The blown tire was a first for us. Once we realized what was happening Brian was able to get us safely off the highway with in seconds and with the help of some angels the traffic was momentarily in a pattern for us to maneuver rapidly and safely to the side. While the kids stayed buckled and entertained with Frozen on the tablet, we switched out the blown tire with iphone flash lights and rode on our equally flat spare to the rest stop thankfully not 500 meters away. We said some quick prayers and found a good Samaritan to loan us a portable air compressor to fill up our spare. Brian is sooo getting one of those in his stocking this Christmas! God is so good, especially on a cold Georgia night with your family by the side of the road!!
We made it safely to a hotel by midnight and when the sun came up the next day we had chosen a stop, unbeknownst to us the night before, not a half mile from a Walmart with a tire center that opened by 7. Brian was there when the doors opened and had a new tire installed and we were on the road again before 8. Again, GOD IS GOOD! We made it to Miami on time on Sunday and boarded the ship with our usual "oohs and ahhs" as our stress immediately lifted with the warm welcome of the Disney staff adorably adorned in their candy cane scarfs and hats! We all agreed, even after the drama ..."totally worth it!".
He was so exhausted but not too tired to listen to the Chloe
"Bienvinedos a Miami!!!"
We were off!!! We've got the schedule down at this point in our cruising experience and we headed to our room to change for my favorite party in the world, the Disney Sail Away party on deck 9. They rock the ports so hard with their pumping music, confetti and character dancing that once again all of the other ships in port stand at the rails in envy at the rowdy family fun clearly rocking the Disney ship. I got my embarrassing mommy dance on as I boogied my cares away with my girls. They traditionally count down to the ships massive fog horn that blasts over and courses through to your heart as it plays "When you Wish Upon a Star" at which point the ship begins to head to sea. And yes, big nerd Brian and myself usually look at each other and tear up. What can we say, we are 2 hopeless Disney junkies and that horn means another week of amazing family moments to be shared. There's nothing like it.
We enjoyed many memorable moments this trip. As the girls are now getting older we had SOOO much more freedom to enjoy. They were really cute as toddlers but DANG! This is GREAT!!!!! There is so much to do that we've never even considered before but dove into it all on this trip. The new DCL app available for our phones made it even easier to stay in contact with one another on the ship. Abigail is now old enough to check herself in to Kids Club by herself so she was loving \the new independence. We let her spread her wings a little this trip and she showed her maturity never letting us down with the increased trust we gave her and her sister. We tried the on board restaurant Palo for dinner for the first time and our waiter generously said to bring the girls to the main dining room anyway with out us and they'd look after them and send them to kids club after they ate. To which Brian and I said "really!?!?" but it worked beautifully! It was formal night so the girls were decked to the nines and feeling like a couple of grown ladies as we walked away from them sitting at the table all alone. (insert faclimpt mommy moment!!) We were able to text the Bit during dinner and they took almost as long at the main dining room as Brian and I did for our gourmet meal upstairs. We had a ridiculously great meal together while the kids felt like queens at their own special date night. Our waiter Pedro from Portugal told us the next night he had to call the restaurant manager when Abigail asked him for a cup of coffee after her dinner. He was shocked and amused at her request but not wanting to get her in trouble. To which the head waiter advised Pedro, ''ah go ahead just keep it decaf". They bragged and bragged on our girls the day after to us saying how mature and adorably well behaved they were alone the night before. The beverage waiter agreed and said in his country (Indonesia) kids are raised so clingy and close to parents and the way ours were so confident, independent and spoke so well to them with out their parents there amazed them and it made us proud. The nurse training in me always starts a new patient preparing them from the beginning for their discharge, I guess we've parented the same way. It was nice to hear though that they did so well and were respectful of the waiters with out us around. Love these two!
The days were filled with perfect weather and some new Christmas surprises they've added to the navigator. We got to enjoy a massive tree lighting program in the atrium, they had a meeting with Santa complete with dancers and an appearance by Anna and Elsa at the end to make it snow on everyone in the finale.....I know right, of course they did!!! We got to make gingerbread houses with a Russian sounding chef, and I giggled quietly every time he pronounced "cookies" respectfully though, he was the man! We took animation classes together in a pub, and watched the Patriots play on the over the pool funnel vision.
Another fun random bonus of the week is that the new Star Wars movie is coming out soon so since Disney married the Star Wars franchise the stuff was everywhere. Brian and his little Jedi daughters were loving it. He is raising them to appreciate the force and be true fans!
They aired Return of the Jedi in the movie theater late one night so we all pushed to stay up and enjoy it on the big screen. We all lasted but not little Chloe. It's ok, she curled up on my lap under her "May-May" and slept. You know your kid is tired when she can sleep through those sound effects! Brian carried her back to bed so of course I caught the sweetness. I have so many pictures of him and these girls on these narrow blue hallways. I heart them!
MEXICO!!!!!!..........(yes I purposefully placed her with the Mexican flag behind her.....squeak!)
