More Harry... by Get Fuzzy

Amanda's Harry Potter birthday party!

Wow! This was an amazing party! (I love to throw parties!) We had so much fun!! I was dressed-up as Professor Trelawney, my friend Cory was dressed as Professor McGonagall and my friend Maria was Professor Flitwick. Before the party, I took pictures of the three girls together in their costumes (even Katrina had a little robe, although she was at the Fox's house during the party). They all waved their wands and said "Wingardium Leviosa", although Katrina says, "Adiosa!"

When the kids arrived they were sorted into their houses by the sorting hat and Professor McGonagall. (She held the sorting hat, and I drew badges out of a bag.) We had Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. (The Slytherins were in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid.) Those three groups went off to their different classes.

We had a Transfiguration class where they made their own parchment books (I had stamped their names in gold on the front covers of the books) and picked out a colored feather that we had cut into a quill, and then they got to try writing with ink and a quill.

We had a Charms class where the kids got a Spell Quiz where they had to match the spell to a description of what it does.

We had Olivander's out in the garage where the kids got to make their own wands. They each got to pick out a "core" for their wand which also provided the "sparks" that come out of a wand when a spell is cast.

Then we tried butter beer. Yum! We melted butterscotch chips, stirred in cream and then added cream soda. It was really good! It was SWEET! But it was really good!

Then we all drove over to the cultural hall at the chapel and we played Quidditch. The kids chased after a softball that we called the quaffle and a little yellow bouncy ball that we called the snitch. We didn't end the game just because the snitch was caught, so the scores were pretty high. It was fun, but after a few bumps and bruises, we went back to the house.

We got the cake out that I had decorated just like the one in the first movie that Hagrid brings to Harry. It was fun! We also put the magic re-lighting candles on it, and that was funny! Amanda's eyes just about popped out when those candles re-lit. What!?? She kept trying to blow them out until she was laughing too hard to keep blowing.

We separated into classes again, and one group stayed in the kitchen to eat cake and ice cream at the table that was decorated with gold plates, cups and silverware, a caudron that was smoking with dry ice, and candles.

Another group went to Defense Against the Dark Arts, where they watched the part in the 3rd Harry Potter movie where Professor Lupin tells the students about boggarts. Boggarts take the shape of whatever you fear the most, and when you say "Riddikulus!" it becomes something funny and you are no longer afraid of it. After they watched the part in the movie, they were each given a paper that said "boggart" on it and they drew something they were most afraid of, and then they were given another paper that said "Riddikulus!" on it and they drew that thing funny so that they weren't afraid of it any more.

The last group was in Potions class in the dungeon (garage). Each person got a bottle and they put colored water in it and then they got to fill it with whatever glitter, sequins and beads they wanted and then we sealed it closed.

At the end of the party we had a wizard's duel, where the kids all answered trivia questions about the Harry Potter books.

When they went home they had goodie bags with them that said "Thanks for visiting Diagon Alley" and they were filled with coloring pages, bookmarks, stickers, a homemade chocolate frog pack with trading cards in it, and a small yelllow bouncy ball that was supposed to be like the snitch. We also put in all the stuff they had made. They all had a great time and we have been resting with our feet up ever since.

I wish there was a spell for cleaning everything up after a party.

See all the pics here.

59,000 Miles

I rolled 59,000 miles on the BMW R100GS on the way home tonight. I'm aiming at 100,000.

The saga ends. . .sniff!

Reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been a conflicting experience. Both Amanda and I have been reading as fast as we can, as we are excited to find out what happens, yet at the same time, the end means. . .the end.

Early in the afternoon yesterday I read through chapter 35 and then I waited for Amanda, who was on chapter 26 at the time. She read and read, stopping only grudgingly to eat, and, last night at 11:00pm we sat on the couch together and I read the last chapter and Amanda read the epilogue out loud, so we both could finish the book together at the same time. We laughed and cried and gasped and sat on the edge of our seats as we read to the end. The end of the Harry Potter saga. It was great!

Now we prepare for Saturday and Amanda's Harry Potter birthday party!

Three cheers for J.K. Rowling!!!

7/21/07, 00:29

The time stamp on our receipt read 00:29. That is what time it was on Saturday, 21 July 2007, when we finally got our hands on Book 7 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows!

8:30am on Friday the girls and I went and stood in line outside Borders Books, and when they opened at 9:00am, we inched forward until we got inside and got wristband #121!

