Disney Vacation 2013 - Day 1 Universal

We just can't stay away from Disney for too long!  At Christmas we surprised the kids with a short trip over their Winter Break.  The BIG part of the surprise was that we were also going to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for our big Harry Potter fans!  I finally got a big "Disney" moment when the kids figured out we were going they screamed with excitement & jumped up and down. Emma even cried a little being so excited about Harry Potter.  So cute - melted my heart!   And I didn't have it on video.

Anyways the plan was to leave on Friday night and stay at a non -Disney resort and then check into Disney on Saturday.  Another big part of the surprise is that we were flying!  We didn't tell the kids until we got to the airport!  Hehehe..pretty sneaky!  They were so, so excited to fly!!  

We got into Orlando about 4:30 on Friday.  We were renting a car for that night so we could go to Universal.  We had an easy time renting the van and found the hotel fairly quickly.  We dropped our stuff and headed out for dinner at Don Pablo's.  We knew we had a big day the next day!

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to get to the park.  Our goal was to be at Universal Islands of Adventure right when the park opened at 9am.  We were actually successful and made it through the gates about 5 min early!  We headed straight to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  We knew the quickest way there and didn't make any detours.  We arrived at the Forbidden Journey at approximately 9:05 to find a 90 minute wait.  Sigh.  But..that's why we were there so we sucked it up and got in the queue.   The kids did pretty good considering the long wait and it actually "only" took an hour.  Lily LOVED the ride, Emma was scared to death.  But I think she loved being in Hogwarts.  After the ride we checked out the wands and Jacob & Lily just had to have one.  Then the younger three rode the Flight of the Hippogriff while Emma and I checked out Hogsmeade.  Then it was Butterbeer for everyone!!  We did a little more exploring in Harry Potter and then headed over to Seuss Landing.  

Seuss Landing is a super cute Dr. Seuss themed area.  The rides are perfect for little kids.  Unfortunately this is the only area at Universal geared toward little ones but it was fun.  We rode a couple rides, got a snack and decided to head to Super Hero Island. Also unfortunate?  We hit Universal on a Busy day.  Really busy.  We went to the Spiderman Line where the posted wait time was 80 min.  Too long but we could all ride it so we sucked it up.  It ended up being the slowest line EVER and we waited for about 2 hours by the time it was said and done.  Jacob literally took a nap in the middle of the wait.  It was hot and we were all a little irritated by the end!  Needless to say we had to leave shortly after that since we had to return the rental van and catch the Disney bus to our resort.  

We made it back to the airport, returned our car and hopped right on the bus for the Magical Express.  It was great how fast it all was.  This trip we were staying at Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort.  We had a 2 bedroom with a Theme Park View.  Oh. My. Goodness.  It was magnificent.  Literally from every window in our room we could see the castle and Space Mountain!  It was unbelievable.

We got settled but then had dinner reservations at The Beach Club at the Cape May Seafood Buffet.  Kids were dying to ride the monorail and we thought that would be a quick way to the Magic Kingdom.  After just missing one we decided just to walk to the Magic Kingdom buses.  Thankfully we didn't wait too long and rode the bus over to Beach Club.  What a beautiful resort!  We enjoyed our seafood dinner (crab legs - yes please!) though we've got to teach these kids how to crack their own crab legs!  We headed back to our resort and got off the bus just as Wishes - the Magic Kingdom fireworks show - was starting.  We were treated to an amazing view of the fireworks as we walked back to the resort.

What a wonderful start to our family vacation!  We all couldn't wait for our next day at Hollywood Studios!

Fall Break!

Didn't school just start?  Seriously..now I'm writing about Fall Break?  That was the fastest 9 weeks ever for the girls!  It's really hard to believe the first quarter of the school year is done.  Phew!

The girls had a great first quarter.  This year seems to be a little more challenging with the new Common Core standards that state is using but the girls are doing great.  Jacob is having a great start to the Preschool year too.  We have a teacher we've had for Julia & Lily so we know her well and she knows our family well.  This year Jacob gets to do carpool for the first time and let me tell you - it's a little slice of heaven =).

