Orlando Vacation Part 2: Lego Store & Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios

We visited the Lego store at Downtown Disney. My brothers and sister and Dave all grew up playing with Legos, so we wanted to see this landmark. It was colorful, imaginative and expensive; so we just browsed.

Above, my sister Emily and her husband James and their son Wesley pose in front of some amazing people and dogs made from Legos. Here my brothers Chris and Jeff and I pose with reptilian Legos.

The next day (Friday, Aug 6) we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. Our first stop was the new Harry Potter theme park. Dave and I had read Harry Potter several times, so we loved seeing this book come to life.

The line for the new Harry Potter ride was an hour long. Only during the last 20 minutes were we inside snaking through Hogwarts castle mock scenery. We took turns riding & holding Jessica, who slept for part of the wait.

We drank "butterbeer" (cream soda with butterscotch whipping cream) in the owlery, 

and tried Chocolate Caldrons, and Ton Tongue toffee, which we bought at the park's "Honeyduke's" store.

Some of the family ate turkey legs at the "Three Broom Sticks" for lunch. The rest of us got stuck outside Harry Potter world when the big crowds came in the middle of the day. In the rest of the park we enjoyed water rides, roller coasters,

motorcycle shows, 

and stood in a lot of lines. We rode the two Dueling Dragons coaster several times since the line was so short. The Incredible Hulk roller coaster shot you in the air on the way up the first big hill. It was the hottest time of the year, and we tried to keep ourselves from melting with misting fans.

Orlando Vacation Part 1: GA Graduation and FL Reunion

Right before our families came to Florida for Jessica's baby blessings, my sister's husband James graduated from the University of Georgia. He earned a doctorate in entomology (bugs) after many years of hard work. They were moving on to a post-doc position in Tuscan.

My parents flew into West Palm Beach and we all drove up to Georgia for the last time. (Dave couldn't come to graduation because he was attending the annual Labview conference in Austin, TX.) 

Then we drove down to Orlando together to a vacation home to party the week before Jessica was to get sealed in the temple to us for time and all eternity.

We cooked for each other (this is a frozen berry chocolate pie that didn't quite look like the picture).

My Grandma and Grandpa Bosen stayed near by and came over to hang out and admire our squealing happy baby.

I challenged my brothers and father to a few games of tennis, and beat them, but only at the risk of disfiguring my face. (I've noticed when I playing tennis with men they can compensate for lack of tennis skills with speed and hitting the ball very hard.) Luckily I was able to back up my trash talk. This picture of my brother Chris' new toed running shoes is the only thing close to a picture.

We also played pool,

swam in the pool, 

and we all got dunked trying to best James in a made-up game of chicken using pool floaties.

And of course we spent lots of time admiring our "super baby"!

She sat in a real high chair for the first time and played with kitchen utensils, which for some reason was a very sweet milestone for me. (We don't have room in our Florida condo for a full-sized high chair, like I grew up with.)

And I love this picture of Chris, who likes to claim he is Jessica's favorite uncle. Crazy guy!

Visiting Utah

After our Robertson reunion in Yellowstone, we drove down to Utah. On the way we stopped in Rexburg, ID, where I had attended Ricks College. It had only been 12 years since I left, but since then it's changed from a 2-year college to the 4-year Brigham Young University-Idaho. They built a temple next to campus, my old dorms have been remodeled, and the Manwaring building (bookstore, eatery) where we ate lunch, had been completed rebuilt from the 60's structure familiar to me, and my father and sister, who both served on student council from that building.

Early June in Utah means the spring flowers were absolutely gorgeous, like this snowball bush in my parents' backyard in Bountiful.

While we were admiring her flowers, my mom was admiring her first granddaughter. We caught on video this milestone when Jessica learned how to hold and shake a rattle. It's the same rattle we had as babies, and the same bear rug from the baby's room in our house growing up. 

We showed Jessica off to everyone. Dave wanted to take this 4-generation picture with my Grandma Bosen. Dave let me take a photo of him with a wisteria wig, and Grandpa Bosen showed us his new mulching pattern.

We visited my single, available, amazing brothers Jeff and Chris at Chris' townhome in Layton. We played some doubles tennis. I beat them, but they hit well enough to keep me running. Jeff hit one hard enough to bruise my right arm. Chris isn't pictured, but later he taught us how to hit on his punching bag. It was his turn to show me up; I look like punching pansy.

One day we met my dad at the Church office building in Salt Lake City for an office tour and lunch in the cafeteria.

We admired the flowers on Temple Square and wandered over to see the new Deseret Book flagship store. My mom is so cute.

Another day Dave's old BYU college roommate Mike Compton and his wife Alena had us over for lunch. Their son is a little older than Jessica, and by chance their outfits coordinated for this photo. Mike showed us the artwork for the board game "Heavens of Olympus" that he was designing; later we would get an autographed copy.

We met Tommy & Jill in Provo at the BYU Wilkinson Center to learn about Tommy's work with student leadership. We went to Dave's Uncle Alan & Aunt Rochelle's house to see more relatives. She enjoyed being held by her great-grandparents Jay & Jane Robertson, but I love her started look when Aunt Rochelle picked her up.

 

I was terrified of Jessica screaming on the plane or being unable to pop her ears, but she was a perfect baby.