Disney Cruise 2015 ~ Sea Day Number 1, Part 1

(Sat, Feb 21, 2015)

Each family has their own reason to choose a specific cruise.  In our case when we looked at our choices for this cruise we considered price and destination mostly.  We love the sea days where we do not dock and all the opportunities that these days offer.   This cruise offered 2 sea days which was great for us!

Saturday was our first full day and even though it had been cooler when we left Miami the evening before, we woke to a bright, sunny, warm morning and we quickly took advantage of being outside!!

Hannah was with us for only a short amount of time before she was asking to go to the Oceaneer’s Club so I dropped her off there.  I grabbed my book  and the wave phone so that the club could reach me if necessary, and went back up to hang out on the deck with Nana and Papa.  You can see it was a big challenge for Papa to flip into vacation mode and relax.

After a morning in the sun we headed back to our staterooms to prepare to go to Palo for a special lunch.  Palo is an adults only dining location so Hannah and Ava were happy playing at the Oceaneer’s Club and Lab and they fed them lunch too.  Bonus!!

Unfortunately my mom was a little under the weather so she wasn’t able to join us for lunch.  Missed you Mom! 

Our server was Sasha and he was amazing!!  So knowledgeable and an expert at what he did!  He started our lunch by offering to take pictures for us.  Palo is located on the 10th deck so the view is breathtaking!  Our group was: Liz (a friend from home who was on the same cruise with her daughter Ava) myself, Sharon, Larry and Dad.

The offerings at Palo are exceptional!  These are the appetizers that I narrowed it down to.  LOL! 

I had a delicious chicken parmesan on risotto but it was so delicious that it was gone before I remembered to take a picture of it!  My dessert choices…plus 2 helpings of strawberry soup not pictured here.

Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch at Palo and will book again on a future cruise.

After lunch dad went to check in on mom while Sharon, Larry and I took a few minutes to take a few pictures. 

I went to pick Hannah up at the club and she’d had a great time!  

We decided to take in a showing of ‘McFarland, USA’ that was playing in the Walt Disney Theatre.  Hannah was happy to draw and colour for a bit and then dozed off for the final hour of the movie.  If you have the opportunity to see this movie, GO!  It was AMAZING!!!

After the movie Hannah was rested and raring to go so she and I quickly changed into bathing suits and hit the pool.  We were in rougher waters at this point and the water in the pool was sloshing from side to side.  That didn’t bother Hannah one little bit as she and her new little friend Miranda enjoyed some swimming time together.  In the end, we met Miranda and her family at the pool each day as the girls became fast friends and I got along with her parents too!

It was also a treat to swim when the pool was so empty as most of the cruise it looked like‘kid soup’…

but that never bothered us a bit either!

Up next….’Argh!  Pirates in the Caribbean!’

A Day of Recovery

After the fun of party prep and playing early into the morning of July 4th, we decided a quiet day at home was the perfect plan.  Hannah first woke up shortly after 7 but was easily convinced that it wasn’t time to get up yet and promptly fell back to sleep until 9ish.  Ah yes, that’s more like it!

We came downstairs to find that sadly the post-party clean-up fairies had not shown up while we were sleeping so we had a big job in front of us! 

Grasping this fact we did what we excel at….we napped!  Even Dusty was exhausted from the previous night’s festivities.

The girls were also in quiet moods and we suddenly realized it was eerily quiet upstairs.  K2 went up to check and quickly called for photographers and we came running.  How sweet is this?  I love that all 5 girls enjoy reading.  Well – 4 read and one enjoys the pictures but reading is beginning and that’s something exciting happening in our home!!

Shortly after this K2, Hannah and I hopped in the van to pick up a few last minute groceries.  As hoped Hannah dozed off almost immediately and K2 quickly offered to stay in the van with her while I shopped.  Thanks K2!  We picked up the last ingredients to make delicious Chicken Enchiladas for supper (or dinner as my west coast friends call it.)  Regardless – they sure were yummy!

After supper it had cooled off enough that a trip to the pool was in order which is always something the girls enjoy.  This time I went in with Hannah and she spent a lot of time without her water wings.  She’s doing so well and with a little more strength she’ll be swimming up a storm!  She has the confidence and now her strokes just need to catch up with that.

We came home and ended our day with a wonderful treat for the girls – a sleepover!   Hannah stayed with me as normal and the 4 big girls shared the twins’ room.  They did great and quickly fell asleep.

A good night’s sleep was in order because Friday we were heading to San Francisco for a day of exploring the city together.  Fun!!!  I was there briefly one time about 5+ years ago and have always wanted to go back!  Tomorrow is the day!