So the girls are on break.  We're right in the middle of the 3 week break.  Last week we went to the beach, Emerald Isle, for a few days with Auntie Erin.  She and Tom had rented a GORGEOUS home right on the ocean and they were very generous in offering us to come for a few days to hang with them.  Unfortunately it rained and rained and poured and stormed most of the time we were there.  And even more unfortunately Erin pulled her back and was pretty much bed-ridden our entire visit.  But, we got to use the homes pool & hot tub quite a bit and got a little beach time in.  It was nice to be away for a few days.  We came home to soccer and dance and soccer and dance!

This week we're just hanging around the house.  Enjoying some playdates and sleepovers.  Apparently October didn't get the memo that it's supposed to be warm and gorgeous.  The past 3 days have been gloomy and COLD!  I had to turn my heat on!  In October!  What?!?  Anyways, the weather people have promised warmth will return tomorrow.  I hope so!  I usually love this track out because the weather is awesome!  Hmpf!

Soccer Saturdays

Three of our kids are playing soccer for our town's rec league this Fall.  This seemed like a brilliant idea back in the Spring when it was time to sign up.  Two the kids would play at the same park so surely some of their games/practices would overlap.  And soccer is always on Tues/Wed/Thurs so we shouldn't have too many conflicts.  Turns out I was wrong, dead wrong, about that!  Ha!  Turns out they got rid of an age group, added t-ball teams and a t-ball field and consolidated two soccer fields.  So the only practices that are ever at the same time are the ones at different fields.  Sigh.  Thankfully there are a couple neighborhood kids on Emma's team and we've got a carpool going.

Anyway the practice schedule may be a nightmare but the games are going great!  I'm so proud of my kiddos for playing hard each week.  Emma is playing with a bunch of girls who have clearly been playing soccer for quite some time.  She played one season when she was 4, got in the face with the ball playing goalie and hasn't played since.  She's really hanging in there with those girls and is more aggressive than I would have thought!  She enjoys playing defense and she really likes the girls she's playing with.  So far, it's been a great experience for her.

Julia is in her 3rd season.  She's doing great - mostly interested in the game and she scored her first goal of the season on Saturday!  She seems to be more interested when she's playing offense..when she's on defense it's not unusual to see her trying her cartwheels.

Jacob is playing on a U4 team.  And yeah..it's just like you imagine.  Packs of kids chasing the ball.  Maybe one or two kids really getting it and scoring and the rest of them sort of standing around or just running.  Jacob's been up and down with his interest in it.  He's disturbed when other kids kick his ball during practice but he's doing OK.  He seems very curious about baseball so maybe we'll try t-ball when he's five.

So Saturdays you'll find us at the soccer fields, cheering loudly (oh wait..that's just me) getting our game on!

Back to School

My three girls are back in school after a very fast 4 week summer vacation.  My oldest is in 4th grade, the middle daughter is in 3rd grade and my baby girl started Kindergarten.  The 4th grader is thrilled to be back in school.  She's just one of those kids who just loves, loves school.  She was a bit worried going into this school year because her besties all ended up in the class across the hall but she's made some new friends quickly and she really likes her teacher.  The teacher is young and hip and fun.  Her homework assignments are wacky "read to a pair of pants for 20 minutes" and Em thinks she's funky and cool.  

The third grader is happy to be back but won't admit it.  She's that kid that loves to be playing with friends and school is a major distraction in being able to do that.  She does like her teacher a lot and she's made some new friends in her class so it's not awful.  But she's still counting down the weeks until the next break.  

And then there's the Kindergartner.  This was her first full week of school in her class (the first week is a staggered entry and they only go one day).  She's excited to have several kids we know in her class.  The teacher is new to us and she comes very highly reviewed so we're thrilled to be in her her class.  Here are a few highlights of Julia's first week of Kindergarten:

First day:  Me:  Julia, tell me about your first day?  Julia:  "Well..I tried to kiss Sawyer (he's our neighbor and her table mate) and he fell out of his chair."  And then there was the discussion that you don't kiss anyone.  Especially at school!

