Disney Cruise part III

Embarking the ship, a little tired from the red eye flight, but can’t wait to get on!

 

Character Party VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

You could meet the princesses too, but if you ask my girls, they are too old for that :)  They do have their favorites though- Merida and Rapunzel.  We all love the Disney characters!

Sophie and Sage coming back from activities with their face painted.  They thought it was cool how the couch turned into bunkbeds at night.  Sage right.

 

lol, I was asked by another family if my boys were triplets, they do look alike, but Nick is 21, Josh 18, and Trevor 14, growing fast!  I have to say, it warms my heart to receive so many compliments about my boys, what great boys they are!  like father like sons.  We enjoyed meeting some great families on the ship.

 

The sunglass swan in our boys room kills me.  Our clever host saw their glasses laying around and put them to good use in his towel designs

 

sweet surprises back at the room from our awesome chef

Paul and I lounging in a cushioned round window overlooking the sea, Bliss!

view from our room, never ending ocean

 

The Oceanside Club put on a show towards the end of the cruise with their new friends, so cute.

Hair Braiding VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL Just in time for the beach.  Beautiful girls!

Cheers from Sophie and Sage

One last cruise post to go with blue Cozumel waters!

Thanks for stopping by

Paul’s B-day and Mother’s Day

Yup, have to combine posts to keep up, not easy to find blog time lately.  This is one of the busier months with Josh graduating, mission around the corner, girls soccer tournaments, end of year programs/activities, a few birthdays (haven’t even finished my cruise posts yet, coming)...  Can’t complain though, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Paul’s Birthday landed on the day before Mother’s Day this year (Yay, we don’t have to share our pampering!)

Saturday morning he was able to sneak away to watch the girls soccer game downtown, luckily near his work.  I’ll post later about the amazing game (someone got a hat trick, any guesses?), but he was so glad he got to see it, since he usually has to work during their games.

 

That evening we stole him from work and enjoyed a nice dinner at a favorite Chinese Restaurant.  The girls enjoyed a Pizza, Movie night with Grandma (thanks mom)

Then a treat for my honey, off to Abravenal Hall to enjoy a great concert from “ThePianoGuys” with John Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson.   We kept it a surprise, Paul didn’t know until we were seated what we were seeing.  It was fabulous!  We thoroughly enjoyed their talent, humor, and beautiful music.  Alex Boye joined and sang his famous Coldplay Peponi song.  If you haven’t heard it, you must here.  It was a great night out with my boys and their awesome dad, Happy Birthday Pauly!

Nothing better then breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day.  I even enjoyed the crunchy egg and extra thick smoothie, all made with love.  They’re the best!

 

Happy Mother’s Day VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Homemade cards, decorated towels with coupons (girls), hand carved butterfly, beads (Josh), and a necklace (Trevor) that looked vaguely familiar, from my jewelry stash when I had my jewelry business, hee, he.  It was perfect.  Thanks family for making this day so special.  So sweet to hear my girls sing in church today with their Activity Day group (I Often, Go Walking)! 

 

Then off to see Paul’s mom, she liked the beautiful picture of Christ hugging her mother, Mary.  I bought it during Women’s Conference so the artist signed it.

 

Mother, Daughter VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

So blessed with a wonderful mother that has taught me much in life and is always there for me!

Josh tuned Grandma’s Ukulele, pretending we’re in Hawaii

Motherhood matters!  There is nothing more important then what we do with our children here and now.

Hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day, including those who mentor and love others children (we have many of those in our lives)

Non stop smiles!

even from the kids :)…

In the main atrium of the ship. 

Trevor was off already with his friends from the Vibe.

We heart Mickey!

Pirate Dinner at Lumiere’s.  They had a great time doing the limbo with the wait staff…  Paul and I had a romantic dinner at Palo’s that night.

Then we met together for the evening show and Pirate Party on deck.  Dancing with the characters, DJ and singing, and Mickey flying in on a rope, ending with fireworks.  Disney knows how to put on a party!  Then they treated us with a yummy midnight buffet, crepes mmm, but the kids were off to watch Lincoln in the movie theater.

