A Busy Day

More on Thursday (which was also Allen's Birthday) in Cabo.  Mom, Sarah, and all the guys went on a chartered deep-sea fishing expedition.  I don't know how the majority of their day went, but Allen got a nice birthday present:

Happy Birthday, indeed!

Anyway, after Princess-Mania, we ate breakfast at the Beach Blanket Buffet on Deck 9.  Nothing spectacular, just sustenance.  It was pretty low-key morning; I don't remember much of what we did, but we eventually got around to going to the beach.  We had to "tender" to get there, or take a smaller boat to get from the cruise ship to the shore.  I got a few good pictures of the Disney Wonder from the tender boat.

The cruise ship really is massive, and very well-kept.  I heard that, once every few months, the employees spend a week (unpaid) cleaning the boat from top to bottom.  I don't know if there's any substance to that rumor, but I hope Mickey doesn't require that!

The tender boat was kind-of a bumpy ride, but it was really cool to see the pelicans and sea lions up close.  They just hang out--totally unafraid.

We then piled into a taxi-van to take us to the beach.  Yes, that's Sabrina sitting on Becca's lap in the front seat.  Gotta love Mexico.

They took us to Medano (?) Beach, which was quite delightful, the weather was perfect (low 80's), and the water was a little cool, but very enjoyable.  It really was this color--an amazing, clear green .

The kids had fun, in and out of the water.

There were a TON of people vending their wares on the beach: braiding girls' hair, henna tattoos, girls' dresses, jewelry, toys, mats, etc., etc.  I did end up buying some necklaces, haggling for 3/$30.  I think everyone bought something, but I was pretty proud of myself for limiting the amount.

We decided to take a water taxi back to the tendering pier.  It was definitely a better choice, so we didn't have to walk too far.  Benji was reluctant to leave, and kept eating sand while I was trying to get him dressed.  Gah.

Anyway, we got back around 4pm, then got cleaned up and ready for dinner.  Allen and the crew had already come back, so he told us about the fish.  Pretty awesome.

Dinner was at Animator's Palate again that night.  Most everyone was in their Pirate get-up for the "Pirates IN The Caribbean Party", but Lex went all-out.  Had there been a contest, they definitely would have won.

Especially baby Zekey.  He made the cutest parrot ever!

Apparently we wore those kiddos out at the beach, so most of them fell asleep during dinner.

They brought out a special cake for Allen's birthday and sang to him.  Actually, they sang to like 5 different people that night; I guess March 1st is a popular day for birthdays!  I took the picture of Mickey with some random kid through the elevator.  It was pretty fun to see Mickey in so many different costumes!

That night was the Pirates Deck party.  We checked Benji into the Oceaneer Lab (that was the only time he went there, and he watched the t.v. the whole time.  I'm such a great parent.) and hung out on deck 9 for the evening: we wanted good seats for the fireworks show!

There was some dancing and stuff, but it was mostly just waiting for the fireworks.  I tried to get some fireworks pictures, but it's very tricky--especially if you don't have a tripod.  So, this is a sample of what I got:

So that's about it for the day.  There was a buffet on the deck after the party, but I didn't stay for it.  Very busy day, but lots of fun!

You Treat Me Like I'm a Princess

Here's a partial cruise update for you.

I'm not going to get all of Thursday, March 1st on the blog just yet; it was a really big day.  Right now, I'll just put up my princess collages.  I'm not very happy with the way my pictures turned out; my ISO was way too high, so everything is grainy.  I edited as best I could.  Sorry, folks.  This is just for a general idea.

Thursday was our first day in Cabo San Lucas.  Early that morning, there was a "Princess Gathering" in the lobby.  They were all lined up, and there was a fairly short line for the girls to get their pictures taken.  That's one fantastic thing about Disney cruises: TONS of character-meeting opportunities.  I came along to snap some photos.  I got all of the girls (except Bri Bri) with all of the princesses, though some are at weird angles, because I was trying to hop between the princesses in order to get the pictures.  And little Phoebo's face (ha--I almost spelled face as "phace," but that's another story) was bright pink in most every picture.  I tried to fix it. :o(  Sorry, honey.

I decided to make collages according to the princess.  We started with Belle (who is my personal favorite; maybe it's the whole French, bookworm, not-fitting-in thing).

Then Cinderella.  I didn't think she was particularly pretty, but with a wig and dress and the right accessories, I think anyone could be a princess.  I'm pretty sure that there were a few different Cinderellas on the ship, especially during the Disney Dreams Musical on Friday night--she had to sing.  Whatever.  The girls were thrilled.

I thought Ariel was adorable.  She was very cute with the kids.

Tiana, on the other hand, was stunning.  Seriously--she could be a model.  I think I love Belle the most, but I have a lot of respect for Tiana.  She's a workin' girl, who makes her own dreams come true.  And her dress is fantastic.

