The weather is here...I wish you were beautiful...or something like that!

Hello again, my WDWMagic peeps! Welcome back for another installment in the many adventures of SweetPee's family!

Not gonna get too organized or crazy piecing this one together. It's against the rules after such a kicked-back journey. If you don't know us yet, check out a few of the old reports in my signature. There's more than enough there for you to get to know us.

No big who, what, when, or where's for ya this time, either. Wanna know? Read more. Sometimes you just gotta go with what you get and enjoy the ride. Hope you'll come along. The more the merrier. Let's hit the highway yet again....:wave:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We would have been right there with you.

Awesome! Good times for all!

KELLY, I so have that Goonies shirt!!! And I'm going to bring it on the girls cruise (if they're still doing pirate night by then)

The little story you wrote about the man and his wife talking to you about your fellas.... definitely made me tear up reading it. It goes to show the little things people notice. You have two very handsome, respectful boys there and you should definitely be a proud mama! you done good!! (Side note, as I was wiping away my tears my sister comes into the room, looks at me and says "trip report?" God, she so knows my love for this site!!! lol)

Atlantis sounds like a blast! Something we might look into for the girls cruise.

And all those food pics look sooooo delish! Making me hungry. I'm going to enjoy my not so great spaghetti and garlic bread now... I'd so rather be eating those scallops you mentioned though!!

Oh yeah! Bring your Goonies shirt for the girls cruise and we'll represent! I'm sure they'll still be doing pirate night. It's too much of a Disney cruise signature thing. I'm so excited. We're gonna have so much fun!

Awwww...sorry to make you tear up. Seriously, it was so unexpected. Caught me off-guard. I know it sounds like I'm sitting here patting myself on the back all day but I'm forever second-guessing everything I do with the boys. For real. Taking them out of public schools and making all these choices to raise them so different from what the majority of kids are these days, it's scary! Who am I to think I'm doing things the right way??? I'm certainly not drawing from my experiences growing up. Ya know?

I wish my food pics were better. I think if I'm ever going to get consistantly not blurry, good pictures I'm going to have to bite the bullet on a DSLR and actually learn to use it. **sigh** More to spend on, more to do, more to learn. LOL!

Yes it was an awesome rate! :lol: Sadly, if we want it on the girls cruise, Stephen will have to join us. :lookaroun

Oh, no wait! I bet Comfort Suites will let us! Disney won't but Comfort Suites should!

Chase said they had an awesome time. They swam with dolphins, did the snuba diving, and ate and ate and ate. He didn't give any indication they were ever bored. But then again, they were two teenage boys (and one grandmother) in paradise. They knew better than to complain. :lol:



Such an adorable skirt! I love it!

I want a pirate menu! I'm going to have to make nice with our waiter on pirate night! The menus used to be on rolled up parchment that everyone could take. I miss that!

And the axe story? Um. Yikes!!

That was such a sweet story! I'm so glad you shared it!

I think when we start discussing our options for the girls cruise it's gonna be FUN!

I dunno, I think my boys could spend 5 days in paradise and find something to complain about....especially if they're there together. Good Lord. They fight about eeeeeeverything!

I should send you this pirate menu. I also have the final night one, too. LOL! What am I going to do with them??? I don't know why I even took them. Maybe for reference. But you would need the info more than me. Duh! I'm a freakin' clepto or something. :hammer:

Yeah, the axe story. I'm sure y'all will hear the whole thing at some point... LOL!

I was so excited when I saw there was a new trip report from you as I havn't checked on this board in a few weeks. So I may have just spent the last few hours of my May snow day give back enjoying this report instead of going to bed and being ready to teach a room of 5 year olds tomorrow. Anyway I just love your reports and here are my ramdom thoughts. I love your little family too and as I have commented before I just love how your husband likes to spoil you. Seriously he needs to teach a class to my husband on how to enjoy vacations and spoil his wife. As soon as I saw the first picture of you at dinner I wondered if that was "that dress" from the other report. So yes, I remembered the dress too! The "don't put your toes in the water" thing made me laugh out loud. Seriously. I could totally picture that being my dear three year old and my husband being mortified. I can only wish. The touching story about the man telling you at dinner about what good parents you are brought tears to my eyes. Is there any bigger compliment in the world then being told you are a good parent? As I read your reports I also always get the feeling that you have raised wonderful boys. I need a lesson in that too. Somehow I doubt anyone will be stopping me anytime soon to say what a great job I am doing as the dear son has picked up a few choice words he may possibly have heard one of his parents saying when they lost at Super Mario 3 on the ancient Nintendo. No parent of the year awards for us but I do hope my boy grows up to still love his mama. It is funny how you get such a good feel for people in these reports and I always come away from them thinking I wish I knew these people in "real" life because they seem like my kind of people. If only I could afford the girls cruise. Maybe someday...........