Other gems from the week from Julia:  "That girl doesn't talk, only to her family so I told this other girl just to stick with me." "Kindergarten is just like preschool - we put our folder in the box and sit down and color."  "The bad thing about Kindergarten is you can't do the monkey bars.  Not until January."  "I have homework!!!  I'm so excited..I have homework just like sissies!"  LOVE this kid!!

Summer Update

So here we are..one more week of summer vacation for 3 of my kids!  This summer break FLEW by though I think 3 weeks is the perfect amount of time off of school!  One more week will be fine but I think we'll be ready for school to start on Monday.

The summer break has been great.  The girls all competed in our neighborhood swim team (go Killer Whales!).  It was our exhibition year and a great experience for the girls.  Julia was quite a little competitor in her age group, getting to swim in a few main events.  There were A LOT of 7-8 year old girls but Lily held her own and definitely improved over last year.  Emma was one of 4 9-10 year old girls and she worked really hard all summer to get better.  Once school got out she did two practices each day.  We had our swim awards this past weekend and Emma got the Most Determined Swimmer award.  She was pumped!   Julia took home "Brightest Smile"  They also all got a medal which I don't think Julia has taken off since Friday!

Emma and Lily have done a few camps this month.  Emma did a So You Think You Can Dance camp at a local studio which she loved and Lily did an art camp with two of her besties so she was in heaven.  Also they both had the opportunity to go with our church to sleep away camp - Camp Kid Jam.  It was 3 nights long at Wake Forest University and they each roomed with friends from church.  They had an absolutely fabulous time and both have resoundingly said they MUST GO BACK NEXT YEAR!  I was skeptical at first about them going away but I'm so, so glad that they got to go - such a great experience for the both of them.

So this final week of break is another camp for Emma - Science in the Summer, a free (seriously!) camp at the library and filled with appointments - eye doc and dentist.  Hopefully we can squeeze some fun it too - a few more pool days, maybe a movie and some playdates with friends.

And only 7 more days of Julia asking how long until Kindergarten!

Summer's Here!

Since my girls in year round school our summer is finally beginning for all my kids!  We're a little late to the summer party and our party will be ending in just 4 weeks that's OK with me.  We have a lot of fun to pack into these next weeks.

This week Emma and Julia got to go to Ohio with Auntie Erin for a week of Auntie Camp!  They've had a blast and we've enjoyed some quiet while they've been gone.  It's amazing how much less laundry and dishes there are!  Lily has been moving from one playdate to the other and not having to share so she's been thrilled.

For the first time the girls are doing several camps.  Thanks to Groupon, Living Social and Twongo for making camps so affordable we've been able to take advantage of some great deals.  Next week Emma will go to a dance camp while Lily will go to an art camp.  The both older girls will go to sleep away camp for the first time with our church. Then they both have a science camp at our library.  (The little kids had camp in June and Jacob will go back in August).

So in between driving the girls to camps we have some fun planned - movies, pool dates and other playdates with friends.

They go back to school July 31st so it will be a short summer but hopefully a really good one!

Emma's Dances

Lily's Dances

Julia's Ballet

Julia's Ballet Dance!

Julia's Tap

Julia's Tap Routine!

Dancing Queens

My girls had their dance recital this weekend.  Oh was it fun!  All 3 of them chose to dance this year and even though Lily lost interest about 2 months ago she hung in there until the recital (well..technically I made her since we'd purchased the costume but still..she did it).  Julia now has a little bit of performance fever and says she wants to stay in dance so she can keep doing recitals.  Emma, who dreams of being a professional dancer, was in heaven.  She was full of energy and excitement all weekend.  

