Our youngest had his Spring GT Elementary Sinfonia Concert in May. The orchestra is a special, audition-only orchestra that gives students the opportunity to work on more challenging material. He had a good time and looked great playing his bass.
GT Elementary Sinfonia
My son
We went to the Main Street Festival in Laurel, Maryland. The celebration was delayed by a propane explosion that happened to one of the booth as they were setting up in the morning. The 9 a.m. parade was canceled but the festival opened at 11 a.m.
Entering Main Street
My wife would have loved this
My daughter loves cotton candy
I love junk food
This family does not love a skeletal unicorn
Cordoned off for investigation
For Mother's Day, we went into Baltimore to Saint Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church. The inside is not very big but we were able to follow along in the prayer books. Enough congregation was there that it did not feel awkward.
St. Michael the Archangel church
Inside
Afterward, we went to Little Italy and had treats at Vaccaro's, an Italian pastry and coffee shop.
Vaccaraccino
Rum cake and chai
Tiramisu and ???
Another concert was the elementary school's spring concert with all my youngest's fellow orchestra players from 5th grade.
The advanced orchestra
The lone bass
My daughter's school had a pops concert night to raise money for the music boosters. It was fun even if she only played in the last few songs.
At the pops
My youngest's school had their field day so I volunteered for one of the stations. After all the "in field" activities, they gathered for a school photo, a race with a few teachers in inflatable costumes, and the fifth graders throwing water balloons at the Orchestra and Band teachers (though the students had to be in advanced levels).
Half the student body
The penguin did not win the race
5th graders go after their teachers!
A few days later were the Simulated Congressional Hearings, where the fifth grade students practiced giving testimony on various issues. My son really enjoyed it.
Ready to give testimony
Hand shaking afterward
We finally celebrated my sister's birthday at a local restaurant. One guess on the type of restaurant...
They did sing in English
My youngest had a presentation at the STEAM fair at his school. That's Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.
STEAM fair presentation
My youngest had an audition for the Gifted and Talented Middle School Orchestra. It was on the last day of May, so we won't know if he is accepted for a couple of weeks. He felt confident about his performance.
After a hearty hotel breakfast, we got on shuttle buses and headed back over to Universal Resort Florida. This day was the performance day, so the students had to pack their instruments and outfits and music on a special bus. At the park, I made my way through the Marvel and Cartoon areas to get to the Harry Potter stuff in The Islands of Adventure. The park has the recreation of Hogwarts Castle and Hogsmeade, the magic town near the castle.
Marveltopia
Betty Boop and Man in Moon
Entrance to Pottersville
Hogwarts
In the castle, I rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Riders go on a magical ride on a bench enchanted by Hermione. It flies through the castle and the grounds, including the Whomping Willow and a quidditch match. It was a lot of fun if a lot of tossing around.
Then I rode Flight of the Hippogriffs, a more mild coaster. The line includes Hagrid's shack. The actual coaster looks cool, a wicker hippogriff, but the last car was mysterious to me.
Fancy sign
Hagrid's hut
The tracks
The train (looks like wicker!)
Who is supposed to ride in the back car?
Hogsmeade is a loving recreation of the town where older students of Hogwarts can go and enjoy some off time. This is the area that has the new Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, which was one of the best coasters in the park. The line was long, I waited about an hour, but it was very enjoyable. The ride shows off some magical creatures and some interesting direction changes and drops.
Snowy roofs plus 85-degree temperature!
More Hogsmeade
Another view of the school
After the ride, I had some Butterbeer and took the Hogwarts Express back to London, which is at the other park, Universal Studios.
Enjoying a beer
Station by Hogsmeade
The express arrives
Room with a (fake) view
The London station
At the other end, it was about lunch time so I walked around considering places to eat. I saw one stand with jacket potatoes, an English delicacy that is not nearly famous enough. I had the loaded jacket potato, which start with a nice, healthy baked potato and then adds butter, cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, and some chives sprinkled on top. It was tasty and satisfying. I sat by the Knight Bus, which had the usual conversations and photo ops.
Hit the jack(et)pot(ato)!
Across the way is a set of row houses. If someone knocks on #12 Grimmauld Place (home of the Blacks), the window above shows a guy peeking out. I guess he's one of the servants? It's been a long time since I read the books or watched the movies.
Knock on Black's door
Peeking out at the visitors!
It was almost time for the concerts (remember, I was a chaperone for the high school music department trip), so I started making my way back to the City Walk stage. On the way, I ran into the Blues Brothers show with only one song left. I kept going, getting another visit in with the globe and finishing up a multiple location geocache from the day before.
Blues Brothers making the audience participate!
End of the show
Bluesmobile
Got another, better picture with the globe
Picture at Cowfish Grille, for a geocache
The performances by the high schoolers were great, even under the beating Florida sun.
Band performance
My daughter walking in for the Orchestra performance
Taking their bow
In between performance, I took a peek at the display for the new park opening May 2025--Universal Epic Universe. I am excited about the Dark Universe section (classic Universal monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein's monster) and the Super Mario Land. They will also have a How To Train Your Dragon area and the Ministry of Magic from Harry Potter.
Display of new park
The choir singing
When the concerts were done, chaperones returned with the instrument bus to the hotel and unloaded everything. Then we returned to the park.
Since I had already ridden everything I wanted to, I re-rode Rip Ride Rockit and Revenge of the Mummy.
More musical fun!
More mummy fun!
Also in the area is Jimmy Fallon's Race through New York City, which I had read wasn't very good. The line was very short, so I gave it a try, just ot get out of the sunshine. It was mildly entertaining but definitely a third-tier ride.
Walking through the studio, with pics of the Tonight Rider
After that, I headed back to the Marvel area to ride Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk again. Both were delightful. The park had a little afternoon rain which was a welcome cooloff.
An amazing adventure
I went the Captain America's Diner and had chicken fingers which were nice if slow in coming. By that point there was less than an hour to go before departure, so I wandered a bit taking pictures.
Cap's Cafe
View from the cafe
Daily Bugle Building
I didn't not re-ride Doctor Doom's Fearfall
Twilight of the parks
The Hulk Coaster was probably my favorite
We returned to the hotel tired but ready for our next day at Disney.
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