This sumer we were very blessed to be taken on a family cruise by Wes's parents along with his siblings and their family. We had such an amazing time and the girls were thrilled to meet all the various Disney characters! The cruise provided endless activities and food (and was excellent with its gluten free options!) We highly recommend trying them for yourself!
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| The whole family! We're to the left, Wes's brother Jesse & wife Hannah (and their kids) to the right. Wes's parents Matt & Deb and siblings Holly & Collin are in the middle |
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| The cast off party! |
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| Holly by the Donald "DREAM" statue |
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FINE DINING
There were usually a lot of activities going on, but the cruise was careful to coordinate all our dinners together so we always got to for sure see each other at the end of the day! Each dinner had several courses, and they were all delicious.
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| Pirate night! Hayden of course was a "princess pirate" so all she needed was her Rapunzel dress. Audri went with the mermaid top... totally with the theme right? |
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| Cousin Chase is keeping Audri pretty entertained |
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| Hayden cheesin' it up for the cruise photographer |
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| Hayden and Aunt Holly |
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| Wes's parents celebrating their anniversary! (part of the reason for the trip in the first place!) |
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| Animator's Palace. Probably my favorite of the restaurants... so much to look at, and even interact with |
FUN ON DECK
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| After the dinners was our time to watch the "show." We weren't allowed to take any pictures once they started, but we snuck in this one of cousin Chase with grandpa Matt |
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| The main deck of the cruise featured some pretty sweet looking water slides, but all our kiddos were to small for that. Instead they had fun at Nemo's Reef (well, the potty-trained ones did anyways) |
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| In addition to the "dinner" restaurants, there was a ton of other options all day across the ship. Here I had just polished off my own gluten free pizza! |
MEETING THE CHARACTERS
We had a blast meeting all of the different characters on board... especially the princesses! I would have needed a separate post to do all the pictures individually, so instead I took a couple of screen shots from a memory book I'm working on.... not super clear, but I think you can still "get the picture" (pun definitely intended)
NASSAU
Our first stop was at Nassau Island. There were a lot of options for this day, including tons of shopping, but we opted to go the "Discover Atlantis" route. This gave us access to the beach, pools, and their huge underwater aquarium! I took a TON of pictures of the aquarium and "ruins," but paired it down to just a few for this post. It was pretty rainy that day, but Disney provided us with glamorous ponchos to keep us dry... they actually worked pretty well considering all the walking we had to do!
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| Audri held on to the seat with Wes on our shuttle to Atlantis <3 |
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| Pause in rain = photo op w/ship! |
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| Deb & Matt |
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| A view of the resort from our shuttle |
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CASTAWAY CAY
We didn't get a ton of pictures here, but Castaway Cay (pronounced "key") is Disney's own island! We utilized the beach and splash pad and enjoyed lunch on the island. There were lots of other activities available such as snorkeling and an "adult only" section... but we were content to just relax with the girls that day.
DISNEY WORLD
We had an extra day between the cruise and our flight home, so all of us (minus Jesse/Hannah & kids) decided to do Disney World for a day! It was much faster pace than the cruise and honestly something we probably won't try again until our kiddos are older. It was still a lot of fun and we managed to sneak in a few pictures along the way.
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| You have to look close, but Wes and Hayden are flying in the center! |
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| Ironically, this was probably Hayden's favorite ride |
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| Wes is trying to point out his mom and sister to Hayden... and Audri is just looking terrified! |
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| Deb and Holly! |
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| Probably one of my favorite pictures from the trip, even though it isn't that clear. Hayden was sooo sweet and shy with "Ariel" and it was obvious how happy she was to be meeting her. Maybe the "setting" here seemed more real than the ship's Ariel to her? |
Definitely the highlight of our summer! I'm hoping to get more organized and maybe even print out some pictures of the girls with the princesses for their room... but that may be a while. In the mean time, the memories are still pretty fresh! This was for sure an experience we'd love to have again some day.
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