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]

Kelly, I agree with everyone else, you look fabulous in your bathing suit!! (I know you can hear it 100 times, and still not believe it. I struggle with weight issues too, I've lost 52 lbs but still see myself as the "fatter" me) But really, you look great!

Fantastic trip report so far! I love your style of writing. I've said it before, but I always feel like I can hear you talking when I read your writing. So fun! Looking forward to more :sohappy:

Oh thank you! You're right. It's all in how you perceive yourself, not how you look at all. I was my heaviest non-pregnancy weight after I had Brian. 3 years after he was born I still was a size 18. It was a long, hard road...one I still fight daily. It never stops. Yay for your weight loss! That's great! I feel ya. Seriously. I do!

Glad you're enjoying the adventure. I love that you can hear me. Some of those videos you really *can* hear me. LOL! Like the one with the pilot hopping off the ship after we set sail. My favorite part of that one is the end when I tell Tracey he didn't miss it and ask if he's happy. So cute that man is! Just like a little kid!

 

[LuLaSue]

I loved the Palo brunch so much even with my stomach not cooperating. My only regret was that I couldn't stay longer and eat more. I really wasn't feeling right, tho, and I didn't want to ruin myself for the rest of the day. Next time it's no-holds-barred. I'm gonna tear up that grub!

Beautiful photo!

 

[Kristia]

What the H E double hockey sticks is up with them doing maintenance on the running deck in the morning? Same thing when I went and I was so bummed.

Brunch at Palo looks SOOOOO good! I tried to book it when we made our cruise reservations but it was already full. Next time I think we will go there instead of dinner if we can get in. I am so much more a breakfast girl than a dinner girl!

How neat to see a submarine drill!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Tracey & I headed to our stateroom. We took a bit of a cat nap considering we'd gotten up so early. When we woke we changed into our island duds and get ready for our much anticipated Key West visit. Key West is what we booked this itinerary for! I'd been there as a small child, maybe 3 or 4, right after my parents divorced. I have very faint memories of it. Tracey had never been. We always wondered if we'd like it and wanted to give it a shot. Strange considering we aren't really beachy people. Even as the ship approached the dock we definitely got the feeling we wouldn't be disappointed.

We were off the ship in the first few to walk off. I noted the time as 12:10. Our all-ashore time was listed as 12:30 so we were actually early.

Our sweet ride into town:

The only down to Key West (other than the heat) was that RCI's Majesty of the Seas beat us there. They docked at the main pier while we got bumped to the outter pier that's actually on the military base. They had trolleys, busses, and trams waiting for us when we stepped off the gang plank to give us a lift into Mallory Square, action central for the touristy stuff. On the ride oto Mallory Square we got some pics of our newest love, Disney's Magic. You can see that ol' Majesty thing that took our parkin' spot over there on the right. Wouldn't it be cool to be able to do the Kathy Bates from Fried Green Tomatos, ram 'em outta your spot?! LOL!

Mallory Square was a madhouse which I anticipated. There's 2 cruise ships in town. It's gonna be wild. We waded thru the chaos and found a lady who was renting electric carts. She hooked us up with a 4-seater. Chandler was a bit paniced over the absolute craziness in the square. A guy showed up within minutes to take a load of folks who were getting carts to where they were located. There wasn't room for all 4 of us but it was only a block away. The fella pointed where to go if I didn't want to wait for Tracey to come back to get us. No problem. The boys and I started walking in the direction of the cart place.

Ugh! And I almost fell over from excitement when I spotted THE Lily Pulitzer store!!!! O.M.G. No, I don't have a bunch of Lily clothes althought I totally love the company's backstory and love the style. Not gonna lie, the stuff is pretty pricey even for me. But, I look at the fabrics and the styles for inspiration. Do you know how easy those styles are to make??? Find the right fabrics and it's not hard to recreate that feel with simple modified patterns.

Sorry for the drift. So we met back up with Tracey and tried to make heads or tails of the map we were handed upon arrival at Mallory Square. We had a destination to make for our privately booked excursion. We'd all been itchin' for this one the MOST! Unfortunately, I'm not a good map person unless there's landmarks for me.

On our way, we wanted to drive by the Southernmost Point to see if there was a long line for the photo op. I've read the line can be pretty long. And hot. Oh look! There it is. Long line and all. We didn't stop.

There's the navy base!!!

I also called our excursion guide when we got on the island to let him know we were there just as I had been instructed. He let me know his schedule was running a little behind so instead of meeting at 2:30 it would be more like 3. We didn't want to do too much riding around because we wanted to be sure our cart had the juice to get us to/from our meeting spot without running out. The last thing I want is to be stranded in the sweltering sun out here. On the way as we took wrong turns, back-tracked, hung illegal u-turns, etc. ((I was totally laughing at Tracey's crazy driving!)) I started snapping random pics. I liked not being in the tourist areas seeing the way the natives live. Very veeeery different from what is the ordinary residential areas at home.

