Final Fling Before the Ring: Sibling Style!

After B and I got engaged, I thought a lot about all the changes that marriage would mean for my life.  Lots of good changes, obviously, but I also dwelled a lot on the scary changes.  One of my biggest fears was the impact it might have on my close relationship with my family, especially my siblings.

I introduced you to my sister awhile back, and told you how she's basically one of the coolest people ever.  I feel the same way, if not more so, about my brother.  He's only 18 months younger than me, and we've been roommates for three of the last four years.  We've been close all our lives, and I have to admit that I've really gotten used to hanging out with him everyday.

Knowing that shortly after the wedding I will be moving away and no longer be able to rely on frequent interaction with my family, I knew I needed to plan some kind of trip that we could take before the wedding.  My sibs and I have always wanted to take a trip together just the three of us, and I knew that if we didn't do it now, we might not get another chance for a long time.

But where should we go?  I only had to think about it for like 5 seconds.

{Oh. My. Rowling.}

Harry Potter is our childhood.  Because my sister is so much younger than we are, there have been very few phenomena that have been shared by all three of us.  But Harry Potter?  Please.  That franchise has spanned the last fifteen years, and we've been there from the very beginning.  I remember reading Prisoner of Azkaban to my sister when she was a first grader.  Our family listens to the audiobooks in the car whenever we go on vacation.  We've been to every book release since Goblet of Fire and have seen every movie on opening day, almost always at midnight.

At the risk of sounding like a tremendous dork, it's a pretty big deal in our family.

So it was settled.  We booked the flight, bought the tickets, and President's Day weekend we were off!

The lil sis had never flown before, so she was especially excited (don't let her too-cool-for-school demeanor fool you)!

And before we knew it, we had arrived:

It's amazing this picture is in focus -- my hands were shaking with excitement!

Hogwarts: A place most Muggles only dream about.

The Weasley's flying Ford Anglia

Hogwarts Express

EXTENDABLE EARS!!!

We enjoyed a delicious meal at the Three Broomsticks

The lil sis enjoying her Pumpkin Juice

Goofy grins as we waited in line for Ollivander's Wand Shop

If you're considering a trip to WWoHP, I absolutely recommend it.  The rides are great, and the atmosphere is extremely authentic if you've read the books.  But I promise, you don't have to be a crazy HP freak to appreciate all the magic the Wizarding World has to offer.  Although if you walk around saying things like "What's this honeybeer stuff that everyone's lined up for?" or "I haven't read the books, but I think I watched part of the first movie on tv.  It's just a bunch of kids learning how to do spells, right?" you'll drive the die-hards NUTS.

Saturday was our last full day in Florida, and we headed to Disney.  This seemed like the most logical day, as the parks would be open from 8 a.m. to midnight, but for some reason it failed to occur to me that this was a holiday weekend and the park was bound to be packed!  The crowds were ridiculous, but we still had a fantastic time.  It was the lil sis's first time to Disney, so she was especially excited.

Dylan won the prize for best in-ride photo.

Of course, true to form, I cried through the entire Magic Kingdom fireworks display.  I'm an emotional girl anyway, but I get extra warm and fuzzy when I think about how lucky I am to have such a great relationship with my siblings.  I was just so happy that we had gotten to take the trip we'd been talking about for years.

Oh, and on a wedding related note, I found our cake topper...

Kidding!

Did you have a non-traditional Final Fling?