During the day we did a few last minute preparations, and then at 10:00pm I got Amanda and Rebecca up, we got into our costumes, and, wands at the ready, we drove back to Borders Books. Amanda and Rebecca were dressed as students from Gryffindor House and I was dressed as Professor Trelawny. We got there too late for the costume contest (which several people said I would have won), but we did get to be on tv. Several of us stood behind a hispanic newscaster and waved and said "Univision!" for the 11:00 news broadcast on Channel 21 Univision (the local Spanish station).

There wasn't a whole lot else to do, so we wandered about the store, taking pictures of great costumes, and getting our pictures taken as well, and then it was finally time. At midnight, everyone counted down, and then we were called up to the line in groups. I asked Amanda what she was going to be doing in the van on the way home, and she said, "probably sleeping." I said, "Uh uh, you are going to be reading out loud!"

So, at 12:29 on Saturday morning, we got our book. Thankfully there were no evil Voldemort followers shouting spoilers out in the parking lot, so we are still going to find out what happens to Harry Potter the old fashioned way! Amanda is on chapter seven, and I got my copy from Amazon today in the mail, and I am on chapter three. I have to go now, I've got to catch up!

Click here to see the pics of 'Harry Potter: The Wristband'

Click here to see the pics of 'Harry Potter: The Book'

Katrina's turning 2! Wow! It's time for a luau!

Today was Katrina's birthday party. We threw a luau in her honor, and it was a lot of fun!

We had hawaiian pizza and yummy maui zaui pizza from Round Table, and TONS of fruit! It was all really good! We had cupcakes with hibiscus flowers on them and they were set out in the shape of a lei. When we were decorating, we put up a sign that said "It's A Luau!" Katrina referred to the sign there after as "my letters". The kids had luau coloring pages and there were also foam visors for each of them and they each got to put foam letter stickers on for their names and there were also foam hawaiian flower and leaf stickers to decorate them as well. They all looked cute!

We gave Katrina her own bike helmet for her birthday, as she is always trying to wear her sisters' helmets. She pulled out the box and squeeled, "My helmet!" We put it on her and she didn't take it off for nearly the whole rest of the party.

Aloha!

See all the pics here.

Anchorage to Kerman

Whew! We made it home! And it was only 85 degrees when we got here! The girls spent the whole day talking about how part of them really didn't want to leave Alaska, and the other part couldn't wait to be home!

Our flights were great! Our flight from Anchorage left only a few minutes late, so there was no worry about a "short" connection in Seattle. I rented DVD players for Amanda and Rebecca on the flight and so they got to watch "Night at the Museum" while we traveled. Katrina colored in her coloring book and crawled all over her seat and me.

When we arrived at Seattle, Katrina was as thrilled as ever to see her stroller waiting for her in the jetway. Each time we have landed somewhere, she has walked off the plane and then jumped up and down, pointing, "My stroller! My stroller!". This leg of the trip she was much more brave about taking that step from the jetway to the plane and visa versa. She is getting to be a pro at this flying thing!

The Seattle Airport is really nice. It's like they are making airports into little cities these days. Anyway, where the food court is, there is a two-story wall of windows and you can sit there and watch the planes take off and land. It is really neat. We had some nachos and spent a little while figuring out the big, huge hanging art in the food court, and there was a kid's area, but since we had enough time to eat and then get back to our gate, I didn't point it out to the girls. There is a really fun drinking fountain in the B concourse that has a speaker below it and when you push the button it makes a loud water gurgling sound.

In Seattle we had to go out on the tarmac to board the plane, so this was a little different than before, but the girls did very well. Katrina got in her seat, looked out the window and squealed, "Momma! My stroller!" She could still see it sitting at the bottom of the ramp before they loaded it into the belly of the plane.

We flew around a storm on the leg between Seattle and Fresno and Amanda was excitedly reporting every time she saw the lightening flash in the clouds, while I explained to a much less enthusiastic Rebecca that the pilot was flying us away from the storm and we didn't have to worry.

I told everyone I could about how smooth everything was going on our trip and how grateful we were for that. They were all very appreciative to hear positive comments, rather than the usual negative. We were very happy to be able to have such good reports.

When we got to Fresno, the terminal was empty and almost dark. (I miss the days when people could meet you right off the plane!) We walked down the long corridor, and finally the girls could see Kevin, who was standing there with a Welcome Home sign for them. They ran to him, and Katie did not let go of her hug for quite a long time.

The girls were thrilled to see the van again and they talked excitedly most of the way home, telling their dad all the fun things they did and had seen. They will have enough stories for quite a while!

See all the pics here.

Last Post from Alaska

We can hardly believe our visit here to Alaska is nearly over. In any case, this will be my last post for this trip. It has gone by REALLY fast! We have loved being here and all the great things we have been able to do while we were here! We are also looking forward to being home.

