Disney Cruise 2013

 

 

 

Next time we do a fun family trip like this I will not tell my kids until they day we go.  Oh man that week before we left was BRUTAL.  The kids were so very excited which is fun, but I needed them to stay focused on school work and get all that they needed to done.  But it just wasn't possible.  The ever present question on a daily basis was is it Friday yet?  When are we gong?  They just couldn't wait.

And then on Friday the day we were finally going I got woken up at 3:00 a.m. With Trevor telling me his ear hurt.  This child usually comes up with some kind of pain or excuse as to why he can't sleep.  I was sure it was just him excited and couldn't sleep.  So I sent him back to bed.  @3:30 he came down again in tears saying now it's all down his jaw and the back of his neck.  I felt his head and it was hot and his left side was swollen so now what do I do?  We had to leave by 9:00 to make it on the boat and no clinic opens until 9:00 so off to the ER I went. It was better to be safe as we are going out of the country then sorry.   Really we can't seem to go on a family vacation with out a stop in the ER 1st.  And yes it was a ear infection.  He some how cut the inside of his ear and it got all infected.  It took 4 hrs in the ER to get a topical antibiotic and a ear wick in his ear.  But I was happy that's all that it was.  So they said he couldn't swim for 5 days but we were OK to go.  I got home at 8:30 just enough time to have a quick shower and throw my last min packing stuff together.  Then we were off.

 

The 4 1/2 hr drive to Galveston was filled with the"are we there yet questions" but luckily we stopped and got a movie for the boys and that helped keep them occupied. 

 

When we could see the boat the squeals coming from the kids made it all worth it.  Gavin couldn't contain himself he was so very excited.  He kept saying " That's our boat it's huge."

 

It was a pretty smooth process although timely the boys handled it perfectly as we got everything ready to get on.  When you walk on they announce over a intercom "Welcome Jenkins family" Just as they said that Josh turned to me and gave me a huge hug thanking us for taking him. He is such a sweet and thoughtful kid.    

 

Of course when we got there we were all starving so 1st up was to get some food.  And it didn't stop the whole trip.  I feel like that's what we did most of the time was EAT, EAT and then EAT some more.  

 

 

We did so much stuff it's hard to document everything but here are a few of the memorable moments of the trip.

The boys were fascinated with the ice sculptures in the buffet.

They ran right to the basketball hoop, ping pong tables and foose ball.  It's pretty comical to play ping pong on a moving surface. 

We went and explored the boat and watched it take off.  I love that the horn is the when you wish upon a star song.  Then they had a big welcome aboard party.  Sadly we didn't get any pictures of that.  But it was cute this is where the characters came out and then they had a big dance party.

After our long day we were so ready to go to bed.  It was nice every night to be greeted with CLEAN sheets, a cute towel animal and a chocolate.  The kids loved that their bed were all hidden during the day.  And it was nice to have a little curtain divider between the boys and Ryan and I.  The room was a snug 300 sq feet.  But luckily we didn't spend much time in there.

On day 2 our sweet Josh realized that the ice cream was all you could eat and open all day. He ate WAY to much. That night the boat was really swaying and at 3:30 we woke up to a muffled " I don't feel so good" Ryan ran to get him as he was on the top bunk but it was too late. He PUKED EVERY WHERE. Curdled chocolate ice cream puke. It got all over Gavin's bed which was below Joshua's, It got on Trevor's bed the one on the side and all over this blue chair. Which we refereed to as the puke chair the rest of the trip.  All up the dresser, all over the curtains and the latter, the only thing that saved us from getting it was the curtain.  Well saved me poor Ryan got puked on too.  Gavin and Trevor luckily slept with the covers over their head so it didn't get on them.  But both of their beds were covered.  We should of taken a picture really it was unbelievable of the volume of puke that came out of this kid.  I had to wake up the other two so we could change their sheets and we were all so grateful for the veranda,  oh the smell about did us all in.  Trevor ran to the front desk to ask for help and the poor poor man that came to our rescue he was so so kind.  As we apologized 700 times but he kept telling us we were not the only ones that night that had this fun experience.    Our room reeked the rest of the trip.  They came in shampooed the carpets and we put the puke chair out side but the smell was still lingering. 



