Cruise

So I've finally done it--put together a slide show of some of our cruise pics (yes, this is only a few of the 1,000+ photos Dennis took--not to mention the 3,000+ photos I got from his other 10 siblings who went on the cruise with us). I narrowed this down to 145 photos, and if you want to see the 465 photos I opted to print in my gorgeous photo book, then please stop by my house (if you're too far away, I'm so sorry, but you'll have to survive with the slideshow above).

Once again, we need to send a huge shoutout to Grandpa & Grandma Brown for taking us on this amazing 7-day cruise. Because we had to cover the airfare, we decided to use our sky miles to purchase 4 of the 5 tickets, which meant we had blackout dates over Thanksgiving. It was literally cheaper to fly in a day early and visit the Kennedy Space Center, and then stay an extra 4 days and stay in an amazing Hilton hotel for about $30/night (a condo with a full kitchen, no less, which saved my food budget, but I did have to attend the 2-hour time share presentation, ugh). Anyway, so we got to go to Disneyworld as well. What fun!

So here's the rundown . . . we flew out Thursday, Nov. 20 and got to Orlando that evening. We took a shuttle down to Cape Canaveral and then spent Friday at the Kennedy Space Center (see photos in the slideshow and previous post about this adventure). We met everyone on Saturday and boarded the cruise ship, took a look around, enjoyed amazing food (of course) and the "Sailaway Party" on the pool deck.

Sunday we had a lovely family testimony meeting in one of the theaters on board (don't read this if you're going to look down on me for breaking the Sabbath), but then we headed out to the Disney Island (Castaway Cay), which was seriously one of the highlights of our trip. We loved the gorgeous white sand beaches, the snorkeling (with sunken ships and a sunken Minnie Mouse), and the delicious food at Cookie's BBQ (and of course the all-you-can-eat ice cream).

Monday (my 30th birthday) was a day at sea, and I was spoiled by Dennis who kept Aspen and let me go to classes on napkin and towel folding, making scrumptious appetizers and desserts, etc. That was also our formal night, so I got to have my family dressed to the nines for my birthday dinner (swordfish, shrimp, and scallops, YUM!). Dennis even had the head waiter make me a special birthday cake.

Tuesday we were in Cozumel, Mexico. Since we were going to Disney World afterward, we opted not to take any excursions at the ports. We let the kids go shopping and haggle for good deals and spend some of the money they'd been saving for the trip.

Wednesday we went to Grand Cayman and hiked to 7-mile beach. I'd heard the Marriott Hotel down the way had pretty good snorkeling, but the water was really cloudy, so instead we swam in the warm water and built sand castles.

Thursday was another day at sea, and Thanksgiving (we had a hard time remembering that it was Thanksgiving with 80 degree weather outside and lobster for dinner). Then we were back at Castaway Cay on Friday before docking on Saturday. After getting off the ship we headed back to Orlando and straight to the Magic Kingdom. The kids really enjoyed all the roller coasters, etc. We were with Jeremy (Dennis' brother) & his wife Cynthia and kids Madison (now 13) & Ryan (almost 12). Dennis' brother Scott was also there with his girls Alexis (9) and Autumn (now 6). Of course, Grandpa & Grandma Brown came along for the ride. Sunday there was a mighty storm (literally, the other Disney ship, the Disney Wonder, was at port boarding passengers and dropped its gangplank, had to leave the dock & go to a shipping yard to board passengers--yikes!). We spent most of the day in our hotel room relaxing, napping, and watching fun Sunday movies like "The Testaments." Monday we headed to Animal Kingdom, and on Tuesday we were at Disney Studios. Whew!

We were so ready to head home on Wednesday and see our sweet Connor, who stayed home with Grandpa & Grandma Pearson (thanks mom & dad!!!). He had a great time and was sort of sad we came back because he'd been pretty spoiled--they had nothing planned but playing with him for 13 days. It was rough to come back to a house with 4 kids! For me it was rough to have to start cooking & cleaning again. All in all, it was a wonderful trip, although one that we will probably not repeat any time in the near future.