Disney Cruise

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from our cruise ... Clearly I have decision making issues because I couldn't narrow down the pictures to include. So, beware: lots of photos (not to mention text) in this post.

Our trip began very early with a 6am flight. That means we were up at 4am to load the kids in the car, park in the long-term lot, shuttle to the terminal, etc., etc. The kids were truly amazing. Of course they never fell back asleep, but they rolled their carry-ons through the airport, sat through the 2 1/2 hour flight to Houston with no problem, and only asked "are we to the cruise ship yet?" about 25 times during the 90 minute drive from Houston to Port Galveston. We met up with my parents in Houston and made the drive to the ship with them, so having Bobbie and Grandpa around helped as well!

Of course technology and lots of snacks helped keep them occupied, too. 

This was our first Disney trip, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I had heard that now matter which Disney venue (cruise, parks, etc.), the experience is simply magical. This was certainly true for our trip. The minute we walked onboard, they announced "The Disney Magic welcomes the Holbert and Platt families!". We were like celebrities. 

True to my nature however, I did do a lot of reading prior to our trip, mostly on personal blogs about tips and what to expect on the ship. There was a lot of great advice, including the fact that the stateroom doors are magnetic, so guests often bring door decorations to hang up with magnents. My kids were all over this - we spent one afternoon coloring and creating art for our door. The pictures were pretty helpful in finding our room, since the hallways are loooong and each door looks the same!

So after boarding the ship and settling in, we explored and generally kept busy until our 8:15pm dinner. Keep in mind that was 9:15pm Eastern time, and we had all been awake since 4am that morning. Whew. Thankfully dinner was exciting and fun, and kept the kids entertained most of the time.

Warner's Mickey ice cream, which he got for dessert nearly every night (after eating a cheeseburger nearly every night as well - the kid was in heaven).

Maren did great through most of dinner, but this is what happened about halfway through. She did so great. Just ran out of steam.

Each night we were surprised with a new towel creation in our room, accompanied by chocolates, before bedtime. This is Warner's sorcerer's hat.

During our three days at sea, we were generally at the pool for the majority of the day. There was a water slide for kids only that we were afraid Maren wouldn't be able to ride. Kids were supposed to be four years old and 38 inches tall. Maren met the height requirement, but of course won't be four until July. So, being the responsible parents we are, we instructed her to tell the lifeguard on duty that she's four if asked. Thankfully they never asked and Maren rode the slide more times than I could count. However it was wildly entertaining to "practice" with her:

Me: Maren, how old are you?

Maren: Three.

Me: How old are you if you're riding the water slide?

Maren: Four.

Me: Good girl.

We're not fit to be parents.

There were of course a million other activities on board to keep us entertained during our days at sea. One of which was a movie theater running recent and even current movies. We only caught one movie (Frankenweenie - very bizarre) but it was fun.

The characters were all over the ship, and organized into "character appearances" throughout the day for people who didn't mind standing in line for an hour to get their picture taken. We were not enthusiastic about spending our vacation waiting in line for pictures, so thankfully one morning was a character breakfast. It was really wonderful, actually: each character came to our table throughout the meal, and we got to meet them, take pictures, etc. No lines, no waiting. Wonderful.

Maren was so excited to see Minnie. I think she was starstruck. 

Our servers also made us napkin hats to wear. Who doesn't love a napkin hat?

Outside of the character breakfast, our favorite spot to eat in the morning was on the top deck, at the back of the boat. A wonderful view with wonderful food ...

There were two themed nights for dinner: formal night (or "fancy night" for the kids) and pirate night.

Of course Maren wore her princess tiara and plastic high heel shoes. It was precious to see all the other little princesses doing the same thing. 

Warner looked awfully prince-like in his tie and sport coat.

We ended up seeing Pluto and Snow White that night, which made the night even more special.

Pirate night was equally as fun. Warner got some pirate gear including a special sword and Mickey pirate ears. The kids both got their faces painted at the kids club, and everyone got a pirate bandana at dinner.

All of us doing our best "argh":

Our first of two stops was at Grand Cayman. 

This is where we did our dolphin swim. To say it was an amazing experience would be a huge understatement. We also got to visit a turtle farm across the street, which was pretty neat too.

The turtles were HUGE. It was actually a turtle farm, so there were tanks full of turtles at varying ages, including babies. We even got to get in one of the tanks to swim with and hold the turtles.

So, then there was the dolphin swim. Amazing.

The dolphins were under the water, pushing Kevin across the pool by putting their noses on his feet.

 And, this was Maren on the way back to the ship:

Our second stop was Cozumel. We spent the day at the beach, enjoying the sunshine and the kids enjoying the sand.

