North Yorkshire...

June 30, 2012

We are back in Castleford staying with David’s brother, Andrew.  Danika and Jason’s cousin, Leoni, had an accident while riding her horse and is left with 4 broken metatarsals and four broken toes and will be in a cast for six weeks.  It is a non-walking cast, so the poor girl can’t really do much as she can’t drive or go very far on her crutches.L 

One day we heard the ice cream van outside and Ollie, the dog, started whimpering.  Leoni said the ice cream lady gives Ollie a cone for 50 p.  So, I ran down the stairs and out the door and Ollie came with me.  I thought he would eat the cone right there, but when I turned to give it to him, he was already walking home.  Apparently he knows the routine and that is that he doesn’t get it until he gets home. He even eats every last bit of the cone, a dog after my own heart…

The kids have been keeping Leoni company a bit, but it is not the same when you are an adult and your cousins are 9 and 11.  Poor Leoni…

Luckily, Auntie Hilary and Uncle Duncan, came to the rescue.  They took Danika and Jason for two nights.  (That was before they really knew what they were getting into.  We warned them about how much Jason could talk, but they just couldn’t comprehend it until it was too late.)  However, the kids had a fabulous time!

 They did all sorts of things like going to the wool museum in Leeds, and then the train museum in York.  They took them swimming and even had a party!  They played Uno and had chips and dips.  Then had a chili dinner.  This was followed by Hilary’s special cake.  Unfortunately it was half eaten by the time I got there to take a picture.  Hilary makes all sorts of cakes.  This one had a hamburger and beans and an egg and all sorts of different food on top. 

They also made cookies with Auntie Hilary.  They made all sorts of shapes and sizes, but my favorites were the ones they made for their cousin, Leoni, to represent her cast...

When we picked the kids up, we found out that Auntie Hilary and Uncle Duncan had let them buy sweets at a shop as well.   They had gone through four cans of soda as well as a 2 liter bottle of Coca Cola!  I think they were banking on filling them up with sugar and returning them to us.  Unfortunately for them, the sugar kicked in long before we arrived.

However, after we arrived, Uncle Duncan snuck out with them and went to a special sweet  shop that had just opened up.  He got in the last laugh after all L

While the kids were away, the parents could play.  What did we do???  Went to Costco, of course!  Since we practically live at the food court at Costco in Missoula, it was only fitting that we take pictures in England.  It was great because you can get different things like Cottage Pie and Jacket Potatoes.

We also found a butcher in Garforth with our name on it.  It could be D.M. for Danika Marie, or David and Mary.  So here is our very own butcher shop…

One of the evenings the kids were away, we went out for a meal with Andrew, Julie, Leoni, and Granddad Firth.  We went to one of his favorite Indian Food restaurants.  

It was AMAZING.  I ate way too much, but the food was so good and it was a buffet and I just couldn’t stop myself.  Here are just a few of the starters.

Then there were so many different curries to try, and I just had to try them all.  By the time I took the pictures for Paul Gladen, our table had eaten most of what was at the buffet, hence little was left for the pictures. J

    

    

After picking up the kids from Hilary and Duncan’s house, we went over to Paul and Jane’s house for dinner. Paul and Jane are Andrew and Julie's best friends.  Jane cooks everything from scratch and is a wonderful cook.  She had this incredible spread of Shrimp cocktail, fish cakes, and homemade tomato soup for starters.  Then she had fresh garlic bread and lasagna for the main course.  When I get back to Missoula, no one will recognize me as I have become very round. 

David serving the lasagna…

That is Jane on the far right.  Both Paul and Jane were wonderful hosts and we really enjoyed our time at their house.

That’s Paul trying to conspire with Jason…

Leoni had to sit at a different table because her cast wouldn’t fit…  Jason went over for a cuddle, but they didn’t want their picture taken…

You can see Danika signed the bottom of Leoni’s cast…

It was a lovely evening.  Andrew, Julie, and Leoni have been taking very good care of us!

~Mary

Warner Brothers Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter

June 25, 2012

Today was the day for the behind the scenes studio tour of the Harry Potter film sets.  The kids were really excited.  Jason was jumping out of his skin.  We arrived at the studios at 9:30 a.m. and we had reservations at 10:30 a.m.  Our timing was perfect as it opens at 9:30 a.m.  David had read up on some websites that sometimes they let you in earlier than your reserved time.  He was right, as we went in right as they opened.

