November - Part Two

 The next day we headed back to Hollywood studios.  We got to ride all the big rides again and try Tower of Terror.  

Even though we weren't able to make reservations we were able to get into the Sci-Fi Diner.  This is Brandon's favorite restaurant.  It worked out perfect because while we were eating lunch it rained and by the time we came out it had stopped.  

We didn't get to sit in a car without a reservation but we got a table in the back.  It was so nice to sit down and eat a good meal! 

After that we headed back to Magic Kingdom for the rest of the day.  

We finally made it to the Carousel of Progress for Alex.  It was great! 

It drizzled a bit for the rest of the day but never rained very hard so it was okay.  We caught this very cute rainy day parade with all of the characters.  

We figured since we were already wet we might as well do splash mountain again!

We consumed lots of Dole Whips on this trip.  The kids loved them too.  

The next day we took a break from Disney and headed to Universal Studios.  

We have been reading and watching Harry Potter with Mia to get her ready for this trip.  It made it lots of fun.  

Mia picked out a wand and got to try some spells all over the park.  

Mia hated that Dragon on top of Gringotts.  One time it roared and shot fire and she wasn't expecting it.  She screamed and acted like she got shot.  She was anxious to leave Harry Potter World after that but we thought it was pretty funny! 

I've been waiting five years for another pink Simpson donut.  It did not disappoint! 

Alex really wanted to try some Duff Beer.  It was like a carbonated orange juice.  He really liked it.  

The longest line I think we waited in the whole trip was for the Hogwarts Express.  Luckily there were a few spots to sit down.  

The next day was a "break day" but that meant the boys went fishing and the girls took a break.  We enjoyed sleeping in while Alex and Brandon got up early to drive to the Ocean.  

After they got back all the kids enjoyed more time in the pool! 

The next day our big group split up.  Most of the group took the little kids to Legoland since Universal doesn't have a ton for the little kids to do. Mia loved it and they had a ton of fun! 

A few of us that still wanted to try all the big rides headed back to Universal Studios.  We got to try the new Veloci-coaster. This was easily the scariest roller coaster I've ever been on.  It goes very very fast, you don't have shoulder harnesses so you feel like you are going to fall out the whole time and it goes upside down for extended periods of time.  Alex and Brandon loved it though and did it again at night.  

We also got to try Hagrid's Motorbike ride a few times.  It was a very fun ride! 

Our last day in the parks we headed back to Magic Kingdom.  We stuck mostly with just our small family this day because every one had different things they wanted to do.  

We even split off with Brandon and Alex so they could go ride Space Mountain while Mia could ride her favorite, Small World, again.  

We loved this Christmas Windows they had up. They are the Disney Christmas Carol.  

We will never tire of Disney! We had such a magical time and I already want to go back! 

Staying in this house was so fun! 

The last day our flight home wasn't until the evening so we killed some time at Disney Springs.  We ate at the T-Rex Cafe and did a little shopping.  

They had a Christmas Tree Scavenger hunt for the kids to do.  They had different themed trees all around the stores for them to find.  They were very cool! 

Sadly our return home wasn't as restful as we were hoping.  We found our sink had flooded and water had been sitting on our floor.  In the weeks that followed we have had a lot of people out to our house to fix the plumbing problem, tear out our brand new floors, dry out our sub floors with very loud fans for four days and now we are working on putting things back together.  We need to have our flooring and some of the cabinets repaired.  Hopefully it will be repaired soon. We are lucky the water didn't go through the floor to the basement! 

At the end of the month Alex had a Temple and Priesthood Preview.  He just has a few more weeks in primary and then he will be in Young Mens.  

I only took a few pictures but we had a lovely Thanksgiving.  We spent the day at Brandon's house and then headed to my parents house for dessert.  

Alex loves these puppies! 

After Thanksgiving it was finally time to put up our Christmas decorations! 

At the very end of the month Buddy the elf returned! He brought with him some Christmas pajamas and some advent calendars.  The kids were very excited! 

It was a great month!