Easter Celebrations 2015 ~ Easter Sunday and Hop, Hop, Skip!

Easter Sunday before church was a fun morning of chocolate and gift hunting.  Hannah was pretty excited when the Easter Bunny brought her a watch as she’s eager to learn how to tell time.

He also brought her a  new Disney Princess magazine which is always a treat.

There were chocolates and a little more.  I think she found her final eggs late Sunday afternoon.  The Easter Bunny is getting better at hiding!

My hopping sweetie.  Poor lamb!  Her reaction around the 20 second mark is Hannah through and through.  She’s amazing!

All dressed for church.

Afterwards we stopped in at Urgent Care with what I figured would be a ‘She’s okay, it’s just a little sprain’ visit but the doctor ordered x-rays for the following day just to be careful as she was concerned about the swelling and tenderness when she touched it.  Here she is waiting for the doctor and looking oh so cute!

(I must say, if you need to go to Urgent Care, a holiday is a great time!    We were in and out of there in 15 mins!  That never happens!!)

I tried to calm my busy girl’s activity a little bit at the doctor’s recommendation but that’s a big challenge.  In the end she’d slow herself down when she pushed it a little too much and sit quietly and read or watch tv for a bit.  We also played games together which was not only fun but a good quiet activity for her.

Monday afternoon our family doctor was going to be in Urgent Care so we went for x-rays early in the afternoon

and then waited to see him in UC from about 75 mins.  Ah yes, that’s more normal, especially after a long weekend!  Once again I thought it would be a quick ‘she’s fine’ response after he read her x-rays (based on the running, skipping and hopping she was doing) but nope, he saw something he didn’t like and showed it to me.  I saw it too.  He was concerned that she had pulled part of a ligament off.  If that was the case she would be casted for a bit while it healed.  This was the first we’d heard about a cast and she was pretty excited!!  (LOL – Like mother, like daughter!  I was exactly the same as a child.)  Dr. Fitz sent her x-rays for a second read by a specialist and thankfully it came back that she was okay and no cast required.  No gym or baton this week but other than that and she was good to go….slowly!

It’s now a week after her bad jump and she is pretty much back to normal.  I still see her little hop, hop skip occasionally but I think that might be habit now or that she just moves the wrong way sometimes.   So thankful it was just a bad strain and my busy girl is once again busy….even though she’s told me at least 20 times that she wished she’d got a cast….

and ‘crunches!’  LOL!!

Easter Celebrations 2015!

I do believe spring has finally arrived and what a blessing it was to have a long 4 day weekend to share 100% with my girl!!!  There’s nothing better than time with Hannah!

Friday morning we went to an Easter musical at our church and then went out for lunch with a friend.  After that it was time to enjoy the warmer temps and try out her scooter skills!

A cute little market in a neighbouring area has baby chicks to hold Easter weekend so we popped out there.  This sweet peeper was only 1 day old! 

Look at the glee on Hannah’s face!

A fun little Easter tradition that we’ve done for the past few years is that Hannah plants jelly beans on the Saturday.  This year she had some ‘Frozen’ themed jelly beans to plant.

Sunday morning Hannah awoke to find that not only had an all day lollipop had grown but it was a FROZEN lollipop!  SO cool!!

Colouring Easter Eggs.  I’m almost embarrassed to say this is the first time I’ve ever coloured eggs with Hannah.  I’ve had the best of intentions each year but always run out of time.  Thankfully this year she was able to colour them and had a great time doing so!

Saturday afternoon we headed to my parents for a family celebration.  The kids are growing up and this year there were only 3 little ones to hunt for the treats the Easter Bunny had hidden.

I can’t wait until we see the first signs of the grass turning green and the trees budding.  Yes it’s like straw but straw is much better than SNOW!!

This is such a sweet pic of Hannah sharing an egg with Kallen.  I tell you, these 3 sure do love each other!!

The girls spent a long time under this table as we prepared Easter dinner.  They can colour and colour and colour!

We had a great dinner of ham, potatoes and all the fixings and dessert was birthday cake to celebrate Dave and Trish’s birthdays! 

Unfortunately after dinner we had a mishap when my sweet girl jumped down a few stairs and badly twisted her left ankle.  I couldn’t see the kids when it happened and her cry was one so intense and different from what I’d ever heard before that I had to ask Trish who was crying!   Poor pet!

Hannah still struggles with night terrors sometimes (although they have greatly decreased in number since she was younger) and this night she had a doozy at mom and dad’s before we headed home.  I always feel so bad when she goes through these and it’s hard on all around who feel so helpless when she’s in the middle of one.  Thankfully we helped her through the other side and she was none the wiser for most of it.   I got her home and a time of sweet cuddles had her drifting back to sleep for the night.  That’s good because the Easter Bunny was on the way….