I think I could live like this!

Even garbage cans look less terrible here:

High school, boys? Even in paradise they both agreed they get the better locale homeschoolin' with me. Awwww...

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Beautiful photo!

Thank you! :kiss:

What the H E double hockey sticks is up with them doing maintenance on the running deck in the morning? Same thing when I went and I was so bummed.

Brunch at Palo looks SOOOOO good! I tried to book it when we made our cruise reservations but it was already full. Next time I think we will go there instead of dinner if we can get in. I am so much more a breakfast girl than a dinner girl!

How neat to see a submarine drill!

I know! What are they thinking??? The brunch was great. We had dinner booked also but my stomach wasn't up to it so we rescheduled. Then, it being a shorter cruise, the timing was conflicting so we cancelled. Next time... When you got onboard did you go see if there was any brunches available then? I think I read that they hold back like 40% or something like that of the availablity for onboard booking. Also, if you check throughout the cruise cancellations generate openings. :wave:

 

[diddy_mouse]

Yay! I love your trip reports!

Glad to see pictures of Typhoon Lagoon. We haven't been there since '05 but I looooved that wave pool and lazy river. Great idea heading there before hopping on the Magic! Oh and your swimsuit? You totally rocked it!

*sigh* one of these days I'll get on a cruise. I haven't found a single thing I don't like about these ships (did that make sense? :lol I suppose the hard part is choosing which one to cruise on first.

Looking forward to reading more!

P.S. Your Minnie quilt is adorable!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Almost there:

Where could we be going??? The airport! I love that they kept the old terminal building even if it's not the main terminal anymore. Love that style!

I had to take this picture. We went to Cabanas....even though the Magic's buffet isn't Cabanas (it's Topsiders)!

That building on the right is where we went.

And THIS is gonna be our ride for our tour!

Tracey is a huuuuuge aviation buff. I'm sure you've heard me mention this before. His "WooWoo" was retired USAir Corps/USAF. He fudged his birth certificate to join just before the end of WWII. He ended up doing cold weather testing, flying B-17s and other aircraft up in Fairbanks, Alaska. After he retired he held his teaching certification so he was always up in the air. He took Tracey flying every weekend when he was a squirt. Later, WooWoo had heart troubles and got his license pulled for medical reasons. He worked a fun job at a pet store and helped Tracey fund his private pilot lessons when he was 16. Tracey was only 10 hours shy of his license. Yes, he's solo'd and everything. He wanted to finish but then he met me and priorities shifted. Tracey has never lost touch with his love of all things aviation. For years now he's flown flight sims at home. We've taken a few "rides" out at small airports with people we knew or just paid for the fun. When looking at Key West and what to do all I could think of was Jimmy Buffett (I used to be a huuuuge fan) and his sea planes. Sea planes are one thing that's been on our bucket list from the start. So, to celebrate Tracey's 40th birthday (5/15) it was decided we'd take a private sea plane tour. No, it's not cheap. Well, it was less expensive than Disney's Atlantis Aquaventure in Nassau. LOL! For information sake, it was $645 including tax for 50 minutes, up to 5 people. We had a splash-n-go, a water landing, and a water take-off. Originally I wanted to go for a couple hours, float up to an uninhabited area or sandbar, and stick our toes in the water. Yeah, that was quoted at $1600. Yikes. 50 minutes will do just fiiiine!

So we got to airport early. Our tour was originally scheduled for 2:30 but knew our pilot, Nicholi, was going to be more like 3:00 from my phone call earlier. He told me he'd call when he was leaving Miami with passengers he was bringing in then he'd be an hour out. Well, he didn't call until more like 2:30 so the tour fell even further behind since he was an hour away. Noooo problem, mon. We're on island time. Time to do as the locals do. Find some shade, some cool drinks to sip, and relax. Brian was catching up on his zzzz's:

How do you just sit and relax with all the awesome aircraft all around?!

We watched planes and people coming and going from our perch on the porch. I don't think we could've been happier, really. This was right up our alley! Then Nicholi finally arrived and we were off to our plane. That's Nicholi carrying the chalks in over on the left:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Yay! I love your trip reports!

Glad to see pictures of Typhoon Lagoon. We haven't been there since '05 but I looooved that wave pool and lazy river. Great idea heading there before hopping on the Magic! Oh and your swimsuit? You totally rocked it!

*sigh* one of these days I'll get on a cruise. I haven't found a single thing I don't like about these ships (did that make sense? :lol I suppose the hard part is choosing which one to cruise on first.

Looking forward to reading more!

P.S. Your Minnie quilt is adorable!

