It is almost too much to type, really, on one blog. Too many photos, too many giggles, too much glorious sun. We will see if I need to split this up into 2 posts.
Many months ago, we finally sat down and talked to reese's make a wish people to decide what we were going to do for her wish. She loved only a few things - one of them was mickey, so it all seemed pretty simple - disney cruise. The entire process is overwhelming and frustrating for someone with a large family, honestly, but it all came together. I had stressed myself out for weeks over things that I had no control over, but I realize now that none of it really mattered.
The beautiful thing about photos is that it can help you remember small pieces that you may have forgotten. The cruise was so fun, but very busy. You have a lot of "fear of missing out" of things when you do things disney, in general. If you do this... then what don't you get to do... If someone needs a nap... are you able to see that character later... etc etc. I am glad that I toted my cell, point&shoot, and also my dslr around at different times. It all seemed so GO GO GO, but when I look at these photos, I realize how many special memories were made during the in between moments, the lulls.
More than a week ago, right before we were to leave, make a wish had a "farewell" princess party, here, at the house. So many of our wonderful friends came over and there was a company who came, dressed the kids up, played games, etc. Reese was on the fence about it, most of the time (lol), but ASM were over the moon. They announced each girl by name, they twirled around in their ridiculously sparkly dresses... it was fabulous.
The girls thought we were driving to florida. They only thought that because we drove there last summer (to destin) and so we went with it ;) We woke up at 4am to head to the airport and they were such troopers, thinking we had a full day of driving ahead of us - so the surprise of flying was so exciting to them.
(eta: remember corbs stayed with my parents for the week)
We had terrible luck with this flight, though. On the way there (and remember, our cruise left the same day. yeah, I know we should have left the day before, but keep in mind I didn't book the flights lol) - someone had a "medical emergency" and we had to land in mississippi. It seemed like it was going to be a stop, drop, and go, but alas... it was not. The persons who got off of the plane ended up using 2 tanks of oxygen. To fly, apparently, you are required to have 4 on the plane - and now we had 3. The pilot thought we could pick some up at the airport we landed in, but that was not happening... so we waited. Hours. If you follow on instagram, you may have seen my faces while this was all happening. I cried. I stressed out. EJ called the cruise to let them know what was going on and to please wait for us (and the other people on our flight who were headed to the same place!) and eventually we landed in orlando.
we got onto the bus to the boat and we were on our way... finally... to the actually vacation. ;)
The next few hours were a whirlwind of getting to where we needed to be for the safety run, figuring out where dinner was soon after we got into our room, and trying to organize the things that we wanted to do v. if we'd be doing anything with MAW.
Dinner was nice - easy because you basically order anything you think your kid will eat, no matter the menu - and it was nice to finally sit down for the day with a glass of wine and just... relax. The room we were in on night one, changed colors, had characters that played games on the screens, it was fun for all.
After dinner, I went on the "aquaduck" waterslide that goes around the top of the ship, with aidan and sawyer ;) After that, we were done for the night - we tucked away into our rooms (with wonderful surprises that were left by some amazing people who knew we'd be on the ship!) and woke up in the bahamas.
Bahamas was our dolphin day. I booked this weeks ago and I would say this was aidan and sawyer's favorite part of the week. We took a boat to a beach/cove and spent the rest of the day there. Miller was afraid of the dolphins at first, but eventually wanted to come into the water with us. I think you can tell by their faces how they felt about the day.
the day was barely over, though. We took the 1pm boat back to the ship and still had the whole afternoon ahead of us. We went to the pools, ate lunch, and got ready for dinner in our mickey's clubhouse dresses.
Since we were late getting on the boat, I missed the line for tickets to see some characters. I thought being MAW we would be able to get a couple, but alas, we weren't. So after dinner (and I mean like 10pm), we ran around to see some characters that I knew the girls would love. And as you can see, I bought all of the terribly flashed photos that the cruise photographers took. (duh.)
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That is the end of day, oh. 2. The kids are exhausted. EJ took aidan and sawyer to the show that night since the littles were just conked out. The shows start at 8:15pm if you have early dinner (tip: I would do it the other way around next time, if I had the chance -- show THEN dinner for sure) - so its such a late night each time.
Tuesday night, reese puked one time and then had a fever. It was only a tiny one so we figured it was a small stomach virus and gave her some meds - the next day, it was on and off, but luckily, after that it wasn't to be seen again :)
Wednesday was castaway cay day. Unfortunately, it was raining. We went down for breakfast and then decked ourselves out in the ponchos they gave us and braved the drizzle. Well worth it... it was a really fun day. We received some passes for snorkeling, tubing, etc - so it rain or shine, we were going to have an amazing time.
and I played bingo ^ as you can see. It is one of my favorite cruise past times ;)
Wednesday, after lunch, was the day that MAW, on the ship, had planned something for the families attending that cruise. We had a mickey meet and greet - reese had a good time, for sure.
see. I am over 100 storyboards in and so I am going to finish the rest later tonight (pirate night, day at sea, and our entire gorgeous weekend on the beach in florida...)
... I will need something to do while I try not to think about reese's MRI tomorrow.
xoxo.
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