Riley Goes International

Tuesday, Nov.20th:  Getting their first peek of Castaway Cay!

Welcome to Castaway Cay!  Castaway Cay is Disney's private island in the Bahamas.  It is GORGEOUS!  And, thankfully, we had gorgeous weather to go along with it!  We love to travel and try to do it as much as time and money allow.  As a result, each of our kids have had a passport as babies or toddlers.  Lacey used hers for the first time at 7 months going to Bermuda and Tanner used his for the first time at 18 months going to Costa Rica.  We get a little slower with each kid, but Riley "finally" got to use hers at 24 months going to the Bahamas :)

And, true to Disney style, Mickey was there to greet us!

Also, notice Dave's "bib" in this picture.  He got up early and ran the Castaway Cay 5K.  Way to go, Dave!  (Although the funny part of that story is that the reason why he did it is because he read that they give really cool medals to every participant and he thought Lacey and Tanner would get a kick out of that.  At the end of the race, they handed him a certificate.  What?  No medal?  Apparently, they are "in transition" between medals as they are in the process of designing a new medal, so there is a couple of months between old and new medals where people just get certificates and Dave was lucky enough to be in that window.  Rats!)

We claimed the perfect spot on the beach and the kids jumped in the water!  Here is Tanner on his favorite beach/pool toy, Luca.  (And yes, he named him himself :))

Lacey starting her sand castle

Disney thinks of everything.  They had this great little bridge/dock/play area that the kids could swim out to.  

The view.  Check out that water!

Riley kickin' in with her dad!

Our Ship

We all loved the unlimited soft serve ice cream.  Tanner and his cousin, Lexi took full advantage!

My water baby, Lacey

What a fun day!  Time to go "home!"

I know any of you out there reading this are tired at this point of seeing princesses and other characters, but I pooped out a long time ago on scrap books, so this is going to be my kids only documentation of this trip, so any cute picture I have, I'm posting! :)  After getting back to the ship, we bathed the kids and set out for one last Character sighting.  And look who we found!  Snow White....

Belle....

And Cinderella!

I love this picture of Lacey and her dad having a little chat in the port hole

Tanner shares his light saber with Goofy

Thanks for a great cruise, Donald!

Pirate Night in Nassau

 Day 2 (Monday, Nov. 19th):  We arrived in Nassau where many people got off to explore the city.  I was just there three years ago and didn't feel any burning desire to see it again, especially with three very young kids in tow and Dave, even though he had never been to Nassau, didn't have any special desire to see the town and said he would much rather take advantage of all the incredible amenities on our ship while it was relatively empty.  So, that is exactly what we did!  All the Princesses together were scheduled to make an appearance that morning, so we got Lacey all dolled up in her Princess Aurora gown and set out to meet them!  Here she is with Cinderella (they meet again!)....

Tiana

Belle

Her personal favorite, Princess Aurora

And Snow White

Tanner joined in to meet Peter Pan

Chip N' Dale

Goofy

 Daisy.  This picture totally makes me laugh because, as you may notice, it is the ONLY picture without Tanner.  That is because he all of a sudden decided he was shy of Daisy and refused to meet her.

Minnie Mouse

Donald Duck

And Pirate Mickey with Nana and Grandpa!

As you may have gathered from all the costumes on the characters, Monday was "Pirate Night."  So, we all dressed up like Pirates and set out for evening festivities.  Here is Pirate Lacey with her cousin, Jacque.

ARRR!

As a side note, look closely at this picture and you can see a lighted clear tube wrapping around the tip of the ship.  This is called the Aquaduck.  It is a huge, see-through water slide that is off the 12th deck of the ship, wraps all the way around and juts out over the ocean.  Very cool.  After taking the kids to meet the characters in the morning, we all spent the afternoon at the pool (sans camera and thus, no pictures).  We swam and rode the Aquaduck!  There was also another very cool water slide that the kids rode over and over and over again!  