Awwwww....I'm honored you spent part of your day with us! More awwww that you love us! Definitely my old man is a keeper. Several years back when I worked at the Sheriff's office one of the deputies that got to know my family told me, "You'll never find another man that worships you the way Tracey does." Truer words! Yay for my hot-bod dress! Now just to find another or keep that one intact! The little announcer at Atlantis with his dad was hilarious! The boys immediately wanted to know if they ever did anything to us like that. Of course! They love hearing stories about when they were squirts. You're right, hearing from other people that you're doing a good job with your kids is one of the biggest compliments ever. Seriously. Raising my boys is my life's work, really. No promises on their language when we aren't around either. I worked in law enforcement. I was raised by ex- & retired Navy. I can make a sailor blush. Tracey & I are both actually pretty R-rated with our language just not in front of other people we aren't real tight with. And obviously not in my trip reports. LOL! One of my sis-in-law's actually allows her teens to swear. Well, not in my house but that's MY rule. Like I told my mother when the boys were little, I chewed one out in front of her for saying a bad word, and she questioned why I fussed at them for repeating what they hear: I drive a car, I hold a job, and I pay my bills. When they are men doing all those things they can say what they want to. The way we handled the swearing with teenage boys is this: I can't control what they are going to say when they're hanging out with their little friends. They're all going to swear and act a fool. I realize that. However, they WILL NOT swear within earshot of adults. They WILL maintain respect for their elders. I don't think we even come close to qualifying for parents of the year. LOL! But if someone else thinks we're doing something right, by golly, I'll take it! LOL! In real life we're like a non-stop comedy show, I think. Heehee! I wish I could afford to bring all the WDWMagic girls with us on the girls cruise. There's still a lot of time! Get a jar to drop your change in!!!

You guys looked so cute in your pirate gear! I totally went the easy route...a Pirates tee and bandana. Lame, I know!

What a sweet story about the couple who came over to your dinner table - and how sweet your boys are. You all are such a cute family. Had meant to tell you that on the cruise.

Cindy, I did just a pirate tee last September with shorts and tied my bandana in my hair like a headband. If that's lame, I'm part of that club, too!

OMG! I forgot to tell you about Brian! You mentioned in the group that whenever he'd see you he'd smile, nod, or give you an acknowledgement. He actually mentioned seeing you a lot while we were on the cruise. He told us he wasn't sure if it would be okay to speak to you or not. He didn't want to disturb you or take up your time since he's just a kid. He thought he should at least smile or something so he was polite and not ignoring you. He said, "I saw Miss Cindy a LOT! She always smiled at me when I'd smile at her. She's a nice lady. I hope that was okay." Of course! How sweet!

So glad you were able to write another post for us!!! Hooray!!

I had to post a comment about your story at dinner. It was so touching to read it. You know you have good boys when they have no problem showing affection toward their parents in public. It not only shows love but respect for both you and your hubby. Very sweet. I hope my children will be that way when they are your kids ages.

Loved your pirate night pics. LOVED your skirt. You really need to make them and sell them (and your comforter!!!) on etsy. I wish I could sew like that!!!

I can't wait to read the rest!

I'm trying to get this report done. I've been so busy and I'm supposed to be packing the house. And now I got a dang summer cold so I feel like death on a stick. I need to go back on vacation!

Awwww...thanks for the kind words about our boys. All these years it's been our goal to have a tight family. To us, family is everything. No 2 kids are alike, tho. Even my 2 are so different. As long as all of us parents are doing our best, that's all we can do. Right?

Thanks for the compliment on my pirate skirt. OMG! The ruffles were soooo brutal! I spent 2 10-hour days working on that thing. The zipper isn't perfect but it's in there solid. Zippers are my nemesis! I don't think I'd make the skirts to sell unless I could figure out my ruffler foot on my sewing machine. Seriously. Doing ruffles the traditional way is veeery labor-intensive.

Didn't even notice 'em...

Another example of being overly-self-conscious. LOL! It happens. Not many people notice unless I say something even after they've been around me a while. I notice, tho. Drives me nuts. When I first got married I wouldn't even wear my wedding ring on my left hand.

Pretty sure this is a great achievement of any mother and father. It's so sad to see parents who don't care or parents who try to act their kids age. Yes, we should never let go of our inner child. But, the balance between being a friend and being a parent is a great relationship to achieve with children. To get to that level where BOYS are not afraid to kiss their mom and dad, before they leave, in front of a whole bunch of people is so spectacular.

Thank you! I agree, I don't understand how parents and kids can be so involved with each other. You're right, tho. There is a fine line you walk with the teens especially. You can't be their friend first and parent second. It's always parent first, friend second when it's appropriate. Don't get me wrong, some kids consider us "cool" but it's usually with the premis of how the things we allow them outside the norm can benefit them. You gotta pick your battles. And teach them how to make good judgement decisions when the time comes. I love that my boys will give us a kiss and don't care who sees it. They're good boys. Really. I'm so proud.

Love all the pirate dress and pictures - what great memories!

Great job with the boys - you should be proud! And talk about great memories - very cool of that man to come over and express himself like that.

I know! I was pretty shocked when that gentleman came over and told us all that. I certainly didn't expect it. We told Brian the next day about it and he was totally perplexed as to what the big deal was. You know as well as I do, teens are pretty unpredictable. No telling what's going to come into their minds from day to day. LOL! But you know, it makes me think maybe I should pay attention more and pay that forward. As good as that gentleman made us feel, if I see the opportunity I should do the same.

