Friends, Fiction & Films

It took me a while to get into the whole blog thing, but now that I am it seems I'm going full throttle. Check out the other blog I post on: Friends, Fiction & Films. I'm part of a group of four girl friends who love to talk about books and movies together. Then two moved away and we thought this was a great way to keep doing it. We love debates and differing opinions, so comment away!

CANMT Trip: NCCIL, Peter Pan, Dallas Temple

 After Frontier Texas! We went to The National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature (NCCIL). The exhibit in the gallery while we were there was The Fantastic World of Dan Yaccarino. I had prepared Melodie for this by checking out a bunch of his books from the library. "Unlovable" is one of my favorites. The only character Melodie knew from his books was Oswald. She knows the Backyardigans from TV, but I felt she'd enjoy the center more if she was familiar with the stories.

A volunteer greeted us and said we could join the school group that was on a field trip if we wanted to. Melodie said no.

We started walking around the gallery, but every time we moved Melodie almost started crying and hid behind me. She kept saying she didn't want to go with the group of kids, and I kept telling her we weren't. It didn't matter. She started crying and saying she was shy (she isn't). This went into full blown meltdown as I took her out of the center to the car ("I don't want to leave!" she was screaming). We got to the car and I let her get it out of her system after yelling at her "I was not taking her to the group of children, so I have no idea what your problem is!". She'd done so well on this trip. I was surprised that it took this long for a meltdown. Then I noticed her lip was bleeding. We all had very dry skin from the wind and her lips (despite all the chapstick applications) were so cracked that the upper one started bleeding while she was crying. Surprisingly, taking care of that calmed her down and we were able to go back in to look at the rest of the gallery. There was also a room of books to look at.

I was thrilled that there were Robert Sabuda books to look at. Our library doesn't carry them and they are always wrapped in plastic at book stores.                                 
 I'm glad we went to NCCIL. It was small, but it was free. I love books and I was thrilled to share that with Mel. Dan Yaccarino's paintings were amazing.
 Now we were on our way to Murphy, TX (where we would be visiting our friends), but there were still two more stops along the way.
 I'm not sure how I found this. It seems that if there's something to do with Peter Pan, I will find it. Sure enough, while planning the trip I found out that the city of Weatherford, TX was the place where Mary Martin was born. I can't tell you how many times I've watched my VHS tape of her as Peter Pan. Turns out there was a stature of her as Peter Pan in front of the Weatherford library. Since Weatherford was along our route, we stopped for some pictures (after I changed into one of my Peter Pan shirts).

 

 Melodie played on the computers at the libraries for a little while and then we were on our way again. Before long we arrived in Dallas. We live in So Cal, but the freeways in Dallas were crazy. And there was a lot of construction. Our GPS did not do well. We got a little lost a few times, but eventually we arrived at the Dallas Temple.

 We walked the temple grounds enjoying how beautiful it was.

 

We tried to find someone to take our picture, but there wasn't anyone around. So we tried to take a family shot by ourselves.

And finally people started coming out of the temple. Unfortunately the doors are at the very back, so we weren't able to get a picture in front of the temple. So the picture is us by the side of the temple, but at least we got a family picture!

 We were almost to Murphy! A few more wrong turns and we were finally at the Gamlen's house. Melodie, Jason and Cassie were soon playing like they had never been apart and I LOVED girl talk and catching up with Jennifer. I think poor Rocky was just waiting until Josh came home. We started laundry (Thank you Jennifer! We did soooo much laundry.) and made dinner.

Soon the kids were in bed (and so was Jennifer). Rocky and I stayed up talking with Josh. He was so busy at work we were very thankful for the time he was taking off to spend with us (and his family of course).

Harry Potter Adventures

 I am so glad that even though the books and movies are all finished, Harry Potter love hasn't stopped. This week alone we participated in two Harry Potter themed activities.
 But first some background on the kind of Harry Potter fans we are. Rocky and I have read all the books (this says something since my husband is not the reader I am). We also saw and now own all the movies.
 I went to a book release at a book store.
 We went to midnight showings.

We would even let Melodie hang out in line with us until bedtime. We didn't do this in the beginning because she was too little. But the older she got, the more she didn't want to miss out.

 I've made Harry Potter cupcakes.

We've been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Florida.

Now that was amazing! We loved everything about it. The attention to detail was superb. And now there's going to be one in Hollywood! That is such exciting news.

 So you can see we are fans. As fans we look for things to still connect with the story of Harry Potter. Which brings us to Pottermore! We had a friend who was one of the beta testers. But I tried to stay away from looking at things about it until I could get on. And now we can. Rocky and I have both made it through the first book and are anxious for the second to be available. I got my wand (a 12 1/2" maple with a dragon core) and I have loved making potions. I wish there was a way to earn more galleons. But the big news is the sorting. I thought for sure I was going to be sorted into Slytherin. I ended up in Ravenclaw!

This did surprise me a little. But as I read the description by J.K. Rowling it fit. I'm thrilled with my house and am trying my best to add to the house points.

And Rocky was sorted into Gryffindor!

I expected this. What I didn't expect is that he was actually given a choice. At the end of his sorting he was asked if he would rather be sorted into Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. 

 To celebrate Pottermore and the sorting a friend and I made Butterbeer Cupcakes. They were fun to make and turned out great. The frosting is very sweet.

And so our Harry Potter adventures continue. We look forward to more Pottermore, showing Melodie the rest of the movies, reading her the books and Harry Potter in Hollywood. Thanks J.K. Rowling!