The first “set” piece we saw was the “cupboard under the stairs”.  It sits right by the area where you line up to go into the short “guided tour” portion of the studios.  The guided part is only a short bit at the very beginning.  

As we waited in line, we were right at the front and were able to sit and chat with the people that worked there.  They were really excited about their jobs and told us stories about the actors.  Apparently Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) broke his wand many times over the course of the 10 years of filming because he used it for drumming all of the time.  Thomas Felton (Draco Malfoy) is the only one who kept his original wand the entire ten years.  We were also told that Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) is not acting, that she is actually like that in real life.

They also talked about the many people who come dressed up.  One of the best was a really tall guy dressed as Hagrid and wearing platform shoes to make him even taller.  Others were a creepily accurate Bellatrix Lastrange, a Deatheater, amd a snitch (really)

After a short intro and film, we were led into the Great Hall.  You only have about fifteen minutes here.  It is a One-way tour, which means once you leave an area, you can’t go back and return to it.  The Great Hall is the only one where they make you leave after the fifteen minutes.  All of the other areas you can stay in as long as you like.

The long house tables were all set up.  Griffindor…

Slytherin…

The head table for the professors…

The great fireplace…

This is a close up of the table settings.  I never noticed the bore heads on the pitchers before.  I am looking forward to watching the movies again.

Danika loved looking at the wardrobes, especially Hermione’s ball gown, and Ron’s dress robes…

Then it was on to Griffindor Tower to see the common room, stairs leading to the dorm rooms, and Harry’s dorm room.  Apparently the common room was a favorite of everyone on set.  When it was not being used for filming, people would just go there to relax...we were not allowed to...

We had to stand in front of the Mirror of Erised…

Then it was off to Dumbledoor’s office and his pensive…

We couldn’t miss the potion’s classroom as Professor Snape is David's role model...

Then there was the case of horcruxes…

Off to Hagrid’s cabin…

And the Weasley’s kitchen.  This was cool because they had wands that you could point at things to do the work like cutting vegetables, doing dishes, knitting, etc.  It was all set up how it worked for the films.

Then it was off to the Ministry of Magic…

The unfortunate changes after the Ministry fell.  This statue was hand carved by a professional sculptor.  The detail was amazing...

Professor Umbridge’s office.

And her wardrobe, which got progressively pinker as she worked her way up in the Ministry…

Then we went outside and the kids jumped on the Knight bus...

Check out the sleeping arrangements inside the bus…

Then they jumped in Sirrius' motorbike which was given to Hagrid…

Couldn’t miss a spin in the Ford Anglia.  Who wouldn’t love a flying car?

Check out the odometer...

This was the only section of this bridge actually constructed.  The rest was done in CGI.

Number four Privet Drive…

Jame’s and Lily’s home in Godrick’s Hollow…

One of the giant chess pieces in the first movie…

After exploring around outside for some time, we all needed some refreshment.  We were so excited to get some butterbeer because it was fabulous when we had it in Orlando at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Unfortunately they did not have the blended version.  But I must say, even the regular version was not up to the standards set in Orlando.  Apparently it is the same recipe, but it didn’t taste very good at all.  It was a bit of a disappointment.  Still, it was nice sitting outside in the sunshine on Privet Drive J

The next building housed all of the animatronics. Much of Hagrid’s work was done by a really tall guy wearing platforms with his head covered by an animatronic head made to look like Hagrid.

Aragog the spider was pretty scary.  I was surprised to learn that all of the hair on his legs was sewn on by hand.

Of course we loved Diagon Alley.  We only wished we could go into all of the shops…

Then it was into the set design area.  It was really interesting to see so many things mocked up in paper first.  This paper model of the prefect’s bathroom even has the stained glass window with the mermaid.

A paper model of Hogwarts…

Then there is this beautiful scale model of Hogwarts (1:24) and the surrounding grounds that takes up an entire room…

There are touch screens where you can learn what goes on in each part of the castle and grounds…

You can walk 360 degrees around it, so I did, and I took pictures the entire way…

Last of all is a look inside Olivander’s wand shop.

After all of that, you enter the store where you can buy anything and everything.  I really wanted to get Danika a timeturner, but they were sold out.  She ended up choosing a Slytherin jacket and Jason chose Draco’s wand.  

After going shopping we just snapped a few pics of the giant posters of some of our favorite cast members…

We had such a great time together as a family because all four of us are Harry Potter fans J

~Mary