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!

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!

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.

New House

We are moving! We'll be in our new home by the end of August (just in time for school). It's on 2.5 acres and has 5 bedrooms and 3.5 baths. Now if we can just get our house sold!

The New Big Girl Hair Cut & Updates

When did my baby turn into a big girl! I'm not ready for this! She got a haircut like a REAL BIG GIRL haircut...not just trimming of the baby hair. She loves visiting my cousin Lindsey who cuts our hair. After her cut, I got mine cut - matching of course. Although I haven't been that blond since college. She walked around singing "You're beautiful, it's true!" and saying "Do you like my new hair?"

We got our house projects done. (I can't find my camera cord that uploads to the computer.) The house looks great and then we promptly decided to put it on the market. Neal is ready to move out of an HOA community and onto land - anything bigger than 1 acre and smaller than 10. We have our eyes on something...let's pray this house sells! I mean it looks fabulous so it should sell pretty quick!

Summer has been great so far. Swimming, swim lessons, movies, spend the nights, farmers market, helping grandma and grandpa, whatever comes up that day is fine with us. It's great to have lazy summer days.

Vacation time is coming soon. We are going on a Disney cruise at the end of July. We will be on the boat for Eli and Morgan's birthday. Everyone is excited about it!

The picture tells the story

This pictures sums up the weekend. But I have to tell you the whole story which started in January!

We decided (you know when I say we - I mean I told Neal what I decided and he went along with it)...so WE decided it was time to update our flooring. Our house is 12 years old and we've lived in it for 6 years. $$$$ Income Tax Money getting spent $$$$

Needless to say the carpet has seen better days. But in order to get new carpet we have to remove the current boring brown tile and put in some fabulous green/gray tile (that we bought 5 years ago). So at the end of February we rented a hammer drill and ripped out the tile from the kitchen and entry way. Then we waited. We are busy people you know! My feet got so dry from the concrete I had to wear slippers. Two Saturdays into March Neal starts laying tile. Of course you have to move the stove and refrigerator out to tile....note big hole in kitchen. The fridge is currently sitting in my dining room.

This weekend we were determined to finish cutting and laying tile so we could grout during the week. (Did I tell you that I went ahead and ordered the carpet so that I could gently push my husband along?) So mid-afternoon he finished cutting all the tile. BUT I wanted to kids bathroom done also and I persuade Neal to get started on that area as well. He and Eli head in there to start tearing out baseboard and the toilet. Next thing I see is Eli running like mad and Neal screaming for me. The baseboard jerked up and hit the pipe which broke off in the wall and was spewing everywhere. Neal tells me to go turn off the water at the road. Apparently I spun around in circles. I have no clue what to do and I'm trying to decide....do I pretend and go away for a minute or do I tell him I have not idea what he is talking about.

The water was pouring out for well over 3 minutes! It was EVERYWHERE. Down the hall and into all the rooms that share a wall with the bathroom. AMAZING! I have never seen a pipe break or water get everywhere. So our attention went from tiling to cutting out carpet, soaking up water, and moving stuff so it wouldn't get wet or ruined. My house is a crazy, CRAZY mess! Bare floors, unglued tile, dirty carpet, and stuff everywhere from rooms and closets that got soaked.

And we broke several things in the process including the lamp at the beginning of the post.

Oh the JOYS of owning a home!

Happy 5th Birthday, Dylan!

Today - cupcakes during lunch at school; pick dinner; open presents; eat a yummy dessert

Saturday - Monster Jam! This is our 3rd year going. The boys absolutely love it and look forward to it every year.

Sunday - dinner at Grandma Pam and Grandpa Rick's house; more presents; more cake & ice cream

We love Dylan! He's happy, fun, and super smart. He loves Lego's, video games, and Monster Jam. Happy Birthday!