All my kids are huge fans of Harry Potter. They listened to all the books on their Echo Dot and watched all the movies. They always talked about going to Harry Potter World one day. I really wanted to take them but I wasn't sure how we could make it work with our schedules. Knowing that we only had six months left on the East Coast I had Bryan go into the military travel office and look into how much it would cost to go to Harry Potter World. 

It turns out that there was a deal that year that you could get tickets to Universal Studios and use them anytime throughout the year. So we purchased them for the whole family. 

Then one day I had the thought that I should just drive the kids down to Florida and take them to Harry Potter World since we could use them at any times and since my kids were in virtual school, it seemed so much doable. Bryan wasn't able to take leave and travel with us but he was able to stay with Ivan those few days while I was with the kids. 

It was such a crazy idea since it's something that I've never thought about ever doing with my kids. I'm usually timid about driving that far by myself especially a place I've never been to before but I kept feeling like I should go and that this would be such a fun experience.

 Everyone I talked to told me I was crazy and I kind of believed them because this was something so out of the ordinary for me but I really wanted to do it. 

That night, I got online and looked at hotels to stay at and two weeks later I was on the road with my four kids to Orlando Florida. I had surprised them and told them the night before that we were going. They were so shocked! 

We got there Tuesday night and spent all day Wednesday and Thursday at Harry Potter World. We were planning on staying and going to the beach on Friday, but when I saw that it was going to snow up in Virginia and Maryland I decided to leave at 4 a.m. on Friday and hopefully miss the snow storm. It was a super fast trip but such a memorable one. 

We spent most of our time at Harry Potter world(and some time on the other universal studio rides). The kids loved buying their own wands and using them to cast spells throughout the park. We of course had lots of butterbeer and had to check out every souvenir shop. Harry Potter world is pretty incredible and they have done such a good job making it so real for the kids.

the donkey was hilarious and making so many comments to Hudson. It was so funny