Thank you! I love writing the reports!!!

Thanks for the swimsuit comment. Yay! I'm not as hideous as I feel!!!

You really gotta find a way to get on a Disney boat. I'm telling you, you won't be sorry. I'd almost suggest one of the smaller ships but then there's so many pro's to the new ones, too. Just don't go expecting to know everything the way we all do at the parks. You learned there and you gotta learn on the ships. I fell into the failed expectations and I've seen it happen with the noobs on our cruise group this time. It's a different vacation. It's Disney but laid baaaaack....

Oh! I love my Minnie quilt, too. I planned it, cut every square, every bit of it purely for myself. Very unusual. Generally if I make something the majority of the fun is gifting it to someone I love. No, my first real quilt was going to be mine. And it really is in every way! :wave:

 

[Kristia]

Thank you! :kiss:




I know! What are they thinking??? The brunch was great. We had dinner booked also but my stomach wasn't up to it so we rescheduled. Then, it being a shorter cruise, the timing was conflicting so we cancelled. Next time... When you got onboard did you go see if there was any brunches available then? I think I read that they hold back like 40% or something like that of the availablity for onboard booking. Also, if you check throughout the cruise cancellations generate openings. :wave:

I was thinking about checking but didn't. I figured we would have enough food to satisfy us. You can't do everything you want on the first cruise right? :lol: Next time definitely!!!!!

 

[pumpkin7]

awesome report so far.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I was thinking about checking but didn't. I figured we would have enough food to satisfy us. You can't do everything you want on the first cruise right? :lol: Next time definitely!!!!!

Good golly, there's enough food to satisfy an army of finicky eaters on the boats! :slurp: Definitely can't do it all on the first cruise. Or the second. Gotta keep savin' a little somethin' for those future cruises.. :animwink:

awesome report so far.

Thank you! :wave:

 

[NewfieFan]

Yay, you're home and writing a TR already... well, somebody is on the ball!

Lovin' it so far! Glad you guys had a blast at TL (the water parks is our new fave thing to do at WDW). You totally took a lot of pictures there too - how did you do that? I take my camera and lock it in the locker and don't see it the whole day. Maybe I need to take out the camera next time and get a few shots!?! (BTW, my kids call him Swampy too!) And you look great in a bikini, whatcha talkin' about woman!!! I feel self conscious too but then when I get to the water park and see folks in their bathing suits with everything that God gave them hanging out... I don't feel so bad! :animwink:

I love your family cruise shot, it turned out quite nice! I can't believe the room you had, how awesome is that! And I love the quilt you brought... can you make me one *bats eyelashes*? These cruise TRs are killing me, I'm going to have to break down and book it one of these days...

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Nicholi got us all seated in our designated spots in the Cessna 206 we're flying. Tracey was the co-pilot (of course). Chandler & I took the middle 2 seats. Brian was our tail-gunner. Are we ready, Brian???

Chandler had a bad small plane experience when he was about 7 or so. I was working day shift at the Sheriff's office and Tracey took the boys up in a Cessna 182 in Slidell, Louisiana. It ended up being a pretty rough flight. According to Tracey, Chandler went totally berserk screaming and sobbing, begging to get back on the ground. Since then whenever we went on fun small plane rides he found other things to go and do. Well, when discussing this sea plane tour we talked with him at length about that bad experience and how to learn to cope when fear seems overwhelming. It's been 9 years. It's time to get back on that horse. Mostly I wanted him to have the satisfaction of conquering a major fear. Soooooo, Chandler, you ready, bud???

Tracey lives ready to fly!

There's our porch we perched on:

Rolling out....geekin' out on the cool planes:

There's the airport.

Takeoff video!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Big shout-out to nepalostparks for the quick tutorial on linking youtube videos. Who knew it was that un-complicated! Thanks again! :wave:

 

[nepalostparks]

Big shout-out to nepalostparks for the quick tutorial on linking youtube videos. Who knew it was that un-complicated! Thanks again! :wave:

:wave:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Yay, you're home and writing a TR already... well, somebody is on the ball!

Lovin' it so far! Glad you guys had a blast at TL (the water parks is our new fave thing to do at WDW). You totally took a lot of pictures there too - how did you do that? I take my camera and lock it in the locker and don't see it the whole day. Maybe I need to take out the camera next time and get a few shots!?! (BTW, my kids call him Swampy too!) And you look great in a bikini, whatcha talkin' about woman!!! I feel self conscious too but then when I get to the water park and see folks in their bathing suits with everything that God gave them hanging out... I don't feel so bad! :animwink:

I love your family cruise shot, it turned out quite nice! I can't believe the room you had, how awesome is that! And I love the quilt you brought... can you make me one *bats eyelashes*? These cruise TRs are killing me, I'm going to have to break down and book it one of these days...

