Okay...ever since we went on vacation I have had that song by the Go-Go's in my head...
"vacation all I ever wanted...vacation, had to get away..."
If you don't know that song, that makes me feel old so please don't tell me.
Anyhow, we just returned from our first ever cruise and let me tell you...I love cruising!!! We took the family on a Disney Cruise. And as you can imagine, Disney knows how to do it! We were with my sister and
her family (who are experienced cruisers) and several times they commented on how nice things were with Disney. It was great to go with Peggy's family--we had a blast and all the kids had someone to hang out with. We went to the Bahamas and Disney has a private island there...Castaway Cay. It was terrific! The beaches were even groomed--it looked like a giant golf course sand trap, freshly raked! There's a playground out in the ocean (shallow area of course) and the kids could swim out and play on it, jump into the water, etc. The snorkeling area had added hidden treasures like a sunken boat, Minnie Mouse statue, submarine, etc. Plus, just great fish to see! We snorkeled in Nassau, Bahamas as well. That was great fun too! We
took a catamaran about 30 minutes out from where we had docked, snorkeled, and then sailed back in.
The Disney Cruise has great shows as well...short, 45-minute musical performances, complete with all the BEST Disney cartoon songs in one show! You can't beat that! We loved the shows we went to, and we also caught a couple of movies in their movie theaters. Terry and Doug saw Prince Caspian and I took all 7 kids in the group (alone, mind you, while all the other adults skipped out to take naps...how fair is that!!!) to see Beverly Hills Chihuaha. Given my extreme love for dogs (not), I'm sure you can imagine how I thoroughly enjoyed that one. I was surprised to see they were even showing High School Musical 3 on board--it had only been released 2 weeks earlier! Bummer...I wished I hadn't PAID to see it the week it came out. I could have seen it for free on the cruise!
Of course, with cruising you can't beat the food. My favorite was the endless supply of chocolate chip cookies!!! Why didn't we hoard them and bring a case home...poor planning on my part. Terry ate like a
man's man all week long....ribs, steak, brats, you name it. Total Joey on Friends..."Meat...Good." The service was so great, every night our waiter would even cut up Terry's steak so we didn't have to help him! We had to tell Terry to reign it in though at the end of the trip though once we were off the ship. While we were eating out at Downtown Disney World he grabbed the menu and picked out the whole works...appetizer, rack of ribs, etc. I said "whoa dude! back off...we are no longer on the ship...I'm PAYING for all this!" He downscaled his dinner order but then turned to the dessert menu and said "what do you think I should get for dessert, Mom?" Yah, honeymoon's over dude! No dessert for you!
We spent a day at Magic Kingdom at Disney World as well. It was lots of fun, but just like a day at Disneyland. And the parks are so far apart. We didn't have time to do any park hopping but I was amazed at the size of all the Disney property there. No wonder they offer 7 and 10-day park hopper passes. My brother Jeremy and his family joined us at Disneyworld and we had so much fun seeing them. Trevian just loves his girls and doesn't get to see them often.
Well, after a week of man's man eating...we had to know that the flawless, trouble-free week could not go off without a hitch. On our way to return the rental car, Terry's week-long meat fest caught up with him and he PUKED all over our rental car! That was pleasant. So was cleaning it up with a bottle of water and roll of paper towels in the 7-11 parking lot. With windows down and smiles on our faces, we quietly dropped off the rental car and headed on our way. One more puking on the airplane (managed to grab the barf bag for that one), he seemed to be feeling better. I'm sure he greatly appreciates his mother documenting this for everyone to read. Aren't these the types of things that resurface at age 16 when they start dating as well?
Okay, but honestly, the VERY BEST part of vacation for me was leaving the laptop at home, turning OFF the Blackberry, and telling the world that I am UNAVAILABLE!!! Those I work with threatened to grab an inflatable raft and hunt me down if need be...but I assured them I would act as if I did not know them if I saw them. It was so relaxing and so nice to just be on vacation for a change! In fact, it may become mandatory for my well being at least once a year. I'm sure no one in the family would argue.
