Disney Cruise 2015

Thanksgiving of 2015 was spent cruising on the Disney Wonder!  The cruise left out of Galveston on Friday, November 20 and returned to Galveston on November 27.  Here's our itinerary: 

Galveston

At Sea

Key West

Castaway Cay

Nassau - Bahamas

At Sea 

At Sea

Galveston 

This trip included not just our family but a huge chunk of our extended family too - Mom, Melanie, Dad, Pam, Joan (Pam's mom), Jennifer, Kenny, Thaden, Owen and Gloria (Kenny's mom).   The weather forecasts for our week and various ports of call were not great, but we really lucked out and the rain only affected us a tiny bit.  It rained a good portion of the first day at sea, but after that it was very sparse.  It was a bit too cold for me to get in the water (pool on the ship or the ocean at the beach), but the kids didn't seem to mind. 

The Disney Wonder is a fantastic ship!  It is one of the smaller ships and we really liked having that more intimate feeling (plus there were fewer people on board).  Disney has amazing shows, an awesome kids club that Jocelyn, Thaden and Owen enjoyed and fantastic dining experiences.  We did have an issue with a portion of our stateroom having some water damage (an area between the bed and the bathroom was soaked one day).  We notified our stateroom host (who was fabulous) and she took care of it right away.  It wasn't an easy fix - it involved having a fan/blower going for almost a whole day to dry the carpet.  Didn't bother us much - the water was in an area that we didn't walk through and we weren't in the room much during the day anyways.  Disney, of course, went above and beyond to make it up to us.  The day after the "drying" occurred, we came back to our stateroom to find a Ms. Piggy plush doll and Buzzlight year plush sitting on the bed with a card on each, one for Liam and one for Lizzie.  So sweet.  The next day (our last full day at sea), guest services came by with a bottle of wine and a framed 8x10 picture of our whole family from formal night they had printed out.  So nice. 

Overall, the cruise was great.  So convenient to be able to just drive down to Galveston and get on the ship instead of having to spend a whole day traveling by plane or car.  It was a challenge to keep the twins entertained and supervised without wearing ourselves out.  Everyone pitched in though.  Jocelyn lost one of her front teeth at the kids club one day and she was so excited.  

Pirate night was so fun.  Mom made the costumes for our family and everyone really got into it.

The kids loved the splash pad on board!

We can't wait until our next trip!

2015 Fall Photo Shoot

Last fall, we attended a 15 minutes of Fame Party hosted by a friend and really enjoyed the experience.  The host/hostess sets the date and location for their party through the company 15 Minutes of Fame and then invites friends and family to sign up for 15 minute time slots where a professional photographer takes over 100 photos.  We wanted to do the same thing this fall and I would have hosted my own party but there weren't any dates available.  So, we did the next best thing, signed up for an open slot in a perfect stranger's party!  Turns out, the hostess also has boy/girl twins that were born on the same day and year as mine and at the exact same hospital!  What a small world.  Here are some of our best shots!  Lizzie, of course, would not smile for anything.  No cookie or kolache or juice box was going to make her crack a smile.  

Dance Recital

Jocelyn has spent the last year taking dance class with Dance Tree and had her end of the year recital this past Saturday.  The classes are held after school (at the school) once a week and it is very convenient that she can just stay after school rather than go to a separate studio.  She loved the experience, the teachers and of course the costume.

The Twins Turn Two

Liam and Lizzie turned 2 years old on May 13th!  Wow! Where did the time go?  Already two?  We had a very fun party to celebrate. Since it was a joint party for a boy and a girl, I needed a theme that could accommodate both kiddos - and what is better than Woody and Jesse from Toy Story.  It turned out really cute and was super fun to plan all the details.

Grandma Pam made the cake and it turned out great! 

I tried incorporating a lot of the toy story characters in with the western theme.  My initial idea was to have the barrel of monkey cutouts hanging inside the tent from the sides up to the middle but the wind had its own plans.  So, the monkeys didn't stay put and we were just left with a few hanging down in the middle.  Mom made all of the kids their own cowboy and cowgirl vest to wear.  They are made of felt.  The girls were Jesse themed with red piping painted on (by me) and the boys were Woody with a cow print done with glued on felt pieces.  Mom did a great job, they were super cute.

We had games outside for all the kids to play as a tribute to the Toy Story Midway Mania ride in Hollywood Studios.  It's one of our favorite rides and having games set out for the kids to test their skills was a lot of fun.

One of the best parts of the party was the pony rides!  The kids loved it.  We rented the pony from CJ's Stables in Santa Fe for 2 hours and they were great (a little late because of traffic, but not a big deal).  The parents walk the kids around which cuts down on the cost - only $175 for the 2 hours.  Totally worth it.  Lizzie kept pointing at the pony and saying "whoa".  So very cute.

When it was time to blow out the candles and eat some cake, Lizzie got a bit upset by the all the singing.  Perhaps she doesn't like all of the attention.  Not sure.

What a fun day for all the kids and the grown ups too!