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Harry Potter Party

Tia Farley — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:04:38 +0000

Months ago Kalani got into Harry Potter. It all started with her getting Lego Harry Potter video game for her birthday day. She started to watch the movies and talking about it with my sister. Finally we got her to start to read the books. She has wanted me to throw her a Harry Potter party for a few months, but I just kept putting it off. We had some pretty fun vacations I wanted to enjoy before I thought about having a party.

Finally the vacations came to an end and I had time on my hands. I googled “Harry Potter party ideas” and my search gave me LOADS of ideas. I couldn’t do everything that I saw or read about, but I did do a lot. We had around 30 people attend and I think everyone had a good time…even the parents.

"A Magical Day" sign on our garage

They had to run through the "brick wall" to find the correct platform

Sign on our front door

Professor McGonagall had to give some instructions to all of the 1st years

The sorting hat told everyone which house they belonged to

Everyone got to choose their own wands

Each house had their own class schedule

They all practiced spells using their wands

Potions class

Mixing the ingredients to see if they made "Goblin Goo"

Our bearded dragon was part of the Magical Creatures class

Everyone hatched their own dragon egg and inside the slim was a baby dragon (dinosaur)

The Magic 8 ball was used for Divination (the art of fortune telling)

Everyone went home with one of these "fortune tellers"

Transfiguration class = dress up class. A witch, wizard and house elf

End of year feast in the Great Hall

Dragon Snot

Butterbeer

Everyone enjoying the feast

We also played my version of quidditch, but because it is so hot outside we didn’t play for very long. I had a lot of fun hosting this party. I don’t know if I will take the advice of one of the students and have a party every year though.

June & July 2011

Tia Farley — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:00:38 +0000

We have had a busy summer. It seems like something was going on every week.

First off was Girls Camp. I was the camp director for about 28 girls from our church that were between 12-17 years old. Camping in Texas is different. It is hot, humid and you have to worry about hurricanes. And to get to any location where there is water or hills is FAR from Houston…like 5 hours away far. We planned and planned and then things changed. Then we planned some more. It all turned out really well and I was happy to be able to teach these young women and get to know them better.

While I was at girls camp, Matt had a work trip to the Philippines. He thoroughly enjoyed himself and wants to go back. He already has a post about his trip here.

Then Matt returned home for a day before he left to Florida for a conference.

The following week we had some friends from California come to visit for a few days. We would love it if they would move here so we could see them more often.

The last week of June we flew to California for a Farley family reunion. It was great to see our extended family again and Kalani really loved being around a bunch of cousins her age.

These cousins are all about the same age

Grandma & Grandpa with most of their grandkids

Grandma & Grandpa with most of their great-grandkids

The month of July has been a little bit calmer…at least not needing to be in the car for hours or take an airplane. I watched my cousins for a week while their parents attended a funeral in Utah. And I was busy planning a super fun Harry Potter party and decorating for a couple of weddings.

One more trip for me this summer and then we start back into school, co-op, gymnastics or swimming, choir, art, book club, and any other fun activity that we can schedule in. And I also have the great blessing of being the young women president over 30 girls ages 12-18 in our church. My life is busy. I may go crazy. But I’ll have fun going crazy!

Vacation Day 11 & 12 – Barcelona, Spain

Tia Farley — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:46:25 +0000

Our final destination on our European vacation was Barcelona, Spain. It took us 7 hours to drive from Nice, France to Barcelona but we all survived. It was also nice to have a really cool hotel room waiting for us…after we found it. The only down side to our hotel was that it was off a main road and Barcelona vs. Madrid in the Champion League was happening during our stay so we didn’t get much sleep.

Barcelona has some really crazy cool buildings. Antoni Gaudi was the architect for many of the Dr.Suess looking buildings.

La Sagrada Familia ... still 30 years away from being completely finish

Casa Batlló aka. House of Bones

This was how we saw Barcelona. With really only one day there and with kids, this was the best option

After 2 weeks in Europe, this is what the Farley boys looked like!

We had a wonderful time seeing another part of the world and being together with family. And luckily we didn’t kill each other or get into any accidents.

More photos of Barcelona

Vacation Day 10 – Cannes, France

Tia Farley — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:33:31 +0000

Another famous area on the French Riviera…Cannes. We walked from our hotel in Nice to the train station where we then took a train to Cannes. The kids really enjoyed riding the train and kept switching seats…good thing it wasn’t crowded.

When we got to Cannes we headed towards the beach so we could walk along the Promenade de la Croisette. More specifically we went to the Carlton Hotel.

350 - 5,000 EUROS for the night

Another thing that Cannes is famous for is the International Film Festival…so that was our next stop.

Cannes International Film Festival located behind us...we were there a month too soon

And the last thing that we really wanted to see in Cannes was The Île Sainte-Marguerite. The island is most famous for its fortress prison (the Fort Royal), in which the so-called Man in the Iron Mask was held in the 17th century.

The island is approximately 3km in length (East to West) and 900m across.

Museum of the Sea & prison where the man of the iron mask was held

And to finish our time in Cannes we walked around and enjoyed the scenery and sights.

Sandy beaches in Cannes...and this sand sculpture was pretty cool

Jedi Master Kalani

More photos of Cannes

Vacation Day 9 – Nice, France

Tia Farley — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:31:33 +0000

We stayed at a Hotel in Nice, near the French Riviera for 3 nights. Again, the French Riviera was a place that I had heard about, but never thought that I would visit. We spent a whole day just enjoying Nice and it was nice!

