Disney Cruise - Day 3

On Day 3 we woke up and headed to one of the restaurants for breakfast. After breakfast we walked around the boat a little and saw Castaway Cay (Disney's private island) in the distance. It was gorgeous! Once we got to port we disembarked and headed to the family beach. We passed Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean on the way, but John didn't want to go near him to get a pictures. (side note - Missy, he looked just like Johnny Depp, so I highly recommend you go on a Disney Cruise for this fact alone) Once at the beach we slathered on the sunscreen, got a few beverages, and played in the sand. John built quite a few sand castles and did some shell collecting. There was a big play structure in the water, but again, John didn't want to do that so we stuck to the beach. There was a big BBQ for lunch so we retreated to the shade to eat and then John went to Kids Club for a bit. Here, they had Kids Club on the island, so we didn't have to go back to the ship. Mike and I then went over to the adults only beach. It was so nice and calm. I got to spend a little time in a hammock until it just got too hot, so I met Mike down on the beach. We sat there with our feet in the ocean for so long just talking and sunning ourselves. The shells there were much better than those at the family beach so we collected some to take back to John, as well as a tiny crab we found. We had an adult beverage or two and then headed back to pick up John to have some more fun on the family side of the island. They had tubes for rent, but by the time we wanted one most of them had been abandoned on the beach, so we just took one and off we went. John was fine for a minute or two, but I guess relaxing is not really his thing, because he wanted off pretty quickly. We stayed there until we had to be back aboard at 5:00. Then we headed to Triton's for our pirate dinner. We all had eye patches and John had a hook. Some families really got into the pirate theme with complete costumes for the entire family. We were not that prepared. :) After dinner we went up on deck for the Pirates IN the Caribbean Party. There were "good" pirates on stage along with Goofy, Minnie, and all the characters (except Mickey) singing songs and dancing. Then the "bad" pirates came and tried to take over the party, but Mickey saved the day. He came down from the top of one of the stacks on a zip line down to the stage. John was very impressed. He also really like the fireworks they set off. After some more dancing we grabbed a lounge chair, and some more ice cream, and settled in to watch Pirates of the Caribbean on the jumbotron on deck. Again, John lasted until about 11:30 until he passed out. He actually slept through us putting his pajamas on him and putting him to bed.

Disney Cruise - Day 2

Monday morning we woke up and were in Nassau, Bahamas. We went to the buffet for breakfast and quickly changed into our swimsuits to meet up for our Blackbeards Cay Beach and Stingray Adventure. We disembarked the ship and took a little walk through Nassau to a smaller boat that took us out to Blackbeards Cay. Once there we got our snorkeling equipment and headed to the stingray beach. The water was way to chilly to actually snorkel, although there were a few brave souls that hopped in. We basically just waded in the water as stingrays swam around us. John and I both got to pet one, but none of them ever came close enough to Mike. They were very slimy feeling, and much bigger than I had anticipated. John wasn't very interested in them, so we took him over to the regular beach. He was amazed seeing the ocean for the first time. It was so fun to watch him run in and then scurry away from the waves coming in. He had a few falls, but just got right back up and kept going. At one point he decided to throw sand all over himself, and man, that stuff stuck! It took 2 days to get all the sand off his scalp. Even a shower and rubbing his head with a washcloth didn't help. Luckily he didn't end up with any in his eyes, although I don't know how. There was a small playground that kept him occupied while Mommy and Daddy had a drink at the bar. When he came over to join us the bartender made him a virgin strawberry dacquiri (sp?) that he devoured and refused to share. We just basically spent the day lounging in the sun, playing in the water, and slathering our little albino boy in sunscreen. We had lunch at the island and then headed back to the little boat to take us back to Nassau around 4:30. Once back we didn't spend any time there and just got back on the ship. John played in the Mickey Pool and then decided he wanted to try the Goofy Pool. We walked over and John just stepped right in and sunk to the bottom! He didn't realize it was deeper, so after that scare he was done with the Goofy Pool and refused to go in even with Mike and me. That night Mike and I had reservations at the adults only restaurant, Palo, so we went back to the room to get pretty. As we were leaving the room to take John to get an early dinner the counselors from Kids Club were walking down our hall to take the kids to dinner, so we just sent John with them. It was great timing. Our dinner at Palo was delicious. Definitely the best meal of the trip. After dinner we let John stay in Kids Club for a little bit while we hung out in the adults only area of the ship. That night they were showing Mary Poppins on the big jumbotron over the pool, so we got John, a couple bowls of ice cream, and headed up to grab a lounge chair. John made it until about 11:00 and then was sound asleep in my lap. So that was the end of day 2.