 

[iloverags2]

Cindy, I did just a pirate tee last September with shorts and tied my bandana in my hair like a headband. If that's lame, I'm part of that club, too!

OMG! I forgot to tell you about Brian! You mentioned in the group that whenever he'd see you he'd smile, nod, or give you an acknowledgement. He actually mentioned seeing you a lot while we were on the cruise. He told us he wasn't sure if it would be okay to speak to you or not. He didn't want to disturb you or take up your time since he's just a kid. He thought he should at least smile or something so he was polite and not ignoring you. He said, "I saw Miss Cindy a LOT! She always smiled at me when I'd smile at her. She's a nice lady. I hope that was okay." Of course! How sweet!

Awwwwww...Brian is so sweet. He definitely should have said something...I never feel bothered by anyone. Of course if he did say something, I probably would not have heard him! :ROFLOL: And then he would've been like, "What's up with her???" :ROFLOL:

Both of your boys are good kids...a total reflection of you and Tracey.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Awwwwww...Brian is so sweet. He definitely should have said something...I never feel bothered by anyone. Of course if he did say something, I probably would not have heard him! :ROFLOL: And then he would've been like, "What's up with her???" :ROFLOL:

Both of your boys are good kids...a total reflection of you and Tracey.

I bet if Brian had talked to you it would've been difficult to hear him. We have a hard time hearing him talk frequently because he doesn't project his voice well. We've been trying to work on that especially when placing orders in restaurants. :animwink:

Awwww...thanks for the sweet compliment on our boys. They are awesome. I say this as I'm propped up in bed sick as a dog with a bad summer cold. Chandler just came in here, made me tell him a list of stuff I need (kleenex, cold meds, decaf tea, orange juice, etc), and took off to the store to do the shopping. He's going to run down to his Mimi's house just down the block to get an adult to ride with him since he only has a permit. When I dug some cash out of my wallet to send with him he fussed at me that he would buy the stuff with his money. No way! He works hard for his money. Brian has been in here checking on me and bringing me stuff I need. They take really good care of me when I need it. Such sweet boys. I just gotta brag on how wonderful my babies are to me today. :wave:

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Awesome! Good times for all!




Oh yeah! Bring your Goonies shirt for the girls cruise and we'll represent! I'm sure they'll still be doing pirate night. It's too much of a Disney cruise signature thing. I'm so excited. We're gonna have so much fun!

Awwww...sorry to make you tear up. Seriously, it was so unexpected. Caught me off-guard. I know it sounds like I'm sitting here patting myself on the back all day but I'm forever second-guessing everything I do with the boys. For real. Taking them out of public schools and making all these choices to raise them so different from what the majority of kids are these days, it's scary! Who am I to think I'm doing things the right way??? I'm certainly not drawing from my experiences growing up. Ya know?

I wish my food pics were better. I think if I'm ever going to get consistantly not blurry, good pictures I'm going to have to bite the bullet on a DSLR and actually learn to use it. **sigh** More to spend on, more to do, more to learn. LOL!

Goonies never say die!!!! lol

Well, you may be raising your boys differently than other kids right now in public schools but honestly, look at how some other kids these days are turning out. No one really knows if they're ever doing the right thing and I mean zero offense to any other parents out there but SOME kids just have NO supervision. It's like a free for all. I had a kid run and cut me off in the mall the other day and when I muttered "watch it" he turned around a flipped me off. Kid was maybe 6 years old. I was floored!! And his dad saw the whole thing and had the nerve to glare at ME! I was like woah, seriously, YOUR kid was running and bumping into me and other people, YOU were watching and did nothing to discipline him. It's absurd how kids are these days. At least homeschooling the boys you KNOW they are learning from someone who's a good example and is not just teching them the basic reading, writing, 'rithmatics, but also teaching them to be respectful human beings as well. They don't teach that in schools, that's something you learn at home and it seems some parents have forgotten to teach their children manners and respect. So you are doing a GREAT job! You derseve a pat on the back!!

And about the DSLR, I have the Nikon D3100 and I'm an idiot when it comes to fancy gadgets and stuff like that and even I have learned how to use it! Most of my photos on my TR were actually shot in auto mode, either with or without flash. I do plan on having a friend of mine teach me this summer with his D3100 how to do low lights pics and stuff like that cause I'm still not too sure about those. But buying this camera was the best decision I've made in awhile! The quality is so much better than with my point and shoot.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Sunday, May 13th is a bittersweet day. Bitter in that it's our last full day of our cruise adventure. Sweet because we're at the bestest of all ports: Castaway Cay! (<--Disney's island) I know why they save this for the last port. It's the best.

And, hey! Happy Mother's Day to me!!!! Yep, this is the best way to spend Mother's Day!!!!! It'll be tough to top it, that's for sure!

I set my alarm to get up at 7:30 so I could make sure Brian had time to eat a little something before he headed out on his teens-only excursion today. He didn't come in until 3:30 a.m. last night so he should be pleasant. Good luck to the teens & the councelors.