What we are not looking forward to is the doubling of the temprature between here and California. We have been watching the heat wave build and we are not looking forward to plunging from 65 degrees to 110 degrees (Detail) in a course of eight hours! Yikes!

Today we started working on packing and cleaning, etc. and then the girls and I went out to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. But by the time we got there it was pouring rain and most of the displays there are outside, so instead we went to the Imaginarium and played there! There was a fun touchy-feely tide pool area where the kids got to touch starfish and anemones, and then we also got to watch the reptile encounter and the girls got to pet a snake, an alligator and a turtle. Fun!

Tonight for dinner we went to the Lucky Wishbone, a really great family-owned restaurant here in Anchorage. It was one of my favorite places when I was in high school, and I always try to go there when I come to Anchorage. It was so good, and I got to have my pineapple shake! Yum!

Tomorrow we are home! We are hoping for as smooth a flight on the way home as we had up here!

See all the pics here.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

It's past midnight again! The fireworks didn't start tonight until 11:35pm, so we were up late!

Today was a lot of fun! We started the day off with our own little private pancake breakfast, rather than head downtown in the rain for the one that the city was hosting.

We left for the parade and got good seats that gave us a good view of the staging area and the end of the parade route. The weather was nice enough to stop the rain for the parade time. It was a lot of fun! We saw all kinds of great floats and the patriotic spirit in the crowd and with the participants was great! There were a few highlights for each of us! Me, I am always a sucker for bagpipes. Amanda went crazy when she saw the Star Wars contingent round the corner. Rebecca loves polar bears and when the Alaska Zoo float went by, the polar bear mascot passed by everyone else and walked up to Rebecca and gave her a hug. We all thought it was great, and Rebecca was so thrilled!

After the last parade float had gone by, they were headed toward the Parkstrip, where the food was, so we followed and unofficially became a part of the parade. We had hot dogs, gyros and a funnel cake. Then it started to rain.

We left there and I took the girls to the Alaska Railroad Station. While we were there, Kevin called. We talked for a little bit, and then we got on the subject of benchmarks, and Kevin went looking on line for where we were on an online map. Not only were there three Tidal Benchmarks on the Railroad Building, but there was also a Geocache nearby. I didn't have the GPS, so Kevin read me the cache page, and I was able to locate it. Neat! (Read our Geocache Log here.)

One of the reference point benchmarks was on the front of the building, but the other two were on the track side of the depot (where you are not allowed to go if you are not a passenger), so we couldn't get to them. I asked the lady behind the ticket counter if we could go out there to take pictures, and she was given permission by Security to "escort" us out there. Ironically, even with Kevin giving me the description of where it was in my earpiece, the Alaska Railroad lady was the one to find it first. Neat. We took a few photos and then left the station.

We drove up through town, and as I was turning onto C Street, my phone rang and it was Kevin. He asked it we were still at the train depot. I said no and told him I was at 9th and C. "Stop right there!" Kevin yelled. "That's exactly where I need you to be!" Miraculously there were no other cars on the road at that moment, so I was able to turn over two lanes of road into a parking lot. Kevin told us that there was THE original Anchorage benchmark across the street, and it was also a virtual cache. We went over and found it and took some pictures that then we headed home.

As we drove, I decided that I was going to give a cache I had tried twice before another shot. I had figured out what the cache was on the first try, but I had had no luck getting it out. This time it was backwards, so I knew I was looking for the right thing and grabbed it. Don't twist. . .PULL! Anyway, I called Kevin from the car and told him I had found another cache. He was surprised, but thought it was great!

Every Fourth of July, we spend time together as a family geocaching. So, it was really wonderful that we got to geocache together, even if we were over 2000 miles apart.

When we got home we had baby back ribs (I have a great recipie for when I get home) for dinner and s'mores for desert. (Katrina - "Mama, my sticky!") We did some sparklers on the back porch and then we headed out to see the fireworks. The fireworks show began at 11:35pm and even when it ended the sun had not gone down. It was a fun day!

See all the pics here.

Museum and the front lawn

It's past midnight, and I am still up, so even though the time stamp on the blog will say Wednesday, I am going to proceed as though it is still Tuesday, since it still feels that way to me.

This morning the Rock Gods showed back up to continue working on the front lawn. Today they started to dig up all the top few inches of dirt at the front of the lawn. This also meant a lot of roots. They used the digger and pulled most of them out, cleared the area and then brought in the topsoil.