Yep, I'm home. This time I'm not typing the whole thing up before posting. I'm just letting the trip report flow. Plus, trip reporting puts off packing the house. I dread moving again!

TL was so much fun! I can't wait to go back. My camera isn't one of those expensive things so I keep it in a pouch then in my "camp" bag. I can come back and take it out in a flash. Then when the boys were off having fun and Tracey & I were wandering I carried the camera around just taking pictures and relaxing. It was a great way to see more while we dried off.

I have so much sewing I want to be doing but time & space just doesn't allow. One of these days I want to make you one, too. They're so easy! Better still would be having the time to spend together so I could coach you and have YOU make one. I'd love for you to have the same satisfaction I do when people see my quilt, compliment it, then I can say "I made it!" You soooo need to do some cruising! We're supposed to do Disneyland in November but we're almost ready to ditch that plan and find a cruise to book instead. LOL! When you get ready to do it, lemme know. Wouldn't it be the best to cruise our families together??? Even with the kids at such different ages, I think we'd all have a lot of fun! :wave:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

In case you've never been up in a small airplane before or if you couldn't tell, small planes bump around more than the big ones. When taking off in a big plane sometimes you feel little dips and pulls. In small airplanes those sensations and movements are more exagerated. It's fun to me, tho. Chandler was pretty freaked at first. I held onto him a little and reassured him. I always tell the boys when they tense up to focus on relaxing their bodies and focus on breathing slowly in and out. It didn't take long and he was relaxed, too.

The views were incredible! The water was so beautiful. I'll try to remember stuff to go with the different pics. I took a lot. If this part bores you please feel free to skip forward some.

Parasailers! Aren't they tiny way down there?

Oooooh...

Amazing...

There's the island:

I spent time trying to capture the beautiful range of colors of the sea. The blues, the greens, everything in between. It's so vibrant. The water so clear. It's amazing.

Tracey seemed to really be enjoying his birthday flight.

I think we were all mesmerized. I wanted so badly to capture the moment but pictures don't do it justice. This time for us was perfect. Truly amazing.

 

[NewfieFan]

Yep, I'm home. This time I'm not typing the whole thing up before posting. I'm just letting the trip report flow. Plus, trip reporting puts off packing the house. I dread moving again!

TL was so much fun! I can't wait to go back. My camera isn't one of those expensive things so I keep it in a pouch then in my "camp" bag. I can come back and take it out in a flash. Then when the boys were off having fun and Tracey & I were wandering I carried the camera around just taking pictures and relaxing. It was a great way to see more while we dried off.

I have so much sewing I want to be doing but time & space just doesn't allow. One of these days I want to make you one, too. They're so easy! Better still would be having the time to spend together so I could coach you and have YOU make one. I'd love for you to have the same satisfaction I do when people see my quilt, compliment it, then I can say "I made it!" You soooo need to do some cruising! We're supposed to do Disneyland in November but we're almost ready to ditch that plan and find a cruise to book instead. LOL! When you get ready to do it, lemme know. Wouldn't it be the best to cruise our families together??? Even with the kids at such different ages, I think we'd all have a lot of fun! :wave:

I was joking about the quilt... but you know if you ever feel the urge to make one... :lookaroun :lol: I've made the felt rag blankets with the kids before for a charity, I actually enjoyed it. I found it relaxing!

You know, I would so be all over that!!! My kids would be off in the kids club anyways. Aidan is asking about them all the time. I'm not sure how he knows so much about them. Is there a resort channel that advertises them or something? He's always talking about the different things to do on board, and I'm like, how the heck do you know that!?!
It would be a blast... *wheels in my head start turning*

 

[GenerationX]

From doing my homework and asking lots of questions here on the good ol' forums I knew when we got in the park, secured a locker, veered right, eased past this bad boy, and we'd find our spot to "camp" for the day.

I take it you found the three covered huts and secured yourself a spot in one of them. Those huts are just one of the many, many reasons why we absolutely love TL.

Your pictures are cool, and your trip report is a fun read ... as usual!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Nicholi told us what to be looking for as far as marine life and pointed out what different things were. The light spot with the corally fingers down there are reefs:

That little speck coming into view near Tracey's shoulder is a very old lighthouse designed by an architectural firm you may recognize....Eiffel!

Originally there was a light-keeper's house built on the platform. There were a lot of sharks around this thing. Some of them were quite big, too! It's hard to pick them out for you just now. They look like elongated shadows in the water. There's a pretty big one, I think, if you look down from the lighthouse platform and just to the right a little.

We also saw what's called 'Coal Flats'. Apparently back in the old steamer days when the ships were too heavy to make the crossing into the harbor in lower tides they'd lighten their load by pitching coal over the side. The coal is still there.

That's our shadow way down there: