Saturday, August 14, 2010

Eight is Great!

Eli Neal Steinhour
Baptism Day

Eli was so excited to be baptized. We arrived early to help with chair set up and to make sure the water would be in the font.
Eli and dad in their baptism clothes. We a proud moment. Our first child getting baptized.
My sweet Eli. He was especially concerned with his outfit. He wanted to look like dad. Dark pants, red tie, jacket, and belt.
Grandpa Doug and Eli. Grandma Pam and Grandpa Rick and Eli.

We've been spending time during FHE to prepare Eli for baptism. A few weeks before we helped him decide on his program. Austin was the chorister, Amy and Grandma JC prayed, Renea spoke on baptism, Ethan spoke on the Gift of the Holy Ghost, we sang When Jesus Christ was Baptized as a family, Neal baptized and confirmed him, Grandpa Doug and Rick were witnesses, and they along with Granpa JC, Bryan, Matt, and Brother Shannon helped with the confirmation. What a wonderful experience!

Disney Cruise Day 4 Day at Sea & Happy Birthday Morgan!

Day 4 was spent out at sea. We slept in, went swimming, had lunch at Palo's (the adult only restaurant), watched a movie, played in the kids area, and relaxed.
Dinner was at Triton's - PERFECT for our Ariel loving princess and her 3rd birthday!
The boys watching us float in the water.
Morgan loved all her presents. They were all either princess themed or Ariel themed. Pj's, hair glitter (which dad and grandpa happily let her put in their hair), picture frame, mini doll, towel, sunglasses...she made out!
Our sweet girl enjoying her yummy cake. She devoured it.
The sunset on our last night at sea!

We had such a wonderful time on this vacation. A good mix of family fun and adult time and playing and relaxing.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Disney Cruise Day 3 Castaway Cay & Happy Birthday Eli!

Day 3 we spent on Disney's Castaway Cay Island. They have done a fabulous job. This is the actual pirate ship from Pirates in the Caribbean (the ghost ship, but I can't remember the name right now.)
Seriously pretty! This picture is our screen saver right now.
Our own Little Mermaid!

My mom and dad with Morgan on the other side of the beach. Disney owns the whole island which is only like 3 miles long.
We took a bike ride. It was really fun! Morgan rode with Neal and each of the boys had their own bikes. Even my parents enjoyed it. It poured rain on us, but it made it not so hot!

Scuttle Island. A slide and play area you have to swim to. Of course we didn't get to go down the slide. We tried but it rained a lot this day and we kept having to get out of the water.
Eli's 8th Birthday! He opened presents at dinner. He got a Lego game which he wanted to play right then. But I was mean and wouldn't let him open them until he got off the boat. He also got a movie, clothes, spongebob game, and game boy game.

Neal's FAVORITE drink. A virgin mojito. He had it every night.
Eli's yummy birthday cake.
That night was Pirates IN the Caribbean party. They had a dance party that Captain hook and his pirates took over until pirate Mickey saved the day. Then came the fireworks. Disney is the only cruise ship to do fireworks at sea!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Disney Cruise Day 2 Bahamas

We woke up in the Bahamas. Neal and I have been before, but my parents had not. So we got off the boat first thing. The ocean was beautiful. We weren't off the boat very long. Neal and I enjoyed a couples massage while the kids played in the Oceaneers club. Of course there was swimming and relaxing. My parents toured the boat and relaxed. We watched a show after dinner. They put on great shows. The first night was The Golden Mickeys. The second night was Toy Story the Musical.
The port was decorated nicely. I thought the water was such a pretty color!

Dylan at dinner. He had his face painted with Mickey Mouse during his play time.

Eli's face paint was of the Disney Wonder.

Morgan's friend. She met him during lunch when my parents took her until she was ready to play. He was also at our dinner service. He took care of her.
My dad is "the king of the world." We were still in port. You can see another ship behind him. The Disney ship was the largest ship in port. And I believe the nicest!


Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Disney Cruise Day 1

Disney cruise line was running a Florida residents special and we couldn't resist! My parents joined us on a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas and Castaway Cay (pronounced Key and it's Disney's personal island). The ship was the Disney Wonder with Ariel has the main dining room/entry theme. Disney does a wonderful job at cruises! We had a blast!

My parents in the entry way with the beautiful glass sculpture behind them.
This is the Mickey Pool. It was only 3 feet deep at the deepest part. They had Mickey ear pools and the Mickey Glove slide. This was their favorite of the 3 pools.
In the entrance lobby of the ship. Ariel's statue. Morgan loved that she got to be on Ariel's ship. Everything on the boat was beautiful and clean.

Disney does a rotation dinner. You have the same servers each night, but you eat at 3 different restaurants. Each has a special theme and dinner menu. And for the fourth night they do a Pirates IN the Caribbean dinner menu for everyone on the boat. Animator's Palate was our first meal. A black and white themed dinner that changed colors as the meal went on. Neal said his steak was the best steak he has ever had. Disney has an Oceaneers Club which allows for kids to play and have fun while the parents get to play and have fun. It's almost an entire floor of the boat. They have a play ground, dance parties, crafts, food making, computers, movies, character meet and greets, and tons more. The kids really liked it. (And so did Neal and I!)

Neal and I played Match your Mate on the first night. We were selected because we did a robot dance together. It was a lot harder to play than I thought! We only got 2 points out of 6 points. But we had a fun time playing and won a trip to the ship spa and a bracelet.