Disney World; Magic Kindgom

After our cruise, we headed to Disney World! We had Matt's mom fly out with Piper to come with! We missed our little Pipster so much and couldn't bear another 4 days without her! Sadly, she came to Florida a very sick little baby girl! She had croup and was having a hard time sleeping, eating, and even breathing. My wonderful Pediatrician was nice enough to call in some steroids for her, which helped her breathing a ton. She was a rockstar day one, even though she was feeling icky! We had a great time in our 2 days at the Magic Kingdom! We saw and did everything at least twice. The weather was in the mid to high 80's and we were able to walk on almost every ride. Perfection! Pip didn't do so hot the next 2 days...She spent a lot of time being rocked in the Baby Bjorn. Poor kid! Still, we LOVED having her and Jennifer with us in Florida!

The last picture as we left the Magic Kingdom!

Princess Cays, Bahamas

Our final port was Princess Cays, Bahamas. Another dream beach day! Highlights included Beckett finding a hermit crab and carrying it all day, playing in the ocean, me actually laying out for a bit, and souvineer shopping! The weather was gorgeous and we had another great day!

Beck's new friend. Notice the puffiness of his poor little hand. He was in an elevator on the ship and when the doors were opening, he stuck his hand in the side and it got caught. Brilliant. He was pretty swollen and bruised for a couple of days!

London and her personalized Hello Kitty purse and the gal that made it!

The kiddos with the ship in the background

Day at Sea: #2

Our second day at sea was MUCH better than the first! We had a blast hanging out outside most of the day! The kids LOVED, well London did, the waterslide! At lunch time, they announced an ice carving demonstration to be followed by a seafood buffet. I was thrilled. Then I saw the seafood display, complete with squid legs draping from anything and everything. Squid were everywhere! The Euros went crazy. Not me.

EWW!

Me and the Matt

Catalina Island, Domican Republic

Welcome to the Dominican Republic!!!

Catalina Island is just off the coast of the DR and it's spectacular! What a beautiful day we had! The cruise line owns the island or a good portion of it, so we were able to walk off the ship and onto a breathtaking private beach complete with chairs, the kids club, and lunch! The kids spent the first couple of hours on the beach with the kids club, then met up with us for lunch and more fun! We spent hours in the sun collecting millions of shells, including a huge conch shell that the Matt found, and playing in the ocean. It was amazing!

Later that night, we had a great, very festive dinner, with all sorts of crazy dancing! Then the kids had a fabulous pirate party with the kids club! Perfect day!

London, our resident monkey!

Writing her name in the sand!

Our little fam!

Some gems we got to pack home!

My beautiful little buddy!

Matter!

The kids dancing during the dinner

Pirate Londy!

3 darling pirate boys: Charlie, Beck, and Keyon

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Tortola was beautiful, even if it was rainy! It wasn't really beach weather, so we disembarked without swimming suits and found a tour bus. That's when we saw it: Freddy's Fun Bus. We were hooked. I mean, just look at the name... Yeah, Freddy, or "Fun Freddy" as he lovingly referred to himself, wasn't that much fun. He took us on a 2 hour tour of the island and included random places on his tour that were nothing short of super lame. At least the kids were able to get in a good nap that day!

Later that night, the kids club hosted a Horror night! The kids painted/glittered t-shirts for the affair earlier that day. We met in the disco for dancing and a donut party. It was actually really, really fun! The Italian kids club helpers taught the kids a dance to the Shakira song that's playing on my playlist. I think by the end of the cruise, I about had the dance down! The only bad thing about the kid parties was that they didn't start until 9:30 pm and went until well after 11. My kids are faithfully in bed by 8, so unless they napped that day, the parties were out! They were the funnest activities we did on the ship!

Matt and Beck with some of our Londoner friends: Martin and Charlie. Beck and Charlie became great buddies on the trip!

Beck at the party with his awesome new t-shirt!

London in her "Horror Night" getup!

Beck and two of his favorite helpers: Stephania and Luzo

Day 3: day at sea!

Our third day was a day at sea. It was pretty rainy, icky weather, so we were inside most of the day. Matt and Beck played basketball and soccer outside for a bit, then headed down to the rings tournament. Londy and I headed to the culinary demonstration. She loved it! Now she thinks we should make animal creations for every meal! That night after dinner, the main lounge area was turned into a "circus" of sorts. Basically they had a bunch of games to play and if you won, you got a ticket. Later that night was a raffle for I'm sure some amazing prizes. We chose to sleep instead. The kids met some friends from North Carolina this day; Ali and Gigi. They were 6 and 4, just like my kids, so obviously they were instant best friends! We had a lot of fun hanging out with them on the cruise!

London and I went to a fruit and vegetable carving demonstration!

The Captain came to the kids club too see and talk to all the kiddos!

Beckett and his little friend Gigi

After dinner picture; now onto the circus!

Ali and London

Matt and a very tired Beck! Towards the end of the night, Beck was getting whiny and asked Matt to hold him. The second his head touched Matt's shoulder, he was out cold. We couldn't believe it!

London!

Matt and Londy playing a game

More games

This was one of the announcers on the cruise. She LOVED beckett! Everytime she saw him, she'd stop what she was doing and say, "Ah, it's my boyfriend! Ah, bella!" in a thick Italian accent. He was a good sport!