Evie's baptism

The day after her birthday, Evie was baptized to become a member of our church. It was a wonderful day! (It was also storming outside, so I will have to come to terms with our church hallway pictures of the morning. Also, Trent needs a haircut and it shows. Oh, well.)

Evie's grandparents all played a part in her baptism, with Ed playing piano, Scott saying a prayer, Debbie giving the talk on the Holy Ghost, and my mom making Evie's lovely dress.

Evie's "best cousin", Ellie, was in attendance and spreading sunshine wherever she went.

Josh's Grandma Lamb also came, so we snapped a much needed four-generation picture. Anyone else see some slight resemblances?

Evie felt so loved that so many of our family members flew into town for the occasion.

We are all so pleased with Evie's choice to be baptized! She is amazing and we just love her to pieces!

Floridian beach week

After Harry Potter World, the fourteen Lambs/Rickers drove down to West Palm Beach.

We took advantage of the fun resort amenities, including the pools, beach volleyball, and mini golf. Uncle Ryan and Uncle Chris got involved in some pretty extreme child-tossing in the pool. There was only one near miss, when Ryan threw Evie off his shoulders and just a second after that Chris tossed Lottie in the same direction. But, like I said, it was a near miss, so no one was hurt (and the uncles were a little more cautious afterward).

The resort had beach access and we visited almost every day. Tu Tu read the girls a book about D-Day and talked about her mother's experience as a nurse in WWII. They all put on patriotic bandannas and went to the beach after finishing the book. There were also plenty of casual beach trips and one really amazing treasure hunt put on by Uncle Ryan.

One night we drove to a nearby sea turtle center and learned about the turtles that nest in Florida. After the class we went down to the beach and watched baby sea turtles be released into the ocean. The beach by our resort had dozens of sea turtle nests roped off; you can see one in the background of the picture above. 

We went on a wild and noisy airboat tour of the Everglades and saw lots of wildlife, including several alligators.

The other boat tour we did was a Duck Tour, the land/water vehicle tour. I want to say it was fun, but when we got on the water it went sooo slooow and it was extremely hot with no breeze. We were all a sticky mess by the end.

We got all dressed up for breakfast in the Circle Room at The Breakers, a fancy hotel on Palm Beach. Decadent and delicious-- there were just as many lovely things to look at as there were yummy things to eat.

After breakfast the men took the kids back to the resort to swim while the ladies toured Whitehall, home of Henry Flagler. Before visiting I had never heard of Henry Flagler, a man who made his fortune in the railway business and founded Standard Oil. His house was amazingly beautiful and on the grounds there is even a tiny train station where you can walk around his personal train car (we took a lot of pictures with Eileen's phone camera in that area).

Our trip ended with a pirate ship adventure, ripe with betrayal, buried treasure, water cannons, and plenty of "Arrrg!" and "Aye, Captain!" proclamations. I also would like to note that Lottie took her share of the treasure pretty seriously; she tried to pay for dinner that night with a plastic gold doubloon. "Here you go, sir, I'll be paying for dinner." 

As always, Lamb family vacations are a legend unto themselves. I just love these crazy goons!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

The end of July we met Josh's family in Florida for a beach vacation, but before heading down to West Palm Beach we stopped at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. I don't think excited is a strong enough word to describe the mood.

First stop was Number 12 Grimmauld Place. I might already be geeking out at this point.

Next up, Diagon Alley. I can't even begin to describe how cool it is to see the dragon breathe real fire. It happens every half hour or so and is crazy amazing.

Ed bought everyone wands at Ollivanders, allowing us to have the full experience. About half of the family chose to get interactive wands, meaning we could cast spells at various locations around Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. In case anyone is wondering which wands we got, I got McGonagall's, Josh got a death eater wand, Evie chose Hermione's, Lottie went with Narcissa Malfoy's, and Trent picked Snape's. I really wanted to get Molly Weasley's or Neville's, but they didn't have interactive wands and, really, what is the point of getting one if you can't perform magic?

Also for the record, butterbeer is yummy. Frozen butterbeer is even more delicious.

I was totally impressed with how well the two locations were curated. I felt completely immersed in the world because they paid attention to every last detail. Even waiting in line for the rides was amazing.

The girls were allowed to buy one item of their choice. Evie went with a Hogwarts crest hat and Lottie bought a pygmy puff christened Pinkie de Winkie. Josh tried to get away with two crazy expensive purchases, being a full set of Slytherin robes and Lucius Malfoy's cane/wand, but was unsuccessful. The mirror in Madam Malkin's dressrobes shop told him he looked nice, which did cheer him up a bit.

Having been to the real King's Cross Station, I can say they did a good job mimicking it. But the authentic feel of the station was nothing compared to the magic of going through Platform 9 3/4 and seeing the Hogwarts Express. The train runs between Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade and is totally worth the effort.

After a day of magic, we went back to the hotel to put the kids to bed, then the six adult-kids went back to the park while Ed and Debbie relaxed. We stayed until park closing and had a blast going on the rides again and having an intense debate over our rankings of the books from favorite to least. I think the perfect way to sum up the experience is to end with a picture of Chris, so exhausted from the magical fun that he fell asleep with his wand still in his hand. Long live The Boy Who Lived!