We had a lovely trip. It was so nice to get to do something like this with the kids. Even though Delilah won't remember it, Evan certainly will. Mind like a steel trap, that one. So the trip...
Friday:
We packed everything and everyone up and headed to the airport. Upon arriving at the airport, James found out that one of his friends was on duty. So we got a police and police dog escort to our gate. Made security a lot easier :) The flight out there wasn't too bad. Evan watched TV and Delilah napped twice. She fussed quite a bit before falling asleep, but she slept. Once we landed, we went to the Nickelodeon Family Suites and checked into our SpongeBob suite. Evan's room had SpongeBob on the wall and bunk beds. He wanted to sleep on the top bunk (because the bottom one was "itchy"). I had my doubts, but he did it and didn't fall or anything. James took Evan swimming while I put Delilah down in her pack and play. Then we put Evan to bed and James and I got to watch some How I Met Your Mother on the DVD player.
Saturday:
We got up early and started our day at the theme parks. Jen, Jose and Jasmine met us at our hotel to give us their parking pass so that we wouldn't have to pay for parking. We headed off to Magic Kingdom and went straight to the kiddie rides. We rode Dumbo, It's a Small World, watched a 3D show, and rode Snow White (man, that sounds little dirty.). Delilah finally fell asleep after fighting it for hours, so I held her while Jen and I rode a little ride around Tomorrow Land. Then Jen and Jose watched Delilah in her stroller sleeping while James, Evan, and I went to ride on Pirates. That pretty much concluded our day at Magic Kingdom. I think it was about 2 by then. We went back to our hotel and had the kids nap before heading out to Epcot. It was the Food and Wine Festival and we were supposed to be going from booth to booth eating around the world. Unfortunately, everyone else in Orlando had the same idea. It was nearly impossible to push the stroller through the crowd. And we were all hungry, so eventually we just called it. Jen and Jose found us a place to eat off the beaten path and then we went back to the hotel.
Sunday:
We got up early to go to the character breakfast at the Nick hotel. Evan got to meet SpongeBob. He was so excited that he was holding his crotch. I don't know if it was like a puppy who was so excited that he was going to pee, or if he was really excited. We also got to meet Dora, Cosmo, and Ming Ming. Evan was in heaven. Then we got everything packed up and headed to Cape Canaveral. The check in process was pretty easy, but time consuming. Once on the ship, we went straight to lunch, but we had to drag along our carry on and the stroller and keep Evan from running out in front of people. That was pretty stressful. Our room was ready by 1:30. We got in there and it was SO.SMALL. I was freaking out a little bit. But I started to calm myself by getting everything in order. I used Jen's suggestion and put a over the door shoe organizer on the bathroom door and used it to store all the random crap that would be all over the room. I unpacked our suitcases and stored them in random places. I did all this while Delilah napped. We had the lifeboat drill at 4 and we got Evan all decked out in his lifevest. I told him, "This is for if there is trouble on the boat and we have to go in the water..this vest will help you float in the ocean." He said, "Um, can we do that later?" LOL. Dinner was at 5:45 and was pretty good. Delilah was pretty tired though and I had to bail early to get her to bed. She just slept in our bed. It was easier than using the pack and play that took up most of the room. I just would draw the curtains and we would stay on the other side of the curtain. I took Evan swimming at night. He had so much fun playing Monster and Doggy with me. I had to drag him into the water over and over.
Monday: Nassau. We woke up in port at Nassau. We took the kids to the breakfast buffet first thing and ate outside on the top deck. Beautiful! I went back to the room to put Delilah down for a nap. Sometimes while D was napping, Evan would just hang out in the room with us. Luckily the tv had Disney movies playing 24/7. Easy entertainment. Once she woke up, we got everything together to get off the ship. We went down into the tourist area of Nassau. It wasn't anything spectacular. It was pretty Mexico-ish. We walked around for a bit...but it was already getting too hot to function. There are tons of "excursions" that you can sign up for around the island, but with the kids, it is difficult to do any of that right now. So we went back to the ship and I put Delilah down for a nap and I believe James took Evan to the kids' club. After Delilah's nap, she went to the nursery and James and I got to spend some time at the adult pool. Relaxing and drinking. We picked up the kids and started getting ready for our dinner. Dinner was exciting because it was at the super nice restaurant Palo. We had reservations with Jen and Jose. We took the kids to their respective clubs and headed up for dinner. It was delicious. So much good food. It took about 2 hours for dinner to be finished. Dining with Jen and Jose sans kids hasn't happened for about 3 years or so, so it was really nice. And I want to take this time to thank them both for all that they did for us...getting us on the trip and planning it and helping us out on the ground. After dinner I think that James took Evan to a late movie... while I stayed with Delilah. A memorable moment from this day was that Delilah fell off our bed. :( I turned to get a diaper and off she went. Poor baby.
