Summer 2022: Update
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Summer’s over! The kids started school again last Wednesday and we had a GREAT SUMMER!
Mercedes and I spent all day at Universal Studios on a Tuesday. We started our day at the rope-drop and took the Hogwarts Express directly over from Islands of Adventure to Universal Studios and got into the Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventures right away. Mercedes made a friend on the Trainride and we rode met them again at the Knight Bus after the Flight of the Hippogriff. We also ate at the Three Broomsticks and went by Honeydukes and Olivanders’ in Hogsmead. Taking the Hogwarts Express back to Diagon Ally, we Escaped Gringotts, got some ice cream at Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor and interacted with her wand. We had just enough time to go to a couple of rides; Jurassic World VelociCoaster and Doctor Doom’s FearFall and finally the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. It was quite a day!
St. Augustine was our next trip and didn’t go as well as we’d hoped. St. Augustine is HOT during the summer. We knew that and prepared for it, but even so, it was very hot and humid. Keeping Kaia with us was tough because she needed a lot of attention in her fur coat. We went to the Pirate Museum and had a great time inside the airconditioning learning about the English pirates that used to sail the Atlantic when St. Augustine was first starting out. We went home and watched Errol Flynn movies and Pirates of the Caribbean the next day!
Miami is around 4 hours away from Orlando, so we drove down on Friday morning and stayed until Sunday. Our first day, we went to the Frost Museum and I got to spend time in their traveling Sherlock Holmes exibit, which was FASCINATING! The kids enjoyed the aquarium and handling some of the ocean creatures. The second day, we had a great time at the Lion Country Safari, even though it was around an hour back toward Orlando. We also went on the Duck Tours in the afternoon and were grateful to spend time on the water.
Kennedy Space Center was fun for the kids, but a little bit of a letdown for us due to a temporary closure of the Apollo/Saturn V Center. I enjoyed the bus tour that took us around the complex, but the kids found Planet Play and we spent a lot of time playing in that area. We also watched the Race to the Moon, which recreates the first-ever moon landing in July 1969, which kept us out of the heat.
Our last summer excursion was a quick, 5-day Royal Caribbean cruise to Mexico. It was only our second cruise ever and it may be our last. We had fun going on the waterslides, FlowRider surf simulator, and ice skating. Mark’s favorite time was playing lasertag where he was able to shoot both the kids multiple times. We decided not to get off the boat in Mexico due to not having passports with us becuase this was a last-minute trip, but had a wonderful time.
We got back from the cruise only 2 days before school started; even stopping on our drive back from the Orlando port to let the kids meet their new teachers for this year! The kids had a wonderful summer and we look forward to continuing our education as we continue to travel!