Tracey snapped a picture from our balcony as we approached the island:

Tracey, Chandler, & I were in no big rush this morning. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at Parrot Cay at 8:30 or so. Love that buffet! Chandler had a serious case of the sillies going on this morning:

I guess it was around 9:30-ish when we walked off the ship. Brian & the rest of the teens in his excursion were just in front of us leaving the ship to start their adventure. Chandler used a proper "Disney point" to show me where our balcony is:

And we stopped to get a picture of the 3 of us to commemorate Chandler's first foray onto CC:

The detail in everything you see is just amazing. I swear this island is one of the most photogenic places I've ever been:

Oh! Then there's the crew having their safety training. That's interesting to watch. There was 1 girl in the bunch who was a bit reluctant to jump off into the water. She was fun to watch. When she finally did we all cheered for her. Being the big Deadliest Catch fans that we are, I couldn't resist a picture with the survival suits:

Chandler saw this sign and was like, "Um, why are here again???"

All that before we got to the tram stop! LOL! So while we were waiting for the tram to arrive I entertained myself with mooooore pictures:

Even at the tram stop, look up! There's going to be more fun details everywhere!

We rode the tram all the way out to Pelican Point. We wandered over to the beach and found a quiet spot under an umbrella to set up camp. Lovin' this dang island!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We ended up "camping" near the wedding venue. Looks like we might be wedding crashers today:

The 3 of us headed straight to Pelican Plunge to give it a whirl. Wish I'd taken pics. That water was coooold. Tracey & Chandler both were squealing getting in. We only went down the enclosed slide. I wish we'd done the other one, too, but Chandler was happy to just do the one. After that he wanted to look around the island some so we did some walking and picture taking.

Geez, even the restrooms are picture-worthy. I liked this: "Daughters" & "Suns":

I turned around and made Tracey stand by this sign so I could take a pic:

The Spring-A-Leak water play area for the little squirts:

We walked out to the air strip to show it to Chandler. We also spotted the teen's "Hideout". We returned to our little spot under the umbrella and became official wedding crashers. I shamelessly creeped these pics along with a dozen other random people:

I love the decorated cart waiting to whisk the newlyweds away:

Funny story! When we returned to our chairs and the wedding was started there was another family in some other chairs nearby also watching. The husband was rubbing lotion on the wife. Tracey in all his comedic glory looks over at the wedding and says quietly, "I can't believe we have to watch something this sad...poor guy..." The wife kinda shot a look over her shoulder at Tracey but the husband behind her totally bit back a laugh. A few moments later the wife walked off. Tracey apologized to the husband in case he just miffed the dude's old lady. The guy laughed and said, "She's not mad. I couldn't laugh...Mother's Day and all....but it's like watching a funeral, isn't it?????" They had them a good man-laugh together! :lol:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I think Chandler just laid in the shade while Tracey & I meandered out to the point to see what's there. We found the Heads Up Bar!

This was a neat, random detail. It was attached to one of the dock pilings:

I made Tracey stand for another picture:

Then he wanted to get one of the two of us with the ship behind us. Not the easiest to self-take. Attempt #1:

Attempt #2 almost made it:

Attempt #3 still wasn't it:

#4. WTH?!?!

#5! Finally! It ain't perfect but it will have to do!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Then Tracey took a pic of me with the ship behind me:

Zoomed out. Yikes! Not lookin' so swell in that 2-piece after 4 days of cruise eating! Told ya so!

We went back and grabbed Chandler. We were on the hunt for some ice cream and maybe some fruit. Found the ice cream:

Not officially open yet but we were able to get some fruit to munch on:

Having a snack.

So much to look at everywhere!

I love when things are repurposed. When something is used for a purpose that isn't at all what it was made for is another level of creativity that I love. So when I noticed how old box pallets had been repurposed into fencing I was totally geeking out:

More awesome signage:

Chandler decided to go check out the "Hideout". We could see Felipe sitting in the shade over there so he was off to hang with one of his buddies. Tracey & I hopped a tram back to the adults beach just so we could actually see it this time. Here we are at the adult beach:

Lovin' on the details:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

And there's the beach. Yep, we saw it.

Bar at the adults beach:

You can rent bikes back here, too:

Adults grub. Yep, the adults get steak. That's not served at the family eatery. Eat your heart out, kids! Disney knows who's footing the bill!

I think I was trying to figure out what the purpose of this totem-type parts sculpture was. It doesn't have a purpose. Just an ornamental thing made of random parts. Well, I love it!

Back out to the family beach. We spotted a Disney photog wandering about so we hit him up for a picture or two. Later this evening when I saw this next shot I blurted out, "Good Lord! I look like I'm pregnant again!!!!" LOL! I'm tellin' you, unrestrained cruise eating will do this to you!

Muuuuch better!

Chandler was still at The Hideout. Brian wasn't done excursion'ing yet. Tracey & I sat in the shade and relaxed. I caught up my notes and we took a little cat nap of sorts. We were getting pretty hungry so we made our way back over to Cookies II to see what kinda grub we could dig up. Here's a picture looking into where all the food is prepped:

The grill:

And our plates:

I liked the couscous salad stuff. Nothing really note-worthy. We both thought all the food was pretty standard. Tracey didn't think the bbq was all that great. You gotta understand, tho. We live in Texas. We hold bbq to some pretty tough standards. We aren't easy to impress when it comes to bbq and steak. We're glad we ate on the island since that's something we didn't do last time we were there. I think for future trips we'll eat onboard the ship. We both think the food is better there.