 And Snow White was just perfect--exactly who you'd expect her to be.

I was a little disappointed that we only got to see Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) in the Musical.  She never did appearances or signings.

My opinion on princesses is fairly modern, and pretty biased since I am not a mother of any girls: the whole thing is a little overdone.  You can't escape it: there are princesses everywhere.  The girls just eat it up, although Lily seems to have a more realistic view of princesses than Tessa does.  I know there are mothers who don't want their girls to buy into the whole princess thing, but it is so ubiquitous.  Unavoidable.  Maybe it's because I have never felt like (or been treated like) a princess, and maybe I'd feel differently if I ever get to be a mother to a baby Joséphine, but that's my opinion for now.  Even so, it was fun to see all the princesses, and how star-struck the girls were.


I, on the other hand, was star-struck by this guy:

He was one of the performers in the musicals, though he was doing double-duty as a princess wrangler on Thursday morning.  I had to sneak a picture of him, and I wish I knew his name.  But he was fantastic.  Forget the princesses--I should have gotten his autograph!


I'll post the rest of the day later.  

About a Boy

I know I'm supposed to be finishing the cruise blog posts, but we went to City Creek and Temple Square today, and I really got some great pictures.  I posted some of the flowers and temple pics on my photography blog.  Here are some of my Benji.  He is growing up so fast!

I'm not sure why he was making this funny face, but I love it!

I've got your tickets to the gun show . . . right here.

I used the self-timer on this one, so it's a little out-of-focus.  Oh well.  I love my Benji!

I Might End Up Somewhere in Mexico

I have got to plow through this!  I'm finishing this weekend.  I'll start it now, though I may not finish Thursday tonight.  By the way--I updated the Tuesday 2/28 blog post.  There wasn't a lot to add, especially since I don't remember a lot of it anyway.  I think my brain had already gone on vacation at that point.

Anyway, on to Wednesday, February 29th.  Not a spectacular Leap Year Day, but quite memorable.  We anchored in Puerto Vallarta, and debarked fairly early.

There was a lady there who let us sit a parrot on our shoulders (for a small donation).

We all piled into a van/taxi for a trip to the Chico's Dive Shop for our snorkeling excursion.  Here are some pictures from the van ride.  Here are some pictures from that ride.

The dive shop was near a beach with some cool sand castles.  We had to pay the remainder of the bill for the excursion, but their card reader was down, so we ended up paying around $70 in ones and fives.  Uh, that was fun.

 
They took us on a little boat ride (tendering?) to the diving boat.  I'm sure Rachael was thrilled at that (she loves small boats).

The dive boat took us to "Los Arcos," a cool rock formation.  There were some others on the boat who went scuba diving.  Some of us went snorkeling, which was okay.  We saw some fish and urchins, and Seuao got hold of some kind of sea star.  The water was pretty murky and the weather was a little cool.  Even so, let it be known that I was the first person in the water.  One of the crew members was taking pictures and videos with his iPad, so we got this little nugget for posterity.

I also took a short video of what I thought would be just the feeding of seagulls by throwing of bread in the air.  Of course, it ended a little more dramatically than I had anticipated.

Poor little dude.  Fortunately, that was the last time he puked on the entire vacation.  Sarah ended up barfing too (the water was quite choppy), but she did feel better once she did.  Anyway, we had lunchmeat and processed cheese sandwiches (which tasted pretty good, considering) and Mexican soda.  Then the crew moved the boat to another rock, and the rest of the fam got in the water.  I think it had gotten colder by this time, and there was very little to be seen.  Their dives didn't last very long.  Of course, I was a little more concerned that all of the wipes and such I used in my little trip to the bathroom (including certain feminine hygiene products) were flushed out into the diving area.  I don't know what I expected, but I wasn't too happy about seeing my, uh, stuff floating in the water where people were diving in.  Not very cool.

Well, that was about it.  They took us back to the beach near the dive shop, and some people stayed behind to play for a while.

Here's proof that I was there, however trashy I may look (I probably should have fixed the cover-up, eh?).   Allen was sunburned and I was exhausted, but at least Benji was feeling better.  When we got back Allen, Benji and I took a cab back to the boat, because we were just done with the whole thing.   As a side note, yes, you can see the scars from my shoulder surgery last year.  It surprised Mom a little, but I really wasn't faking the gimpyness!  Take care of your shoulders, people!

