Cruise Day 4

Here's a sampling of some of the towel animals we found in our rooms each day:

Wednesday was a day at sea.  We did more swimming, eating, and went to a show.  We packed up our suitcases that night and debarked early the next morning.  Bye, Mickey!

 

Cruise Day 3

We started the day visiting some princesses.  Matthew reacted to them the same way he reacted to all the characters - clinging tightly to my neck and refusing to be set down.  The difference was that after we were done, he acted all excited as if he enjoyed it.  "I see ELSA!!"

After each princess, they had huge smiles as they giddily skipped away.

The ship stopped at Nassau this day, but Scott and I opted to stay on the ship with all the kids.  The other grown-ups did some sight-seeing.

Tuesday was also the pirate party.  Everyone on the ship dressed in pirate garb for dinner.  After dinner there was a party on the upper deck, ending with fireworks. Since Tuesday was Micah's birthday, we decided the fireworks were just for him.

Matthew and Hannah are both saying "ARRR!"

the birthday buddies

Cruise Day 2

Day 2 was at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island.  It was exactly what you would expect Disney's beach to be: no bugs, no trash, bathrooms and food only steps away, a splash park, and cool water slides.

The kids did a little bit of snorkeling, and Micah, Hannah, and I went for a bike ride with Gramme and Poppa.  Monday was also Lucy's birthday!  They sang to her at dinner, and our servers made festive hats for us.

That's Halish putting the Jack Sparrow hat on Poppa

Dumbo

Disney Cruise - day 1

We've been home for four days, and I'm this close to finishing the unpacking and laundry.  That's not bad, right?
Overall summary of the trip: fantastic.
Some of the highlights were the food, the kids' club, the incredible staff, the shows, and our day at Castaway Cay.
Some of the not as awesome parts were Matthew being very clingy and some cooler and windy weather.
We flew out Saturday night and stayed in a hotel.  Both of the options we had brought for the kids to watch shows on the plane stopped working, but they did great.  The hotel couldn't find the pack'n'play we had requested until 10pm, but the big kids did an amazing job of trying to sleep and ignore the not-sleeping Matthew.

Sunday morning we went back to the airport to meet up with Gramme and Poppa, then the rest of the Chamberlins.  Gramme had arranged for a high-top van to drive us to the port.

We were able to drop our suitcases curbside, and get ready to board the ship! (Seeing this picture reminds me that I should upload the pictures from Micah's camera to see if he got any good ones.  That will have to be a separate blog post.  Also, this picture and several others are from Eric's camera.)

 Once on board, we wasted no time in finding ice cream, as we did every day from then on....multiple times a day.

We also swam everyday, even when the weather was less than great.  I was happily surprised to step into a wading pool and find that it was heated!

[Confession time: Because Matthew is not potty trained, he was not supposed to go in any of the pools.  But it got pretty tiresome to constantly have to do something different with him while the big kids were swimming.  So one day....I lied.  I let him go in the wading pool.  I pretty much never lie, so I'm still dealing with the guilt.  But it was worth it. ;) ]

There was a big party as we got ready to sail away.

  You change dining rooms each night, and your servers go with you.  They get to know you and what you prefer.  Our servers were just fantastic, and did an amazing job of anticipating the kids needs.  They also gave Poppa a hard time for not liking pepper and gave us occasional brain teasers and magic tricks.  :) Especially at Animator's Palate (our first night), the kids were so entertained that the adults got to really enjoy the meal.  Win-win.  [And while I'm confessing, I'm pretty sure Micah ate five hamburgers in three consecutive days.  Nutrition is awesome.]