4 Magical Nights on the Disney Dream!!

Since I've started my travel agent job, I've been booking Disney cruises...and feeling a little lost. I can talk Disney World all day/night as well as pretty much any other cruise line, but not DCL.

So, when a Travel Agent rate opened up, I booked it. It was only 3 weeks before sail date. I called Chris, so excited....and he burst my bubble. There was no way he could swing it (Something about us taking off in May and in July...doing a half-Ironman in between...and being a manager...blah blah blah). 

So, I asked grandma who was all in. Girls trip for the win!

It was seriously amazing. It was a perfect first cruise for the girls. 

At the boat!!

Captain Minnie met us at the pier to welcome us aboard.

With a travel agent rate, you don't have any say in your room. You get one assigned to you...and we really lucked out!

We got a huge room with 2 big windows. The windows on DCL have big seats you can sit in and look out. The girls LOVED doing this. They would sit and watch us sail away, dock, etc.

Ready for the muster drill!

Our first cruise ice cream!

In true Disney fashion, there were so many characters on the ship! They were all so great with the girls. They spent a lot of time with them, talking to them, twirling with them, hugging them. 

We had two stops at Disney's private Bahamian island - Castaway Cay. My new favorite place. 

Yes, this is in the ocean. It's super fun. The girls came down the slides over and over.

  

On our second day, the girls went to Scuttle's Cove for a few hours while mom and I hit up the adults beach. We found starfish, a conch shell and tons and tons of sand dollars (though most broke, unfortunately.)

As we were leaving Castaway Cay, we told the girls to share a towel. They took it literally. 

 We also docked one day in Nassau. But, it was hotter than the face of the sun and I didn't have a stroller. About 40 steps off the boat I had to pick up my 3 year old. About 40 steps AFTER that, we made an executive decision to hit a few stores, grab a souvenir and get our butts back on the boat.

 

So, we got back on the ship and enjoyed the afternoon! Sydney played in this Nemo Splash Pad every day, as much as she could!

Maddie liked the Splash Pad too but her favorite was the water coaster. She rode the Aqua Duck (see the water slide the sky?) FOURTEEN times. She loved it. And, both girls swam in the Mickey pool. 

One of the most fun things about a Disney cruise is Pirate Night!

Funny story - this guy is not a DCL employee but his costume was so great the girls thought he was a character and asked for a picture. :)

Jack Sparrow loved Sydney and Maddie. He'd been working for hours and we were one of the last families. He got down on his knees and talked with them for several minutes. 

 There's a fun Pirate show on the pool deck that we loved.

The characters have on their pirate gear!

And there's fireworks! (with chocolate chip cookies!) Sydney crashed before the fireworks so I had some special time with my big girl.

But, don't worry, I got special time with my little girl the next day when grandma was riding Aqua Duck over and over with Madeline.

 

The boat was the prettiest boat I've been on.

Maddie got two holes in one!

Besides the Aqua Duck there was a non-coaster water slide. 

 The Ghiardeli chocolates every night were a nice addition to all of the other treats we were eating!

You know, like Mickey pops.

And soft serve.

We finally had to give Sydney a nap one afternoon. She complained for about 5 seconds and then fell asleep, arms in the air, naked. HA!

Both girls passed out on the way home. 

What a great trip! Can't wait for our next Disney cruise!

That summer we swam. ALL. THE. TIME.

Our first week out of school and we slowly got into a new routine. Girls are going to bed a bit later, sleeping in (like an extra 5 minutes - ha!) and having fun not having a "schedule." Between nana and grandpa's house, the Y summer camp, and our neighbors, we are swimming almost every day!

In big news, Maddie had three teeth pulled.

Before. 

She did fantastic. 

After. (Terrible picture - haha! The sun was in her eyes.)

Maddie's mouth is really really small so her permanent teeth were coming in and had nowhere to go. We needed to get the babies out so her permanent teeth didn't come in far back and crooked. 

We wrapped up swim lessons and both girls are doing great in the pool. 

 Sydney and Elizabeth. Elizabeth's mom, Mary Jane, was my first friend when I moved to Kentucky. We are still friends, 25 years later, and now our daughters are friends! 

 We celebrated Audrey's birthday at a pool party.

Neighbor Claire.

Gap - tooth grins!

Maddie and Claire go to summer camp together and have gotten very close. We trade kiddos all the time. I had Claire and her brother over for dinner this week.

We went back to Blairwood pool with neighbors to celebrate Brooke's birthday!

Side note: Maddie NEVER naps and after a long afternoon at the pool, she fell asleep on me. I had a house to clean, dinner to prep, but I just sat here for a bit and enjoyed it.

Dane and Quinn came to town and we enjoyed time with cousins!

Between all of the swimming, we're still squeezing in a few other things too!

Both girls asked to take summer off from dance and switch to gymnastics. They LOVED it. Sydney held on on to her teacher's hand half way across the beam.

Then was all, "I'm good by myself."

Daddy did the Tri-Louisville triathlon!

 This was a big race for Chris - an Olympic distance triathlon. It's great practice for his BIG race next month. Can't wait to see him cross that finish line, it's been a lot of training and hard work!

Our summer treats are mainly popsicles on the patio. I was cleaning up dinner one night and caught the girls having a rare sweet moment sharing popsicles.

And then, playing bicycle.

Finally, I've been packing and prepping to take these two little girls on a surprise trip. My mom and I are taking them on a Disney cruise and they have no idea! I'm so excited to surprise them this week!

 

First Full Week of Summer Break!!

Well, we have a first grader! Maddie wrapped up her first year of elementary school on Thursday June 1st, 2017. 

We had Writer's Picnic the week before to celebrate her accomplishments.

It has truly been an AWESOME year. 

She made some great friends and learned a lot.

We celebrated with ice cream sundaes after school with all of the neighbor girls.

And did some sparklers in the evening!

The next day we hit up Blairwood with Lizzy and Brooke. Maddie immediately jumped off the diving board into the 12 foot deep end. I was so proud of her! She is doing so well at swimming!

Popsicles after four hours of swimming in the sun!

Friday night we did dinner with K and D and the kids ran around looking for roly polies.

Saturday night, we hit up our friend's crawfish boil. They do this event RIGHT.

 

1,000 pounds of crawfish, combined with spicy sausage, corn, potatoes....it is SO good. (The kiddos had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and fruit!)

There are two live bluegrass bands, a bounce house, a zip line, pool, etc.

We started swim lessons this week. 

 The girls had a good lesson and got to take a ride on Rainbow. 

We had our first visit (but not the last!) to the Shiver Shack for snow-cones!!

The fire truck came through collecting money for the Crusade and let the girls hop in.

The girls have been sleeping in their fort every night and made daddy squeeze in one night.

Whew! Our first full week of summer was jam-packed!! We have even more summer-fun planned!!