Geeked out on Harry Potter

Who throws a birthday party for someone who doesn't exist?

Umm... yeah... that would be us.

But Harry is real in my heart so that counts, right?

In case you're lame didn't know- Mr. Harry Potter celebrates his birthday on July 31st!

After the movies were over, we suffered from a Harry Potter hole in our heart and we had to fill it.

Last year we had an amazing birthday party with amazing friends (click here)

and this year we partied it up in Mississippi with a bunch of the youth!

Each year it gets more epic...

One of these years- I'll convert my whole house into Hogwarts. 

You just wait.

*ahem*

Back to the party.

The decorations...

Platform 9 3/4

 Entrance to the Gryffindor common room

 The man of the hour

 We played the first movie as peeps began to arrive.

The people

 

Get away you death eater- you!

 

The crew of wanted wizards...

House Prefects

(minus me... I was just game officiator)

 Snape and Bellatrix

The food

The games

Sorting Ceremony

Spell Casting game

Pin the Scar on Harry

Harry Potter Pictionary

And the House Cup winner IS.....

Hufflepuff?

Does Hufflepuff EVER do anything noteworthy?

I blame it on their super, ultra, crazy competitive prefect.

Happy Birthday Harry!

Let's Go to the Beach!

"Let's go to the beach, each 

let's go get away!

They say what they gonna say?"

AND we usually stop singing about there...

(what do beaches have to do with Starships anyway?)

Nevertheless- that's our beach anthem and we sang it loud and proud as we rolled into Gulfport, Mississippi on Friday night.

It was kind of a "spur of the moment/last minute" trip-

but was full of good fun!

Day 1 we woke up early and ready to go to the beach!

It was a little cloudy...

 Ok, A LOT cloudy.

 But Jon has a phobia of the sun and prefers the beach cloudy.

It drizzled on us as we built sand castles...

And decided to head back inside.

We came down with two other families from our church, and stayed in this fun condo on the 10th floor!

We loved admiring the views...

Day 2 at the beach was sunnier- but there were no waves to be seen.

This made for a disappointed boogie boarder named Jon.

SO we had to entertain with other things...

Frisbee!

Burying ourselves...

 Playing in the sand...

 And what are these boys doing?

 Jellyfish!

 Ah! Don't get stung!

 These little buggers were everywhere! 

Made swimming a bit difficult...

So we move from the beach to the pool...

 Crazy jumping pics...

 Awe, look at this cute kid.

Day 3 we went in search of bigger waves...

The Mississippi coast is protected by barrier islands that block a lot of the gulf's water. 

You can take a ferry OUT to one of the barrier islands- and there are waves there!

...Or so we heard...

Aboard the ferry!

The dolphins loved to follow the boat!

 This one was jumping the wake!

 And then they swam right up close to the boat...

 And emerged!

I wanted to ride it...

 

We got to the island!

 And this guy carried everything while I snapped pictures.

Isn't he the best?

 

And there WERE waves...

but they were maybe 2 inch swells...

 And thus here sits a melancholy boogie boarder.

So we made our own fun!

 So proud of himself.

Who knew a Frisbee full of water could provide so much enjoyment?

And then we headed back to mainland Mississippi...

It was a great weekend!

We had good sunsets!

 Good beach time!

 

Good food!

 

And most importantly-

good people!

 And I still never get sick of this kid.