All Aboard!!

We had the opportunity to go on a 7 day Disney Cruise with my parents.  I will say, that of all the vacations I have ever taken, this was our favorite vacation ever.  There was just the right balance of relaxing, fun, Disney, and sight seeing.  It was the first vacation that I wasn't ready to go home.  Dusty and I both looked at each other when we were done, and said, lets just do our laundry, and do it all over again. 

Our cruise boarded in LA, sailed up to San Francisco, down to San Diego, then down to Ensenada, Mexico, then back to LA to disembark the ship. 

Here are some pictures and highlights from our trip.

Preparations:  Mom wanted to make Alice a little princess dress to wear on the cruise.  At this time, Alice was very into Ariel and Rapunzel.  We elected to go with Rapunzel.  We made a wig, a dress, and she was absolutely adorable.



Such pretty long Rapunzel hair, before it was braided.

All dressed up

We got upgraded on the flight to first class.  What a treat!

Boarding the ship

She insisted on helping carry the suitcases

The Ship

It was so funny, a couple days into the cruise, Alice was walking by a porthole, and she suddenly stopped and said "Mama! Water!"

Alice loved to see all the towel animals they would make for us every night

We spent our time swimming
Partying with pirates
 
It was so funny, one little girl actually thought Dad was Captain Hook

ARGGH!

Mom and Dad in their awesome pirate costumes

Met lots of characters. For some reason, she really fell in love with Stitch. She had never even seen the movie.



 Took lots of pictures with the Ariel statue.
 
Danced, all the time

Ate delicious food, including way too many mickey icecream bars. They were on the kids menu for dessert, and by the end of the week, our waiter, just knew to bring 5 of them after dinner for us.
Our waiters even made us funny napkin hats
Missed seeing the princesses. She kept saying she wanted to go down there and see them.
Fortunatley, they came again, and we made it a priority to be there early. She got to meet, Belle, Snow White, Ariel, Cinderella, and Tiana.

The funnest part of the ship, was the consistency of the characters. They were really able to get to know the children. Belle on the final day of the cruise, was just wandering the ship, and sat down with Alice. She said "Oh, you are not wearing your dress today."

We also watched lots of Disney movies, both in the room and in the theatre where they had first run movies owned by Disney.  There was music playing all over the ship, and the evening entertainment was phenomenal.  It captured the attention of all ages.  All of us, including Alice at 8:00pm were glued to the amazing productions.

Alice took a rare nap. Surprisingly, despite the lack of sleep, she did remarkably well all week.

Our ship passed right under the golden gate bridge.  It was very neat to see.


Stay tuned for part 2 for our adventures off the boat.

New Addition

So, on Saturday, we went out to eat for lunch and right near the restaurant, there was a tent setup and a large group of people.  We were curious and wanted to check it out.  We found that there was group that was fitting children for bicycle helmets.  This has been on our list to pick up for Alice, so we thought we would get her fitted.  We got to take home a beautiful new pink helmet.  She was so thrilled with this new helmet, that refused to take it off.

I was a little sad, that she didn't have anything to ride, and it really has been a beautiful Summer, which seems to be hanging on.  So, just browsing, I got on craigslist, and found this little balance bike for a great price.  I did some research, and instead of waiting for some big event, I just broke down, and bought it on impulse; so out of my character.  Alice on the other hand was THRILLED! and she loves it.

 Here she is riding it after only a few weeks.  I think she did really well.

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair!

On Friday, the Puyallup Fair began, and they offer free entry in the morning.  Dusty took the day off, and off we went to the state fair.  We met up with Grandma and Papa Poe, and had a great time.  We looked at the animals, looked at the arts and crafts, photography, quilting, sewing, and other art.  We looked at the commercial sales buildings, we watched the draft show, walked through a rainforest, and watched the Giant Pumpkin Weigh off.  We ate some delicous fair food, and had a great time.  It was a long day, and we were there from about 9:00 am until about 11:00 pm.  Here are some pictures from the day.

At the petting zoo.  Alice liked it until the grey sheep got startled and knocked Alice on the ground.  She was okay, but nervous to touch the animals after that.

Grandma showing her the bunny

 In the Rainforest Adventure they had some cool exotic animals. An Alligator

Birds

This monkey was so funny.  His feet are up by his hands and he is sleeping by balancing just on him rump.

Porcupine

And a super cute tortoise. 

 We watched the Giant Pumpkin Weigh off.  This one was third place, and she was so excited

Here is the winning Pumpkin weighing in at 1246 lbs.  That is one big pumpkin

 Alice enjoying a delicious scone.

 Papa showing us how to strip bark.  He is so old, he was an expert ;)

 Also showed us how to pump water

 Alice was so enamored with the chickens.

 Papa showing her the baby chicks

 And from the other side

 Alice playing in the bubble machine

We got to see the pigs and the little piglets were so cute. 

 

We got a kick out the little pink piglet.  It was totally asleep, yet still attached.

 Alice was such a good girl all day. She didn't get a nap, and finally tuckered out at 9:00. 

 Overall it was a successful day at the fair.