Tuesday: Castaway Cay.
Castaway Cay is Disney's private island. It was very pretty. Once we woke up and got breakfast at the buffet and gave Delilah a nap, we left the ship. It was a pretty long and HOT walk to the beach. We got some nice chairs in the shade and headed off to the ocean. It was very pretty and warm in the water. Delilah enjoyed eating some sand and splashing in the water. James took Evan deeper into the water. When D got hungry we headed up to the shade. Evan came to the shade eventually and built some sand castles (thanks to Jen again!). At lunch time, we packed up our stuff and went to the dining area on the island and got some food. We began the long walk back to the ship and then put the baby down for a nap. We were planning to take Evan to the kids' club and D to the nursery, but the kids' club on the boat was closed (moved to the island for the day)...so we sadly, didn't get our adults-only time that day. Instead, we went to a lower deck where there is a breeze and shade and James read and I knit while Evan played with his trains. We had our dinner with Jen, Jose, and Jasmine... and our other tablemates, Aaron, Suzanne, and their girls, Emma and Amber. After dinner, I took Evan to see the Toy Story the Musical show. It was really good.
Wednesday: Day at Sea.
We were barely moving on the water... very little waves. We started the day by a quick breakfast at a counter because I was supposed to go get my massage with Jen. It was a super nice massage. Very relaxing. Afterwards, James and I were supposed to go to a brunch with the Js at that nice restaurant again, but we decided to instead just relax. So that is what we did while the kids were at their clubs. I wanted to see Up in 3D with Evan, but the little turd decided 15 minutes in that he did not want to do that. :( We also took the kids swimming that afternoon. Well, Evan got to swim. Delilah got to splash in the milimeter of water that non-potty trained kids are allowed in. We had our last dinner with our tablemates and James took Evan to a show while I packed our bags. We had to have our bags taken by the stewards before 11 pm.
Thursday: Disembark
We got up super early to get to breakfast at 6:45. Right after breakfast we had to get off the ship. We got back to our rental car and then drove the hour back to Orlando. Once there, we tried to check into our hotel, but the room wasn't ready yet. So, our family and the Js met at Animal Kingdom. We went to the Lion King show first (where Delilah fell asleep in the bjorn and slept for about an hour like that). Then we went on the Safari ride. It was a big jeep that drove around and looked at the animals. It really looked like I imagine Africa to look like... Evan liked that. He wanted to go again. After that we went to lunch and the Js departed. We walked over to Dyno-land and rode a dinosaur ride. Evan had a terrible meltdown regarding wanting a $17 water sprayer/fan thing...so we headed out. We went to Jen and Jose's room for a little while because our room STILL wasn't ready. When it was, we checked into our room and put Delilah down for a nap. Once she was awake, we set off to Hollywood Studios. This is where Evan got to meet Lightning McQueen and Mater. That is really all we did there. After that we went back the hotel.
Friday: 'Cation is over.
We woke up early to go to the pool. It is the best time because then I don't have to worry about sunburns all around. Delilah really liked splashing in the pool and Evan liked playing "Alligator" with James. Then we had to go pack up and check out of our room. We spent a few hours in Jen and Jose's room with them waiting until it was time to leave for the airport. That plane ride was the worst. Evan didn't sleep. Delilah slept for about 30 minutes before Evan bopped her with a toy and she woke up. We spent about 3 hours trying every trick in the book to keep her from crying. As we were landing, Evan said loudly, "Mommy, 'Cation is over. But that's ok, we will go again someday." The airport was a mess. I sent James ahead to go get our car because it snowed (a lot) while we gone and the kids didn't have the proper shoes or coats for that. So I had to try to get 3 suitcases and 2 car seats on a dolly, while I had Delilah on my front and a stroller over my shoulder...all the while Evan is SCREAMING that his legs are broken and that he wants to ride in the stroller. It was about an hour all told, but it felt much longer. A police officer came over to tell Evan to stop screaming like a girl ( :( ) and to reprimand me for having the kids out in the cold. Fitting, I guess, that our trip began and ended with a cop. The kids passed out in the car and that's was it.
One of the highlights for me was teaching Evan to play Go Fish on the Cars cards that Jen got him. He really enjoyed playing the game with James and me. It was some great memories. I hope Evan will remember it always. I will.
Halloween will have to be a post for another day. :)
Meeting SpongeBob
In the SpongeBob bedroom
Evan is DONE
Meeting Lightning McQueen
Doing the Life Boat Drill
Morning on the cruise ship
Delilah and her new baby
At the beach:
In Nassau
