Day 6

Day 6 was a first for us, we've never had a sea day before. But we were really excited about it. M and I woke up extra early because it was Churro Mickey Waffle day and I had been waiting for them. We got up to the buffet as like the 4th people. They were delicious. 

And I was very very happy!! 

It felt like a lot of people slept in at sea, so we got some time to just look at the water the two of us and it was very peaceful. 

We went to a Trivia.

We actually split up and did a few different things. M and I went to the Royal Gathering. I know there are a lot of cruise lines. But Disney has my heart because it's just so family-oriented. I love that my sweet girl wants to meet princesses. 

I love that my kids can wander about the ship and I know that almost everything is family friendly. (There are a few adult only spaces but truthfully I think the activities there are still fairly safe. And the alcohol tastings are in small settings where you need to RSVP.) 

One of the activities we all went to together was the apple strudel demo. That was much more interesting than I expected and I realized that first, I have never actually made a strudel and second there were some excellent tips!

Later was the Jack Jack Baby Races. Which was just as hilarious and wonderful as C and I had been hoping. We both loved it!!! 

Let me tell you a story. For days, M had been asking for a Hei Hei shoulder pal. To add insult to injury, C got the parrot shoulder pal with his pirate costume the day before. But no one sold the Hei Hei. But she kept seeing them everywhere. Well, it turns out it was the DVC (Disney Vacation Club) special gift. So while she was at the kid's club and Husband and C were at a different trivia, I went and listened to the DVC talk so I could earn a coupon that would let us get a Hei Hei shoulder buddy. 

If I ever make a lot more money than I currently do, I would totally join DVC for real. 

Later we went to Broadway trivia. At one point we met the cruise director Ashley. It's funny, before every show she gets up and says "Oh I'd love to chat with everyone." And I had literally been thinking, yeah that would be great but how do you just run into her? Well... just like that actually. And we stopped to talk for a while and that was that. 

M and I went to a silent disco. We had a BLAST! 

I was worried that being at sea was going to feel crazy crowded. And we had planned specifically to avoid swimming on this day because of it. But we managed to do a lot of fun activities and I was never overwhelmed by a crowd. (Believe me, I would tell you.) 

I even did a load of laundry so that we wouldn't end up at home with a million loads to do. We also had to pack so that our luggage would meet us off the ship. So much easier than walking around with all of it the next morning. 

By the time we went back to the room to change for dinner I was feeling very sad that the cruise was coming to an end. I wasn't the least bit sick of the ship or my family. Disconnecting completely, not being able to text or be on the internet was such a complete gift. 

Moments after this picture was taking the lobby band started playing "our song" and I pretty much started crying and plotting how and when we could cruise again. 

We had a lovely last dinner at Enchanted Garden.

M went back to change and then straight to the kids club. The rest of us went to see Disney's Believe. A story all about believing in magic and that kids grow up too quickly. Well if that wasn't the most on point be sure to cruise with us again commercial I've ever seen. 

After the show we picked up M and her pillow case she made and then went to the Say Goodbye lobby show. 

I am sad that by the next time we cruise M will no longer be able to go to the kids club. She will be in the tween club age. Now, she may actually attend Edge where C refused to try this time. (And perhaps the two of them together would go.) But it was nice that she had a fun place to hang out. 

Now, she honestly only spent about 7 hours there total the whole cruise. I do think some kids go for a lot lot longer than that. But we always really enjoyed and appreciated the Oceaneers Club. I wish we could cruise one more time before M turns 11! 

I admit, I was sad we didn't take 4 more pictures because then we would have taken 300 with the cruise package we had prepurchased. But 296 pictures isn't too shabby. Clearly I didn't post most of them, you're welcome!

We ordered one last bout of room service in the form of Mickey bars and then went to bed. It was going to be an early morning disembarking. 

Day 5

Okay, before I get to Day 5 I need to share that on Valentine's Day we got to go see Cirque Du Soleil Crystal and it was great. 

Okay, Day 5! Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point. Disney's new private resort. 

The first thing you should know is that there's about a 10-minute walk from the ship down the pier. I thought this was going to be annoying but the water was the most beautiful color and it was hard to be too upset by the walk.

