Puerto Rico!

Today our stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico.  As luck would have it Aunt Wendy was also in San Juan on a trip for the week so she and her friend met us at the beach.  The boys had so much fun playing in the sand and body surfing.  It made me wish we lived by the beach so we could frequent the ocean more often.

St. Thomas

Today was our first stop.  Everyone was pretty excited to get off the ship and explore the island.  We were scheduled to go on a snorkeling excursion on a pirate ship called the Doubloon.  It was crazy being on a monohull on the ocean with huge waves.  We would ride up and down waves sideways but it wasn't much concern to the crew.  The boys even got to help hoist the sails.  We finally arrived at Turtle Cove to do some snorkeling.  The views weren't as picturesque as some we've seen snorkeling but we still saw some fun things.  I was so shocked at how seamlessly the boys would go into the water and back up for their first snorkeling experience.  Cole was tired, and hungry and so he wouldn't even attempt it.  Our snorkel experience ended perfectly.  As we were watching a turtle that was on the ocean floor it made it's accent and surfaced right in front of us.  The boys swam with it for a little bit-- what a neat experience for them.
That night on our way to dinner we ran into Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates in the stairway. Such a cool experience to bump into someone like that. :)  After dinner and the show the boys wanted to go stand in line for a photo with one of their most favorite Disney characters, Stitch.  I had no idea they even really knew who he was but they boys all love him and were a little star struck when they were with him.  He started picking at Kade's hair like he was eating bugs.  They boys thought that was hilarious.

Another Day at Sea

We spent a lot of time at the pools today and trying different activities.  The boys weren't really excited about the Kids Club.  They went for a while but would rather be swimming so they didn't spend a lot of time on in the club.  Clint did go to the Super Sloppy science where they played with liquid nitrogen which he said was AWESOME!  The kids club age max is 10 and so Kade felt like he was a little too old to be there so he didn't really want to go back.  They have a huge movie theater where they show all the Disney movies that are currently in theaters and newer releases and so today we watched Alexander's Bad Day.  It was a pretty cute movie and the boys loved going to a theater and getting popcorn.  Tonight for dinner we were at the Royal Court.  It is a room that is all about the princesses.  They have gorgeous mosaic walls for many of the princesses.  The detail on the walls were incredible.  There are a lot of mosaic walls on the ship-- they were definitely my favorite part of the ship.  

A Day on the Ship

We had breakfast with a few of the Disney Characters this morning.  The boys really liked seeing Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates and of course Mickey Mouse.  We did a few other activities like making a race car out of a potato and carrot, and playing another game.  Their favorite activity today was playing detective and solving a mystery with their magic badge and many of the interactive paintings on the ship. (This was really cool!)  The boys also went to a training with Magic Dave to be an apprentice magician.  He was such a great magician and comedian.  He taught the boys some tricks to do with their families and the boys repeated some of the tricks everyday at the dinner table since they felt like they had an audience.  Their audience was the family that was seated with us each night for dinner.  It was the perfect audience, they couldn't leave and they hadn't been to the training so they didn't know the tricks. :)  They boys used all their material and any old material they could remember.  I felt bad for our dinner partners but they were great sports and encouraged the boys.  The dinning room we ate in tonight was the Enchanted Garden.  It was neat because the ceiling would change color like an evening sky.  The light fixtures are flower buds that open up and the sun sets.

All Aboard!

We flew into Florida last night and drove to our port area to a hotel.  The kids played in the hotel pool for a while and then we had dinner and settled in to bed so we could get some sleep before boarding the ship this morning.  The boys first view of the ship blew them away.  They were amazed by how large it was.  We waited in line to get our cruise cards and then it was going to be a while longer to wait for them to open the doors to get on the ship.  As we were going through a crew member approached us and asked us if we'd like to be the Family of the Day.  Of course we said we'd like it!  We had no idea what that meant but we were sure we'd like it. :)  The crew member escorted us over to a VIP desk where another lady got our kids all registered for the kids club and then she jumped us to the front of the line for a photo with Mickey.   They also took us into the gangway for our boarding-the-ship photos and then brought us back out with everyone to wait until it was time to board.  They had a table reserved for us to wait at where the boys could color or just relax for a few minutes.  Being the Family of the Day meant that we would stand in front of the doors, wave, and be excited when they announced that everyone would be able to board, then we'd lead the way and be the first to board the ship.  As we walked onto the ship they announced our family and all the crew cheered.  We immediately went to explore the ship.  The kids club had some amazing items in the rooms.  Andy's Room was particularly neat with the life-size Toy Story characters.  Then it was to the AuqaDuck and Nemo Splash Pad.  The AuqaDuck is a clear tube slide that wraps around the top of the ship.  Cole loved the Nemo splash pad too.  His favorite was the sting ray slide.  It was so slippery that the kids would slide well past the landing pad; Lots of giggles in that area.  When they had our room ready we unpacked, and explored our new little home.  The boys loved finding all the Mickey head symbols in all the details of the ship.  They were EVERYWHERE.  The boys thought they would count and see how many they could find but I think they quickly ditched that idea when they realized they would be counting into the thousands.  That evening we went and participated in a game show activity.  It was a game that challenged family members on how well they know each other.  Clint and I were picked to go up and play.  We did really well but there were a couple questions we didn't get correct and so we came in 2nd place.  The boys were excited to know that they'd have more competition activities throughout the week.  Dinner tonight was in the Animators Palate where they had it set up to feel like we were under the sea.  Crush from Nemo would swim around on the big screen walls and talk to us.  It was pretty entertaining.

Here We GO!

It was a long wait for us to get to enjoy this Christmas present.  Cole was so excited for his first airplane ride.  I was so impressed with how well he did.  He watched a movie and slept most of the way to Florida.  Kade and Clint spent some time on the ipods and watched  a movie too. A pretty uneventful flight-- the kind I like. :)  One step closer to starting the cruise!