 

Trevor had a blast hanging out with his age group at the Vibe (14-17).  They did karaoke, made pizza, scavenger hunt, swim party, played guitar, sports…

Aaargh!  This cute little pirate is very protective of her brother, not wanting him hanging out with friends much

 

Sports Arena on top deck, perfect for our little athletes!  Paul and I had to beat our boys in the foosball tournament, then they came back with a vengeance for the championship.

Sophie and Sage had a great time with the Oceanside club, Sage in the middle, second row.  They enjoyed being old enough to check themselves in and out, coming and going as pleased, and the ship supplied phones to contact your party to meet up.   On the last day the club they put on this cute show “Friendship Rocks” show with Mickey and Minnie, then back for activities and T-shirts signing.

Cute seeing them hold hands with their new friend as they headed back to the lab (didn’t get a picture).  I also loved how my usually non holding hands girls, especially around their classmates, would come up all the time to hold my hand as we were walking (especially Sage), such happy, sweet girls! 

I was going to do this trip in 3 posts (last one being our excursion in Cozumel), but I still have a few more ship pictures I want to add without making this one too long, so bear with me, 2 more Disney posts to go

Ahoy, Mateys!

Back from Paradise…

Before Josh leaves on his mission, we planned a Caribbean cruise to go on with the family.  It was unanimous, Best. Vacation. Ever…

I’ll post later about our excursions, but first boarding this beautiful ship below

Disney Magic 2013 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Bon Voyage party

Bon Voyage party on top deck.  It was windy the first day, but that didn’t stop the fun.  Although it was a full ship they accommodated everyone very well without feeling over crowded (except for the elevators, good excuse to use the stairs).  Disney Magic holds 2,400 passengers, has 11 decks, and is almost 1000’ long.  They have 945 crew members from all over the world.  Exciting! 

 

First night dining at Animator’s Palate, the walls and paintbrush columns lit up with different Disney scenes, then a special surprise visit from Mickey. 

We took the red eye flight from Vegas, so a bit drowsy the first day.

Promenade Lounge VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Pictionary in the Promenade Lounge.  Team awesome (us) beat team amazing

 

Refreshed for day 2, Parrot Cay.  You could see the ocean from both side of the restaurant

 

A dress up dinner with the family, looks like all we did was eat…  almost ;) but that was a good time for pictures.  The food was wonderful as we dined in different restaurants with different cuisine each night, but with the same fun servers.

The ship had 4 or 5 pools, this was a fun one for the kids.

 

With the head chef.  Paul and I enjoyed a date night with some fine dining at Palo’s (top deck, beautiful ocean view), while the kids enjoyed their Pirate Party dinner.  Blissful evening with my baby! 

There were often sweet surprises in our room.  They carved the carrot into a mermaid, impressive.  Top notch service!

 

Our awesome waiter, it was fun getting to know them as they seemed to thoroughly enjoy our family

 

Nick (who usually doesn’t like his pic taken) photo bombing the girls with the Captain. 

The shows on the ship were charming, funny, and entertaining, in the state of the art Walt Disney Theater.  Twice charmed has won best show on any cruise ship.

 

What is breakfast without a Mickey waffle?

 

The girls thought it was cool seeing all the princesses and Disney characters on the ship.

 

A room with a view.  We enjoyed relaxing on the veranda while at Sea, the boys had a room next door.  Such a good mix of family, social, beach time, and R & R!  

Bon Voyage

The Call

Josh’s Mission Call VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Josh is hereby called to serve in the Arcadia, CA mission.  Mandarin speaking! 

On June 26th (Trevor’s B-day), Josh will be joining the ranks of thousands of missionaries around the world, seeking those who are spiritually ready to hear the words of Jesus Christ.   These full-time missionaries dedicate 2 years, or 18 months for the sisters, of their lives with no pay for their service, but they and/or their family pay to keep them in the field.  

As words of our prophet, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  ‘This cause will continue to go forth, changing and blessing lives.  No force in the entire world can stop the word of God.’”     ~President Monson

We are so happy for him and know this is where the Lord wants him to be for the next 2 years.  He is thrilled to be speaking Mandarin and working with this great culture.  I’m sure it won’t be easy saying good-bye to my boy, but I’m willing to give up my son for two years, so others can be with theirs forever.

Trevor, Sophie, and Sage will miss him tons too, but they’re excited for him.