Disney Cruise - Day 1

Our day Sunday started very early. Our flight left at 6:50 am, which meant we had to get up around 4:30am. Surprisingly John was pretty easy to wake up and load into the car for the drive to the airport. Luckily my mom picked the girls up the night before for their week at Grandma's so we didn't have to worry about getting them ready. Once we got on the plane John got his ear numbing drops and off we went. He was SO good on the plane. He just colored and played with his Leapster (new for the trip) quietly. Much more quietly than the kid behind us who threw a fit the whole time. John's new Mickey Mouse pillow from Maw Maw came in handy as we used it to play peek a boo with the child behind us to keep him quiet for a few minutes at a time. After landing in Orlando we found the Disney counter and they sent us on our way to the cruise shuttle line. Again, I was amazed at how good John was waiting in that long line. After arriving at Port Canaveral we boarded the ship. They took our picture and announced us as we came on while all the crew members stood in a line and applauded. We had packed our swimsuits and sunscreen in our carry-on so we didn't have to wait for our luggage to arrive to start having fun. We went right to our room, got changed, and headed out to the Mickey Pool. There were 3 pools on the boat, the Mickey Pool for kids, the Goofy Pool for families (it's deeper), and an adult only pool. John splashed around with kids while Mike and I relaxed in the sun. There was a big slide John and I wanted to go down so we headed up to wait in line. Once to the top I was told it was only for kids 14 and younger! So John got to have all the fun with that one. After swimming and a quick lunch on deck we headed back to the room and our luggage was magically there! :) We got cleaned up and headed outside for the Sail Away party on the deck. It was a big party with all the characters in their cruise wear. John, as expected, wanted nothing to do with Mickey and all of his friends. After some dancing and singing we heard the horn sound and off we went, waving goodbye to everyone on shore. The horn was pretty neat too. Instead of some load obnoxious horn it plays When You Wish Upon a Star. After the party we went to dinner at the island themed restaurant. Then John headed to Kids Club. You can drop the kids off there to play and they give you a pager that they can reach you on if your child wants to leave. We didn't get that page. :) John loved it. When we dropped John off Mike and I headed to the room and immediately passed out...at 7:30. I woke up in a panic as the room didn't have an alarm clock or a window so I had no idea what time it was. I was thinking it was like 2 in the morning and John had been taken somewhere for kids whose parents forgot them. In all actuality it was 9:00pm and John was fine. I picked him up and took him back to the room for the earliest bedtime we had all week.

I'm loving this weather

Spring seems to have finally arrived, just in time for us to leave on our Disney Cruise. :) Mike and I leave Sunday with John for our trip, while the girls get to hang out with Maw Maw for the week. I am so excited! Hopefully I won't take too long to post all the pictures I will be taking.

Last week the kids and I went to the botanical gardens with a friend from preschool. We spent most of the day in the children's garden. I thought it was hard last year to keep track of all 3 of the them there, but I was wrong. This year was much harder, especially with my little daredevil Natalie. She will climb anything and will go down any slide she can find....sometimes head first. Rebecca was a little more cautious. Luckily the other mom that was with us was a big help in keeping an eye on the boys while I tracked the girls. Sorry there are not any pics of John. I promise he really was there. He was just too busy to actually stop and smile.

Ugh!

John has strep throat! This is not fun.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone. We had a nice Easter (although it could have been a little warmer) and the kids are set with candy for about the next year. :) We started off with an egg hunt and Easter baskets at home. Then headed off to church. It was so crowded we ended up in the last row of the balcony. The kids were super fidgety and barely made it to the children's sermon before heading off to the playroom. After church we went to my dad's house for lunch and an egg hunt, and then to GG's for more egg hunting and dinner. I was stuffed! We never did get around to seeing the Easter bunny at the mall. After the experience with Santa I just didn't see it going well.

Oh, and Rebecca has learned to climb out of her crib. I thought Natalie, the little monkey, would be first, but as of now she is still contained. I guess we'll be setting up a toddler bed this week.

egg hunting at GG's

Rebecca looking adorable in her bunny ears

John not looking very happy about his ears

Natalie with new ears and a toothbrush

egg hunting at Poppy's

At Church

At home

John's gonna be a ninja!

Last weekend the girls has their birthday party. We got very lucky with nice weather so Mike got to break out the BBQ pit and everyone got to play outside. They got lots of cute new spring clothes as well as a bunch of fun toys to play with outside this summer. Unfortunately I was a bad Mommy and didn't get many pictures.

the cakes

Chelsey taking the kids for a ride in John's Escalade

John started Tae Kwon Do this week. Monday was his 1st class and he was pretty overwhelmed. He just sat with me and watched. Yesterday he went to his second class and went right in. He didn't really participate for the 1st half, but about 30 minutes into it he was kicking away. He is still waiting for his uniform because the one ordered for him was too big. Hopefully it will be in next week and I can get some cute pictures of him in it. Right now he is a white belt. I don't really know all the belt progressions yet, but I know the next one is a yellow stripe. I believe they have belt tests every 8 weeks.