 

[fractal]

Love the pics of Castaway Cay!

Disney should really do a Caribbean Resort. That would certainly help with my vacation planning.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

After lunch both Chandler & Brian showed up at Cookies II. Brian wasn't the happiest with us for making him leave the group with us but we were pretty done with the island for now. We wanted to cool off and catch a rest before our afternoon family excursion. I didn't know if he'd be able to get back on the ship without us so we just made him come with us. With little sleep the night before, he needed to rest, too.

Heading back to the ship:

Hhhmmm....familiar name here....

We all took showers, laid down, and took solid naps. Brian literally passed out on the sofa. At 2:45 we got up & got dressed. Brian was difficult to rouse but he came around. We were back off the ship at about 3:30:

Noteworthy story: Tracey & I carried our non-descript tumblers with drinky-drinks mixed in them off the ship. When we snapped the 2 pics above the CMs made us put our drinks out of the picture. They said they can't prove or disprove what's in the tumblers so they are supposed to keep the drinks out of the picture. Okee-dokee. Thought that was interesting, tho.


Just can't resist the scenery:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

What would we get back off the ship to do this afternoon??? Well, when we were planning this vacation we asked both boys what would be the excursions they each would want to do most on Castaway Cay. Brian wanted to go do the teen thing with the snorkeling and kayaking. I would've guessed this one. Brian loves being outside, loves critters, loves doing all the adventurous things. Chandler wanted to go parasailing. That one surprised us. Chandler doesn't like heights. He tends to be reserved and skittish especially when it's something he's never done before. For him to want to do something so out there and up high was really interesting.

Here's our ride for the parasailing:

Here's some pics on our way out before the parasailing began:

As soon as we came out from the protected waters behind the ship the little boat we were on was seriously rocking. It was F-U-N! See how much more chop was in the water out in the open:

That little boat we were on was pitching good. We loved it.

We had 2 other ladies with us. They were each there solo but they got paired for the first flight. While they were up I tried to take some other pics just to remember the fun:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Next up was Tracey & Brian!

Coming down:

Gettin' a dip!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Then it was time for Chandler & me to go up. Tracey wasn't on-point with the picture taking as me. I saw him yapping away with the other ladies onboard while we were going up. I wanted to kick him. LOL! When we took off Chandler screamed like a woman! He grabbed onto me in front of him and was generally freaking out. I wish the pictures reflected it. I thought it was pretty funny!

It wasn't until we got all the way up before Chandler started to calm down. I had to talk him thru it. I pointed to stuff in the distance, pointed to the ship, got him looking around and relaxing. I kept telling him to relaaaaax...to enjoy the riiiiiiide....we're flyyyyyying....it's fuuuuuun.... and he calmed down. I'm glad I was the one who went up with him. LOL!

In no time we were on our way back down. Tracey really did fail with the photography here. LOL!

Down for the dip...and trying to keep it from happening...we still got wet from the waist down...LOL!

Aaaaaand...that was it. Parasailing done. It was very fast. Definitely a lot of money for only a little wow but no regrets. The only one of the 4 of us who had parasailed before was Tracey. It was fun to have another first. And, hello! Who can pass up the chance to parasail for their first time at Castaway Cay?!?!

Heading back to the ship in a state of total bliss:

There was a line to get onboard the ship at the gang plank at the back of the ship. Buuuut, if you just walk a little farther there was a totally empty one at the front.

We returned to our room and found some lovely gifts from Andreia, our concierge. We showered, dressed, and started the awful task of packing up. Sad face. We watched our pushing off from the island.

Here was our last sunset from our balcony:

Last dusky view from the living room in our stateroom:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Just like last September, Tracey & I decided to forego the final show in lieu of getting things squared away that we still needed to do. We went to Shutters to make our big photo purchase. We were methodical here. We rounded up every picture that was taken of us then counted how many we wanted to purchase one of. We came out to like 20 or so shots we wanted. At $20 a piece we opted for the photo cd for $249.99. Is it stupid expensive? Yes. Were we leaving without those pics? Nope. What can ya do? They got ya by the cahones with those pictures. Might as well just buck up and get 'em. We also had to pick up our purchases from the island shop that we had shipped back earlier in the day. Even though we didn't run it this go around, we bought Brian (& me...& Tammy's hubby per her request) a CC5k tshirt. We bought Chandler a Castaway Cay tshirt while we were picking up the package.

We met back up with the boys at the stateroom before heading off to dinner at Parrot Cay. Here's an elevator shot. We were all pretty bummed at this point. The cruise was coming to an end entirely too fast:

On the way in they had a display with these pretty cakes for Mother's Day:

Waiting at my spot at the table was my iced tea with extra lemon and Splenda:

In case you're wondering, I also have the menu for tonight sitting on my sewing table. When Som handed me my menu he said, "Miss Kellyyyyyy...remember...I not see a thing...no...not looking..." LOL! My appetizer was the potato with goat cheese and balsamic. It was pretty good:

Tracey had this stuffed tomato thing:

I don't even remember what the rest of the dishes we ordered were and I didn't write it down. I know Som brought extra scallops for Tracey & Chandler again, tho.

