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For many kids, Harry Potter is a huge part of their childhood.  For those kids graduating or nearly graduating, they basically grew up along side Harry Potter.  When Harry entered school, so did they.

When I first started reading it out loud to my kiddos, Parker was just 7.  We were on a trip up the coast.  He got tired of waiting for me to read to him so he went on and finished it on his own.  He read one after another, waiting for each new volume to come out.  When the last few came out I had to buy two copies.  One for him to read and one for myself.  On Wednesday of our trip we travelled to visit the Harry Potter sets at Warner Brothers Studio.  It did not disappoint.  While we were all excited, it was clear Parker downright giddy.  One great thing about the Harry Potter books is that it motivates kids to read.  When Gracie found out we were going to visit here she decided she would read the first book on her own and set  the goal to finish before we got there.  She only had 79 pages left to read in Paris and then her book disappeared.  We had to pick up on new copy in England.  Did you know the first book is called The Philosophers Stone in Europe?  Well, we got her a copy and she finished the book while walking up to the building from the parking lot.  She did it!  We had fun walking through the sets and seeing all the props, etc.  There were all kinds of signs to read telling how they did things.  It was fascinating.  And of course Parker had to read them all!  Below are the great doors that we got to enter.  “In your dreams, we enter a world that’s entirely our own.”  Dumbledore

“Where your treasure is.  There will your heart be also.”  Dumbledore“Happiness can be found in even the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light.”  Dumbledore

We tried some Butter Beer.  (Butterscotch flavored Rootbeer).

Some liked it, some didn’t.

We got to sit in the Weasley’s Flying car.

We walked through Diagon Alley and were careful not to call it Diagonally.

Did you know that every person that worked on one of the films had their names printed on one of the wand boxes shown on the set?  Pretty cool.  After the tour we let the three youngest pick out a wand as their souvenir.  It was a great idea.  It has entertained them for hours.  And much better then the wooden swords we got from the castle.  You are not suppose to hit people with wands, just point them and say spells.  Much better then swords.

It was a magical day.  

If there is one thing we figured out on this trip, is that WE ALWAYS NEED A PLAN.  Most of our trip was scheduled up, however there were a couple of days where we thought we would just explore and do what we wanted to do.  On this day we thought we would just walk, take some pictures and just explore.  

They were done with that by noon and asking,  ”What are we really going to do today?”  And so we ventured out to Bourton-on-the-Water.

 We loved it.

First, we got lunch and ate it by the canal.We sat around and played “say something nice about the person next to you.”  This was Piper’s face when it was her turn to listen to something about herself.  We then found an awesome Bird Sanctuary to visit.  

And then we found the coolest thing ever….The Dragon Fly Maze.The Maze was grown with Hedge Walls, kinda like the Harry Potter Maze without all the magic.

There were clues we had to find along the way in order to solve the puzzle at the end.One of the funniest stories happened here.  When we got to the center and needed to solve the puzzle we realized we had missed two clues along the way.

So we went back to find the other clues, except for Claire and Ellie who opted to sit on the bench.  There was only one other person in the maze.  A boy, I am guessing that was around 14 years old.   He went in the center building to solve the puzzle and must not have seen Claire and Ellie outside because after he solved the puzzle he yelled out loud in a high pitched voice, “AT LAST,  VICTORY IS MINE!”  He then walked out and saw Ellie and Claire sitting there and awkwardly walked off.  It’s one of our favorite catch phrases now.  

Day 8:  We spent our first day in England at Warwick Castle.  Warwick Castle where peacocks and swans roam the gorgeous grounds.  Where families can climb, explore and learn about olden times of a castle that was originally built by William the Conqueror back in 1068.    My kids were intrigued by the birds.  Poor birds.Don’t worry, I didn’t let them touch them.  We had rainy weather for pretty much our entire trip.  We lucked out most days, as we would go in the museum etc., it would rain.  We would come out and it would stop.  On this day however, rain hit us.  We were soaked to the bone.  We pushed through it, huddled up.  We toured the indoors first.  One of the highlights was the Princess room where princesses talk to our little princesses.

We also thought the catapult was awesome.  We were wet but we were still having fun.  

The kids tried and tried  to pull Excalibur from the stone.  After getting totally soaked, we thought about leaving.  We opted to eat lunch there first.  Glad we did.  After lunch, the rain stopped and we were able to do some more fun activities like archery.
Max was a pro, so he told us, you know because he had been to Boy Scout Day camp earlier in the Summer.  Katniss is Ellie’s new nick name.We even watched some awesome Falconry.  And on the way out we had to try that sword one last time.  You know, it stopped raining so it wouldn’t be as slippery this time.  Maybe if we all worked together…..Still no luck.  If you ever find yourself in Warwick, we highly recommend a visit to Warwick Castle.