Meeting Tinkerbell

When we were packing for the trip, Tanner insisted on packing his Batman Costume (I assume since he saw Lacey packing her Princess Aurora costume?)  Anyway, he declared he wanted to wear in on Pirate Night.  I broke down and bought him a light up sword on the ship (which he used as his "light saber" and pranced around all night as happy as could be!  

Disney Cruise Lines, is the only Cruise line (that I'm aware of) that has permission to set off fireworks at sea.  To cap off Pirate Night, after a big party and show on the top deck, there was a great firework show.  What a fun night!

Cruisin' on the Dream: Day 1

Sunday, November 18th.  After 3 nights in Orlando, we boarded the Disney Dream cruise ship.  And that is exactly what it was!  Everyone was happy and healthy for the entire 3 days on board and we had a FABULOUS time!  It was a definite highlight of the trip.  I, in particular, was happy because they let me on the ship!  As I have mentioned previously, Strom Baby #4 was a bit of a surprise and I am not kidding when I say this - one of the very first things that went through my head was, "What about the cruise??"  Most cruise lines have a policy that they will not let you board if you are 24 weeks along or more in your pregnancy.  I know this from previous experience.  Dave and I booked a southern Caribbean cruise when I was pregnant with Lacey as one last "hurrah" before entering parenthood.  After booking the trip, we were notified of their policy.  I would have been 29 weeks.  So, instead of boarding the ship, we flew to Puerto Rico, watched our ship sail away without us and spent the week in Puerto Rico.  But I knew we couldn't do that this time around.  This cruise had been reserved over a year ago.  20 Strom members would be going.  It was a huge production that had been planned and paid for long before I found out I was pregnant.  AHH!  But, I did a lot of research and basically found out that, while they tell you in writing that you can't board, nobody actually forces you to produce documentation of how far along you are.  But, they also tell you that they don't have any personnel or equipment to help you or the baby should something happen on board.  I was confident that nothing would happen, so I decided to try to get on the cruise with the family and just prayed they'd let me on.  I should have taken a picture of myself, but just realized I didn't!  Anyway, I was 30 weeks, 5 days when I boarded with my big baggy jacket and nobody said a word to me.  I was so relieved!!  After boarding, the first person we ran into was Cinderella.  Lacey was thrilled!

Next, we sat down to eat!  Tanner decided to venture out of his comfort zone and tried some crab!

Lacey and Tanner having fun in our room.

Next, we checked out the Kid Center.  We were all VERY impressed.  It's a huge place with a bunch of different rooms with various themes.  Here is Lacey checking out the "Toy Story" room.

Even Riley joined in on the fun!  Here she is on the dance floor.  Seriously, you play some music for this girl and she rocks out!

Nemo's Reef

After checking out the ship and eating dinner, we decided to go meet some characters!  And this is truly one of the best parts of a Disney Cruise.  Instead of wasting  spending half your day waiting in line for characters at the Disney parks, you can quickly get it all done on the ship and then just spend your time on the rides at the parks!  

The most important character of all - Mickey Mouse!

Hi Donald!

And Pluto

And finally Ariel.  That's it for Day One.  More to come.....

