Date Night and Other Happenings

Friday night Thomas and I had our second annual date night at the Orlando Informer Meetup. It was our anniversary (19 years!) but we hadn't spent much time together all week. I had to go into the office for 3 days in a row. And, of course, we had all the kids activities. Tuesday and Thursday were baseball nights. We also had Kara's theater showcase on Tuesday (she killed it!). Wednesday was Anna's ice skating. So, we didn't really see each other much. That made it especially nice to spend the evening together. The Meetup is a separately ticketed event at Universal. They rent out the park and all the food is included and the rides are almost all walk-ons. It is really fun. The event started when the park closed at 7, but we got there around 4. We didn't want to waste time during the event waiting for Hagrid's, so we did that first. The lines throughout the park were really short, so even though Hagrid's had a posted wait of 120 minutes, we thought that was probably over-inflated. And, as we entered the line, it was really short. We estimated 45 minutes. But, then there was a delay and they were taking trains off the track and we ended up waiting for about 2 hours. So, by the time we left the line, it was almost park closing. I had a bit of a headache, so I went to a food stand for a cup of water. Even though the park wasn't closed, the worker saw my bracelet and said they had started the free food for the evening. This was way more exciting then it should have been! I got a bottle of water, Thomas got a soda and we shared some chips. We sat until the park officially closed, then walked right on Kong. Then, we walked on Spiderman, then Doctor Doom. We played free games in the arcade and realized it was about 8, when the restaurants opened. 

And so the eating began! I had an amazing dinner at Terrace Falls. Thomas got some chili fries and rice and beans. We ate and then rode Velocicoaster and the Trolley in the Sky before walking over to the other park. There, we walked on Minions and Mummy, then got more food (buffalo chicken mac and cheese was especially delicious). Then, we rode Gringotts, followed by hot butterbeer and pumpkin juice, then MiB, Twirl n Hurl, and ET. By now, it was around 1130, so an hour until park closing. We decided to walk back to the other park and get some Cinnabon to give the kids in the morning and play in the arcade. The arcade was a little crowded, so we didn't last long. We left around midnight. We did everything we wanted to, except maybe the Hogwart's Express, that never quite worked out. And, we ate almost everything we wanted to. I was planning on trying the Taco Truck, but I was just way too full. It was amazing to walk around a pretty empty theme park and ride whatever we wanted with no wait. Hagrid's did have a wait all night around 45 minutes, but that was the only ride and since we had done it earlier, we didn't need to waste the time.

Gringotts was empty! Just us and the Goblins.

I was so full, but I had to get a hot butterbeer. And, while I was there I decided to try pumpkin juice (delicious!) This was my, "I really shouldn't be doing this" face.

Riding the Twirl and Hurl, our only ride picture.

The Christmas lights throughout the park were so pretty.

Saturday the Lakeland Tigers had their annual sale. The website said 30-50% off, so we weren't expecting too much. The last time we went, the entire store was 50% off. We got there and nothing was marked as on sale. We asked the guy at the counter who said that everything outside was $5 and everything inside was 30% off. We walked outside expecting to see a table of old t-shirts, but there was tons and tons of stuff. We got several hats, polo shirts, t-shirts, and visors. It was amazing! We ended up spending $120 dollars, but got so much stuff--22 items in all (there are 6 of us after all)!  We are definitely ready for Spring Training! My only regret is we didn't get even more :)

After that, we met my sister's family at Carols in the Park in Winter Haven. It was crowded and hard for our big group to walk around together, so we only stayed for about 45 minutes. Then, it was lunch at Popeye's (Jack's pick) and we headed home. Oh! I forgot to mention, we let Jack drive to Lakeland. He did a good job. I-4 is no joke, even at 8 on a Saturday morning! We got home, hung out for a bit, then went to Jack's basketball game. The other team was ahead the entire game and then our team tied it up in the 4th quarter. They ended up losing, but it was definitely exciting. We got takeout from Tijuana Flats and then watched Christmas Vacation. It was a busy, busy day. 

While most of us spent Saturday doing all of that, Kara was at the Thespians competition. Her monologue and ensemble both received superior ratings and both were chosen to advance to the state competition. She is very excited!