September

September was a busy month, with the semester under way. Regardless, over Labor Day weekend we decided to take a trip to Orlando and visit Universal Studios. Mostly for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We left Friday night after work (our flight was delayed a couple hours due to a hurricane over northern Florida) and finally landed around midnight and got into our hotel around one and collapsed into the giant king-sized bed (being awake for nearly 18 hours straight is killer.)

We got up and got breakfast, and promptly caught the shuttle to the park. We had prepaid tickets so didn't really have to wait in line, and we had arrived at the park early enough that we didn't have to spend too much time in lines. I led us straight to the Harry Potter section, set to get a wand first thing at Ollivander's. However, we were on the wrong side, so we took the Hogwarts Express to the other park (Diagon Alley/London). The train is awesome. The inside has compartments just like the movie, and the windows are actually screens designed to look like the English countryside passing, and Hogwarts and London. The compartment windows have shadows of students passing.

We went straight for Ollivander's and waited in line for a bit outside (you can go straight into the shop without waiting in line, but they do a little wand presentation), and the dragon on Gringotts let off a little breath of fire. Even though it's high up, you can still feel the heat. We watched the little presentation, (I passed on letting the costume Ollivander presenting me my wand as there were a handful of kids in the crowd so I let them have it instead). I did get a wand, one that interacts with the park. We had butterbeer and pumpkin juice and got candy at Honeydukes and walked through all the little trinket shops.

We had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, rode the Gringotts ride. I was wearing my glasses and was worried about losing them on a roller coaster, so we didn't ride too many. It was so hot, though. We felt as though we were melting so we popped onto the Jurassic Park ride, something I remember from my childhood, though I remember the dinosaurs being much bigger. We got soaking wet on another river ride. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the City Walk (too much food).

The next day we went an hour earlier so we could miss the lines for the rides, which actually worked out well. We rode the Hogwarts ride, which you walk through the castle for. The castle is really cool, they have so much detail in everything inside.  The ride made me a little motion sick, but it's probably the longest ride in the park. We rode another roller coaster, and Lawrence got a little nauseous and we didn't go on anymore roller coasters (we did go on some smaller rides though).

We managed to make it through too much rain for the most part, until we were on our way out of the park and the heavens opened up monsoon weather. We were drenched when we got back to the hotel. My Uncle Alex lives in Orlando, and after a couple days of phone tag, we managed to get a plan together for dinner. It's been over twenty years since we last saw each other (I was practically a baby the last time he saw me). We went out for sushi for dinner, and then dessert at the restaurant my uncle works. We were up early to return to Chicago and spent the rest of the day sleeping and watching movies.

The rest of September was far less exciting. School, work, cooling weather. Tooth crown, new contact lenses. Thought I broke the laptop, Lawrence took it to a coworker to brought it back to life. At least for now.



The seasons are moving forward and Autumn is here in full.