(As you can see in this photo, Piper was quite through with getting her picture taken.)

DAY 6  & 7:  July 14th is Bastille Day in France.  It’s like the American Fourth of July, if you will.  I had done research trying to plan out what we wanted to do for that day.  A parade in the morning?  ….we were so exhausted from the last few days we slept in.  An all white picnic along the canals of Versailles?…..we had just been there.  And of course there is the famous fireworks at the Eiffel Tower at night.  That was tempting but with all the kids in tow?  Taking into consideration that it doesn’t get dark until after 10:00 and the crowds would be crazy, we opted not.

So on our last day in Paris we first went to see Saint Chappelle.  BEAUTIFUL!

We took some pics around town.  Then we trekked around The Notre Dam.  Found some fun shops to get souvenirs and tried an ice cream shop that was recommended by friends.  Berthillon had a huge line in front of it, but trust me, it was so worth the wait.  YUM!

By afternoon the city was hopping with people.  We felt the need to get the kids back to our little safe haven, the apartment.  So off we went to pack up and get ready for our voyage to England.

By now, you are probably thinking to yourself that we had the perfect time, with zero meltdowns and no complaining.  HA, that is why I love photographs.  As I look through our photos I get all warm inside remembering the happy moments and the painful comments of the kids “I am so tired” and  ”I can’t walk anymore,”  seem to be forgotten.

Sunday was a busy day.  We woke up early and went to Church.  In the main chapel they spoke French, off to the side they had a room translated in English. It was fun to sing the hymns in French.  I am kind of wishing we had ventured into the french speaking Chapel.We were then off in a hurry to get to the train station.  Note to self…Don’t schedule a train ride out of Paris the day after Bastille Day.  It took us an entire two hours to get through the security.  Fortunately, we made our train.  We took the Eurostar to St. Pancras Station in London.   We pulled out a few toys from our bags to entertain Piper and Max and pulled out baguette sandwiches and croissants to settle the rumbling in our tummies.

Then the real excitement began.  In London we picked up a car to drive out to The Cotswolds.  We stayed in a little town called Chipping Camden.  Driving on the left side of the rode through the beautiful lush green countryside of England was beyond exhilarating.  I suggest that if at all possible bring a 17 year old boy on your trip with you.  HAHA.  It took all three of us too navigate.  Evan drove.  I sat in the passenger seat following the directions on the I phone.  Parker sat in the middle back seat watching for signs and navigating.   But we made it.  Oh what a stressful, exhausting yet exhilarating and fun day.  I wish I had taken more pictures but my camera was packed in my bag and wedged in our tiny car under feet.  We arrived here around 9:00 pm and ate a delicious meal at our hotel.

Oh man, I have a big gap in my entries.  All I can say is having six kids home during the Summer doesn’t really allow for me to have much free time.  Ok, back to posting about the trip.

Day 5:  This was a day of appreciation.  We woke up early, got to the train station where we loaded up on a train to Normandy.  I must say, I really liked traveling by train.  But like I said, this was a day of appreciation.  We toured the sites of World War 2.  To see the actual places, to hear the stories and to realize that many of those young men weren’t much older than my own son, well it was sobering.  I was glad my own children had the opportunity to hear those stories.

We toured all of the American sites there.  Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, The American Cemetery, and more…..

We took a break for lunch.  No one spoke English at the restaurants so my French speaking was put to the test.  Fortunately, pizza is a universal language.  We just learned we had to ask for the cheese pizza without the blue cheese and goat cheese for the kids.  And of course, the kiddos spotted the American looking merry-go-round in the parking lot.  So of course we went on for a couple of spins.  I just hope this isn’t the only thing the little kids remember from the day.  Below is a picture of the town church, Sainte-Mere-Eglise.  Notice the parachuter hanging from the steeple.  This is in memory of John Steele, a soldier who got hooked onto the church during the invasion.  He hung there for two hours.  The bells from the church caused him to be deaf temporarily.  All he could do was hang there, stuck, watching the battle but pretending to be dead.  The Germans caught him and held him as prisoner but eventually he escaped.  Of course the day was filled with  lots of walking which ended up with a couple of kids asking for rides.  The kids decided to act out the bombings in the sand.  One of out favorite stops was this tiny little church.  Notice the stain glass windows have parachuters in them.  This is where two young medics cared for the wounded.  While serving to help soldiers as well as some locals and even an occasional German soldier, a bomb shot through the ceiling and landed in the middle of the church.  The bomb thumped to the ground and never detonated.  The kids thought that was a pretty miraculous story!  During this trip as a whole, we spent a lot of time filling our tummies with delicious food.  This day however, was a day to fill our minds and hearts with gratitude.  Gratitude that we live free and gratitude for all of those who gave so unselfishly and bravely to fight for that freedom, not only our country but for others.