Julia took a tap/ballet class and was in 2 dances in the recital.  One dance was really early in the recital and then she went again towards the end.  So she got to watch a lot of it from the audience which she loved.  She also loved coming home and watching herself dance on the computer from the video we took.

Lily took at tap/ballet/jazz combo class and was in 3 dances.  Her costume was adorable and she look absolutely precious on stage.  What she lacked in remembering the dance she sure made up for in cuteness!

Emma takes a tap/ballet/jazz combo class and is also on the pre-team (pre competitive team) class.  She was in 7 dances - three for her combo class, the opening and finale, a dance with pre-team and a solo.  Emma first mentioned that she wanted to do a solo a few months ago.  I couldn't tell if she was serious or not but apparently she'd choreographed a dance.  She set up a private lesson with her dance teacher and LuGina seemed to think it was good enough for the recital though she encouraged her to change her song.  Emma did the dance for me at home and I was impressed that she was doing it.  Fast forward to Friday - we get to the dress rehearsal and it's time for Emma to practice her dance.  I was standing there to take pictures and OH MY GOODNESS was I blown away.  I was so emotional watching my girl out there dance.  She commanded the stage, used the stage and put tons of energy into the dance.  I just couldn't believe it.  The older girls on the team were so, so sweet and gave her tons of encouragement.  She was beaming!  

Saturday was recital day.  Emma was full of nervous energy all morning.  It's a good thing she had swim team to get some energy out!  Luckily her solo was the 6th dance of the recital.  I think I was more nervous than she was though!  I was a room mom but got to sneak in the back of the auditorium to watch her solo.  Again, she completely rocked it!  Again, I was crying - I was just so proud of my baby.  Not only did she have the confidence just to get out on stage but she made up the dance and then performed it flawlessly even adding in a split she hadn't done the night before!   I think what made me so emotional was just the confidence in getting out there and performing in front of 500 people.  I am just so amazed that at 9 years old she would get out there and do it.  I hope she always has that confidence!  

I'll post videos for anyone who wants to see them!

The Graduate

My youngest daughter graduated preschool last week.  Sniff..sniff.  I am just in awe of how quickly those years passed.  It really feels like it was yesterday that she started at preschool.  It also means that it was 5 years ago that we moved back to NC after living in MA.  I have such fond, fond memories of living there.  It's so hard to believe it was 5 years ago that we left.

After the graduation day here's the conversation I had with her:

Julia:  So I'm graduated Preschool now?
Me:  Yes!  Isn't that exciting?
Julia:  So Kindergarten starts tomorrow?
Me:  No baby..you're on summer break now.
Julia:   So Kindergarten starts the next week?
Me:  No..it starts on August 1 for you.
Julia:  WHAT?  NO!  That's a long, long time!
Me:  It's not that long..only 2 months
Julia:  But..that means I'm just home with you..it's forever..........................

Hmm..I have a feeling these next 2 months are going to fly.....

12 Years!

Sunday was our actual anniversary - 12 years!  It was wonderful to spend the weekend celebrating in style!  NYC is where we got engaged and we've been there together a number of times for special getaways.  Even better to wake up in the Presidential Suite!  

I slept in again and enjoyed a lazy morning.  Our flight was leaving at 4:45 so we had some time to do some exploring and decided to go out to Brooklyn to hang out with my brother and sister-in-law.  We took a cab out  to Brooklyn and got to see their apartment.  Real estate in the greater NYC area never ceases to amaze me!  Their apartment is in a very charming brownstone (the whole area reminded me of The Cosby Show setting - gracious I'm OLD).  It was at one time a single family home but has turned into 4 or so apartments.  Like I said it's very charming but a little old and smallish.  And their rent is comparable to our mortgage payment!  Yikes!  

We walked to a great restaurant where we had brunch.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day so we got to sit outside.  After great eats (maple bacon pancakes!) we set our for a nice walk around before we had to leave for the airport.  I loved Brooklyn!  I'd guess if, God forbid, we ever had to move to NYC I'd pick Brooklyn.  I love how you can walk everywhere!  We walked down to the promenade and what a view.  A great day!