"vacation all I ever wanted...vacation, had to get away..."
If you don't know that song, that makes me feel old so please don't tell me.
Anyhow, we just returned from our first ever cruise and let me tell you...I love cruising!!! We took the family on a Disney Cruise. And as you can imagine, Disney knows how to do it! We were with my sister and
her family (who are experienced cruisers) and several times they commented on how nice things were with Disney. It was great to go with Peggy's family--we had a blast and all the kids had someone to hang out with. We went to the Bahamas and Disney has a private island there...Castaway Cay. It was terrific! The beaches were even groomed--it looked like a giant golf course sand trap, freshly raked! There's a playground out in the ocean (shallow area of course) and the kids could swim out and play on it, jump into the water, etc. The snorkeling area had added hidden treasures like a sunken boat, Minnie Mouse statue, submarine, etc. Plus, just great fish to see! We snorkeled in Nassau, Bahamas as well. That was great fun too! We
took a catamaran about 30 minutes out from where we had docked, snorkeled, and then sailed back in.The Disney Cruise has great shows as well...short, 45-minute musical performances, complete with all the BEST Disney cartoon songs in one show! You can't beat that! We loved the shows we went to, and we also caught a couple of movies in their movie theaters. Terry and Doug saw Prince Caspian and I took all 7 kids in the group (alone, mind you, while all the other adults skipped out to take naps...how fair is that!!!) to see Beverly Hills Chihuaha. Given my extreme love for dogs (not), I'm sure you can imagine how I thoroughly enjoyed that one. I was surprised to see they were even showing High School Musical 3 on board--it had only been released 2 weeks earlier! Bummer...I wished I hadn't PAID to see it the week it came out. I could have seen it for free on the cruise!
Of course, with cruising you can't beat the food. My favorite was the endless supply of chocolate chip cookies!!! Why didn't we hoard them and bring a case home...poor planning on my part. Terry ate like a
man's man all week long....ribs, steak, brats, you name it. Total Joey on Friends..."Meat...Good." The service was so great, every night our waiter would even cut up Terry's steak so we didn't have to help him! We had to tell Terry to reign it in though at the end of the trip though once we were off the ship. While we were eating out at Downtown Disney World he grabbed the menu and picked out the whole works...appetizer, rack of ribs, etc. I said "whoa dude! back off...we are no longer on the ship...I'm PAYING for all this!" He downscaled his dinner order but then turned to the dessert menu and said "what do you think I should get for dessert, Mom?" Yah, honeymoon's over dude! No dessert for you!We spent a day at Magic Kingdom at Disney World as well. It was lots of fun, but just like a day at Disneyland. And the parks are so far apart. We didn't have time to do any park hopping but I was amazed at the size of all the Disney property there. No wonder they offer 7 and 10-day park hopper passes. My brother Jeremy and his family joined us at Disneyworld and we had so much fun seeing them. Trevian just loves his girls and doesn't get to see them often.
Well, after a week of man's man eating...we had to know that the flawless, trouble-free week could not go off without a hitch. On our way to return the rental car, Terry's week-long meat fest caught up with him and he PUKED all over our rental car! That was pleasant. So was cleaning it up with a bottle of water and roll of paper towels in the 7-11 parking lot. With windows down and smiles on our faces, we quietly dropped off the rental car and headed on our way. One more puking on the airplane (managed to grab the barf bag for that one), he seemed to be feeling better. I'm sure he greatly appreciates his mother documenting this for everyone to read. Aren't these the types of things that resurface at age 16 when they start dating as well?
Okay, but honestly, the VERY BEST part of vacation for me was leaving the laptop at home, turning OFF the Blackberry, and telling the world that I am UNAVAILABLE!!! Those I work with threatened to grab an inflatable raft and hunt me down if need be...but I assured them I would act as if I did not know them if I saw them. It was so relaxing and so nice to just be on vacation for a change! In fact, it may become mandatory for my well being at least once a year. I'm sure no one in the family would argue.
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