Final Summer 2026 Things: Universal Studios, Snow Mountain Ranch, D.C. & the Dominican Republic. Yup.

Universal sure was magical for a 10-year birthday celebration!

Hello, friends … happy Sunday!

Welp, the girls are back in school this Wednesday, summer vacation is officially over for us, and man did we live it up in those final few weeks. Here’s what we did …

Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure

Lotte turned 10! I can hardly believe it. It’s so weird to be able to say you’ve been a parent for 10 years. We celebrated our little Lottster in the best of possible ways. First up was a trip to Harry Potter: The Exhibition, an immersive experience in Denver that was a lot of fun! (Way better than I expected … )

I wasn’t sure what to expect, really, but it was so in-depth and had so many original things from the movies. It was very cool.

So many fun, interactive things for the kids to read, play, try, and ride!

The day after her actual birthday, we surprised Lotte with a trip to Universal Studios! Grace, Lotte and I flew out to Florida to check out The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This included The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Hogsmeade (which is in Universal Islands of Adventure) and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley (which is in Universal Studios). Grandpa and Rosalie even surprised her by meeting us there!

You only turn 10 once … why not do it in style?!

Because I was so totally confused by everything when I was first researching what we should do, I’ll break down what we actually did a bit more here for you.

Where we stayed: Hard Rock Hotel
Why I picked it: When you stay at a Universal-affiliated hotel (which Hard Rock is), you can walk to the parks (or take the free ferry), and you can get into Islands of Adventure at 8 a.m., which is earlier than it opens to the public. Your room keys also act as Express Passes so that you can cut the lines on every. single. ride. — which is worth its weight in gold. The only exception was Hagrid’s roller coaster. For that, you’ll wait in line. Probably for at least two hours, like we did. WORTH IT! The Hard Rock also had an incredible pool situation (with a slide and beach area), and nightly pool entertainment like movies, fireworks, and a drone show. You can order food and drinks to the pool, or rent a cabana, as well.

Our passes: We got the 2-day, park-to-park passes. That allowed us to pass between both Universal and Islands of Adventure throughout the two days. This was important because we were mostly there for two very important things:

In Islands of Adventure: This is where you’ll find Hogsmeade Village, Three Broomsticks, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride, the Flight of the Hippogriff rollercoaster, and the Hogwarts Express, which is a fun train ride that, with a park-to-park ticket, takes you between Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure, and back again. It’s interactive so while you ride, a story plays out on the window of the train car you’re in.
In Universal: This is where you’ll find the Knight Bus, Diagon Alley (and the equally fun but tucked away and hidden Knockturn Alley), the Leaky Cauldron, Ollivanders Wand Shop (where you can have a wand pick you), and Gringotts bank multi-dimensional thrill ride.

We spent all of our first day exploring everything Harry Potter, and there’s no way we saw it all, but we did make a dent. There’s a whole other Harry Potter universe in Universal Epic Universe, but ya gotta save something for another trip, right?

On our second day in the park, we tackled all the other things we wanted to do see and do. That included Jurassic World stuff, Minion stuff, Marvel stuff (including a character dinner at Cafe 4) … and lots more.

I LOVED Butterbeer. I know there are others who don’t, and to them I say … ya’ll are crazy 😉 It’s butterscotchey goodness, and it comes in slush, regular, and ice cream form. Do yourself a favor and try all three.

The Knight Bus was a real treat! The floating head has a real conversation with you, and the girls were agog.

The dragon breathes fire every ten minutes or so above Gringotts Bank in Diagon Alley. It is so much fun.

Grace and Rosalie had a sleep-in on our second day, so Lotte and I had the park all to ourselves in the morning <3

This Velicoaster ride was EVERYTHING. And I say that as a person who doesn’t even necessarily like roller coasters all that much.

The Marvel Character dinner was expensive … but grandpa paid (!), and the kiddos loved it!

Wolverine was pretty cool too, I guess 😉

All in all, it was such a fun trip, and a really wonderful way to celebrate my big girl’s big milestone.

YMCA of the Rockies in Snow Mountain Ranch

Lotte and Grace went to overnight camp for a week! We came home from Universal on a Friday, headed to the mountains on Saturday, and the big girls started overnight camp on Sunday. Emilia went to the day camp for that week, as well, while Chris and I worked in a cabin on the property. It was delightful.

So proud of how brave these kiddos were! I never did an overnight camp, but I imagine I would have been somewhat nervous.

You couldn’t ask for a prettier place to camp.

And Lotte proof-of-life <3 We wrote the girls emails every day, and got two back from Grace and one from Lotte. They were, of course, adorable.

At the end of the hike that Chris and I did on the Friday before we left, I was SO LUCKY to catch two moose living their best life swimming in the reservoir where our car was parked. I. Was. Enthralled.

Lotte went rafting on the Colorado River!

As much fun as they had, I was happy to have them home <3

Washington, D.C.

When we saw that we were going to have a layover in D.C. on our way to a press trip in the Dominican Republic, we decided to make an extended two-day stay of it and check out the area with Grandpa. I hadn’t been in several years, and it really was the most fun. What a great place to take kids! Here’s what we did:

The National Museum of Natural History: Free/no timed entry
The National Air & Space Museum: Free/timed entry necessary by booking online
The National Portrait Gallery: Free/no timed entry
The Smithsonian Carousel: $6 per person per ride
The National Museum of American History: Free/no timed entry
The International Spy Museum: Timed tickets necessary starting at $34.95 depending on age
We also walked several monuments, which are all free/untimed

The Smithsonian Natural History Museum was a blast! Honestly, it could be a little overwhelming, but I suggest taking it slow, doing what calls to you, and definitely letting the kids lead the way, if you’re visiting with them.

From the Natural History Museum we walked about 10 minutes down the National Mall to the National Air & Space Museum, which was ANOTHER incredible spot. You honestly can’t wrap your head around all the things that people have accomplished in this world.

The IMAX movie about moon travel was definitely a hit!

After the two museums we were pretty cooked, but we decided to power through and check out a few of the other monuments and places we wanted to see to close out the day.

The U.S. Capitol is visible at one end of the Mall, which is closest to the Air & Space Museum.

The Washington Monument always takes my breath away.

The World War II Memorial is so beautifully done, and it’s the first time that I think the older girls really started to understand the gravity of what our soldiers and our country have been through. It was really powerful.

The Lincoln Memorial is an absolute must if you’re in D.C. Incredible.

We had dinner at North Italia after our insane day, and everything was beyond. That especially included this peach Aperol Spritz.

The National Portrait Gallery wasn’t actually the art gallery I thought we were going to, but it turned out to be pretty incredible.

The Carousel was cute, even if the girls DID fight over this dragon, causing Grandpa to purchase us TWO rides so each could have a turn.

We saw the original American Flag at the National Museum of American History and while we saw a lot of amazing things on this trip, that one MIGHT take the cake.

The spy museum was expensive but it was so worth it. They give you little cards to use throughout the museum to solve a case (this was Emilia’s alibi!), but aside from that, there are tons of other real-life things throughout it that will absolutely blow your mind.

We finished our second day with dinner and drinks at The Grill on the waterfront. It was perfect.

It was a quick two-day trip, but so incredible. I’m glad we got to share some history with the girls.

The Dominican Republic

And for our final trip of the season, we headed to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. I can’t share all the details because it was for a magazine story that will come out in the fall, but let’s just say that it was so beautiful and a lot of fun was had.