I never really grew up.

I had to write a senior thesis to complete my English degree in college. Throughout my junior year, I started thinking of things I'd want to write about (I had to turn in my proposal 2nd semester junior year...I wasn't that extremely nerdy). Lots of English majors before me had done lots of different themes, but honestly, none of them sounded interesting to me. I don't even really like Faulkner or Flannery O'Connor. I know I should, but I don't. Shoot me.

Anyway, much to my mother's (initial) chagrin, I read the Harry Potter series (the first 6 books- the 7th didn't come out until the summer after my junior year) and fell in love. They are so well-written and thought out. The themes are deep and rich, and Rowling's use of literary devices and conventions is quite brilliant. Spring semester, I wrote a paper about Harry. In a different class, I also wrote one about Narnia, which has always been a favorite series. I even blogged about it once while in Ukraine. You know, just because I was sitting around and thinking about it. The series overlap a LOT and are somewhat interconnecting.

Thus, when it came time to choose a theme for my thesis, I proposed to write about these two series and their place in the canon of children's literature: how they conform to children's literature's natural pattern of teaching moral and faith-based lessons through narrative.

I LOVED the whole process. That summer, my family read through the books together (we took this one really long family road trip to Texas and had lots of car time), and I got a lot of ideas from the discussions sparked through reading together. Since that time, I have read and re-read the books an embarrassing number of times. I won't even tell you the shenanigans that my bff, Kat, and I get into when we start ruminating about Harry and his friends. This Harry-ness has been beneficial for Dad, too, with all of his pediatric patients and parents. It opened up this whole realm of knowledge that he did not previously possess. I feel responsible for that.

Anyway, when Universal Studios created Harry Potter's Wizarding World, I needed to go, and last year, Mom and Dad schemed and surprised Amiee and me with a trip that was magical and full of merriment for the whole family! I've been jonesing for it since then. Mom had the BRILLIANT idea to hop over to HP World after the wedding. SOLD! And now, I will document our magical adventure (I think I'll just do castle-ish related pictures today so that I don't overwhelm you):

Seriously. How incredible is that? The main attraction ride of the park is inside the castle (The Forbidden Journey).

Big decision: which one first?? Let's be real. Hogwarts, hands-down.

I'm glad they gave us a warning about the spell limits; we probably would have gotten out of hand otherwise.

Hogsmeade train station. I wish Kat had been meeting up with us in there...

The mysterious conductor of the Hogwarts Express.

Hanging out in front of Dumbledore's office.

It's very dungeon-y in there, so the pictures are dark. One of my favorite parts is that they have the talking/moving pictures. I'm guessing they're fancy tv screens with a top coating that resembles paint.

Since we learned the ropes last year, we're basically veterans. Or professionals. Either way, don't we look really happy? We were.

Trying to give perspective on how big the castle is. Fail.

Retry. Success. See all of the tiny people?

Brassart family photo. Such fun.