 

The only bummer about the trip was our second seating for dinner. The kids were so incredibly tired at the end of each day, so unfortunately dinner ended like this one night:

She literally spent the entire dinner this way one night - about 45 minutes. At least she was quiet. :)

It was a magical trip. In fact, the ship was called the Disney Magic. So at one point Warner even asked: "Mom, is this boat really magic?". Precious.

Thank you Mom and Dad for the trip and for making wonderful memories that we won't forget. Perhaps next year we can convince the Whitakers and Platts to join us?!

Happy Easter

Weekends rarely turn out the way we plan, and Easter was no exception this year. The plan was to spend Saturday in Lexington with the Whitakers for an egg hunt, lunch, and family time. Unfortunately Ashley got sick Friday so those plans went out the window. Concerned about catching the stomach bug just days before our BIG Disney cruise, we thought it best to keep our distance. Turns out we were right to do so - Abby and Billy started getting sick Sunday! Although we missed seeing them, I'm happy we're all stomach bug-free for our big trip in a few days.

Our adjusted plans turned out to include a trip to the park Saturday. We love Giles Conrad park. It's right on the river which is fun to explore, has flat bike paths (hills are not Maren's friend), and a nice playground. To top it all off, we picked up Jimmy John's on the way there, so I was in heaven. One of the highlights was playing follow the leader with Warner on his bike. He had me going through the grass, the playground, around trees ... I could barely keep up.

The kids also "explored" the river with Kevin, which included walking out on a fallen tree right out to the water. If they had fell, they would have been swimming in the Ohio River. Good thing they didn't because I wasn't about to jump into the cold water to rescue them.

We decided to do church on Saturday night instead of Sunday to beat the crowds (and enjoy a more relaxing Sunday morning). The kids were precious in their Easter outfits (thank, Linda!). Normally on Sundays the kids are in two different Sunday School classes. On Saturday nights however they combine a few of the classes because there are fewer children. So, Warner and Maren were together on Saturday. 

Apparently their teacher was going through Resurrection Eggs to tell the Easter story with the class, and asking the children if they knew what each item meant. Warner answered the first one, telling the class the donkey represented Jesus's entrance to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The teacher congratulated him on the correct answer and then Maren announced to everyone: "THAT'S my big brother". Love it.

The Easter Bunny left the kids Easter baskets Sunday morning. They got some chocolate and a few small toys, including new goggles for our cruise. They spent about an hour wearing the goggles around the house, jumping off the couch into pretend water.

Later that afternoon we met Joe and Linda in Lexington at Panera. The kids got another Easter basket and we enjoyed spending a few hours together over lunch. Happy Easter! He is risen, indeed!

The things they do ...

As usual, I have a list of funny things the kids have said and/or done a mile long. However two are certainly worth sharing. The first is a video Kevin took this past Sunday. We were all getting ready for church and Maren was in her room "reading" her Bible. Kevin overheard her talking and caught it on video:

Maren's Bible

So the video is cute and funny, but more importantly, I think it shows Maren's childlike faith. And that makes my heart unbelievably happy. We tell the kids that God loves them, but I think Maren really understands it (hopefully Warner does too, we just don't have video to show for it!). "Even when you're bad" He loves you. I pray she keeps this understanding forever.

The second funny story happened a few days later in the car. To preface the story, I should mention that Warner's preschool class was challenged to learn to count to 100. Once ten of the students could successfully count to 100 for the teacher, they got to have an ice cream party. Their party was Monday. A few days later, this happened in the car:

Warner: Maren, did you know that the last number used to be 100? But it's not anymore.
Maren: Yes (if you ask Maren if she knows something, her answer is invariably yes).
Warner: Well, it used to be the highest number, but now they've changed it. It's not the highest number.
Maren: What's the highest number?
Warner: I don't know. But it's not 100. You know what comes after 100?
Maren: What?
Warner: 101.

Biking to the Park

Winter's been fun and all, but it's March. I'm ready for spring. I am completely over the cold weather, cloudy days, and most of all being stuck inside. Today was still cold, but thankfully the sun was shining, so we layered up and headed out. There is a park at the back of our (very large) neighborhood and I've wondered for a while now if the kids could make there and back on their bikes. It's almost 3 miles round trip and although I knew Warner could do it, I wasn't sure about Maren. We decided to go for it.

The kids were troopers. Like I said, I knew it would be easy for Warner (he's awesome on his bike. Again, this is my blog, so I can say that). But Maren with her training wheels and significantly shorter legs had to put a lot of effort into the trip - especially the hills. The funniest part was hearing her say "it's going to be a loooong way back!" all the way there. I had to give her a few pushes but for the most part, she did it all by herself.

