Family vacation part 7 - Pottermania

We headed back to Vancouver, WA Tuesday evening after our brief trip to Seattle. DH wanted to get back early enough that we could get the younger kids to bed and then head off to see the new Harry Potter movie. Luke started reading the books earlier this year and then once he got hooked, M&M decided to read them as well (she had tried reading them a couple of years earlier and just wasn't interested at the time). When we left for this vacation M&M was just starting book 7 and Luke was finishing up book 6. So we got back to DH's parents' house and set up our tent in the backyard for the 4 oldest kids to sleep in. We put Blondie and Kitty to sleep in the tent and it definitely took them a while to go to sleep. Our kids just think it's so much fun to sleep in a tent and they don't get the chance very often so it usually turns into a big play time. Our big unknown was whether I would be able to get Baby K to sleep and if she would stay asleep while we were gone. She had been having a rough time on the trip and wasn't sleeping too well unless she was in bed with me. While we were at the rental house in Oregon I noticed that she was cutting some new teeth so I think that was contributing to her poor nights. There were 3 late night showings of the movie that night so we decided to try and go as soon as I got Baby K to sleep.

After a bit of struggling and some threats to Blondie and Kitty, we finally got the kids to sleep and headed out to make the 10:45 showing of Harry Potter 6 (actually I'm not entirely sure that Blondie and Kitty were asleep before we left). We were trying to keep it a secret from M&M and Luke that they were going to be going to see the new Harry Potter movie and they were so excited when we pulled up to the movie theater. DH's mom, brother Tan and his wife went with us as well. Grandpa stayed back home to keep an eye on the younger kids.

We all really enjoyed the movie and it was fun watching M&M and Luke watch the movie. It was also neat to hear them critique it afterwards and compare it to the book since they had both recently finished reading it. Luckily when we made it back home around 1:30 in the morning, the kids were all asleep still.

The next day was Wednesday and we decided to just take things easy and relax at the house before we left for home the next day. The kids played in the pool and bounce house with their cousins and watched a few movies. Grandma N came over for dinner that evening and it was great to see and talk to her.