Livin' the Dream

Hubs and I just returned from a (way-too-fast) week getaway. Oh...it was FABULOUS. In fact, there are not enough adjectives to describe what a great time we had. The children were well taken care of (read: spoiled) by Gagi and having the peace of mind that they were doing fine did wonders. We started our adventure with an early flight to Orlando (why do all my recent adventures begin with early flights?). On tap for the day was a trip to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. Paul lobbied hard for me to agree to this. I'm clearly Team Disney but I was curious about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Paul loves thrill rides. Since we didn't have the kids it seemed like the perfect time to explore this park. We arrived before lunch and were thrilled to find the park not too busy. We headed straight to Hogswart to ride the Forbidden Journey of Harry Potter. The line moved pretty quickly and it was a great ride. We then went to the Three Broomsticks for lunch where we had Butterbeer (yum!) and Pumpkin Juice (yum!). We spent some time exploring Hogsmeade and I think they did a fabulous job. We went to Honeydukes and saw chocolate frogs and Bernie Botts Every Flavour Beans. Really really cool and amazingly detailed. We toured the shops and then decided to walk around the rest of the park. Paul got to ride his thrill rides and I was glad to have the opportunity to see the park. Before we left we sampled the frozen Butterbeer and wow - that was good!! We had a great time but I'm glad we did it without the kids. I think we'll wait until they are older to take them there! After we left IOA we headed back to the hotel for a bit and then went to Downtown Disney for dinner (and shopping!). I love DD but wow was it crowded - way more crowded than Universal!

Sunday morning our next adventure began - we arrived in Port Canaveral to board the Disney Dream for a 4 night Bahamian cruise!! The Dream is the Disney's newest ship and wow is it B-I-G. And impressive. And big. And beautiful. And holds a lot of people! It's absolutely amazing. We got a good boarding group so we got on pretty early. We were eager to walk around and tour the ship and were thrilled we got up to the top deck and realized there was no line for the Aquaduck (the water-coaster that goes out over the ocean). Paul quickly put his suit on and went on the ride. He loved it! We continued our ship tour and made our way to the Enchanted Garden for lunch. It was great and then our room was ready. We were staying in an inside stateroom with a virtual porthole. The virtual porthole was really, really cool. You could turn it off at night and back on the morning and it showed real time video of what was going on outside the ship. The room was small but perfect for Paul & I. We dropped our stuff and went to explore the ship some more. It's really amazing! Of course we had to check out the kids areas and I was totally blown away. I can't wait to take our kids!! There is a playroom called Andy's Room that has kid size toys from Toy Story. Really cool! Of course we had the mandatory drill and then the Sail Away party! We had early seating for dinner and had great people sitting at our table. After dinner we played Bingo (you just have to on a cruise) and met Bingo Debra as I know call her. She was this older lady from Texas who was on her 30th cruise. She told me she always wins and Bingo. Sure enough - she won. Twice. Unfortunately her winning mojo did not rub off on me.

Monday was our first stop at Disney's Castaway Cay. This island was one of our favorite things about our last cruise and we were really looking forward to going back. It definitely did not disappoint. Without the kids we were able to see the adult areas of the beach and rent bikes to ride around. We also did a "power walk" with the cruise staff. It was really fun! Since we were porting in Castaway Cay again we headed back to the ship to ride the Aquaduck. Unfortunately a lot of other people also had this idea and the line was really long but we did enjoy the pool deck! We met up with a couple we had first met at the port so we made plans to meet up with them after dinner. We ended up hanging out with them a ton over the next 3 days and really hope that we get to cruise with them again next year! Monday night was also pirate night. Always a fun night on the ship - we saw a great show and then headed to the adult deck to watch the fireworks!

Tuesday was our day at sea. Paul made me get up early for a spin class (I wish I was kidding) before we hit the pool deck. We also got passes for the spa and spent a lot of time just relaxing. Bliss!! Tuesday night we had dinner at Palo, which is an adult only fine dining experience on the ship. It's Italian food and it was seriously one of the best meals I've had. So, so, so good! It's beautiful too - being on the top deck of the ship. When we first got up there we walked outside and there was a gorgeous rainbow over the ocean. We saw another show that night night and then spent some time in the adult only section of the boat. Seriously there is so much adult entertainment that you almost forget you are on a Disney cruise!

Wednesday we were back to Castaway Cay. We slept in but headed out to island to do some biking before lunch. We came back to the ship to get our beach gear and a huge, huge rainstorm came up! Luckily we were eating inside the restaurant! Thankfully the rain didn't last long and we headed out the very wet island in the early afternoon. Two for 1 drink specials on the island bar kept us entertained while the clouds went away and then we tried the aqua trike - which is this huge floating trike that you ride in the sea. It was not as easy as it looked and a short time with that was plenty! We had diner that night in Animator's Palate which is extremely cool and my favorite restaurant on board! That night our entertainment was "An Evening with Kermit" and it was a blast from the past with all kinds of Muppets clips! It was actually pretty fun. More fun ensued and all too soon we had to get back to our room to get ready to leave.

Debarkation day always starts way too early and comes too soon! Our breakfast call was 6:45 (ugh!) but we made it. We were glad our new friends were heading to the airport at the same time as us so we enjoyed their company for a few more hours before boarding the plane. And then we were home in what felt like the blink of an eye.

All in all a wonderful vacation! I'm so thankful and grateful for my mom and Scott for keeping the kids. I know we are tremendously lucky and blessed that they are able to do it for us. I think the kids liked having us gone a little too much!