The Last Day

It was a seven day cruise and I have done seven posts and I could easily do more. It was one of the most fun weeks my family has ever had. The morning  after Pirate Night we had our breakfast with some of the Disney characters. It was tough to get there as early as it started but so worth it. After all, this was our last day on the ship and we didn't want to miss any of it.

The boys with Chip. Or Dale. Not sure which.

Three goofy fellows!

My family with Micky. Wasn't it clever of Brittany and I too coordinate with that wall behind us?  After we had finished eating and been visited by all of the characters our hysterical waiters started to make us hats with the colorful napkins.

They started with William. They turned him into Dumbo! He is holding the trunk. This may be one of my new favorite looks for him.

Everyone else became a pirate, check Grandpa out! He has teacups and a creamer hanging from his fancy hat.

Josh has Jack Sparrow type locks and Uncle Nate reminded me of Smee. This is their Captain Hook look.

Matthew was a classy looking pirate. Or maybe Peter Pan. Not exactly sure.

These are Brittany's Minne ears. For some reason I didn't get a picture of my sister's girls but Abby had these ears too.

Aren't I cute? Or not. Somehow Grandma escaped this treatment. Tiff had a hat but I didn't get her picture either.

The whole group. What a fantastic trip. Such great memories and so much fun.Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Pirate Night

One night on our cruise was Pirate Night. Of course our resident researcher, Miss Brittany, knew this and made sure we were all outfitted appropriately.

Brittany and Libby, sporting a dashing moustache.

Josh, with is handmade hat, patch and hook.

Our wonderful wait staff, Carlo, Ronald and Arman in their pirate gear.

I Pirate night came right after Sea World so Arman made the ketchup that night into a dolphin.

Carlo used Grandpa's hand to do magic.

All of our fierce pirates with Carlo.

Later that night there was a pirate party up on deck. Goofy and Minne were really getting down.

Brittany and Libby danced their little hearts out.

We old folk were having fun too.

Josh and Abby doing their version of the tango.
Toward the end of the evening Captain Hook showed up and tried to ruin the party. Luckily when we looked up we saw Mickey coming to the rescue on a zip line! Then there were fireworks at sea. Such a great night!

Formal Night

One night during the cruise we were supposed to dress up for a formal night. Our family is not really very formal so church dress was about right for us. I do think we clean up nicely though.

We didn't want to wait in line for Mickey so we had someone take this in front of the cool chandelier up a few floors. The funny thing was we turned around and William ended up taking pictures for family after family. Good idea I guess!

My cute family. I swear we didn't torture Matthew before the picture. Got to find the perfect word for that boy to say when we take a picture. He is still awfully handsome though.

While we were waiting I took a few pictures in front of some Mickey windows. Brittany got her brother to dance with her for a split second. So even though it is a little blurry I love this picture.

Here we are! All of us looking beautiful! I wish you could see more that the kids meals at the end of the table, it was all so pretty.

Brittany and her mom!

A little on the food. Everyone wanted to try Creme Brulee. It was super yummy. I love dessert.

One of our adorable waiters Arman,would bring the kids ketchup for their fries every night. He took requests and would pour it in different shapes, this one is the ship. Usually animals like a dog, bird and dolphin.The guy had skills.

Our fantastic grandparents!

Sea World

Another port that we stopped in was San Diego. So if you are in San Diego you have to go to Sea World right? My kids had never been so it was a lot of fun. It did remind us how good we had it on the ship not waiting in many lines and being waited on all day. Sea World on a Friday is pretty crowded and busy but it was a lot of fun.

The kids with Shamu. The soft plush version. Not sure where Brittany is in this one. Maybe Shamu ate her!

Kids pretending to be in the sea.

Waiting for the Shamu show. Matthew was the only one who would take a picture with me. Poor kid wishes he had my sunglasses though. The shows were different than I remember when I was a kid. Still amazing though!

How does something that large get itself into the air?

Next was the dolphin show which didn't even seem related to the one I remember. There was a whole story complete with aerial acrobatics. Not to mention this guy riding the dolphins.

The end of the show with the amazing bird characters and performing animals. This show was my favorite part of our trip to Sea World.

Watch out, the girls are being attacked by a huge starfish! Wait, it is just a sculpture.

Looking for starfish with Grandma. Goodbye Sea World we sure loved you!

Meeting Characters and Seeing the City

Okay this is starting to seem like all we did was take pictures with characters but really, those are the moments that made the best pictures!

Waiting in line to meet some Disney friends. Don't they rock the Minnie ears?

Mikey and Sulley, my Josh and his cousins Abby and Libby.

The grandparents with their very happy grandchildren! Oh and Mickey!

Woody and Jessie and the kids.

To infinity and beyond! Josh and I meeting the very big Buzz Lightyear!

Our first port was San Francisco. When we got off the boat we realized we had an amazing view of our ship. had to take some pictures. How cute are my parents>

My family. If you look above Brittany's head you can see them washing the ship.

We docked right near Fisherman's Wharf so of course we had to go see the sea lions.

Officially on the wharf. I wish I had taken a picture of a guy we saw with a sign that said, "Give me money or I will vote for Romney." Gotta love San Francisco!

William checking out our ship. So pretty and enormous!

Onboard activities

So what did we do on the ship? Lots of eating of course, the kids hung out in the kid clubs too. But of course we had to meet a few important people. Our kids are almost past the point where the characters are super important but when you know that princesses will be visiting in the lobby who could resist?

I love how detailed the dresses the princesses wear are, it seems like they just take them over the top. How cute is Snow White?

Matthew wasn't too into meeting princesses but Josh was right there with us for it all. Cinderella is one of my very favorites.

Ariel was so darling too. Every gesture is perfect and so characteristic. Josh did insist Grandma be in some of the pictures too.

They had all sorts of interesting things you could go to. This guy is making a dolphin ice sculpture right in front of us in about 5 minutes. We also learned how to draw Mickey, make some of the food they served, how to fold napkins and how to fold the cool animals they make with towels. Among other things.

There were some family crafts. Brittany, Josh and I made these masks. The kids made some crafts in the clubs too. Libby and Abby weren't as interested in the clubs but my boys thought the video games were great.

One day there was a puppet show in the club Josh was in so he became all inspired and wanted to do a puppet show of his own. He talked Abby into participating and before you knew it we were all given tickets and invitations to attend a special show in Grandma and Grandpa's room. I love imagination!

 Of course we had to spend some time in this cool pool and the other pool.

 William was the nice parent who jumped in and let Josh ride him. That way I could munch fruit and talk to my sister.

Every night we went to an amazing show. Different every night. Some nights it was a Disney musical, there were a couple of hysterical comics and a ventriloquist. That is one of the things I really loved about the Disney cruise. We never had to worry that a show we took our kids to would be inappropriate. Not to mention they were all excellent. They also had a movie theater where we finally saw Brave, The Avengers, and The Odd Life of Timothy Green. So much fun, I already miss it so much!