More March Visitors! Fun with Josh, Jenni, & Kiddos. Part 1

It seemed like Jake and Josh had been talking and planning this get together for a while!  It was so great when the time finally came.  We picked Josh, Jenni, & kiddos up from Heathrow and then had almost two weeks of nonstop fun.  We wasted no time.  30 minutes after pickup, we were at Warner Brother Studios Tour London to see the Harry Potter sets.  I had heard great things about it, and it was better than I expected.  So cool to see the masks, props, and so many things from the movies. 
When we first got there, Jenni took the boys into the shop while we waited in line and they all picked out wands.  Luke and Austin chose Harry Potter's wand, and Caden and Coby chose Ron Weasley's.   The boys looked like they were having tons of fun with their wands, so Ella decided a little later that she wanted one.  Aunt Jenni spoiled her and took her to pick out a wand so she wouldn't feel left out. (Thanks Jenni!)  She chose Narcissa Malfoy's.   The kids ended up bringing their wands along on our other excursions throughout the next couple of weeks.  Very fun first stop with our guests!  And we were glad that Josh and Jenni took a lot of pictures!  We brought our camera, but the memory card was still at home in the computer.  Whoops!  Got a lot on our phones, but I'm glad we have some from their camera that are better quality!
Here's the whole crew in front of the studio!

 

When you first walk into the building, they have these huge pictures of all the actors/actresses.  The portraits are like 10 feet tall.  Kind of cool. 

 

Harry's bedroom under the stairs...

And, some other favorite pics.  You'll recognize the sets :)  Cute boys with their wands..

 

My favorite part was Diagon Alley.  Ella was having fun being a "BAD lady." 

 

 

 

Most of these pictures are pretty self explanatory if you've seen the movies or read the books.  I kind of want to post every pic we took, but I'll restrain myself. 

 

4 Privet Drive

 

 

Ella was a little creeped out by the dying robot. 

 

Hagrid's head is a huge robot.  Who knew!? 

Loved the cutie screaming plants.

 

Creepy goblin masks and hands.  Would be fun to have some on Halloween!

 

 

 

Potions classroom..

 

 

 

 Random creatures... that spider is HUGE. The giant's head, too.

 

 

 

Love the humongo chess pieces.

And the costumes.

Wands!!! 

Hogwarts!  This set was used to film all of the shots of Hogwartz.  It took up a whole room.  Cool that they can use computers to put it on a bigger scale.

Fun afternoon!  Next stop was Bath. 

 

Visitors!

  Rochelle and Liza came to hang out for a week at the beginning of March.   It was cold and miserable outside, so we didn't do a whole lot of sightseeing beyond local things, but it was fun to have them here!  We enjoyed their company.   Here are the girls one day after church.  Cuties. 

 

More picture fun from February...

  Ella graduated from her "foamalin" to the real deal.  She started violin lessons in November with Ms Samara.  So far she is liking it.  She has her moments where she doesn't want to practice, but for the most part it's been fun, and she is so proud of herself when she gets a new skill down.  Her teacher requires the parents to learn some of the Suzuki songs as well, so I've been playing a fiddle myself.  Kind of fun!  I'm halfway through book 1.  Woot woot :D 
This was right after her lesson when she opened her violin.   They measured her and said she needed a 1/16, so it's cutie and really little.   She has been working on her twinkle variations. 

My Valentine Babies

  Snapped a few pictures of these goofballs in February.  I love any excuse to make their outfits match!  haha.  Love them.