On our return to Cozumel we again tried to keep expenses down by having several options to do with one goal in mind, meet a dolphin. After one place was booked up we went with option 2 and headed to a beautiful place called Chankaanab. A short cab ride from the port and we found a paradise of a tourist attraction featuring everything we wanted for the day. We spent half of our day here swimming in a pool, lounging by a gorgeous beach then topping it off with a dolphin and manatee experience. (The manatee experience was an unexpected bonus, I guess in buying our tickets something got lost in translation but hey! They were adorable and I almost had more fun with the massive underwater cat like beasts then the perky dolphins!) Brian laughed and said, "did I pay extra for that??'. Oh well, good times!
Random pic of my babies in a Mexican cab. I can't help it these things amuse me and they look so cute in their knock off new Ray Ban sunglasses. I love Mexican cabs, they always play such great music. Our last trip did too. I was jamming to Will Smith and totally annoying my family and driver being the obnoxious blond Gringo who knew the words! You can't stop this, I was "Gettin Jiggy wid it!" Hey at least I didn't try to sing it in Spanish! ....Yup. I'm that tourist.
Brian did the noble save money and stay behind thing so the pictures are what he took from far away. But playing with dolphins was on my bucket list so I went with the girls and got to meet Mirina our sweet dolphin for an hour. We got to dance with her, hold her fins and give her kisses. SO COOL! They got awesome professional pictures up close of the kids kissing her buuut it was 80$ for 2 pictures....so yeah, this is the picture we brought home!!! :)
After we got our fill of the Mexican paradise we headed back to the ship for a late (and deliciously free) lunch before freshening up returning for some shopping. There is a small market by the port so we like to grab some souvenirs there. And I love attempting to chat it up with the locals. My time in Guatemala in college comes back to me and I get in mode again. The girl's Spanish is getting better this trip. Chloe's "Gracias, y tu? " was sounding pretty good and the Latino ladies were loving her effort.
I wish I had taken some video of these guys. They were doing a hip hop dance off for money and their break dancing was impressive! Abigail asked her daddy if she could drop some money in their bucket, he's such a sucker!
The much less enthusiastic version of her previous self. This is Chloe sweaty and too tired for the couch yet after hot Mexican shopping. LOL! (the carpet isn't dingy, my camera lens hadn't adjusted to the cool a/c in the room)
The girls were 'put a fork in them' done by this point, Teary and grumpy but they don't set the fireworks off until after 10 and it's loud music after a long day. But it is special to see out over the open water.
Chloe wanted to keep staying in the kid's club so we got a lot of time with Abigail this trip. This was the animation class we took
Abigail got a cup of decaf coffee every night at dinner, loves her coffee just like her parents!
Little sea monkeys.
Ever since Sears Portraits left me a few years ago I have undertaken the girls annual portraits myself. Last year we did outdoor fall portraits. This year I was thrilled to get them at sea!! Bare with me, here are a few. I love these little ladies so stinkin much!
Our first family game of scrabble, pretty funny for this group of spelling challenged folks! (My Christmas sangria is for me, no Abigail is not drinking it!) :)
They added a new show on the Magic. It was Tangled the musical and it was possibly our favorite show at sea yet. We thoroughly enjoyed it! And lo and behold there were 4 seats down front right next to our buddies! (yup, only at Disney is it socially acceptable to bring your child to a Broadway show in her jammies with her blanket!)
For our last day of vacation we stopped at our favorite place on the planet other then our home sweet home. Disney's Castaway Cay is the closest to heaven on earth you can get in our opinions. Even with stormy skies on the horizon we headed ashore for an amazing day. It only rained about 15 minutes then the clouds parted and we had warm 80 degree sunshine for the whole rest of the day. Again, now that the girls are getting older we spent the most time yet on the island. It was awesome to not have crying grumpy kids who needed naps. We were off the boat 15 minutes after they opened the doors and came back aboard just an hour before they closed them again. It was an awesome day of lounging, snorkeling, eating and playing. Gosh we love this place!!!
It's funny how much my smile matches Olaf's here! It seems my mouth gets bigger every time we go to Disney. :)
Happiness is.
I asked the kids if I could take their picture and little Dylan threw that arm around Abigail in a flash! I asked Brian later if he noticed how little Dylan looked like he had a little crush on Abigail, to which Brian responded with a daddy grunt and throat clear and a "Yes. I absolutely noticed. " he he he oh Daddy, it's coming and it's inevitable! Luckily Abs didn't seem to notice in the least. She just slouched and chewed with her mouth wide open like all 9 year old's do. Funny girl!
We like the back gang walk, it's more private everyone else was too tired to walk to the far entrance but not us this time.
The "Til we Meet Again" menu, sad but we'll be back!
It was a fantastic week with these folks. I'd rather sail the seas with them then anyone else in the world. (although I admit, I missed our cruise buddies too Floyds and Downeys!) I'm so thankful for my family and thank God for another awesome trip away and for keeping us safe for the looooong drive home!!!
Time to buckle down and get back to life, work and the hustle and bustle of Christmas now. But Brian and I have learned one thing in our 13 years of marriage. Through ups and downs and unexpected scares, deployments and well day to day life! As it is, life it precious, life is short and you never know what tomorrow holds. We live small here at home, but we play big when it's time. I will cherish the memories with these girls as long as I have life in me. God be the glory this was fun!! And Disney just helps make these vacations a little more special every so often! Thanks for the Magic and the memories!!!!!!!!
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