rider lines had the shortest wait times, so Cam was able to go on several rides without us in less than a half hour.  Before heading back to the hotel we wanted to try a couple of the water rides.  The first was in Jurassic World.  We rode on boats through Jurassic Park searching for Velociraptors. The signs said that we would get soaked, but it wasn't too bad.  Since we were already wet we decided to next try the ride that Brett made us promise to do - Rip Saw Falls starring Dudley Do Right.  It was a log flume that I thought looked pretty tame.  I was wrong and we walked off of it completely drenched, but happy that we tried it.

We headed straight to our hotel and changed to go to Volcano Bay - Universal's new water park.  We spent the rest of the afternoon there soaking up sun, riding tube slides, coasting along the lazy river and hanging out at the wave pool.  It was crowded much like the parks, but fun nonetheless.  The bus ride back to the hotel was short.  We rested in our room before going back to the parks watching one of Doug's favorites - The Andy Griffith Show.

We spent the evening at Universal.  Cam and Meg had a lot of fun hanging out in Krustyland playing the Sideshow games.  Cam completely botched the balloon game, but scored big in the basketball one.  They were both proud of their prizes.  We ended the evening waiting in line for the Despicable Me ride.  It was cute, but we were glad that we caught it when it was less than an hour wait as most of the day it was well over two.  We were hungry when we got back to the room so we grabbed ice cream at the bakery.  It made for a great treat while we watched Impractical Jokers before heading to bed.

Day 5 - On to Orlando

Doug dropped Meg, Cam and I off at the Indianapolis airport this morning well before sunrise.  It had started storming last night and I was extremely worried that our plane would not make it out.  It was delayed for about fifteen minutes because of lightening strikes.  The plane was fine, but they couldn't safely get our luggage stored underneath.  Fortunately, the lightening stopped in time for us to leave.  I noticed later in the day that many of the planes after us were well over an hour delayed.  Although we had to get up early to catch the first flight of the day it was well worth it as we were in Orlando before 8:30 a.m.  There was a lot of turbulence at the beginning, but once we made it south of Kentucky it was a smooth flight.

We checked into the Loew's Sapphire Falls resort and were impressed with the hotel from the start.  It wasn't quite the Boardwalk, but it was very nice.  We spent an hour or so getting acquainted with all of it's amenities.  We bought our endless refill mugs and breakfast at the bakery.  After we ate we caught the boat to Universal Studios.  I had not been to the park in almost 25 years and Cam and Meg had never been there.  We knew that they had a Simpson's ride and thought we would check that out first since the line for the Krusty ride was only forty minutes.  

We absolutely loved Krustyland.  The virtual roller coaster was based on The Simpson's show, and although it made Meg and I nauseous, we still enjoyed it very much.  They had a second ride that featured the aliens from the show that reminded me of the magic carpet ride at Disney World.  Besides the two rides we enjoyed the Quik-E-Mart store, Moe's Bar, the Krusty Burger and Lard Lad Donuts.  Cam and Meg even had their picture taken with the Jedidiah Springfield statue.  

After exploring the park, we started back to our hotel.  They had texted us at 2:30 to let us know that our room was ready.  On our walk we saw that Hard Rock Cafe was open for lunch, so we stopped there first.  Cam shared all of the knowledge that he gained during his History of Rock N Roll class while we waited for our sandwiches.  The food was delicious as always.  Our room was very nice with a beautiful view of the lagoon.  Cam and Meg spent the afternoon at the pool.  It was the perfect weather day to swim.  The pool was large and had a slide for them to use.  Beachballs were flying everywhere and Meg and Cam had fun batting one back and forth.  

Our last stop of the evening was The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Walking through Diagon Alley was just like stepping into one of J.K. Rowling's books.  We visited all of the stores including Fred and George's joke shop.  Cam tried his first Butter Beer.  It was very good.  I thought about buying some Gilly Water, but shared Cam's drink instead.  We rode the Hogwart's Express to the Island of Adventure before heading back to the hotel.  It was absolutely amazing, just like we were first years.   It was the perfect end to our first day at Universal.

Spring Break Day 4 - A College Visit

I was up early this morning to secure our boarding passes for our 5:35 a.m. flight tomorrow.  I felt extremely fortunate to get A 30-32.  That should ensure that not only will Meg, Cam and I sit together, but  we should also be able to get seats close to the front.  That will save us quite a bit of time when we unload.

Shortly after I got up, Doug woke up Cam and Meg.  We had a 9:30 tour of Purdue and Doug wanted to make sure that we arrived early.  We thanked Brett for letting us stay for the weekend and headed out the door at 6:30.  From that time on we gave Doug a hard time about his early morning wake up call.  We arrived 45 minutes ahead of schedule which for Meg and I meant we could have enjoyed 30 more minutes of sleep!!

Our tour was extremely informative and although it snowed last night it wasn’t quite as cold on our walking portion as I thought it would be.  We remembered quite a bit from Cal’s tour three years ago, but learned some new information as well.  Cam said that he paid a lot more attention this time as he realized that a lot of the majors that he was interested in were found at Purdue.  Meg enjoyed her day and felt that Purdue would be a great second choice if for some reason IU did not work out.

After the tour we ate lunch at an Irish pub.  It was well worth trying.  From there we drove through the Butler campus.   It was not on Meg’s list of colleges to visit, but we were glad to see it.  There were some beautiful buildings.  We next went to Circle Center Mall.  Meg and I each found something that we needed.  We walked to the Soldiers’ Monument afterward hoping to come back another time when the Civil War museum was open.  We ate dinner at Giordano’s just like our preflight trips to Midway.  We checked into the Homewood Suites outside the airport.  Cam spent the evening watching the Michigan and Villanova game.  Meg read and went to bed early, but not quite as early as Doug.  I packed and rearranged our luggage while continually checking the weather forecast.  It was supposed to storm tomorrow and I was afraid that our flight would be cancelled.  I finally gave up worrying about it around ten or so and headed to bed.

Happy Easter and April Fool's Day!

For the first time that I could remember Easter fell on April Fool's Day.  There were a lot of memes on Facebook about it.  My favorite was that Jesus played the best April Fool's joke ever when he fooled his persecutors by rising from the dead.  We had a wonderful Easter spending it together as a family.  We started with Easter baskets at Brett's.  They were filled with candy, a movie, headphones and cash.    We next had brunch at the Tudor room.  It had been four years since we had done so and it was just as  delicious as we remembered.  Parce joined us for brunch.  He had worked the last two days, so we hadn't been able to catch up with him until today.

We decided after brunch to try a miniature golf place in Elletsville.  It was chilly out, but they were still open.  The course was a challenging one, but made for an afternoon of fun.  After a lot of trash talking and multiple sixes by all of us, Cal and Cam came out on top.  Meg and I were just five back and Doug and Brett finished a stroke behind us.  Cal had to go to work after our afternoon together.  The rest of us hung out at Brett's apartment playing games, watching television and reading.  Brett was in charge of the last mass of the day, 9 p.m.  We decided to join him.  It was a nice service and we all enjoyed going very much.  It was the perfect way to end a fantastic Easter day.