Pirate Day on the cruise!

Get ready for picture overload. I really did try to edit but I didn't want to leave anything out! 

On Tuesday of our cruise we stopped at Castaway Cay (pronounced KEY) which is Disney's private island.  The only people on the island were people & Cast members from our cruise. I was glorious.  Again we were about the only family out there at first. There was so way we could sleep in. I gave that up when I became a mom...so when Z woke we did too.  We ate breakfast on the boat and then hit the beach.  This was Z's first reaction.  He was been on a beach before but he LOVES it. 

 In the last post I mentioned my friend Fawn.  Another one of her genius suggestions was to bring your own beach toys.  Because we have had this cruise booked since March I had plenty of opportunity to catch the after-summer sales for beach toys, sunscreen etc.  All of the families around us on the beach asked us how we knew to bring toys.   THANK YOU FAWN....all the other families spent about $25 on beach toys after their children saw Z's stash. 

 This is the slides at Castaway Cay. Z had no interest in going down this.  Thank God!  The water was freezing.  We had no idea what it would be like in November. It was COLD at first then by they afternoon it either warmed up or we got used to it. 

 Here's my toes in the sand.....Awwww!

 Kev & Z braving the cold ocean water.

 Z made himself a sand seat. 

 Minnie Mouse on the Island

 We met a family while we were on the beach. They live 3 hours away from us and have 4 year old twin boys.  We had so much in common with them and really enjoyed their company.  After Z and their boys played all morning the kids decided they wanted to go to the Kids Club on the beach.  At the outside club they played water games, had a whale bone hunt, a treasure hunt, and ate lunch. Here is a pic of Z when we came to pick him up. He was a sandy, wet mess but loving life.

While Zachary, Ashton, & Brayden were at the kids club we went to the adult only beach to sun bathe and have a bbq lunch. 

 Here are Zachary's new friends, Ashton & Brayden. 

 When we boarded the cruise ship later that afternoon Z was STARVING.  He informed me that he did not want to eat lunch at the kids club because he did not want to miss out on the games. So I ordered him room service while Kevin took a nap.  Meanwhile Z & I watched "CARS" in our room and ate his lunch.

 On Tuesday night on the cruise we had PIRATE NIGHT.  Again my friend Fawn informed me all about it. Basically the Cast Members and guest dress up like Pirates for a Pirate Party. The idea is that "THE PIRATES FROM THE CARIBBEAN" aboard the boat to take over.  Thankfully, we had just celebrated Halloween so I stocked up after the holiday and got us all pirate costumes. 

 Arrrrr....Here's Pirate Z

 In my first post about our cruise I mentioned how much I love my husband because he wore the Mickey Ears...well heres another example of him taking one for the team. He was in full pirate gear too.  At first he felt funny but by the end of the night he joked that his elastic loose pants were so comfortable that he wanted to wear the entire outfit to Thanksgiving. 
**Z is holding up his sword so you can't really see his face. 

 On our way to dinner Z requested that we take him to Kids Club so that he could participate in the pirate dinner and games before the party. So we let him go...plus his new friends were going to be in there.  After dropping him off we went into the sports lounge to wait until our dinner. Kevin found a game that he was obscessed with.  Basically you tossed this strink with a washer on it trying to latch it on a hook. IT. WAS. HARD.  The cast member in the back with the red apron was giving him tips.  When he showed Kevin how to do it he would "Ring the Bull" every time.  Kevin I think did it twice in the course of 30 minutes. I never got it to work.  See picture below...

 Here is the game board where you try to ring the bull with the washer.  It would be a cool basement game...Becki Moss if you are reading this...Ryan needs this. 

 We felt funny at dinner not having Zachary with us since we were in full-on Pirate garb but we had a good time.

These are our waiters for the week Edwin and Allwyn.

This is one of my most favorite pictures from the trip. Kevin put Z on his shoulders so he could see the dancing and Pirate skit. 

During the Pirate Party they had a full-on food & dessert buffet.

Minnie was teaching a special dance. I have several video clips of Z dancing but I am having issues posting them.  They are hilarious. He was putting his heart, soul, and groove into these dances.