We had arranged for a car to pick us up for the airport and we made it in plenty of time for our flight.  What a wonderful, wonderful weekend!!

I Heart NY

Ahh...got to sleep late in the heavenly room!  Paul got up and worked while I took advantage of not having kids bound in my bed at 6:45.  We grabbed a quick breakfast at the Concierge Lounge and took our time getting ready before heading out to explore the city.  We had tickets for the matinee of Sister Act and early dinner reservations but otherwise we had no agenda.  Last year we discovered Sprinkles Cupcake Bakery and it's relatively close to the hotel so we started the morning with cupcakes..I know..breakfast of champions.  

After we loaded up on sugar we headed up to 5th Ave and hit some popular shops.  FAO Schwartz, Bergdof's, Tiffanys (where my sweet husband completely indulged me) and American Girl (for the girls, of course) to name a few.  We made our way over to Times Square and hit the Disney Store.  It was under construction last year so I was interested to see what they had done to it.  In true Disney fashion it's pretty cool.  Anyways we nabbed some goodies for the kids and set off to find our theater.  We grabbed a quick snack before the show at Pieface, a cutie little joint right beside the Broadway Theater.  

Our seats were orchestra level which was great.  We were on the side but still good seats.  We thought the show looked good and Raven-Symone was the lead (Olivia!).  We had some very spirited ladies sitting behind us..they were very excited to be at a show and liked to comment on nearly every line.  At first they were pretty funny but their constant commentary got old.  Fast.  Fortunately the first act was great and fortunately the theater wasn't full.  At intermission Paul darted to some open seats and we relocated for the second act.  The show was fabulous.  Funny, entertaining and Raven is extremely talented.  She far exceeded my expectations.  We really really enjoyed it!

After the show we headed back over to our hotel to drop off our packages.  It sure seemed shorter on the map!  We dropped off our stuff and headed towards Lincoln Center to Rosa Mexicana where we had early dinner reservations.   We first ate at Rosa Mexicana last year with my family.  Paul can't stop thinking about their guacamole which happens to be The. Best. Guacamole. EVER.  They make it fresh right there at your table.  Seriously the stuff is appetizer crack.  So so good.  They also have delicious Sangria.  We were in heaven.  

After dinner we leisurely strolled back to the hotel.  Stopping at Wafels & Dings food truck, which Paul had really wanted to find last year.   We popped in a few stores but took our time getting back.  We got back to the hotel and chilled in our suite.  Pefect day!

The Big Apple - Day 1

Paul and I were lucky enough to get away to New York this past weekend to celebrate our 12 year anniversary.  My mom is so amazing at watching the kids - we are so, so lucky to have her willing and available to keep them (for the record, the rest of our family is pretty great too - Mom just happened to be the "lucky" one who got them this time).   We left them in capable hands and flew out on the first flight out Friday morning. Folks we got to NYC at 7:30 - that's how early our flight was (yawn).  Paul charmed the airline worker and somehow we got upgraded to First Class on the way up.  It was fabulous but hard to enjoy the full extent of first class goodness (i.e. cocktails) at 6am but it was a comfortable ride.  We got a taxi right away after landing at Laguardia and headed into the city!

We dropped off our luggage at the hotel and started walking around.  Our ultimate destination was South Street Seaport to the TKTS booth so we could see about getting discounted tickets to a Broadway show on Saturday afternoon.  We walked for a while stopping to indulge at Magnolia Bakery and finally we gave up and got a taxi the rest of the way.  We arrived at the booth 45 minutes before it opened and there was already a small line.  The wait was uneventful and we ended up scoring tickets to see Sister Act the next day.  We had lunch reservations at 12:30 at Gramercy Tavern so began the trek back toward midtown.  We got to walk through Chinatown and Little Italy on our walk.  It was pretty interesting and a little long.