Seafront of the city

A park above the city with cool features and a playground for the kids

War Memorial

We rode this train to see the sights and hear information about Nice...and no one had to carry a sleeping child

These two brave the cold and got in the water...they stayed there for a couple of hours

No sand to bury his sister in...so he used rocks (the only thing on the shores of Nice)

More photos of Nice

Vacation Day 8 – Monaco

Tia Farley — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:37:54 +0000

After church in Italy, we loaded up the car and drove towards Nice, France. On the way we stopped at Monaco…”a Sunny Place for Shady People!” Monaco’s total area is 2.05 km2 (0.79 sq mi) and is famous for Monte Carlo Casino and The Grand Prix. We had a great time visiting the Monaco Oceanographic Museum (Jacques Cousteau’s Aquarium) and walking around the streets.

Monte Carlo...where some 35,000 people live

Grand Prix: one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the world

The Oceanographic Museum in Monaco rises from the cliff side rock

Many personal items of Jacques Cousteau

Palace guard marching to his new location

More photos of Monaco

Vacation Day 7 & 8 – Genoa, Italy

Tia Farley — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:08:07 +0000

We wanted to see as much of Europe as we could possibly do in 2 weeks with 1 car, 4 adults and 2 kids. So, we made the 5 hour drive from Zurich, Switzerland to Genoa, Italy. And interested thing to point out is that we paid 40 Swiss franc to enter that country, but never had to pay tolls on the highways. Once we entered Italy and drove through France and Spain we had to pay tolls again…and boy did we pay a lot in tolls since we drove everywhere!

Italy was a bit different for us since none of us speak Italian. We had French and Spanish covered, but couldn’t communicate with the Italians in their own language. Luckily between speaking French, Spanish, English or our own form of charades we were able to survive for the 24 hours we were in Italy.

We stayed at a pretty cool hotel in the heart of the city of Genoa. My favorite part of the hotel was that they had a kids room set up so Mason and Kalani could act like kids and play with toys. I wish more hotels would have something like that.

Kids being kids at the hotel

Famous elevator in Italy because it goes both horizontal and vertical ... think Willy Wonka

Castello d'Albertis

City of Genoa, Italy

1 pizza fed 1 person. Can't go to Italy without having PIZZA and it was yummy!

Gelato for dessert...YUM

Another fun adventure in Italy was attending church on Easter Sunday. The LDS ward in Genoa has rented out a floor of an office building. We met wonderful people who spoke English, Spanish and French. With my Spanish background I could understand about 50-60% of the things being said. It is so nice to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because no matter where you go in the world, the other members of the church have the same beliefs and standards and the gospel is the same.

More photos of Italy

Vacation Day 6 – Interlaken & Jungfrau, Switzerland

Tia Farley — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 02:57:14 +0000

I’ve always heard of the Alps. And having been to Disneyland a few times I heard of the Matterhorn. Still, I never dreamed that one day I would visit the Alps in person and even be able to stand on them. When Matt found this “excursion” online I got very excited. To be at the highest point possible in Europe sounded like a once in a life-time opportunity. And we were not disappointed!

First we had to drive from Zurich, Switzerland to Interlaken…another 2 hours spent in the car. But, the scenery was very pretty, so we didn’t mind. We got to the train station, purchased our tickets for the “Top of Europe” and headed to the Alps.

We took 3 trains to get to "The Top of Europe" and the view was spectacular

View from the train of the Alps

All of us on top of the Alps, wishing the guy would hurry up and take the photo

It was really cold there... -59' C (you'll have to figure out the conversion to Fahrenheit)

The Ice Palace was our favorite. Ice sculptures with NO glass between us and the sculptures

More photos of Interlaken & Jungfrau

Vacation Day 5 – Zurich, Switzerland

Tia Farley — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:41:50 +0000

An added bonus to serving a mission for the LDS church is all of the missionaries that you meet and through social networking we can stay in contact with them more easily. Such is the case with Matt and a sister missionary who lives in Zurich, Switzerland whom he met as a missionary in France. Dani graciously allowed us to stay at her apartment while she was away for spring break with her husband. Not only did she have the beds all made for us, but she also allowed us to use her computer, got the kids Easter baskets and a bunch of chocolate for all of us to share. And all that she asked for us to bring her was some baking soda from the states!

We had very full days while we stayed at the apartment.

6 apartments in this complex. We stayed at the middle one on the right

You can’t go to Europe without going to a Chocolate Factory! My favorite chocolate is Lindt and the factory just happens to be in Zurich. The factory wasn’t open for tours, but the store above the factory was open and all ready for Easter.

chocolate, chocolate everywhere

Then we walked around the town of Zurich and saw some cool buildings and interesting people.

Grossmunster church on the river Limmat

Taking a break near the Grossmunster. On the other side of the river is Fraumunster with its church tower

This guy kept trying to talk to Matt, but neither one spoke a language the other could understand. He was a little crazy...and he was rolling a joint

We ended the day with going to the Zurich zoo since our family loves the zoo and TripAdvisor places it as the #1 attraction.

Jungle Book Family

More photos of Zurich

Vacation day 4 – Chillon & Gruyeres

Tia Farley — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 03:34:41 +0000

On our way to Zurich, Switzerland we made a couple of stops. First to the castle in Chillon which lies on the Lake Leman.

Chillin' at Chillon

The oldest parts of the castle have not been definitively dated, but the first written record of the castle is in 1160 or 1005

People use to sleep sitting up and then would take care of their bathroom business next to their bed

From Chillon we went to Gruyeres where we felt like we were in the Disney story “Beauty and the Beast.” The historical town is placed on top of an isolated hill north of the alps, in the foothills of mount Moléson. This city of Gruyeres is also known for its cheese, although I don’t know if we tried it or not.

Belle should be at the fountain singing while a sheep comes up to her

The Gruyeres castle, one of the most prestigious in Switzerland, towers majestically above the medieval town.

More photos of Chillon and Gruyeres