I love Mike and his goofy sense of humor.

Mike made sure we never got lost. He helpfully pointed out our location when we stopped to take pictures. Whether it was at Epcot...

...or the Magic Kingdom...

...or Hogsmeade...

...or the Animal Kingdom...

...every moment with Mike was fun and enjoyable. What a great vacation!

Once upon a time...

Question: At what age do you stop getting excited about princesses?

Well, I don't know about you.

But I will never stop getting excited. Never!!

'Twas an eve of gilt-edge swords and fair maidens

One night, we decided to harness our inner geeks and went to a Medieval dinner. I'd seen different ones advertised before, but I think I only felt a mild curiosity about them. Growing up, I think we kids may have brought up the idea to go in Vegas or Anaheim, but it was shot down by a disinterested overruling party (aka Mom and Dad).

I didn't really know what to expect. I guess I thought I'd see a bunch of Renaissance festival rejects using the dinner as an excuse to wear a codpiece. And here I'm talking about the dinees, not the members of the show.

I'm happy to report that the people were pretty normal. Other than the performers, no one carried fake weaponry, wore tights, or spoke in fake British accents. I was relieved. The show itself was moderately campy but majorly entertaining and extremely fun.

Surprisingly, the dinner was very good. In keeping with the times, we ate without utensils. I had roasted game hen and Mike had roasted vegetables, both of which were savory and cooked to perfection. Honestly, I'd go back just for the meal.

Our knight perished in the course of the evening, which was very sad, but it didn't detract from what was a marvelous date night--truly one of the highlights of our vacation!

I never was able to load up the pictures from our day at Sea World because of poor internet connection at the hotel where we stayed. Quick note: you know the great thing about Sea World? Once a year for active duty military and their family, they get in free. Free! That's about $175 that we saved! (Of course, we pay in other ways. $7 for a small bottle of water?!? And yet I plunk down the change for you, you pirate, because it's 95 degrees outside.)

Anyway, here are the pictures:

This is outside of a ride called "The Kraken." There's a part where you can enter the Kraken's lair, where its guarding its eggs...

In what became a fun and goofy recurring theme, Mike would indicate where we were on the map. Here we are at the crocodiles. See them? Waldo might be there somewhere, too.

Mike had never pet a sting ray, so we spent some time at the "petting zoo" part of the park.

Mike's favorite picture from the dolphin show was this one, where the guy leaps off the dolphins' noses, so I had to include it!

You've had a birthday, shout "Oy vey"

I'm finally getting around to posting our vacation to Orlando. For those of you who have been breathlessly waiting, here you go!

I haven't felt completely excited about a birthday in, oh, a decade or so. Mike always makes every holiday special, but the prospect of turning a year older is a little depressing. Once I started to get closer to 30 than 20, birthdays lost most of their luster. That's doubley true now that I'm closer to 40 than I am to 30. I woke up May 25th and I thought of a conversation I had with my cousin, Marika's, daughter (7 years old at the time) that went something like this:

Amber: Look at the Lego thing I’m making!
Me: Wow! That’s really cool! Tell me about it.
Amber: Well, it’s this vehicle with wheels.

Me: It looks great.
Amber: You remember 1983?
Me (smiling with nostalgia, thinking of Madonna, “Smurfs,” jelly shoes, and “The Christmas Story”): Yeah…those were good days.

Amber: Well, I’m making a horse that can pull this covered wagon I’m building just like they had back then.

Me (no longer smiling): Um, I think you mean 1883.

My pity party lasted only a few moments, though, because May 25th was the day that we were planning on going to see the new Harry Potter land at Universal Studios.

It was off to Hogsmeade. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Harry Potter books, I'm not going to orient you, because...shame on you. You really need to read the books.

We had butter beer (don't worry, non alcoholic), cauldron cakes (don't worry, not on fire), and pumpkin juice. We toured Hogwarts, stood on platform 9 3/4, and went in Olivander's Wand Shop. It was so much fun.

You probably can't see my earrings in the above post, but trust me, they're awesome. Mike got them for me, along with a necklace and bracelet. He's such a sweetheart and made the day very memorable--to the point that I will now look forward to birthdays because his enthusiasm is so contagious. Thanks, Hon!