The next morning was a character breakfast.  All the characters came around to the tables and you could take pictures with them.  We somehow forgot our camera so Ryan ran back to the room to get it so we only got Chip and Mini.  Gavin's a bit afraid of the characters and the other two really could care less so that was OK.

Then our server made the boys fun hats out of napkins



Trevor and Josh got this fun hat. 

 The kid clubs were so fun.  My boys loved the lab.  They made flubber, and all kinds of experiments.  We snuck in to check on them and couldn't resist taking this cute picture. 

They even taught the kids to make cookies. 

Our dinner sadly we didn't book right when we got the tickets so it was the LATE dinner.  8:15.  We usually eat around 5:30 so it about killed us.  We were so tired at dinner time.  So this was the best picture we got of us on the formal night.  Oh I forgot the kids dressy shoes too.  Trevor's always missing.

They had the napkins always folded into something cute.  And each night the menu was different as you went to a different restaurants every night. 

The younger boys were pre-occupied with the coloring.

And our oldest loved that he could order what ever he wanted and how much he wanted.  He downed alot of sugar on this trip.

ALOT of sugar.  He was in Heaven.  This kid can never get enough food.

Trevor loved sitting out on the Veranda. He and his friend Ben made lots of boats and threw them in the water.  So we had to take their room keys and make them go out of the room and have fun.  Poor boys I wish he didn't get my shyness, and awkwardness around groups of people.

Another towel creation

It was FREEZING.  Gavin and Josh didn't care.  While I sat and watched them wrapped up in a blanket a jacket and a bunch of towels they played here most of the day.  Gavin would of lived here if we let him.  Good thing the water was really warm.

The front of the boat.  This is the crews pool.  Although it was tiny and our server said No one ever swims in it.  But it does look pretty cool.

I loved just being on the top deck enjoying the peace of the ocean.  Not being able to see anything but water and blue sky.

• Josh and Gavin loved to jam out on the stage

And sit in the port holes.



I love this picture.  They would sit here for ever seeing if the could see a whale or a shark.  Gavin was looking for Jelly fish.



The shows they had were so good.  This guy Mike Super was a magician and he was amazing.  The boys really really liked him.  Trevor always took off on us after the show so he didn't get to meet him. Josh asked him if he could make it snow in TX.  Because at the end of the show he made it snow. 

My little friends from TX followed us.  I can't seem to escape a scorpion.  But I'll take a towel one holding chocolate any day. :)

Our 1st stop was in Disney World.  We could go to Hollywood, Magic kingdom, and Epcot.  But we only had one day so we couldn't go to all.  So we asked each kid the one thing they really wanted to do and then chose from there.  Trevor wanted to see the stunts, and the tower of terror so we went to Holly wood 1st.  Poor little Gavin this was his official 1st big kid ride.  He was quite the trooper.  He was silent during the whole thing but almost clawed off my arm.  Josh on the other hand screamed the whole time "make it stop, make it stop."  Trevor LOVED it, so did Ryan. 

getting ready to ride the tower or terror ride.  The Hotel was a bit to much for the younger two.

Trevor always wanted to take the family picture and not be in it for some reason. 

We went on the back lot tour and saw how they made movies, this was the prop store that they use for Movies. 

Gavin about died that they had the desert skiff.  His very favorite thing in Starwars.  He couldn't believe this was the real actual one.  I thought he was going to jump from the train to run over to it.  He could of stayed there all day exploring this thing.

More Star Wars stuff.

After that we took him to the Star wars part of the park.  And  you can make your own light saber.  Oh man he was in HEAVEN.  He and Josh made some pretty cool light sabers.  That Mom had to carry around the rest of the day.  Trevor thought he was too old to make one.  Then when we left he was a little bummed he didn't.  That's the way it always works for this kid. 