I took a pic of the dessert menu, tho. LOL!

Apparently I had 2 desserts again tonight:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We had a fantastic farewell dinner with Som, I Wayan, and Ana. Gonna miss them so much!

We returned to our room and found this:

I tried my best to get a pic of the little chocolate coins. They said 'Happy Mother's Day' on them!

We took a short break from the packing to go back to the shops 1 last time to pick up a little thank you gift for a someone special. ((Now to actually make it out to the dang post office to send it out!)) The ship felt so dead this last night. We didn't remember it feeling that way on the Dream last September. It was depressing, really. Tracey & I were in bed by midnight. Chandler came in at about 12:30. I don't even know what time Brian came in. Chandler says it was at 4:30. He fell on the stairs coming back and hurt his hand. Think it's just a sprain. We'll have to wait and see how he does.

 

[iloverags2]

I bet if Brian had talked to you it would've been difficult to hear him. We have a hard time hearing him talk frequently because he doesn't project his voice well. We've been trying to work on that especially when placing orders in restaurants. :animwink:

Awwww...thanks for the sweet compliment on our boys. They are awesome. I say this as I'm propped up in bed sick as a dog with a bad summer cold. Chandler just came in here, made me tell him a list of stuff I need (kleenex, cold meds, decaf tea, orange juice, etc), and took off to the store to do the shopping. He's going to run down to his Mimi's house just down the block to get an adult to ride with him since he only has a permit. When I dug some cash out of my wallet to send with him he fussed at me that he would buy the stuff with his money. No way! He works hard for his money. Brian has been in here checking on me and bringing me stuff I need. They take really good care of me when I need it. Such sweet boys. I just gotta brag on how wonderful my babies are to me today. :wave:

I guess it was around 9:30-ish when we walked off the ship. Brian & the rest of the teens in his excursion were just in front of us leaving the ship to start their adventure. Chandler used a proper "Disney point" to show me where our balcony is:

The detail in everything you see is just amazing. I swear this island is one of the most photogenic places I've ever been:
Chandler saw this sign and was like, "Um, why are here again???"

Even at the tram stop, look up! There's going to be more fun details everywhere!

Funny story! When we returned to our chairs and the wedding was started there was another family in some other chairs nearby also watching. The husband was rubbing lotion on the wife. Tracey in all his comedic glory looks over at the wedding and says quietly, "I can't believe we have to watch something this sad...poor guy..." The wife kinda shot a look over her shoulder at Tracey but the husband behind her totally bit back a laugh. A few moments later the wife walked off. Tracey apologized to the husband in case he just miffed the dude's old lady. The guy laughed and said, "She's not mad. I couldn't laugh...Mother's Day and all....but it's like watching a funeral, isn't it?????" They had them a good man-laugh together! :lol:

Then he wanted to get one of the two of us with the ship behind us. Not the easiest to self-take. Attempt #1:

I love when things are repurposed. When something is used for a purpose that isn't at all what it was made for is another level of creativity that I love. So when I noticed how old box pallets had been repurposed into fencing I was totally geeking out:

You can rent bikes back here, too:

I liked the couscous salad stuff. Nothing really note-worthy. We both thought all the food was pretty standard. Tracey didn't think the bbq was all that great. You gotta understand, tho. We live in Texas. We hold bbq to some pretty tough standards. We aren't easy to impress when it comes to bbq and steak. We're glad we ate on the island since that's something we didn't do last time we were there. I think for future trips we'll eat onboard the ship. We both think the food is better there.

Noteworthy story: Tracey & I carried our non-descript tumblers with drinky-drinks mixed in them off the ship. When we snapped the 2 pics above the CMs made us put our drinks out of the picture. They said they can't prove or disprove what's in the tumblers so they are supposed to keep the drinks out of the picture. Okee-dokee. Thought that was interesting, tho.

Oh no! Hope you feel better soon. Summer colds are the pits.

Russ is pretty much the only person I can hear! Thank God for lip reading! (Learned that from my mom who is completely deaf in one ear.) Funny story from a meeting this morning. One of my co-workers (she and I handle each other's work when the other is out...and in fact she used to be my boss when we were both in another department) completely gets and understands my hearing loss issues. So at a meeting this morning, someone had called in on the conference line and this person was directing some comments at me (knowing full well I probably could not understand her). Tina, my co-worker, is like signing to me - in our own weirdo sign language - what the person on the phone was saying. Both of us were trying so hard not to crack up because we must have looked completely ridiculous!

On to the cruise comments!

Awesome you have brought up Chandler so well that he even knows to use the proper Disney two-finger point! I do that sometimes without even realizing it! :ROFLOL:

So funny about the sign and barracudas. Mention to Chandler there was a barracuda out at Serenity Bay. How do I know this, you ask? Well the dang thing decided to come after me! I'm frantically running back to shore (over a rocky area, no less) and Russ is yelling at me, "What is it? What's wrong?" And I'm going, "What? What did you say?" as I am trying to run without falling down. All I could finally get out was, "Barracuda! Barracuda!" Russ decided to meander in and see it. He saw it, but neither one of us got a picture. Idiots! (At least I have an excuse...I was running in the opposite direction.)