The kids played and climbed and managed to find a few things to argue about at the park. After about an hour, we turned around and went home. The way back was a bit harder but you should have seen the looks on their faces when we were back in our driveway.

Pretty proud of their accomplishments.

I know it wasn't the Tour de France, but I'm proud of my little bike riders. And can't wait for warmer weather.

Drawing

I pulled this out of Maren's backpack the other day. I showed it to Kevin, and we both laughed about the circle and dot clearly drawn between the one stick figure's legs. So, I asked Maren about it.

Me: "Maren, did you make this at school?"
Maren: "Yes!"
Me: "Who is this in the drawing?"
Maren: "You and me"
Me: "Really? What is this between my legs?"
Maren (clearly confused as to why I am asking this question): "It's your bellybutton!"

Awesome.

Dates

Kevin and I took turns taking dates with each child a few weekends ago. I've been wanting to do this for a while and am so glad we made the time to do it.

Saturday morning was my turn with Maren. We went to Starbucks at her request. This is probably because we went there last year for a date and she remembers it quite well. She got a pink iced doughnut then and wanted a pink iced doughnut again this time. Of course, when we got to Starbucks they had no pink doughnuts. Not to worry, she quickly chose a cinnamon roll instead and was just as happy. The Barista even wrote "princess" in chocolate on her plate. She also had a hot chocolate. The best part was listening to Maren order her food and drink, after she told the cashier all about how she and I were on a date and we were going to have SO MUCH FUN. Maren is quite expressive.

Maren enjoyed her cinnamon roll and hot chocolate while I enjoyed my vanilla latte. We chatted and looked through new games to download on my iPad. We chose two My Little Ponies games and a princess paint by number game. The rest of our date was spent playing the games, including Memory, which Maren is freakishly good at. 

For my date with Warner, we went roller skating. I realize roller skating isn't exactly popular anymore - and hasn't been for some time. But back in my day it was all the rage. I really wish that was still the case. It's so much fun!

We rented skates, got everything into our locker, and made it onto the hardwood floor without falling. Warner took it pretty easy but still fell quite a bit. But he was such a trooper! We skated together for over an hour, taking breaks for a drink. It was the same roller skating I remember - lights turned down, music loud ... and I'm pretty sure the Florence Fun Dome hasn't been remodeled since I last roller skated, either. Regardless of the state of the rink, we had a blast.

I realize we won't have dates with our kids every weekend, but I hope to make it a more regular occurrence. Quality time with these kids is priceless.

Star Student

Warner was the Star Student at preschool last week. To say he was excited about this honor would be an enormous understatement. It was big time. In fact, on Sunday night Warner announced: "Tomorrow's a big day!" I didn't connect the dots immediately, so I asked him what tomorrow was. He answered "I'm star student!". Duh.

On Monday he brought in stars and a family picture to complete his poster for the class to see. The stars were his favorite things. Favorite book: The Might Avengers. Favorite color: Red. Favorite activity: Playing Uno and Battleship. Favorite food: Cheeseburgers. Favorite holiday: Christmas.

On Wednesday he brought in his favorite book (a Little Golden Book titled "The Mighty Avengers") and Mrs. Eubanks read it to the class. On Friday he was allowed to bring in a few toys from home to share with the class, along with a special treat for snack time. Warner chose bunnies for his snack (he wanted to bring Cliff bars but they may contain traces of tree nuts so they were out). 

I hope the week met his expectations. Warner isn't one to seek the limelight but I think he enjoyed the extra attention last week.

Mine-ami

We decided to be spontaneous a few Saturdays ago and drove up to Oxford to watch the Miami vs Ball State basketball game. I'm always happy to visit my Alma Matter and we were hopeful the kids would enjoy the game.

Of course no trip to Oxford would be complete without a stop at the bookstore to find some Miami swag. DuBois did not disappoint. We are now in tip-top shape on Miami gear.

The game was great. Sadly, Miami men's basketball games are not well attended. But the upside is we got a good parking spot and didn't have to fight any crowds to get in. 

We enjoyed popcorn and the kids cheered quite loudly for the Redhawks. Maren refers to Miami as either "Mine-ami" or "Mommy's-ami", so it was amusing to listening to her. She enjoyed watching the cheerleaders and Swoop (the mascott) too.

As we watched the game, I said to Warner: "this is pretty neat, watching basketball just like you play basketball, right buddy?" To which he replied "this isn't like when I play basketball". Pretty funny. Regardless, we had a great and very memorable time.