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The 'levitating girl' and her prize.

Weekends here are usually fairly boring. My husband often works on a Saturday, and my weekly shopping is done on weekends, as well. This last weekend, though was a bit more fun than usual. Beware, our idea of fun is probably everyone else’s idea of normal.

It started on Friday with my oldest daughter heading off to nearby Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom. She had a terrific time, sort of a last 'fling' before college, with two of her friends. She did, however, come home with a nasty sunburn and completely exhausted, which made the next part of our weekend more difficult for her to enjoy; the Harry Potter party at our local Wegmans.

The party started at 9 p.m. on Friday and ended at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. We packed up all seven kids and hoped for the best. The first thing we did when we got there was to reserve a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book. We already had one coming from Amazon.com, but with three of us wanting to get our hands on it a.s.a.p., we decided the prudent thing to do would be to get another copy.

We then went to the upper level to check out the movie room and the area where the magic show, performed by local magician, Tom Yurasits, would be at 10:30. After that we all took off in different directions throughout the store. I had no qualms at all with wandering through Wegmans! We met back closer to the time for the magic show and got everyone settled; the little kids on the floor in front of the makeshift stage, and the older girls in chairs on the sidelines.

I watched as long as I could, holding my overtired 8 month-old daughter until she was no longer able to be consoled by my rubbing her back. I hid in the back of the movie room to nurse her to sleep and my husband joined me a short time later with the 3 year-old, who had had enough by then too. Not long after that we saw the magician poke his head in the doorway and realized the magic show was over.

When I got back, the kids came running to tell me that my 6 year-old had won a ticket for a free Harry Potter book! They all filled me in about her being chosen to do the 'levitating girl' trick. I was shocked, since she's usually so shy and reserved, and after the tale of her laying on a board between two chairs and the board being removed and then a chair being removed, I decided it was a good thing that I wasn't there. Katie was excited, and her version of it was, "Mommy, I flew!"

We realized that there was no way she would read the book, and we used the ticket for the book we had reserved and bought her a Harry Potter coloring book, which she was thrilled with. Each of the kids got balloons to take home, we older girls got our book and when we got home, everyone had a Pumpkin Pasty before crashing until 9 the next morning.

Saturday was my husband's work picnic, and we took the five youngest kids while the two older girls hid in their rooms to read the newest HP book. The picnic was fun, the kids playing in water and jumping around in a 'moonwalk' bouncer. It was nice to sit and have someone else cook for a change! I did, however, bring a really good tortellini salad to share.

Tortellini Salad  

2 (7 oz.) pkgs. cheese-filled tortellini
1 large cucumber -- diced
1 large tomato -- seeded and diced
1 (6 oz.) can black olives -- drained and halved
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup garlic vinaigrette (whichever brand you like!)

Cook tortellini as directed on package; drain. Combine with the remaining ingredients and chill well before serving.
Serves 12 as a side-dish.