Paul wanted to lunch at Gramercy Tavern after seeing special on it on the Travel Channel.  Apparently it's a pretty famous restaurant in the city.  It was good but it took a VERY long time to finish our meal...like hours.  Like twice they came over and said our timing seems to be off.  But, they ended up taking Paul's meal off our bill and giving me a free dessert so..you know..whatever.  After lunch we headed back to hotel to check in.  We were staying at the Waldorf Astoria (Paul travels a lot  = points = free stays = benefit to traveling).  We go to the Diamond Reception (see above..lots of travels) to check in.  We have to wait for a bit but finally they get to us.  There's some back story here which is really long and involved but let's just summarize by saying that last year we stayed there and it wasn't great so they invited us back.  We're checking in and the girl looks at our reservation and she's all like "oh my...Jordan really hooked you up, you're going to be surprised..I can't believe how much he hooked you up."  Paul and I keep looking at each other like "okay" what does this mean.  Finally Jordan, the manager, comes by and has to go specially make our keys (what the what??) and he escorts us to our room.  People we were on the 35th floor in the Presidential Suite.  Like THE Presidential Suite...apparently all the presidents who come to NYC to the Waldorf stay in this room.  It was CRAZY.  Ridiculous.  Like several thousand square feet.  A dining room.  Kitchen.  Seriously I'll do a separate post on this one.  So incredibly nice.  Paul and I kept looking at each other like "you sure you got the right people"  and "really..us??"  Insane.  And they sent up a bottle of wine.  We felt like we won the lottery!  We hung out in the room for a while contemplating if we were ever leaving but we managed to get in touch with my brother and made plans to meet up with him and his wife in Little Italy for drinks/dinner.

We took the subway to meet them which was an interesting experience.  We navigated the way pretty easily thanks to my brothers directions.  We found the restaurant with ease and enjoyed our time with Brad & Ginnie.  Brad was competing in a Tough Mudder race on Saturday and we had such an early morning that we didn't stay out too late but really enjoyed catching up with them.  We took the subway back and managed to make it to the hotel successfully!

Black and White

The other day I enjoyed some time with the older girls while the little ones were in preschool. We had gone to the bakery for a little treat before picking the little devils up. While we were walking back to the preschool started a conversation that turned pretty funny. It went down like this:

Lily (7): Mommy, what kind of shoes did you wear back in the old days?

Me: I don't know...tennis shoes, flip flops..

Lily: YOU had flip flops?

Emma (9): Yeah but they were in black and white..like everything else...

Me: What? no..there was color..

Lily: You mean houses had color? Clothes had color?

I think Emma got confused looking at old pictures with my mom that because the pictures were black and white that meant the world was black and white...Oh..is it funny to hear their thoughts.

Debarkation Day

Well our last day of vacation came on Thursday. We were all sad to have to be heading home. Debarkation day begins very early in the morning with a 6:45 breakfast seating. Ugh it was hard to get up! We ate a good breakfast and said goodbye to our sweet serving team. I tell you 14 people at a table kept them busy with our seating! We got our luggage and through customs pretty quickly. And we were in the parking lot ready to leave by 8:00am! We said goodbye to Emma at the port as she was going to spend a few days at Camp Gagi. So the 5 of us piled in the car and headed north!

It wasn't too far into the trip when we needed some more coffee and we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts (Paul was really needing his coffee!). We happened to run into Tom & Erin at the gas station! We sort of caravaned with them for a bit until we got separated.

All in all the trip home wasn't awful. We did encounter some heavy traffic in SC but otherwise it was just long. We arrived home about 6pm.

We loved the vacation, loved the company! We can't wait to sail with Mickey again!!

