My DisneyWorld post last week inspired me to put together some posts about a few vacations that I never documented here on my blog. You may recall that in the interest of simplification, I recently decided that I wouldn't blog about our vacations anymore since I make photo albums of our trips, but I'm going to amend that because traveling is a big part of our life and I want to acknowledge it here on my blog. I'm not going to write in-depth about most of our vacations, I'm just planning on doing a post or two that includes my favorite pictures of the trip. And that will be that!
In March of last year for Spring Break we went on our second Disney cruise. We went on the same ship as the first time we went, the beautiful and elegant Disney Fantasy. Instead of going to the Western Caribbean as we did in 2013, this time we went to the Eastern Caribbean. Going on a cruise for the second time isn't as magical as the first time, but it's still just as much fun. We had a great time. We love cruises!
On our first cruise we got a room with a porthole window because we were nervous that John the Gymnast Monkey Climber would launch himself off the balcony and fall down to his likely death to the sea below, which wasn't likely to happen but terrifying to think about. This time we knew the boys would be fine with a balcony, so we got a room with one, and it was so nice.
Sam was mad for some reason, so he wouldn't pose for this picture with me and John. You can see him in the distance behind us because he had stormed off. Ha ha!
Prince Samuel
With the ship's captain on Formal Night.
We had lots of family pictures taken that night since we were all dressed up (with someplace to go! Hee hee, sorry).
The way life was meant to be lived!
This was so sweet!
Sam was five years old, the perfect age for meeting Mickey and all of the characters.
"Time for your check-up!" He was excited to meet Doc McStuffins.
The boys loved hanging out in the hot tub up on pool deck at the top of the ship.
Can't beat that view!
Sam loved Mickey's Slide and went down it many, many times that week.
Peter and I went out for a very nice dinner at Palo, an elegant adults-only restaurant that serves delicious Italian food. On a different day we went to the legendary Palo brunch. It was amazing, unlike any brunch you could ever imagine. We also went to a dessert party at Remy, the ship's very fancy French restaurant that we hadn't been to before. Those were some magnifique desserts!
We went to the Dutch island of St. Maarten. The water was gorgeous!
We went on a semi-submarine ride there, which the boys loved. It's so cool to go under the sea and to be able to stay dry doing it! (I'm scared of scuba-diving and have no desire to ever do it!)
We went on a bus tour around the island. I love seeing seeing how people around the world live.
Check out our sweeeet ride!
The grand lobby.
We also went to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Peter and I had been on vacation here before when John was a toddler. It was so much fun to come back, this time with our kids. We went to El Yunque Rainforest, the only tropical rainforest on U.S. soil.
We climbed to the top of this tower. It had amazing views that looked out over the rainforest and out to sea.
John was in rock-climbing HEAVEN. Watching him happily climb the rocks at the base of this waterfall is one of my favorite memories of the trip.
Selfie in San Juan.
I'd just bought an owl picture from a streetside artist vendor and a knock-off Louis Vuitton bag and was feeling pretty pleased with myself.
Back on the ship. Caught John in mid-air!
Pirate Night is always a fun affair.
"Pirates IN the Caribbean." That's us!
The fireworks at sea that night can't be beat!
A few more family pictures, this time on Semi-Formal Night.
Queen Donna
(This one's for you, Ben!)
The final stop of the cruise was Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas. We had a much better time there this time than we had the first time we went. We went for a nice bike ride around the island and played at the beach. The water was so warm and clear!
See the ship in the background? We biked most of that distance! Well, most of us did. Sam got a free ride in a kid seat on the back of my bike. He would never have made it that far!
Our dinner servers for the week were awesome and so nice! Joseph was from South Africa and Marie was from France. We took this picture with them at breakfast on disembarkation day (the day you leave the ship, i.e., the only sad day on a cruise).
We had so much fun on this trip. I can't wait for our next Disney cruise! (Currently scheduled for next March!)
