Disney Cruise - Puerto Rico...

What an amazing day.

I was nervous at 1st to be honest.

I had booked an excursion through a company called RocaLiza.

They had fabulous reviews on TripAdvisor.

But... there is always that worry that what if we pay all this money and it isn't even a good one + Steve and his girls were coming too so obviously I would feel responsible if everything didn't go as planned.

So we got going a little early and dropped Lydia and Jadyn at the kids club.

My parents were going to pick them up after breakfast and watch them for us for the day.

Thank you Mom and Dad!

 

Note to self here...

Don't forget to tell your parents the password.

Because without the password they can't get those 2 kids out of the kids club.

Even if I had left specific instructions with the counselor that their Grandpa would be picking them up and I saw her enter it in the computer + had signed that they could be picked up by them + they had a picture of my dad who was standing right in front of them pop up on the screen when his card was scanned.

And if one of said kids tells her Grandpa the password... well then that word can't be used anymore.

Then they need birth dates... and what Grandpa knows all 21 of his grand kids birthdays?

Not mine!

So then he'll have to track down my mama.

And apparently even Grandma's can't remember all their grand kids birthdays.

So other relatives will have to be woken up before the crack of dawn by frantic grandparents in order to retrieve their Grandchildren... while their parents are out gallivanting around.

And on, and on, and on.

And Grandpa's don't like that. 

Just sayin'.

(This may or may not have happened to us.)

Anyway... we got off the ship.

And went to the designated waiting spot.

And I panicked a little.

But alas... all worked out and they were there to pick us up right on time.

And we were off on...

"the best excursion we have ever been on!"

Why was it so awesome?

First off it was just our family and 3 guides.

We didn't see one other person the ENTIRE day in that Rain Forest.

That is NOT normal for cruise excursions.

Usually you are in groups one right after another.

So that made it awesome.

+ there was no safety briefing, they just handed us a helmet threw a harness on us and we were off.

The first part was about a 1/2 mile walk... straight up I swear.

I was trying to act super cool.

But I was sucking air and wondering what I had got us into! hahaha

But when it leveled out all was well and we got in at the bottom of the river and started "river hiking".

When I look at these pictures I keep thinking about what was in that water we were walking through.

There had to be super creepy stuff!

Like the dead baby tarantula the guide fished off the top of the water to show us.

Why did we trust them so much when they told us that...

"This is a friendly rain forest, nothing to be afraid of."

I don't know... but I'm glad I didn't think much about it at the time cuz it was super fun!

 

 At some spots there were ropes set up for us to climb up.

A couple times they had us hook up to the harness and they belayed (is that the right word) us up.

There was this one spot where we climbed straight up this rock with water splashing in your face.

It was fun.

A little scary.

And thank heavens for the harness because most all of us... (minus Kenna who made it up like a little monkey) lost our footing and slipped back down.

 

I think Tayler, Saige and Paige's most memorable moment of this excursion would be when it was Shane's turn. :)
He was acting like a professional climber and telling us all to, "get a good handhold" or "get a good foothold", like as if we were trying to get a bad one. hahaha
Then it was his turn.
And apparently he didn't "get a good foot hold". hahaha
He turned sideways and his helmet and body just bounced off the wall as he fell.

We couldn't see his face from the top, but Tayler said that, "there has only been one other time in my life that I have seen that much fear on his face, that was on that super crazy roller coaster @ Busch Gardens Virginia."

So for a visual...it must have looked something like this...

bahahahahahaha

:):):):):):):):):):):):):):
I don't recall him giving us many more climbing instructions after that. ;)

  

After a couple hours of river trekking it was time for zip lining.

 

After 5 fun zip lines we headed back down the river.

Gosh that was a good time.

Paige and I both took nasty spills on the way down.

Ouch!
Paige's was much more graceful than mine. hahaha

When we got back to the van we walked across the road to a native's home (one of the guides grandmothers) for an authentic meal prepared by her.

Honestly, it was surprisingly tasty!

We all give this excursion 2 thumbs up and 5 stars!

If you go to Puerto Rico and need an excursion.

I'd whole heartily recommend this one!

We got back to the port and decided while we were so close we should take the girls up to the old fort for a bit.

Then we hurried back to relieve my parents from our little ones and hear about their adventures of the day on the ship. (And that kids club incident. :()

Then Lydia, Jadyn and Kenna had "appointments" at the "Bippity Boppity Boutique" with their very own fairy godmothers who did their hair, makeup and nails.

And then made a wish as they were sprinkled with "fairy dust."

 They loved it.

They were happy.

They felt like princesses.

But wow that was a pricey 45 minutes!

There was more food of course.

Visits with some of our favorites.

Karaoking by these cute girls...
Singing "Fabulous".

and "can you feel the love tonight."

And an awesome Magician/Illusionist Show.

We were ALL tuckered out from our long + eventful day.
I think the rest of the girls still had energy left for visits to their respective clubs,
but this little princesses was partied out. :)