Disney Cruise 2015 ~ Time to Say Goodbye

(Tues, Feb 24, 2015 and Wed, Feb 25, 2015)

After returning to the ship from Castaway Cay we washed up and I dropped Hannah off at the Oceaneer’s Club to prepare for a parent’s presentation in the Walt Disney Theater.  I used this time to accomplish more packing as our suitcases needed to be outside our door by 10:00pm. 

At 5:00 we made our way to the theatre to see our girl in action.  You need to know that before I dropped her off she was a little hesitant as she’s ‘shy’ (LOL!!) and wasn’t sure she wanted to go on stage.  Looks like she overcame her ‘shyness.’

Hannah was beaming when she came off the stage and there were high 5’s all round!

After the presentation it was time for our final dinner, this one located in Animator’s Palate once again.   The cover of our menu was cheery but still made me sad.  We were not ready for this wonderful family vacation to end!

My cherry monster.  I think she at her body’s weight in cherries this cruise!  Like mother, like daughter is all I can say though! 

Hannah with our wonderful servers Rolly and Beata.  We found out this night that this had been their first cruise together as a team as Beata had just returned to the ship after a break at home.  They had worked together like a well oiled machine and their newness was lost on us.  They started out as a team who helped us make decisions and offered meal tips and ended up as friends!

We went to the final musical in the theatre and then after some souvenir shopping Hannah and I made our way to the main atrium for a final visit and farewell to the characters.

My sweet, tuckered out princess

All too soon morning had arrived and it was time for breakfast, a final few pictures and then our flight back home.  Noooo!

We had a fabulous trip and shared precious family time together.  Oh how we love cruising with Disney!!  It was hard to head back to the ice and snow but knowing we have a future cruise tucked away in our back pocket in another couple of years made leaving slightly easier.  See ya real soon Mickey!

Disney Cruise 2015 ~ Castaway Cay

(Tuesday, Feb 24, 2015)

Our ship stopped at Castaway Cay last year but between the cooler weather and rain I can’t say we were overly impressed with Castaway Cay (*gasp!*) so this year I was neither here nor there if we stopped there again this year.  We were told that the 2 cruises on the Wonder prior to us had not been able to dock at the island so had had an extra sea day and that was just fine with me.

Well, let me be the first to admit that if this had happened this year we would have missed out on a lot!!  I now understand the love people have for Castaway Cay!!

The day dawned bright, sunny and warm and we disembarked shortly after breakfast.  I was thankful to finally get a picture of all 7 of us together!!  Not the most perfect picture but one I’m still so thankful to have!

I love this little pic that we snapped on the way off the ship.  Heh…check out Hannah’s face!

We took a tram to the second beach stop and found our spot on the beach.

Hannah spent ages digging in the sand and was a happy, happy little girl!

Many of us also went snorkelling and that was a real treat too!  There weren’t many fish but it was still a fun little adventure.

Hannah came out for a little bit and then chose to go back to the sand with the grandparents and mommy ventured off alone.  (I keep my camera in a waterproof case while near the water which is why you sometimes see round black shadows in the corners of some of my pictures.)

I ventured out quite a long ways and had to search for a while but eventually located some of the treasures sunk at Castaway Cay. 

It was fun to find these but I’ll tell you, the swim back in was a long one and I was pooped!  It was nice to stop and tread water at a couple of the lifeguard towers and get to know these folks a little bit.  It was here that I found out there are about 100 people who call CC home that live there!  I can’t imagine!!!  There is nothing…n-o-t-h-i-n-g there!  Once a month they go to FL for immigration purposes and then after working for 4 1/2 months go home for about 6 weeks.   I’m thankful they’re there but that would not be my idea for a choice of employment.

By the time I got back mom and dad had enjoyed their lunch and the rest of us went once they returned.  Cookies Too is one of the delicious BBQ restaurants featuring a number of delicious BBQ treats to eat and fresh salads too.

We got ice cream that quickly turned into ice cream soup in the beautiful sun and heat!  (We were so NOT missing the snow and cold at home!!)

By this point in the day Nana had worked her magic and talked Rebecca into going into the water.  She hadn’t brought her bathing suit and went back to the ship to get it but found out that unfortunately as she wasn’t 18 if she went back on the ship she wouldn’t be allowed to get back off.  A quick improvisation and she swam in my bathing suit cover up and some of her own clothing.  She’s not a fan of heights so we were even more impressed when she climbed up Pelican’s Plunge and rode the water slide down!  Way to go Bec!!!

Late in the day we bumped in to Hannah’s pool buddy Miranda and the girls had fun swimming together.  They could have splashed in these inner tubes for hours.

All too soon the day was drawing to a close and it was time for us to make our way back to the ship.  It was nice to be greeted with cold flavoured water to refresh us after a day of fun in the sun!

There was still much more fun and excitement before us this final day on our ship but I’ll save that for the next post.