the summertime

Ah! the sweetness of summer! :)

This has been a fantastic summer so far. I have been able to spend time with some of my dearest friends and family. Just this last week my family spent our family vacation in Orlando, FL. We had a great time at the beach and went to a couple amusement parks. It was a lot of fun and we made a lot of good memories. One memory that was not so exciting was our mission to see the new Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. Mission was an epic fail! The whole day was ridiculous! We got there early and we stood in a line that wrapped all the way around the park for hours. Once in the park it was a mad dash, which also made it difficult because my Dad was in a wheel chair. We finally got in, only to stand and wait in another outrageous line to stand in. It was complete pandaemonium. People everywhere! After waiting in line for close to two hours we got up to the bridge to enter the

"Wizarding World of Harry Potter" and got turned away. They told us that this was no longer an entrance and you had to go all the way around to the other side of the park! At that point the line already was strung out in all directions. It seemed completely crazy to back track and get back in line somewhere else, after we had already wasted two hours of the day. So Casey and I decided to jump on some of the other rides and see if the line would decrease after awhile...no luck. Over the course of an entire afternoon the line stayed consistent and never seemed to diminish. There were some pretty angry people all over the place complaining, even people who had to opportunity to get into Hogwarts to ride the rides and see all the new stuff. Those people were upset because there were so many people inside that you couldn't even enjoy it. The line to get into the shops and gift stores was an hour wait alone. So at the end of the day we didn't even make it to see Harry Potter land. It wasn't worth the wait for us. But we still had fun and made some good memories of our own.

The other days of our trip were good, except for the fact that it rained every afternoon!

It is always funny when we get the family together for our vacations. There are moments when we butt heads a little but there are also moments when we are all laughing hysterically. We are not a perfect family, we don't always get along, we definitely test each others patients and push each others buttons, but we still are able to joke around with each other and be silly.

I am so blessed to have such an amazing family. I am thankful everyday for all that my parents do for our family. I also have an amazing younger brother who is growing up too fast! I would not trade my family for anything in the world. :)