After the Pirate Party they had fireworks at sea. I guess Disney is the only cruise line that is approved to do fireworks at sea.  They were neat and I swear this one is supposed to be the Mickey & Minnie ears.

Kevin couldn't resist the huge turkey legs.  He was in heaven!

Arrrrrr....this is good!

Pirate night was a hit!  As much as Kevin frowned at the idea of dressing up when I first tossed the idea around he was so glad that we did. We had a blast!

Cruisin' Fun

Our first day and night of cruising was fun but we were SO tired from traveling to the cruise ship and getting accustomed to everything.  I forgot to add that the first night at sea was SUPER choppy.  It didn't bother me but I think I was the only one on the cruise that did not mind it.  People were dropping like flies from ocean sickness. Luckily Kevin took some meds and was fine. Z never complained so it didn't bother him either.

I had been reading online that some family's decorate their cabin doors with magnets. Z loved putting them on and we never had to wonder which rooms was ours.  Funny thing we never saw another decorated door so it really was not necessary. HA! It said "Our first Disney Cruise 2010"


Here is Zachary immediately after  he realized that we had a window and that we were on the water. He was so surprised and excited! 

 As you can see he is ready for day 2.

 After breakfast we kid the Mickey pool.  As you can see there were only three other families present at this pool.  I am not sure where everyone else was but we had it all to ourselves.  Z was in heaven!

 Once Z went down the Mickey Slide once he just kept going and going.  He LOVED it!

 Here is Z begging to go again. After about 5 slide trips of asking if he could do it again. I told him he didn't have to ask me every time...especially since there were only 3 kids out there.  I told him that I was right there reading my magazine and if he needed me to come get me. 

 During our lunch on the deck, Donald & Daisy stopped by.  Here they are signing his book.

 Here's Donald taking Z's drink and chicken fingers. Zachary thought this was HILARIOUS!

 This was a trip to get this photo. Z talked about "Hook" way before we even left for our trip.  He wanted to see him however whenever we actally saw him he was SCARED out of his pants.  I don't blame him...Captain Hook was very bold and scary.  He would stomp his boots to signal to come here and then he would put his hook around the kids necks.  Thankfully Hook & the cast member with him realized how tramatic this was for Z so he let up a little so that we could get a pic.  I think my fingers were about to fall off because Z was squeezing them so much.

 That afternoon we put Zachary in the Kids Oceaneer Club for Cooking School with Ratioulle.  This was our first time putting him into the club. We got a pager and Z had a GPS on him so they knew where he was at all times.  Kevin and I got off the boat at port which was Nassau.  We weren't impressed but we enjoyed some time by ourselves on the island. When we went back to get Z this is what we saw.  He was in a chef hat and was having a blast.  After they got their cookies to eat I signaled to Z to come on and he raised his hand and said, "I'm not ready, I haven't made my pirate ship boat yet." There was no way we were getting him out of the kids club. So we went to the adult only side of the boat to go swimming.  Ahhh..the joys of kids club,

 That night for dinner, Kevin & I signed up for an adult only restaurant called Palo.  We had to reserve it prior to our trip. I am so glad we did.  We had a 6 course dinner that was fantastic.  That we celebrated my 32nd birthday (Nov 3) which was fun considering my birthday was two weeks before. 

 After dinner we had to pull Z out of the club to go to the Toy Story Musical.  I have to give a shout out to my girlfriend, Fawn. Her family went on this exact cruise in January and she gave me some amazing pointers. One of her amazing tips was to bring your own souviners.  I would have never thought about that. So I went to our local Disney store and picked up some neat toys that were about 90% cheaper than the ones they sold on the cruise. Fawn has her own Disney Blog because they are going on a 10 cruise in 2011. If you every have any questions check it out here.  Z picked one out each day. He loved it!  Here he is with his Buzz Lightyear googles. 

 Here's the cast from Toy Story. It was amazing. Everything from the costumes to the stunts were amazing. I wish my sister and brother-in-law could have seen them because they LOVE all things in the theatre. They would have loved this. 

 Back at the room for bed.  He did get a glow up Buzz that was on a smoothie.  Kevin could not resist the sales man in the theatre.

