Castles, Princesses, and Mansions

The house is quiet between conference sessions (Hannah's asleep and Daddy is napping after a long weekend of camping out for Duke b-ball tickets). So finally I have a few minutes to update our blog. Our summer break (between the end of James' internship and the start of the new school year) was over a month ago and we took some amazing trips! Starting with our road trip to Florida...

Our first stop was in Savannah, GA. What a beautiful city! It embodies everything southern to me, so it was a real treat to be able to spend the night there (in a hotel right on the river!). We made a priority of stopping at the Paula Deen restaurant for traditional southern food, which was worth every minute of waking up early and standing in line for an hour!James sitting on the Forrest Gump bench in a park in Savannah (posing like Forrest or not - you be the judge!!)
We met up with my parents in Orlando, and our first fun-filled day was at Islands of Adventure, where the new Harry Potter World just opened. We felt like we stepped right into the wizarding world!
Honeyduke's Sweet Shop (which didn't smell so sweet with a million rain-soaked bodies packed inside!)
We had butterbeer (amazing!)
Hogwarts Castle looked just like the real thing, and the inside was equally as true to the book!
We rode the Hogwarts ride, and James came out looking like he'd seen a ghost (or just ate a puking pastel!)
Day 2 of fun took place at the Magic Kingdom, which is even more magical with a little girl that loved the rides and actually liked the characters (though her fingers stayed in her mouth the entire time!).
Day 3, we went to Hollywood Studios.
Hannah stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ariel (her favorite princess) on a sign advertising the Little Mermaid show. She said "Arie" for the rest of the day!
The performers at our American Idol Experience were incredible! I would be willing to bet that the winner of our show, Tracie Frank, who gets a golden ticket to the real American Idol auditions, will be a real contender on the show.
A quick detour from Disney fun to see Kim and Morgan Garrett. Kim is a good friend of James' from his UVSC days.
Day 4 brought us to Animal Kingdom. We saw some incredible shows, including Hannah's favorite - the Little Nemo (or Nohomie according to Han) musical
We sweat our faces off - on more than one occasion (our own fault for going to Florida in August!)
Elephants on our African safari
We conquered Everest (and James again became sick - poor guy, he's got an old man's stomach now!)
Hannah's favorite kind of rides were the ones that fly in the air (like Dumbo). Daddy was the perfect riding partner (and didn't want to vomit after riding).
Day 5: back to Magic Kingdom. The best of all was Hannah's chance to ride the horsey (pronounced O-feces) by herself!

A little shy, but definitely willing to meet Cinderella!
Hannah's driving. Scary.
And she loved the teacups too!
Hannah and I waited in line for the spaceship ride while Daddy went to search for Mommy's phone that she lost on the Buzz Lightyear ride (thank, Bud!). She fell asleep, but we'd invested so much time that we rode it anyway. And she slept through all of it!
Day 6: Epcot.
Hannah again loved everything Nohomie (Nemo). And doesn't understand "Don't tap on the glass"

Look closely to see the incredible faces James made at each of the countries. Germany is my favorite.
The crowning event - lunch with the princesses. Belle was smitten by Hannah, and I think the reverse was also true!
The kiss she earned from Belle. And our Danish waitress, who lied to us - the Danish meatballs were not good.
Stalking the princesses
Still shy, but getting more comfortable when Sleeping Beauty comes around.
Hannah ate pizza through her entire encounter with Ariel - her favorite princess! Awesome.
But Snow White was the best. It was past Hannah's naptime, and this sweet girl made her feel right at home!
Hannah "getting tight." Not sure where that came from!
Great trip, Mom and Dad! Thanks! On the way home, we stopped in Atlanta. Ate great BBQ, toured the Coca Cola museum, and enjoyed the park.


Saw a sign for the best city name ever: Winder, Georgia!
Two days later, James' whole family came out to NC (except Brandon's family - we missed you!). We took a road trip out to the Great Smoky Mountains and stopped at the Biltmore (an incredible Vanderbilt mansion). Here we are at the Biltmore's flower carpet exhibit.


Apparently, counting 2, 8 over and over again reaps the amazing reward of being tossed in the air! Thanks to awesome aunts and uncles!
The Biltmore
We love the McNutts and Winders! Thanks for making our summer break so much fun!