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!!

  

InstaFriday ~ a Peek at Our Week

Hey, friends and family! Here's my attempt at a quick peek at our week. I find myself using my phone to snap pics more and more frequently these days {though I still love my DSLR}, so I enjoyed sharing my phone pics this summer…until things got busy. Maybe I can try again to start a habit of updating more frequently. 

Here we go…

Here's Anna Claire picking out her glasses. These aren't the frames she went with ~ they didn't come in purple! Watching her in the exam room was fascinating to me ~ how she aced the eye test with her right eye but bombed it when only using her left eye. She was such a trooper during the exam. She'd cheer herself on when she got a letter or picture right with a "woot!" and when she wasn't sure of a letter she say, "I'm gonna have to go with a 'c'" for example.  She was too cute and chatted up the optometrist. 

Saturday we went to Disney on Ice. We all had a great time. The girls were on their best behavior and enjoyed every second of the show! Of course, we came home with Flounder and Pascal. We are getting tons of wear out of their aqua chevron pants from last spring…it was fun to whip up the  coordinating Minnie Mouse t-shirts for them to wear. This appliqué is cute and fast ~ love that!

Pumpkin time! 

Last weekend I made chocolate chip pumpkin mini~muffins. Yum! These are addictive, and I think part of that's because they are bite~sized. 

The girls have been fighting a cold, so after making a quick trip to the doctor Sunday, we popped into Dunkin Donuts. The pumpkin donuts were amazing; the pumpkin pie cream filled variety were a disappointment, in my opinion. 

Anna Claire's glasses finally came in.  She could not have been more excited!! I already did a little post on that earlier this week, and I am pleased to say she is still doing a great job, though her eyes are pretty tired by the end of the day which we were told to expect. 

Tuesday before dance class we walked around and enjoyed the Scarecrows on the Square. Since the scarecrows are on town square just across from dance class, we've made it a tradition to visit on dance class nights!

Yesterday we popped by the pumpkin patch to pick the perfect pumpkin. Honestly, Anna Claire was tired and the pumpkins were pretty picked over, so we didn't have as much fun as I had hoped. I only managed to get one quick pic. 

Ocerall, I'd say we had a great week. Hope you all have a great weekend, everyone!

Linking up…

Disney 2013 ~ More to Come Soon!

Probably the highlight of our vacation ~ Anna Claire and Mallory meeting Merida...

We've been back from Disney since Friday, but Friday led to loads of laundry Saturday which led to Father's Day Sunday which led to the start of Vacation Bible School yesterday, so I haven't had much time for a proper post-Disney update. I literally JUST picked up my camera to start sifting through the 412 pictures I took, and decided it would have to wait. Some of you might have seen a few sneak peeks on Instagram, but I'll definitely share more pictures of all the fun soon!!

My Wee Lass

It's know around these parts that the girls have a bit of Scottish blood in them...on their Daddy's side. It's no wonder then, that they are both fascinated with Merida. Anna Claire is the Queen of Dress Up, so she was thrilled to get a new Merida wig from Grandmom {Mallory has yet to put hers on, but I'm workin' on it}.

Now her hair matches that fiery attitude she has sometimes! {no, not Anna Claire! ~ I know that's what some of you are thinking!}

See You Soon, Mickey!

...in exactly nine excruciatingly long months. That's not at all soon. Two little words will likely make the wait impossible: Fantasyland Expansion!!

I'm so excited...I mean Anna Claire and Mallory are so excited!! ;-)

Disney on Ice

Saturday we treated the girls to Disney on Ice and they loved it! Anna Claire was just mesmerized by the whole event and Mallory literally shrieked with delight every time a new "act" would come out onto the ice. I've got to say, I was a pretty awesome show. Once again, Disney does not disappoint.

Mallory says her favorite was the princess part {a huge emphasis on Beauty and the Beast, so no surprise}. Anna Claire's favorite part was getting a Dopey lovie. My favorite part was It's a Small World. I think part of that was my surprise that it was such a huge part of the show. And, they also told the whole Mulan story! We weren't expecting that either.

And in more true Disney fashion, there was no shortage of opportunities for them to take even more of our money. Of course, the girls had to had a toy. Mallory chose a huge Belle figurine bringing our total number of Belle dolls to three, and Anna Claire chose Dopey ~ another lovie. She hasn't let him out of her sight, though.

We had great seats and the girls had a wonderful time!