Disney

We just returned from a 9-day Disney trip!  Notice, I used the word "trip" and not "vacation."  Dave and I decided years ago that, while both can be very fun, going away with the kids is not a "vacation."  It's a "trip."  Because we packed so much into these 9 days, this will take a few separate entries, so here's my first of probably at least three.  Anyway, over a year ago, Dave's parents decided to organize a Disney trip for the entire Strom clan (16 of us) and also invited Dave's cousin and her husband and their two kids, so it was actually 20 of us in total!  We left on Thursday evening, Nov. 15th and Tanner was SO excited about riding on the airplane.  He's been on a plane many times before, but his last plane ride was probably a year or two ago and so he has no memory of doing so.  The take off.... very exciting!!  He was looking out the window and squealing in delight.  The descent...... not so much.  Poor guy couldn't get his ears to pop and he was MISERABLE.  Anyway, after renting our car and getting to our hotel, we got a good nights sleep and then on Friday, headed to the Magic Kingdom!  The rest of Dave's family decided to spend Friday and Saturday at Universal Studios, but we decided to do Magic Kingdom knowing that the week BEFORE Thanksgiving would be much less crowded then the week OF Thanksgiving.  And I'm so glad we did this!  We never had to wait more than about 15 minutes for a ride and we could move at our own speed.  I LOVE Disney.  I've been many times.  I grew up going to Disneyland since my grandparents lived there and then I had an Annual Pass for two years while I lived there 2003-2005.  And this was actually my 4th time to Disney World.   HOWEVER, I have never been there with my kids and this is something I have always wanted to do.  It is such a different experience being there with your kids and seeing all of the magic through their eyes.  So, as the sign says..... Let the Memories Begin!

Lacey and Tanner in front of the Castle

Cute little Riley Jane.  So, here's the thing..... Lacey was the PERFECT age (5 yrs, 10 months) for this trip and Tanner was at a good age (4 years, 5 months).  But Riley (barely 2 years) was a TERRIBLE age.  We were always having to stop to change her diaper, deal with her fits of exhaustion since she refused to sleep in her stroller, and divide up in different directions so one of us could take the other two on a ride that Riley couldn't ride on.  It was hard.  The hardest part for me is that I am now well into my third trimester.  In fact, I am due in 8 weeks and I've gained almost 25# on my 5'3" frame.  And it's my 4th pregnancy in 5 1/2 years.  In other words.... my back and hips hurt!  Well, every time we went on a ride that Riley could go on, we had to park the stroller and then wait in line.  Granted, it was "only" for 15 minutes or so, but I had to hold 36# squirming Riley the entire time.  Why?  Because if I put her down, she would RUN and when Dave tried to hold her, she would just scream at the top of her lungs and reach out for me.  So, doing that all day long was really, really hard.  Good thing she's cute!  :)  Anyway, this picture is during one of the "dividing" times.  Dave took the kids on Thunder Mountain Railroad (which Tanner declared as his favorite ride) and I discovered this great little play area for Riley around the corner.  It was perfect.  Once he returned, he let Riley continue playing and I took the kids on Splash Mountain (which Lacey declared as her favorite ride!)

All 5 of us crowding into one "shell" on the brand new Ariel ride in the new Fantasyland part of the park that doesn't officially open until December 6th.

And of course, no trip to Disney is complete without the Teacups!

Tanner in heaven driving a race car!

I love how Disney goes all out decorating their parks for the holidays.  And Christmas is the most fun of all!

Saturday (17th), we got off to a rough start.  We woke up at 5am to the sound of Lacey puking all over herself and the bed.  It's so hard to be away from home when you have to clean up a mess like that!  Brutal.  Fortunately, we had already planned on Saturday being a "down day," so Dave stayed "home" with the girls while I took Tanner to Kennedy Space Center to see the rockets.  However.... we walked out to our rental car ~9:30am only to find that we had a flat tire.  Seriously?  It's only 9:30am and I've already had to deal with a puking child that didn't make it to the toilet AND a flat tire??  Fortunately, Dave's dad said that he would go with us and drive his rental car and I left Dave to handle sick Lacey, bundle of energy Riley AND the car.  Thanks, Dave :)  

You can hardly see us, which gives you an idea of the enormity of this Saturn rocket!

And the highlight of the day for my T.  There is one "ride" at Kennedy Space Center and it is a rocket simulator that you have to be 44" tall to ride.  I was a little worried about this knowing that this was the one thing he cared most about doing while here!  I took him to his Pre-K physical a few months ago and he was 43" in bare feet.  So, I was hoping with a few more months of growth and tennis shoes, he'd be okay.  He's slouching in this picture, but luckily, standing straight, he made it!

And that's it for this post.  Stay tuned for the rest of the trip :)