Family Disney Cruise 2013

 "We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us."

Our family was able to slip away and spend some time together.  We had promised them if we finished the Book of Mormon as a family we would go on another.  Travis saw a good deal on one and booked it.  We told the kids it was "reserved" until we finished the Book of Mormon.....so three chapters a night and a month later we finished 2 days before we sailed away!  It was actually a great experience reading like that in multiple chapters and really strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon and hopefully strengthened our family unity too!

The night we finished the Book of Mormon!

We flew into Houston TX from LAX (a week after the fatal shooting there, we were right in the terminal where it happened).  We took a shuttle to Galveston the next day and jumped aboard! 

Sail Away Party!!!!

Last Disney Cruise I didn't pack the boys tennis shoes thinking they would only want flip flops, and Luke was livid!  Since he lives on the sports deck he knew he needed his tennis shoes.  So this time I was extra careful to pack them.  Right before the sail away party we realized we left Luke tennis shoes in the hotel closet!!!!  He was beyond fuming!  That was the beginning of our shoe problems:  Travis's flip flops broke so he had to wear my extra pair a 7 1/2 when he is a size 12!  Then Kamryn lost her's on the pool deck, but we were able to recover them from lost -n-found.  Then on a really windy/stormy night (wind gusts up to 54mph) Drew's flip flops blew OFF the boat!!

Triton's Restaurant by Ariel on the ship

These Mikey Bar's alone are worth doing a Disney cruise for!  You can get as many as you want 24/7

The red carpet for the Golden Mickey's that night

A toast for Drew!  Happy Birthday Drew!

Drew getting sang to by all the servers!  Now that's a great way to spend your birthday! (For the next couple of nights Drew kept trying to request the birthday dessert!)

Our room steward named BAM made this cake for Drew out of towels! And left him a little card.

KEY WEST

Seeing where highway 1 begins, all the way in Key West, FL.
 

Getting some family snorkel time in.  The beach was really rocky with white coral, making it a bit uncomfortable to lay or walk without shoes.

 I thought Brynn's toes were cute.  They are the Disney Cruise symbol, she painted them herself!

 

 At Key West the kid were begging to get back on the boat, so we went up to the top deck and got  Pinocchio's Pizzeria (my kids kept them working all week by frequenting it several times a day).  Disney always had a show playing by the pool, I loved it, today was Lion King!

Beautiful Sunset on the Caribbean ocean!

We all watched the shows every night as a family, they were so good!

CASTAWAY CAY

Disney's private island in the Caribbean, our favorite stop on the whole cruise.....loved they had a Christmas Tree out with fake snow blowing!

They had a little club we could check Kamryn into so we could got to the Adult only beach to relax.

Serenity Bay

Disney's Mt. "Rustmore"

We had a blast snorkeling as a family.  We tried with Kamryn, but ended up having to take her back, it was just too hard.  Then Brynn had a major panic attack out there.  She said all the fish were creeping her out.  She said there was one whose eyes were close together and was smiling at her.  It ended up getting bad enough Travis took away her goggles and made her swim back without seeing what was around her.  I still get a good laugh about it all!  The rest of us who stayed out saw lots of schools of fish, a hidden Mickey statue, a fish as big as Drew with teeth, and a sting ray.  They had sunken ships, and pots all over to explore!

A sting ray in the water!

 For one of Luke's homework assignments he had to mail a postcard back to his class in California.  We mailed it from Castaway Cay, pretty cool!  Awesome day!

BAHAMAS

 

 We took a taxi over to Atlantis.  We took the kids in the hotel to see it, then went out to Cabbage beach right next to it.  It was too rough for the kids to get in.  Lots of people trying to sell you things on the beach, it got a little uncomfortable.  We had a watch on our kids at all time!

Brynn getting a braid in the Bahamas!

Travis and Brynn heading back to the Disney boat

Brynn admiring her braid

Pirate Night

Every Disney Cruise has a Pirate Night.  Everyone dresses up and then they do a party on the top deck with fireworks.  The weather was really rainy, windy, and rough (This is the night Drew's flip flops blew off the boat).  The boat was rocking pretty bad, to where Brynn threw up from motion sickness!  They changed the party to indoors, which wasn't as fun, and rescheduled the fire works for the next night.  That night we really got rocked to sleep and our room was extra creaky!!!

Only on a Disney Cruise can Kamryn request marshmallows and sprinkles for dessert!

Kennedy & Brynn in the Pirate Parade around the restaurant

Kamryn sleeping dreaming of Mickey!  Their best are SOOOO comfortable!  I love this pillow they have on all the beds....

CHARACTER BREAKFAST

 This is what my boys ate every morning with their breakfast, pounds of bacon!  Disney knows how to keep the kids happy!

 

 Goofy hats they made everyone!

MEETING THE PRINCESSES

My 3 favorite princesses

My Little Cinderella!

Girls love their dad

 

 FIREWORKS AT SEA

So they rescheduled the fireworks, it was still a little drizzly, but we had fun dancing, singing, and watching the firework show at sea!

Dancing time

 Kamryn singing her heart out on the stage!  So cute!

 

The little kids pool is a Mickey!

They kept pointing to Kamryns ice cream sundae on her shirt and rubbing their tummies!

Saying goodbye to our waiters Arsa, and Omar (We had requested Arsa from our last Cruise, it was fun seeing him again!)

Last night for room service Cookies, Mickey Bars, Caesar Salad, Pizza, Buffalo Wings, etc!  Living it up!  We were all laughing at how much food we were eating!

Coming home......Kamryn wasted from eating all those Mickey Bars and being hugged by princesses all week!

Back to real life.............................This trip was so good for our family.  The kids loved having their dad all to themselves for a week.  The girls were older this time and were fun to joke around with.  We had lots of good family laughs at dinner each night.  We made family memories that will be cherished, and hopefully made our family bond just a little more tighter!