Anyway, we went back to our cabin and got cleaned up, then I started some laundry before we went to dinner.  During this time, I realized I couldn't find my ship-board cell phone.  I was so stressed out about it and angry at myself for having lost it (they charge you a $250 replacement fee for those suckers!), that I didn't take any more pictures for the rest of that night.  The miracle, however, happened while I was taking out my frustrations on the laundry.  I was hauling laundry back and forth from our cabin to the little laundry room, when I saw Allen and Benji walk past me, and Allen had a big smile on his face.  When they got back to our room, he pulled out my phone.  Miraculously, some good Samaritain had found my phone in the cab we took to get back to the ship.  They called the Allen's phone and he picked it up from them.  Truly, it was a miracle that a) another Disney family took the same cab we did, b) found the phone and knew what it was and what it would cost the owner to replace, and c) were kind enough to return it.  There was a lot of relief and gratitude, even if I didn't deserve it.  Thanks again, unknown friends.

The show that night was "Toy Story: The Musical."  It was really well done, and it was fun to see.  It was based on the first Toy Story movie, and it was cool how they integrated some screen stuff into the show, to remind you of the toys' perspective.  I don't remember doing much else that night, since I was physically and emotionally exhausted from the day.  I think we all slept pretty well that night, since we were going to be up early for PRINCESSES, fishing, and Cabo in the morning.  Stay tuned--much more to come!

On the Open Sea

I have GOT to finish blogging about the cruise!  It's already slipping from my little brain!  I should be in bed right now, but since I'm in picture mode already (I actually posted on my photography blog!), and since I have a FANTASTIC station playing on Pandora (Keane Radio with Train added in for variety), I need to do it now.  Let's take care of Tuesday, February 28th.

Tuesday was another "Day at Sea."  Since we were finally getting into warmer climates (Monday was pretty cool outside; Tuesday was excellent--sunny and not too hot), the morning was spent mostly around the pool on Deck 9.  Since Benji isn't potty-trained, I didn't let him get in the pool.  That's okay; he loves splash pads.  He got a kick out of this water-fountain sorcerer's hat.  He didn't get to stay there long, because he decided to steal the cherries out of some lady's special drink. I wasn't too happy about that.  I did give him a second chance, but when I stepped away to take a couple of pictures of Sabrina, he managed to get a sip of said drink.  After that, we were done.

So I brought him back to our table to hang out for a little bit.  Nanny was there, and I just got some precious shots of the two of them.  It's so sweet how much she loves her grandchildren.

We all spent plenty of time fawning over Zekey.  That baby is so flippin' cute!  Everyone adores him!

Every time I look at this picture, it puts a little warm in my heart and a giggle on my lips.  I love Phoebe!

I'm fairly sure I sent Benji downstairs with Allen so he could check him into the Oceaneer Club.  A few of us played a little bit of Pounce (that was the only time we got to play), but that didn't last long.  I don't remember what we did the rest of that day; I'm pretty sure some of us went to the Shopping Lecture (in which some really obnoxious little girls won the drawing . . .).  I know I fell asleep during said lecture, but oh well.  I'm sure Dad watched the Muppets movie for the 48th time, and I traded some old lotion to some teens doing a scavenger hunt.  I got a decent lanyard out of the deal, so I'm pretty sure that was a bullish move for me.  Allen, Sarah, Lance, Mom and I went to the 90's Music Trivia thing in the afternoon.  As a group we did pretty well: Sarah got the poppy stuff, Lance got the heavy stuff, and I knew a lot of the rest.  Mom knew two of the thirty (Shania Twain and Celine Dion . . . can you say "Q92"?).  It was kinda fun, though.

Dinner was at Parrot Cay again.  Benji was totally passed out; they made a little bed for him on the chairs.  The rest of the kids were in a pretty good mood (except for Sabrina) . . .

. . . but it was some good family time.

I remember that Sarah was laughing at some random picture of me.  I'd like to see that, though I'm pretty sure it would be embarrassing.  Whatever.

The show that night was the "Hypnosis and Comedy of Ricky Kalmon."  We didn't go; and I'm not exactly sure what we did that night.  We had seen him the night before for the adult show (the hand puppets singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" was hilarious!), so I'm not sure how much we missed.  Whatever.

In any case, here are some pictures from our cabin.  The "turndown" service (or second cleaning of the day . . . BEST. THING. EVER.) provided by our "Stateroom Host" was fantastic.  They made these awesome towel animals every night.  I got pictures of some of them.

And here's a picture of Benji on the lower bunk.  I think he liked sleeping there, though there were times he did NOT want to go to bed.  He does much better in his own room (fewer distractions).  Oh well.  He did pretty well.

I did hit the hot tub with Mach and Wow that night, though.  It was pretty awesome.  It was pretty deserted, so when Captain Hook (and his handler) came walking by, we were pretty excited.  Wow hopped out and got a picture with him, but I didn't.  In general, I try to avoid pictures of myself in swimsuits.  Hey--at least I made it into some pictures on this trip, which is more than usual.

That's all I can remember for Tuesday.  What did I forget, family?