Day At Sea

Our last full day on the cruise was a day at sea. Again, we slept late which was great. The kids needed it! Julia finally decided to get her hair braided so we got that scheduled. Paul and I also had reservations to eat at Palo, the adult only restaurant on board. It was delicious! After lunch Erin and I did a wine tasting which was very interesting. Then Emma & I did the Midship Detective Agency..where we solved the mystery of the missing puppies. The kids spent some time in the kids clubs which they really enjoyed. Emma just loved being up there. Jacob did too - which was great for all of us. While I was about the ship Paul and my mom hung out with the kids at the pool. We all met up for Bingo where Papa John was the big winner of the afternoon bringing home the ship jackpot! Jacob, however, was the biggest sleeper - literally falling asleep sitting up during the Bingo game! Poor guy - 7 days of Disney related activities and he just couldn't hang anymore.

Dinner was great as usual and after dinner Emma and Jacob again went to the kids clubs. Erin, mom and I took the other girls to Believe. I just love, love this show and so did everyone who was with us. It's just such a sweet show! After dinner we did some last minute shopping before the "Sea You Real Soon" finale show that the characters do. It's a sweet time and gave us a last opportunity to see some characters we'd missed earlier in the week like Tiana and Chip & Dale and Pluto. The girls loved it and were a little sad to know it was our last night on the ship. Paul and Jacob were pretty tired so they left us before the little show. Such a great day!

Castaway Cay/Pirate Night

Tuesday was my favorite day of the cruise: Castaway Cay. I love, love, love Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. It's also Pirate Night which is always fun. We got a late start out to the beach due to some very sleepy kids. Can't blame though - we've been keeping them going on this vacation! We finally made it out the island late morning and met up with Erin & Tom. We got our spot on the beach and the kids immediately ran into the water. And, luckily, Emma and Lily's new friends found us on the beach! The girls all had a great time playing and swimming together. We ate lunch together and after lunch Gagi found us. We didn't do much on the island since everyone was having such a great time just playing in the water and on the beach. Such a great day and the weather could not have been nicer!

We got back to the ship, played bingo and then got ready for Pirate Night. Such a fun night with lots of folks getting into the spirit and dressing up like a pirate. Paul and Jacob had pirate t-shirts, the girls weren't too interested and I dressed up a little. Jacob apparently had a really big day and literally feel asleep at the dinner table. None of our kids have done that before but literally we looked up and he was asleep. He spent most of dinner in Paul's lap getting a good snooze. That actually worked well though since it was going to be another late night.

After dinner we headed up for Mickey's Pirate Party. The kids all went to the kids club and Erin and I got some bff time until I got paged to go get them. Jacob and Emma decided to stay in the club longer but Julia & Lily wanted to hang with us (who wouldn't). So we took the girls shopping. I'm not sure what it is about those shops onboard - I could continue to shop in them all day long! After a bit of shopping it was time to go up on deck for the Fireworks! Always a fun show - Disney does fireworks right! The kids were excited and loved it more that they got to see their new friends up on deck. The show was fun and the music was great. The kids totally wore out though - you know they are tired when they ask to go to bed!

Nassau

The first full day of our cruise was a port in Nassau. We hadn't planned any excursions we didn't have to be any where at any certain time which was really nice. Lily got her hair braided that morning so after that we were free to explore. Lily ended up spending the morning with Tom & Erin on the island and the other kids went to the kids clubs so that left Paul & I with some time to explore. We took care of some Disney Vacation Club business then headed out. We had a couple shopping destinations in mind so we knew where we were headed. Nassau is OK but nothing special to me. I'd like sometime to go to Atlantis but next cruise if we don't do that I'll stay on the ship!

After a brief walk around Nassau we headed back to the boat for lunch. We collected the kids, ate and then headed up to the pool where we met up with Gagi, Erin & Lily. Paul and Tom wanted to go to a movie so that left us girls and the kids. The kids met up with their new friends and loved playing in the pool. Emma & I rode the Aquaduck together. The whole time she was screaming and saying "I want to get off..this is too scary." Then we got off and she said "let's go again!" Apparently we weren't the only folks who don't love Nassau because the pools got very crowded! We played all afternoon and that was great!

After the pool it was time for dinner. After dinner Emma, Lily and Jacob all went to the kids clubs. The girls met up with their friends again. The rest of us watched the Villains show. Another fun filled day!!