Posts tagged mommy

With my Aunt Darlene in town this week, I am trying to work as little as possible. I don’t address it too much on here because I do my best to keep it separate, but being a small business owner is hard work and STRESSFUL. It is 24 / 7 no matter what, and my brain is constantly “on”. So if the opportunity comes along to skip work for the day (despite how incredibly hard that is), I’ll take it. Hubby surprised us with tickets to Universal Studios and Island of Adventure and we headed to Orlando on Tuesday along with my mom and aunt. It was a PERFECT day and very much needed. I went as far as not taking calls OR checking work email all day long. It was so nice.

After a quick stop at Starbucks, the four of us hit the road towards Orlando. Considering it was in the heart of rush hour, we made great time. We were also anticipating rain, and even with the cloud cover we saw heading towards Tampa, we never saw a drop of rain all day.

We arrived around 10 and made our way thru City Walk. It has been WAY too long since hubby and I have been there. We used to have annual passes and went often. We really need to do that again….

My Aunt Darlene lives in California and has been to Universal Studios there. And just to make you laugh, I’ve been to Universal Studios out there too, in the 80’s when Miami Vice and Conan The Barbarian were big. If only I could find those pictures…. Anyhow, they do not have Island of Adventure out there, so Darlene was beyond excited to go. It’s even on her bucket list. She was most excited about the whole Harry Potter thing. I guess I should also mention that I have never read one single Harry Potter book nor have I seen one single Harry Potter movie. I couldn’t tell you why, I just never have. When we arrived, we headed to Islands first and made a beeline for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, along with every one else on spring break. Of course, we had to walk through Seuss Landing to get there, which is my favorite part of the park.

Clearly, this is still the most popular part of the park. It was packed, The ride lines were really long, as were the lines for Butter Beer, and the stores were packed. When we were done here, we headed out to the rest of the park.

After we walked through Islands of Adventure and had lunch, we headed over to Universal Studios. This is my favorite park. I love ET and Twister, and walking through all the different area of the park like Beverly Hills and New York. The weather was perfect and I was having such a great time with my hubby, mom, and aunt. I was also happy to be getting some mileage in, and even more happy that I could walk just two days after the Sarasota Half Marathon. It’s the little things in life…

On our way out of the park, we stopped in the Universal Gift Shop and my mom bought these key chains for my sister-in-law Jenna and I. Remember how we were Boob 1 and Boob 2 for the 3 Day last year? They were perfect!

We had such a great time being big kids at Universal for the day. It’s always a great time when you get to spend that day with loved ones.

On our way home, we stopped for dinner at the original Hooters in Clearwater. Hubby and I are no strangers to Hooters and Darlene was excited to go too. We sat out on the patio and enjoyed the nice breeze, wonderful company, great food, and ice cold beer.

Thank you so much to my hubby for the tickets and a great day. It was the perfect escape and a fun time!

What is your favorite escape? Do you have a favorite theme park?