They even had r2d2 Mickey ears. 

Then we went on the star tours ride.  WORST RIDE EVER.  Really I thought I was going to die in it.  Not from fear but from claustrophibia, and motion sickness.  I couldn't get off that thing fast enough.  But Gavin loved it and that's all that matters.  I survived, and know now to just let the boys ride that one.

We then park jumped and dashed over the Magical kingdom.  I really wanted the boys to see the actual Micky's palace.  Ryan's super sweet and saw me eyeing the mini ears.  Being the only girl and doing all boys things I thought they were cute and wanted something girly.  But I felt dumb.  He went and bought them for me and insisted I wear them.  Super sweet.  And I will say I did like them.  Even if I did look like a dork.

Getting off my very favorite ride space mountain.  I still think it's just as I remember it a zillion years ago when I went to Disney Land.

Waiting to go on Pirates of the Caribbean.

We stayed for the light parade.  Although it got cold and we were starving so we ate a disgusting billion dollar cheese burger the kids like it.

We got back on our bus to head back to the ship.  We were EXHAUSTED to say the least.  We really wore the kids and our selves out.  Trying to do Disney world in One day is impossible.  We barley scratched the surface of it and didn't even get to go to Epcot.  So for sure we will have to go back. 

As we were getting on the boat the port had this cool replica of our ship.  Had we not been so tired we would of stayed and looked at it more.  Luckily Ryan got some pictures.  It really was neat to see all the ins and outs of the boat.

As we sailed away this is what we got to see of Florida.  I never realized how big it was.

They had fun cooking classes on the boat.

Ryan learned how to make a apple strudel.  I can't wait until he makes it for me at home.  I sadly didn't get to go because this Day Gavin  wasn't feeling to well all he wanted to do was sleep.  Disney exhausted this poor little guy.

We decided to skip dinner because the boys were so tired so we went up to the Buffet to get a little something to eat before bed.  Sadly Gavin was so tired and he just didn't feel well that he TREW up at the table.  Trevor's comment was the best.  He said "man we have the worst luck with puke."  I'll have to agree.  The staff was amazing with us.  I felt so bad.  And luckily it wasn't like Josh's explosion, And I caught it in a napkin.  But I felt so so bad.  I didn't want to be that family with a bunch of sickies.  But sadly we were.  So I put Josh and Gavin to bed and we had to miss the fun pirate party.

 But  Ryan and Trevor got to go.  And they had a good time.

They had a huge buffet full of pirate food.  So it was right up their ally.  They also let off fireworks on the boat.  Which is pretty cool.

Sadly on the day we were supposed to go to the castaway cays.  Disney's own private island in the Bahamas it was to windy to dock.  They tried several times.  But this is all we got to see of it.  I was so very bummed.  I couldn't wait to spend a day playing in the sand and kayaking.  Darn wind and strong currents made it imposable to dock.  So we had another sea day.  luckily they made it fun. Ryan and I went to see Lincoln and the kids played.
We also got to see the new movie OZ in 3D.  That was fun.

Then we went to the Florida Keys.

When we 1st went into town both Ryan and I said. "we could live here."

Ryan had always wanted to take a picture at the Southern most point of the US.  So we walked to the point and saw a HUGE line.  It seemed like everyone on the boat was there taking that same picture.  So we cheated and went to the side.  So this is the Southernmost point on the side :). 

We walked to the beach only to see Naked thong man and the beach Stunk with crappy sand.  Sadly we only had 4 hrs there and it took up 2 to walk up.  So we could only get our feet wet and then dash back.  The walk was pretty racy as well.  The shirts and sayings they have all up and down the streets just made my heart ache.  The boys kept pointing out all the bad things and I was going a bit crazy trying to distract them from the really bad stuff.   It wasn't kid friendly at all.  Gavin at one point started to cry and say. "Why is Mickey mouse using his middle finger Mom?".  So so sad.  Alot of sickos in this world.   So my opinion changed.  I don't think I could live there anymore.  Unless I never go down town.  Because there is that kind of stuff all over down town Austin too we just never go down and see it.

