Universal Studios

This weekend was absoultey EPIC! Universal Studios was all that we could have hoped for and more. Seriously! And I am not an amusement park person. I don't like Six Flags or Disney World. I'm more of a #Findyourpark (National Parks) person. Mitch and I both are. I will never understand people that spend every vacation going to the same amusement park when America offers so many great lands to see from the Paccific Northwest to the Arizona desert to the Gulf shores. So much to see and I want to see it all. But I would absolutely take my kids back to Universal.

It helped that they are huge Harry Potter fans and that we had Express Passes. We checked in at Hard Rock at 8AM on Saturday and hit the ground running. I think we were at the park around 9, and we wasted no time at all. Transformers, Men In Black, Simpsons...Then we hit Diagon Alley. The girls were stoked. Macy pretty much stuck with us and Matt and Cynthia ditched us at that point. We watched a Wand show and then the girls got their own interactive wands. They did a little magic around the park and then we checked out Escape from Gringotts. It was fantastic. Oh and Butter Beer Ice Cream...because when in Diagon Alley. It was delicious!

We met up with family for the mummy, Fast and the Furious, Shrek and Minions. The next day we were IN the park bright and early at 8AM. We took the train to Hogsmeade and did all the Harry Potter things. I swear we went on all the Harry Potter rides at least 3 times and we never waited in line for more than 20 min. Then we met up with family again. We went to Jurassic Park and Seuss Land. We checked out the superheros and then went back to Diagon Alley one last time for butter bear. It was a total success. The kids had a blast. We walked over 7miles each day and the pool back at Hard Rock sure felt good at the end of the day. Can't wait to go back!

Fall Creek Falls, Tennessee

We are suckers for a good hike to a waterfall. So it only made sense for us to stop at Fall Creek Falls after leaving Mammoth Caves. This was a quick 30 min hike. It was steep in places but we all managed to get there just fine. The views were gorgeous. Tennesee always is. We saw some wildlife too. We had fun watching the yellow and black centepide go up and down and in and out of the rocks and it was pretty clear that the white tails weren't bothered by people at all. Thanks for the scenic tour, Tennessee!

Mammoth Caves, Kentucky

We are "Find your park" people...We love exploring different parts of America. So when we decided to drive to Florida for our Disney Cruise we knew we had to plan some stops along the way. Mammoth Caves was right up our alley!

Mitch was able to book us a Historic Cave Tour. It was roughly 2.5 miles underground and it was fantastic. Our guide told us stories of the individuals who discovered the caves, and of the slaves who had to lead tours. There was a legend about a boy following a bear into the cave and she showd us a marking on the ceiling that looks like the boy and the bear. The girls got a big kick out of fat mans squeeze...it was tight and they even told stories of people being placed in glass coffins. One man named John went missing and when they found him buried again by a river he was missing a leg. They say he had four funerals. Kiersten could probably tell the story better than I can. I had no idea that it is the worlds largest cave at 412 miles and that is just the parts that they have discovered so far. They bring in teams every fall to do more exploration.

The girls got junior ranger books that they completed to get their badges. The ranger even made them say the pledge. They got stamps for the National Parks passports and we are definitely ready to go back to do a few more of their tours.