Ooooooh....I totally missed my little boat in the tram stop.

The wedding story is hilarious! Poor guy married to dart-eyes.

You guys did rather well with your self-portrait attempts. Ours usually come out with gigantic faces and nothing else.

And I totally missed those repurposed pallets. (I actually "borrowed" one from Home Depot...needed something to prop the tent in the backyard up on so the kitties who have made our yard their home don't get too soaked when it rains.)

Get this - the bike rentals can be picked up and returned at two different spots. We picked ours up near the family beach and returned them at Serenity Bay. Just a tidbit of useless info.

We no longer eat meat, but I will say I agree on the BBQ from what I remember (we have pretty good stuff in NE Florida as well). Since their vegetarian offerings at Cookies were pretty lacking, we each had a meatless sandwich! :ROFLOL: The buns looked pretty good with the lettuce, tomato, and cheese piled on them...we just added a few more things. I'm guessing it was better than with the meat! :ROFLOL:

Interesting about the drinks in the tumblers. Well, at least they didn't confiscate them!


Take care of yourself and feel better soon!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Monday, May 14th. Doom-n-gloom Day! Ugh! All good things have to come to an end, right?

I was up twice during the night with an upset stomach again. Either I had a touch of something or all the rich food really didn't like me. Tracey & I felt us pulling into the port around 5 a.m. We got up and started getting ready to go at about 5:45. We were set to go at 6:30. No, we didn't put our luggage out the night before. That's just never seemed like the thing to do when we have 4 people to carry stuff off. We had 2nd seating which meant we weren't scheduled to go to the dining room for breakfast until 8. Geez, we wanted to be gone by then. We opted to hit Topsiders. Tracey & I have been on this ship for 5 days and have yet to eat at the buffet so Topsiders it was for our final meal. After breakfast we went back to our room to grab all our luggage and head on out. Time of debarkation was about 7:30.

Goodbye, Magic. It was a grand adventure.

We were through customs and in the car at 7:45. Very fast and uneventful. Looking back is such sweet sorrow:

Just so you remember your place in the world (lol) you get one last hit in the ol' pocket book....with a $90 parking bill....

Okay. Back to my goodbye misery.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

On the way back towards Orlando. You don't think they had a helluva good time on this cruise, do ya???

We didn't stop by the Disney property at all. Tracey wanted to make tracks towards home. It was going to be a long haul to say the very least.

We were at the Pet Paradise to get Riley at about 10:00. Tracey had to keep her outside the truck while I finished up my phone call because she was going absolutely berzerk over seeing me. I had to finish my important business, tho. Tracey's family are all going on a big family cruise on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas for Thanksgiving of 2013. The dates released for booking while we were on our cruise so I had to hurry and secure our staterooms before the prices shot too high. Ugh!

I took some Riley pictures during the ride home:

As soon as I snapped that first picture she turned towards Brian:

Then she looked back at me. You cannot tell me dogs don't smile or express total bliss. Riley Belle was so happy to have her family back:

We only stopped twice for gas & food. We walked the dog when we stopped. I think we had one other driver switch. That was it. We stayed on the road kicking for home. We arrived between 8:45 & 9:00 p.m. Factor in the time zone change and we were on the road just over 14 hours. Not bad at all.

:wave:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Goonies never say die!!!! lol

Well, you may be raising your boys differently than other kids right now in public schools but honestly, look at how some other kids these days are turning out. No one really knows if they're ever doing the right thing and I mean zero offense to any other parents out there but SOME kids just have NO supervision. It's like a free for all. I had a kid run and cut me off in the mall the other day and when I muttered "watch it" he turned around a flipped me off. Kid was maybe 6 years old. I was floored!! And his dad saw the whole thing and had the nerve to glare at ME! I was like woah, seriously, YOUR kid was running and bumping into me and other people, YOU were watching and did nothing to discipline him. It's absurd how kids are these days. At least homeschooling the boys you KNOW they are learning from someone who's a good example and is not just teching them the basic reading, writing, 'rithmatics, but also teaching them to be respectful human beings as well. They don't teach that in schools, that's something you learn at home and it seems some parents have forgotten to teach their children manners and respect. So you are doing a GREAT job! You derseve a pat on the back!!

And about the DSLR, I have the Nikon D3100 and I'm an idiot when it comes to fancy gadgets and stuff like that and even I have learned how to use it! Most of my photos on my TR were actually shot in auto mode, either with or without flash. I do plan on having a friend of mine teach me this summer with his D3100 how to do low lights pics and stuff like that cause I'm still not too sure about those. But buying this camera was the best decision I've made in awhile! The quality is so much better than with my point and shoot.