In the meantime, Jordan, Isabel and Ivy came over and we all worked at finishing making the banana ice cream, and making ground beef. Each of the girls got a turn at turning the paddle on the ice cream maker and then they each got a turn at pulsing the food processor to grind up the steak that Herb had cut up. They all had a great time helping.

After that was finished, I took Amanda, Rebecca and Katrina to the Anchorage Museum and we spent a few hours there looking at all the exhibits. We started in the Alaska Gallery. Amanda really liked all of the dioramas, after having made a few herself. Rebecca liked the statues of the animals, especially the musk ox at the entrance to the gallery. And, Katrina liked climbing in and out of the stroller over and over, and taking off her shoes and socks, and asking for fruit snacks.

It is nice to have the girls old enough to begin to understand and relate to some of the things that they are seeing in the museum. Amanda got very excited when she saw all the things about the gold rush and began to tell us all about the things that we were seeing and what they were used for. Rebecca asked a lot of questions about what things were and what they were made of.

We went downstairs and looked at the paintings and then looked at the new exhibit which was contemporary art by native americans. Then we went into the Children's Gallery and the girls had a lot of fun playing in there. Katrina was well past her nap and was on the verge of a meltdown, so we left.

By the time we got home, the Rock Gods had filled in top soil, rocks, mulch and had completely cleared all the dirt and roots from where the sod was going to go at the front of the lawn.

Later in the afternoon, Jordan brought Isabel and Ivy back over and we had a little tea party under the fairy bower on the back porch. They had mini Oreos and apple juice "tea", and then we had the banana ice cream. That was absolutely delicious! Yum!

The Rock Gods will be back on Thursday to plant all the flowers, ferns, etc. The front yard looks really great already! It is going to be amazing!

See all the pics here.

See all the Landscaping pics here.

The Rock Gods

Today the landscaping guys showed up to make the big, huge pile of rocks in the front yard into smaller rock garden walls. I have jokingly been referring to them as the Rock Gods all day, because Mom is so thrilled that they are here and are creating her beautiful rock garden for her!

This morning the girls took the bread that they had started making last night and continued on with the next step (which was a little dusting of cornmeal, folding it over and then letting it rise for another two hours) and then we left to go meet Jordan and Isabel and Ivy. We went down to the Coastal Trail and took a short walk and found a Geocache called the 'Muggle Migration Route TB Hotel' together. I gave Jordan the GPS and had him punch in all the info, and when we got to the spot, I let him and the girls look for the cache. Jordan was the one to find it! Yea! We left a bunch of the Travel Bugs that we had brought with us and then we walked back along the trail. Jordan is thrilled to know a lot more about what his GPS is capable of and how he can better use it!

The trail runs along the railroad tracks, so we even got to see an Alaska Railroad train go by! Very cool!

Later in the afternoon we went back over to Jordan and Sioux-z's house so that the kids could play together for a while longer. When we got back home, we had soup for dinner with the bread that the girls had made! It was great.

After dinner Gma and Gpa had the girls help them make banana ice cream, and tomorrow we get to have that for desert! Cool! While they were doing that, I was busy on another project that Mom had for me, polishing her great-grandmother's silver tea set (that's two greats for me). I forgot to take a "before" shot, but it was in the bronzy-rainbowy stage before I started. Now it is in the VERY silvery-sparkly stage! I have always enjoyed polishing the silver for my mom, the same way I always loved cleaning the chandelier at my Gma Lu's house when ever we would visit her.

I think tomorrow we are off to the Anchorage Museum.

See all the pics here.

See all Landscaping the pics here.

Nancy Lake, trains and bread

This morning we left Jordan and Sioux-z's early and we came back to Gma and Gpa's house, jumped back in the car and drove to Nancy Lake to visit some friends of Gma and Gpa's named the Beatties. They were very nice people and we had a wonderful time at their home on the lake. It was raining most of the day, but it just made everything really green.

Mr. Beattie has an absolutely marvelous train track in his home! It was custom designed for his home and we were all in awe of this amazing set-up! His trains are G-scale and he had several different trains, a Santa Express, an Alaska Railroad, and an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe as well. The roundhouse was in one of the bedrooms and there were two "tunnels" going in and out of the room through the wall. The track runs around the dining room, the living room and up and down the hall. It was spectacular and we loved watching it!

After lunch, we drove back to Anchorage and we relaxed for a little while and after dinner, the girls helped Gma make some bread. There is a show that she and Gpa saw on tv that talked about a recipie for bread that is so simple even a six-year old could do it, so they are giving it a try. They made the dough tonight and it is going to rise over night. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.

Gma is excited because the guys are showing up tomorrow morning to change the big pile of rocks in the front yard into a beautiful rock garden!

See all the pics here.