The sand was so soft and white. The kids LOVED LOVED LOVED this beach and it was really cool. I admit, mostly I was just tired and knew I did not want to swim. I did enjoy a nice beach chair though.

Actually, when we were on board everyone decided to stay dry and that lasted about 6 minutes on Lookout Cay. Good thing I packed the swimsuits anyway isn't it? 

We stayed at the beach until lunch and then we headed back to the ship. It was a more leisurely paced day and I am glad we scoped it out. Our next cruise we will plan for Lookout Cay better--perhaps a shorter Castaway day so we are better prepared for Lookout. The photo spots are darling and the character's Bahamian costumes are so cute!! 

We got back to the ship right about 1:00 and C and Husband went to ride the AquaMouse right as it opened for the day and they brought back food from the pool deck for lunch. We got everyone showered and dressed and then got ready for Pirate Night! 

I booked both kids' Pirate League makeovers and it was a HOOT! M just did the makeup and C did the whole shebang. He was the funniest and wouldn't talk in case he messed up his beard. He got a lot of compliments all night and it was nice to let him have an experience like this. 

We took a lot of pictures on Pirate Night. We were like 3rd in line to meet Captain Hook and I was delighted. 

The Pirate Night menu was delicious but this dessert was SO good. Coconut ice cream with pineapple sauce and Roman our waiter tried to talk me out of it but I loved every single bit. No regrets! 

Last year M was overtired on the Pirate night this year our goal was to not do that so the two of us took it easy and then we all made it to the fireworks with gusto! Fireworks at sea doesn't get old. 

It was the only point of the entire cruise where I was almost a little chilly! 

I will tell you that the pirate league did not give makeup remover wipes like they do for BBB makeovers and as I am not a makeup wearer getting the kid's makeup off was quite the challenge. 

But finally, we accomplished this and were able to go to sleep. 

I swear these past two days seem like they were really boring but they definitely were not! We took so many pictures decked out as pirates and C and Husband went to both Pirate shows. M and I onlyly went to the the fireworks show. There's only so many times you can say "and then we went and got ice cream on deck 11" before it seems like that's all we did. 

Day 4! (And Happy Valentine's Day!)

Happy Valentine's Day! Here are my 2 favorite Valentines heading off to school this morning. (From the conference room at my office.)

If you've been here before you know that I love Valentines more than most people. Now that C is in middle school they don't do an exchange, just a big ice cream sundae party. But M still gets to exchange! This is what she brought in: 

And yesterday they had prayer buddies and made these adorable crafts. I am a big fan! 

Anyway... back to the cruise. Day 4 was Castaway Cay Day! That's Disney's private island. I had one goal: do not get sunburnt. Okay, and I wanted to relax. And we had the most perfect day! 

M has always wanted a coconut drink. So I got her the non-alcoholic drink of the day in a coconut cup to make all her dreams come true. 

Disney doesn't offer any drink packages the way most cruise lines do. Pop, coffee, tea, milk, etc. are all included as long as you get them yourself. Everyone pays ala cart for fancy lattes, alcohol, and specialty drinks. 

We had learned from last cruise to NOT bring your food to the beach since the seagulls are intense and I do not do birds. So we had our lunch in the shaded shelters on the island, which was a good call. 

Other things that were a good call: I bought a collapsable sand bucket set and brought it with, the kids really enjoyed that. We tried out Pelican Plunge for the first time. (Never made it that far last cruise.) M saw the bikes and lamented that we should have gone for a bike ride, which was in fact my plan B if it was too cold to swim. (The weather was PERFECT clearly, but it had been so cold just the week before that I was making all kinds of back up plans.) 

Somehow even though I spent all day in the shade I got sunburnt and so did M! Boo. After a long day on the beach we headed back to the ship and everyone showered and got ready for the evening. It was Frozen night! So we were all excited about that!

Our dinner was in Animator's Palate which was the restaurant we were looking forward to the most and it turned out to be a total letdown. (The food was great, we had just read about the experience of the restaurant and it wasn't as cool as we were expecting.) 

But the Frozen show MORE than made up for it. 

I realize this is a really short recap of Day 4. But truly... we just were beach bums for most of it. :)