Oh my! A little kid flipped you off?! WTH?! Ask my boys what I'd have done if they ever did something like that. It's funny, that's actually a reoccuring theme with them when they see other kids acting up. "OMG, Mom! If I had done that I'd be dead" or "Holy cow! What would you do if that was us?" These are also the moments when Chandler says, "I'm serious, Mom. I'm never having kids." I keep telling him it's different when they're your own because you can do something about the poor behavior. We certainly had our moments over the years. Chandler was teeeeerrible with the tantrums at 2 years old. I remember the final few clearly because I'd had enough and wouldn't even attempt to communicate with him when he'd get that bad. That's what ended it, tho. He wasn't getting a reaction. LOL! Oh and then there was the time before Christmas when the boys were littler guys, 5 & 6 or so, and we were in the bank for me to take care of some business. I warned them going in that if they didn't stand quietly with me I'd call Santa. Didn't take long and they were rolling on the ground acting like fools. Got out to the car and I called Santa on my cell phone. ((Tracey put me on speaker-phone so his whole office could hear the fun unfold.)) Both boys were hysterical begging and pleading, apologizing, etc. I'll never forget biting my lip while Chandler was behind me in his booster seat screeching how his life was oooooover now that Santa knew he was a bad boy. :ROFLOL: So, yeah, if one of my boys had flipped anyone off at 6 years old...hell, if they flipped off an adult now...I'd bust a foot off in their butts. Then they'd be apologizing. I'm not down with disrespect. That's one thing I've never tolerated.

Love the pics of Castaway Cay!

Disney should really do a Caribbean Resort. That would certainly help with my vacation planning.

Well, Disney does have Hilton Head Island and Vero Beach resorts... Just sayin'! :wave:

Oh no! Hope you feel better soon. Summer colds are the pits.

Russ is pretty much the only person I can hear! Thank God for lip reading! (Learned that from my mom who is completely deaf in one ear.) Funny story from a meeting this morning. One of my co-workers (she and I handle each other's work when the other is out...and in fact she used to be my boss when we were both in another department) completely gets and understands my hearing loss issues. So at a meeting this morning, someone had called in on the conference line and this person was directing some comments at me (knowing full well I probably could not understand her). Tina, my co-worker, is like signing to me - in our own weirdo sign language - what the person on the phone was saying. Both of us were trying so hard not to crack up because we must have looked completely ridiculous!

On to the cruise comments!

Awesome you have brought up Chandler so well that he even knows to use the proper Disney two-finger point! I do that sometimes without even realizing it! :ROFLOL:

So funny about the sign and barracudas. Mention to Chandler there was a barracuda out at Serenity Bay. How do I know this, you ask? Well the dang thing decided to come after me! I'm frantically running back to shore (over a rocky area, no less) and Russ is yelling at me, "What is it? What's wrong?" And I'm going, "What? What did you say?" as I am trying to run without falling down. All I could finally get out was, "Barracuda! Barracuda!" Russ decided to meander in and see it. He saw it, but neither one of us got a picture. Idiots! (At least I have an excuse...I was running in the opposite direction.)

Ooooooh....I totally missed my little boat in the tram stop.

The wedding story is hilarious! Poor guy married to dart-eyes.

You guys did rather well with your self-portrait attempts. Ours usually come out with gigantic faces and nothing else.

And I totally missed those repurposed pallets. (I actually "borrowed" one from Home Depot...needed something to prop the tent in the backyard up on so the kitties who have made our yard their home don't get too soaked when it rains.)

Get this - the bike rentals can be picked up and returned at two different spots. We picked ours up near the family beach and returned them at Serenity Bay. Just a tidbit of useless info.

We no longer eat meat, but I will say I agree on the BBQ from what I remember (we have pretty good stuff in NE Florida as well). Since their vegetarian offerings at Cookies were pretty lacking, we each had a meatless sandwich! :ROFLOL: The buns looked pretty good with the lettuce, tomato, and cheese piled on them...we just added a few more things. I'm guessing it was better than with the meat! :ROFLOL:

Interesting about the drinks in the tumblers. Well, at least they didn't confiscate them!


Take care of yourself and feel better soon!

So funny about your meeting! I totally could picture that! LOL!

We told Chandler about your barracuda sighting! Tracey has told several people that story. I think the visual you gave when you told us about it was just that good: you running the other way while Russ was trying to figure out what was wrong. Then he went out to go look! Yikes!

Yep, your boat is waiting at the tram stop near the ship! When we saw it Chandler & I both said, "Hey! Miss Cindy has a boat stored here! Cool!"

If you ride the tram out to Pelican Point and the little tram out to the adult beach they use the repurposed pallets a LOT. I was totally captivated by the idea! I love the way they did that. They use them to fence off a lot of the service areas behind Cookies, etc. You see them more on the way out. Plus, they have them stacked to make really tall privacy fencing. Too dang cool.

Didn't know that about the bike rentals. That's good info. It's hot out there. I just didn't think riding a bike was the thing to do. I'd love to go to CC in the winter time. I wonder what it's like! Prob'ly much better for bike riding!

Yeah, I'm thinking next time we are at CC we'll go out to the beach early then return to the ship for lunch and a nap before enjoying the later afternoon on the island. I love how empty the island is in the later afternoon. And OMG! Let me just tell you how sparse the people feel when you're visiting Castaway Cay via one of the classic ships vs. the big new ones. Wow! What a difference!!!!!

Uh, definitely was glad not to have our drinky-drinks confiscated or dumped. We even took them on the parasailing boat with us. Sip sip sippin' away.... :slurp: