Some MAGICAL memories... Part 1

Last week was magical...

Fitting that we spent it on the Disney Magic.

In the beautiful Caribbean.

Thanks to my extremely awesome parents who treated us to this vacation.

Words cannot express our thanks mom and dad.

We love you both so much.

We will be forever grateful for the memories we created together.

{warning the next couple posts will be LONG...  VERY LONG...  just sayin'}

We had a 5 PM flight to Orlando on Friday the 13th {gasp}.

That way the girls could go to school for most of the day, Shane could catch up on work and I could finish up the "last minute" packing. 

Everything went great for us.

Not so much for my parents who were waiting for us @ the Orlando airport when we arrived coming up on midnight.  (they did leave for the airport at 7 am... that made for a LONG day... the joys of flying standby!)

Quote of the day by Saige...

"Palm trees make me all happy inside."

Saturday {DAY 1} we were able to board the ship...

and o the excitement and giddy squeals from my girls.

They were pumped!

Jadyn is handling Mickey quite nicely here, as long as he wasn't "touching" her...  Lydia hadn't yet warmed up but it didn't take her long!

After a little food... (which was actually a lot of food.  That first day home we were all starving.  We were used to the 5 meals a day with ice cream and snacks in between those meals. :)) 

We went to our room and unpacked.

We were spoiled, with 2 adjoining rooms,

It was quite spacious. 

We didn't spend ALL that much time in our room though.

We tried to do all of the family activities and events that we could.

One time we came to our room and had about 35 minutes before dinner.

Saige looked at us and said...

"Are we just going to sit here and waste our time?"

That 25 minute nap was the only one of the cruise. :)

Minus Lydia of course who took one each day in her stroller without complaint. 

 We all had fun at the "sail-away" party...

Although Jadyn wasn't so hip on seeing so many characters at one time...

 Lydia was in awe and showed us her "jumping dance" for a good 10 minutes at least!

{DAY 2}

 was a sea day and started out early with our "Character Breakfast" for the week.  I wish this had come later because Jadyn was NOT prepared for this event yet.  And although happy to wear her "Minnie" costumes for pictures WITH Minnie... she wouldn't get in when it cam right down to it.

She preferred her Poppa protecting her...

 She did come for some of the pictures though.

I asked her why she was nervous in this picture.

Her reply... "Mom his paw is TOUCHING me!"

 Our waiters... Sam (Thailand) and Antonio (Italy) were lots of fun.

This was what my mom got when she ordered some "crispy" bacon. :)

We helped her polish it off.

 That day...

Lydia and Jadyn danced to "Playhouse Disney" songs.

Jadyn and Kenna went to their club to make flubber.

Which after being put in a baggy Kenna said, "we might as well throw that away because that was so gross I will never touch it again!"

 We played our 1st round of "Mr. Toad's Wild ride."  Of course we had a family goal to bring home a trophy we were close... time and time again.

If it hadn't been for that little stink in the red on the right.

We named him "winner"... he won EVERYTHING!  We didn't like him much... pure jealousy!

Kenna made it to the finals this time... totally proud of the girl!!

 Later that day Kenna and her Daddy played "So you think you know your family"... and won!

Way to go guys!!

 Unfortunately they won a less than exciting prize at that event so the quest for the trophy was still on!

We swam and sunned  {and ate} by the pool...

 Jadyn and Kenna went to their club and "do-si-doed" with Snow White.

Later had an Aloha party with Stitch and Lilo... {Jadyn hid in the back room for that one}.

And had a Pluto PJ party that night.

After another fabulous dinner we took pictures and visited with some characters.

Everyone thought our "little family" that isn't so little...  (Pretty sure no one had more than 5 kids) was adorable.

I agree

We attended an amazing show...

"Twice Charmed- an original twist on the Cinderella story"

The acting, singing, costumes, props are all incredible on the Disney ships.

No other cruise line I have been on comes close.

Tayler and Saige went to their club to make pizzas @  11 PM, that's just what you do on a cruise. :)

And Shane, my Daddy, Lydia and I went to the 10:30 showing of "War Horse" while Jadyn and Kenna were at their club.  We didn't want to waste our time sleeping!

{DAY 3}

was another sea day.

Jadyn and Kenna headed off for "story time with Belle" in their club.

After which we participated in the "Mickey 200" (design your own car out of potato and carrot event.)

This was not our best event we lost in the 1st round with both of our cars.  In fact one of our teams cars didn't even make it down the track.  Guess who's car won?  That "winner" guy we talked about from our last event... grrrrr

We did win a prize for the most enthusiastic... a calendar... no medal :(

We went to a family scavenger hunt later that was lots of fun.

Attended the "Princess party" with the princesses in the lobby.

Where Lydia and Belle first met.

Apparently Lydia made a huge impression on Belle, because later in the week when we saw her waving to Lydia across the lobby and went to visit her she hugged her and said I have missed you miss Lydia...

not sure how she knew or remembered her name...  but there is more to that story for later. :)

 Jadyn loved seeing the Princesses, she could see their faces so she had no worries.

 

We only wish that Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel and Rapunzel had been on board. :(

We did meet up with Peter Pan.

And had a tea party with Alice.

(much improved from other years... shorter and now apple juice and cookies instead of tea)

We liked it.

Spent more time swimming and chilling by the pool

And exploring the ship...

And enjoyed another great dinner together.

After a "High School Musical" Dance Party

Jadyn and Kenna went for "Mousketeer Training" with Mickey... not a favorite moment of Jadyn's.

Saige and Shane went to the show "Villains tonight".

and then later Tayler, Shane, Lydia and I went to the 10:30 showing of "The Help".

Another fabulous day.

I'll spare you all the whole week at once and save more for another day!!

Thank you Thank you Thank you Mom and Dad...

Or Grandma and Poppa as they are known by my girls...

or Gammy and Poppy from Lydia. :)