I was amazed at how the cruise had something for everyone and all ages.  We made so many magical memories and had a blast!

Magical Vacation

Man, it's hard to get back into the blogging routine after a little break.  I recently ordered my 2009 Blog book and realized how important it is (to me) to keep up on the blogging. However with our recent family vacation and all the Christmas events going on I have not be able to "get my blog on". I am going to try really hard to get back at so that I don't forget any of our family activities.

Two weeks ago we returned from a dream vacation. We originally booked our trip for the second week in May. Then we realized that that was WAY to close to the arrival of our nephew, Jerrytt. So we re-booked it for November 14th. I am so glad that we did. It was half of the price, plus it was the least busy week on the cruise boat for the entire year. We basically had the entire place to ourselves. WHOO HOO. So without further ado our vacation on the Disney Wonder Cruise Ship.



Here we are at our local airport waiting to board the plane to Florida.  I purchased Mouse Ears prior to our trip so that we could enjoy them the entire time.  Zachary LOVED his.....meanwhile Kevin was a super sport and wore his only to please Z and me.  I love Kevin for that reason...he would do anything for us even if it is wearing Mickey Mouse Ears all through the airports. 

 Grams & Pops arrived at the airport SUPER early to take our car home with them so that we would not rack up a long term parking fee. THANKS Grams & Pops!

 We're on our way to the Disney Wonder!

 Checking in at port.  Z was so excited he couldn't contain himself.  I was even worse. HA!

 Kev & Z getting ready for the safety check in. Z thought this was a blast.

 The Disney Welcome Aboard Party.  I knew that Disney never misses a beat but they really do not. Everything was perfect!

 Mickey & Minnie signing Z's autograph book

 Later that night we went to the Disney Show: Golden Mickeys
It was FANTASTIC. I have over 50 pics from this "broadway" style musical but I won't bore you with them. All three of us enjoyed the show. I even had a few tears at times because it was so magical.

 Our travel agent gave me a pouch of "Pixie Dust" to take with us.  She recommended that we use it if we were tired, cranky, if we had sore feet etc.  Well Z knew we had it and was dying to use some so he was a hypocondriac complaining of sore feet.  You know what it worked!  After I sprinkled it on his feet I never heard a complaint again. 

 One of the evening highlights was returning to our room after the show and before dinner to see what towel animal we had. Z loved it!

 Less than 5 seconds on the bed and he was out.  Now that is MAGICAL!

417 Saving 2nd Base 5K

A couple weeks ago Zachary, my mom, and I participated in our second annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.  This year we were on our "Aunt" Steph's team called 417 Saving 2nd Base.  My "Aunt" Renee brought us all hoodie sweatshirts and stocking caps.  It was such a beautiful morning walking with our family & friends.  I was so proud of my Ruey because she walked too. My Freddy parked his car at the 1/2 way point and took a nap.

Meeting up at the race. Z was entertaining everyone.

My cousin, Leslie & Harley Dog participated again this year.  My "Aunt" Steph made a light-up tutu for Harley.  Let's just say she was the talk of the town.  EVERYONE stopped to see her and take her picture.  I think my cousin could have charged $1 per picture and would have made $1000 to donate to Breast Cancer Research. Just might have to do this next year.

"Aunt" Kelli, Jacinda, & Jacinda's friend sportin' our pink

Zachary put his "Pig Pig" on Harley's back.  Sweet ole Harley didn't even care.

"Aunt" Renee, Leslie & Harley Dog

Ruey, "Aunt" Steph (our cancer survivor & team captain), Zachary, and Freddy in the red car

Harley & Leslie were super fast so they would take breaks and wait for us.  As we were approaching them we would notice a long line of walkers taking pics of H and wanting to pet her.

Zachary wanted to wear my pink scarf during half of the walk.  He also got super hungry riding in his stroller so he needed more power during the ride.  HA!

After the 5K our team met back up at "Aunt" Steph & Keran's for a team brunch. The food was so yummy!  It was great to celebrate Aunt Stephs 2nd year as a breast cancer survivor.

This is such a great day to celebrate survivors and raise money for cancer research.  Our family is praying that there will one day be a CURE for breast cancer!