It was pretty cool knowing this used to be a pirate island.  And we saw real pirate boats sailing by us. 

My Friend Janene told me about this trip and we booked it the same time as them. Her parents came with them. (lucky) So when the wait staff realized we knew each other they just put the tables together so we  could eat together.  Which I think was funner.  It was nice to have someone the boys could hang out with, and for Ryan and I to talk to as well.   And their daughter Emma is Gavin's love.  She's my sweet babysitter and Gavin always begs for her to come over.  She's one amazing kid.  We just love them so much.  Thanks for letting us tag along. :) 

Some of our favorite dinners.  All the food was amazing.

And the desserts.  Oh man I've never eaten so many in my life. 

Our favorite towel creation.

One thing we really love about Trevor is he is adventurous.  In actions and in food.  He was willing to try anything.  Although he didn't like the mussels to much I was proud of him for trying it.

And every night Gavin finished his dinner in a mickey mouse bar.  He was so funny on day 2 he realized everything was Micky shaped.  And he said to me.  "Why is everything on this boat a Micky Mouse shape?  The pool, the waffles, the food, he's everywhere." I had to remind him Micky Mouse is the main character of Disney. 

They had BBQ on the boat.  Ryan was so happy about this. So was Trevor.

When ever Trevor went missing for a while we always knew where we could find him.  This kid ate his weight and then some in ice cream.  They make these GIANT cookies and he decided to grab two and put ice cream in the middle.  As he was walking around with it so many kids asked him where he got it.  He made many ice cream creations.  He has my weakness for the stuff.  Although I think I only ate one a day.  Or maybe two. :).

They always had dance parties.  Gavin wouldn't go up on stage but he did jam our where he didn't think everyone could see him.  It was so cute.  He loved this big T.v. and that you could watch it while swimming.

The last night we got our picture with Micky finally.  No long lines.  Gavin still wouldn't come close to him.  He kept saying. "that's just a person in a suit right?"  He doesn't like how his eyes don't blink he said.  Such a funny kid.

While my boys had a GREAT time.  This trip is all about the princesses of the Disney shows.  Any little girls dream come true.    I'm such a sap and cried during most of the shows.  And watching all the sweet little girls in their dress ups getting autographs.
  On the 4th deck you can look down in the lobby where all the princesses are getting pictures with the kids I was getting weepy wishing I could do that.  And then look back at my boys beating each other up with a light saber.  Someday when I have grand daughters I'm so taking them on the Disney Cruise and getting all the princess stuff you can imagine.:)

It's in those moments I get a little sad.  But I really wouldn't trade my sweet boys for anything in the world. 

The Severs on the last day did a little performance so we were spinning out napkins around cheering them on.  The older boys got a little to crazy and started whipping each other with them.  Trevor got it right in the eye.  Oh the joys of boys I tell ya.

We loved love love our server. Brownisliave ( I think that's how you spell it but what do I know?)  He was AMAZING.  The kids loved him.  And when ever I told Trevor he had to much dessert he would call me a party breaker.  It was so funny.



 

And even if you ordered Nothing he brought you Something.

It was so hard to say goodbye.  We didn't want to leave.  It really was one of the best vacations we had ever been on.  We all got along,  (for the most part) We got to be with Ryan for 8 days.  He's been traveling so much it was so nice to spend quality time with him.  He even got one on one time with each kid. And he and I even got one on one time.  We had fun with some good friends, and got to experience some great things.  We are plotting when we can go back again.

Now it's spring break.  We are trying to get back to reality. Oh the laundry I've never had so much.  And the homework from missing a week of school. We all want to just go back now.  I'm so grateful that we had this fun family memory of such a wonderful vacation.  Thanks to my amazing Husband who works so hard for his familly.