Our Disney "Dream"

 

I still can't believe it's been over a week since our cruise on the Disney Dream! We had an amazing time, and I'm ready to go again! We've taken the girls to Disney World twice now, and lots of people have asked which is better, the cruise or the parks, and in my opinion while both are Disney at it best, the vacations are SO different that there really is no comparison. Will we cruise again? For sure! Will we go back to the parks? Of course!

 

No one does it better than Disney and the girls were truly in their element on the ship! They loved the Oceaneer's Club. We spent a lot of time there on the first day killing time until our luggage was delivered, and they even went back alone one evening for Pluto's Pajama Party.

 

 

We spent time at the pool each day. They loved the "splash pad," Nemo's Reef, especially the slide.

Right next to Nemo's Reef is Mickey's Pool. This is the kids' pool and while crowded, they certainly didn't mind one bit.

 

We went to three different shows in the Disney Theater after dinner. On the first night, the girls got interviewed as part of the show's opening. They did a great job answering questions about their favorite princesses, and for the rest of the cruise, people would recognize them from the big screen!

 

 

 

One of the biggest highlights for them, I think, was getting to meet Princess Anna. Unfortunately, Queen Elsa was back in Arendelle performing her royal duties.

 

The weather was gorgeous, and the girls loved playing...and posing for pics...on the veranda! 

 

We went to Atlantis on Nassau one day...

 

 

 The tide was coming in and the waves got a little rough...



 

 

 

The next day was Disney's Castaway Cay. Perfection! Best beach day ever!

 

Mallory tried snorkeling...

 Anna Claire collected sea shells...

 

 Lunch was yummy!!

 

And the ice cream was free! I think the girls averaged at least three ice cream cones a day!

Look who we found on the beach...Olaf!! 

 

The girls would not ride the AquaDuck, but Grandmom did! I really think it would have been too

fast for them. Some of the turns were sharp and you definitely get soaked!



  

 

There were tons of opportunities to meet characters ~ princesses included {I'll spare you all the princess pictures}. On Pirate Night, the girls had their picture taken with Pirate Minnie.

We watched the Pirates IN the Caribbean show from the pool deck, and the girls were even able to stay up extra late to watch the fireworks!!

Mallory would not go NEAR Captain Jack Sparrow!

And of course, they saw Frozen for the third time...this time in 3D!

A few pics before dinner our last night...

 

This is the best family pic we could get...

 

 

Thank you, Grandmom, for an amazing Disney "dream" vacation!!

  

Happy Birthday, GiGi!

Mallory R.O.C.K.s!

Mallory won the R.O.C.K award for her class for the month of January! R.O.C.K. stands for responsibility, organization, character, and knowledge.

 

We couldn't be prouder!

Snow Day 2014

...only there really wasn't any snow to speak of. We went to sleep the night before hopeful, but not confident. Even so, you can bet there were tears in the early morning {especially Mallory} when the girls woke up and there was no snow. I think they probably dreamed all night about pretending to be Anna and Elsa!

Not knowing if it would be another three~or~four years before they see snow again, we had to bundle up {for a very little while and wearing as many polka~dotted~patterned garments we could find} and play in the "snow."

Happy Snow Day! {back to reality in the morning!}

Snow Day 2010

Throwback Thursday ~ Summer 2010

I thought I'd bring a little "Throwback Thursday" over to the blog today. I found these two short video clips of Anna Claire and Mallory buried deep on my laptop tonight as I was trying to download a clip from YouTube for a workshop I am presenting to teachers Monday. I have no idea where else they may be saved or if I ever shared them here, so here they are...a little throwback to summer 2010...

How cute were they??!!

The Tooth Fairy Has Paid Us a Visit

Anna Claire lost her very first tooth Saturday night!

We were in the car riding home from dinner at Carrabbas {yummy!} and she "wiggled it out" as she likes to tell everyone. She was SO excited, particularly because it didn't hurt or bleed. Her tooth had been loose for about two weeks and was ready to fall out to the point that we were being very careful anytime she was eating. We didn't want her to swallow it!

I did my best to capture some video with my phone, but it was dark in the car, so you pretty much just have to listen...



The Tooth Fairy left her $5, all in ones, in her new Tooth Fairy pillow that I whipped up just in time. She has decided to save her money until her next tooth falls out because she wants to have enough to buy a Kristoff doll to go with the Anna and Elsa dolls Santa brought, and she shared $1 with Mallory who wants so badly to have a loose tooth that she ate apples all weekend. I guess I need to hurry up and get Mallory's Tooth Fairy pillow made...and buy more apples!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a great Christmas and we hope you did, too! 

I took tons of pics, but I'm only sharing the one above from Christmas Eve just before the girls headed off to bed. They were so excited and full of talk about sneaking out super early to see what Santa left them (didn't happen ~ the sneaking out part; Santa left them plenty). 

Mallory did wake up first around 6:20, and we were forced to wake up Anna Claire at 6:45 because Mallory just couldn't wait any longer. 

Here's a little video not long after we all got out of bed of the girls trying to take it all in ~ so funny!! {sorry the video is fuzzy; I still don't know how to use the video mode on my camera}. 

Happy New Year!!