Where's My Pants?

We got home and hit the ground running.  Fortunately, we had a pretty good pair of pants for doing that.  Mommy and Daddy literally spent all day doing this, working on this LEGO costume until 10:30 pm tonight.  There was some unpacking, some laundry, some eating too.  Madison was playing video games and watching a few episodes of "The Tick," including one of Daddy's favorites, which involves Leonardo DaVinci and his Fighting Time Commandos.  George Washington Carver is hysterical in that episode.

The weather up here is cooler, which is expected.  But everything looks as it did when we left.  Nana and Ye-Ye were housesitting for us, although they left at one point to move back into their home because the tarp was back up. They'll be with us again on and off, as the drywall and insulation process can be harmful to breath in, and it's no fun walking around your house with a breathing mask on.

We slept in this morning, and we unpacked and began sorting through pictures and souvenirs and clothing.  It's great to be back, or at least that's what we keep telling ourselves now that the cruise is over.  It's always too soon to get off a cruise ship.  Unless it's sinking, of course!

Speaking of which, the Disney Dream actually struck something today in Nassau.  The cruise right after ours, and the same boat hit the dock, leaving a pretty big dent in the back of it.  It's not as easy as parallel parking, that's for sure.

You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the LEGO mini figure.  He's going to be at KidPak, and hopefully everyone will like him!

Smooth Trip Home

We woke up later this morning, at least later than that first shift of folks that wanted to get on their way.  Seriously, the second seating on the Disney Cruises has an advantage for those of us who don't really enjoy getting up early in the morning.  The first seating people get to the restaurant at 6:30 am, or something like that.  Which means they get up at five something in the morning.  Yeah, they're off the boat and on their way a whole lot earlier - that's been the case with us in the past.

But this time around, we had the second seating, and therefore we didn't have to be at breakfast until around 8:30am.  That was just fine with us.  We got up on time, got everything ready, and said our prayers of thanksgiving for a wonderful vacation in our cabin.  And then we were on our way to the lobby.

But it was still a bit early, so we sat down on a couple of comfortable benches on floor five overlooking the lobby area, and waited a bit to go down to the Animator's Palate for our final meal of the cruise.

We said our goodbyes to the family that dined with us this cruise, and ate a pretty hearty breakfast.  No Mickey waffles this morning, but there was plenty to eat, including Daddy's traditional bagel and lox, and a whole lot of fruit.

Eventually, it was time to go.  We left the boat, crossed the ramp onto dry land once more, still rocking back and forth internally.  It'll be a few days before the equilibrium gets used to not being on a boat.

Our car was covered in salt.  All of the cars in the parking deck were.  You'd think for $80, we'd get a free car wash or something, but the parking deck was right there on the edge of the ocean, so it's to be expected.  We just love noting that it cost $80 to park your car on Disney property for a Disney cruise that you've already paid a lot for.

Anyway, beyond that, the day was pretty routine.  We did our radio show on the way home, listening to Riders Radio, and in Madison's case she was listening to her playlist on her MP3 player.  Either that or watching movies.  She said she was watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3, and on the way down she was watching both "Tron" movies again.  She slept too.  So did Mommy.  Daddy didn't, obviously, although he was pretty wiped out.

Getting back to Macon, we decided to leave I-75 north, because it was Friday and Atlanta at rush hour.  It was a great decision, as the trip through Athens was uneventful.  It was a smooth and easy drive all the way north, although obviously a longer one, as we were coming from Port Canaveral.  We stopped in Madison for Chick-Fil-A, and that gas station at Magnolia Plantation somewhere in South Georgia.  It's just a big glorified gas station, although when you see Magnolia Plantation, you get the feeling you're getting to visit a piece of history or something.  Nope.  It's just a fancy facade, with produce and souvenirs inside, along with cheap gas and new, clean restrooms.

Anyway, we made it home safely and without incident, which of course we're all grateful for.  We're also grateful to be in our own beds tonight, something we were anxious to try out as soon as possible.  Sometimes these vacations can just wear you out!

Day at Sea

After breakfast this morning, we went over to see "Cars 3" at the Buena Vista theater.  It was pretty crowded at the time, but we had perfect seats, and even better, we had popcorn.  Mommy hadn't got to see this movie yet, but Madison and Daddy did earlier at Summer Xtreme.  It is a really good one, actually.  It's just neat seeing a movie on a boat, right?

We also did some trivia on the boat, with two consecutive victories!  

This is a picture after the first win, where we're posing with the hostess.  The questions were based on classic Disney cartoons, and we were just dominating.  I mean, there were larger groups than just the three of us, and it was a really packed area with lots of people, but it didn't matter:  we had a winning team.  Madison would cover for us when we didn't know the answers, or Mommy would know one right away, and then Daddy would be clean-up batter!  We started this cruise out thinking it would be great to actually win some of these - you earn them based on the mini-golf games or trivia or something else.  We won three times over the course of the cruise, this small little group of the three of us, seated on the floor and quietly dominating the entire thing.  There was a nemesis on the other side of the room who kept coming close, and she didn't have any prizes at all.  That very last game was a tie, and rather than do any kind of tie-breaker, we realized we already had three prizes, so we gave the other team that last victory.  We were doing that well.  There was a good deal of grace upon us to know so many answers, and know them so easily.  

Another thing we did today was go to a pin-trading event.  Madison LOVED this.  The crew was there, and she had a bunch of pins that we brought with us.  She traded several new pins tonight, spending a long time with each crew member, talking - while studying the lanyards with pins on them.  She came away pretty happy about her new acquisitions!

Madison was in the Star Wars room again, and also spending time making slime.  Mommy and Daddy were trying a mini-golf game in the lobby, which was fun.  The haunted tree had grown it's pumpkins, as it does each Halloween cruise.  It watched us putt golf balls there on the lobby floor.  Daddy came close to winning, but lost with the last shot - and that was okay, because it was a lot of fun.

We spent time at the pool watching movies on the deck up top.  And yes, we even rode on the Aquaduck once again, in fact two times.  The lines were bigger today, but we were happy to give it another go.  We rode on this quite a few times on this cruise.  One thing we loved was talking to all the other Georgia people in line, and yes even other people from Forsyth County. We're all on vacation this week!

One thing we did this afternoon was drop by the candy store at the top floor, where we placed an order for a ridiculous ice cream car at dinner tonight.  In fact, here it is:

It was so big that Madison couldn't eat the whole thing.  So she shared it with her new friend at the table, even sharing some with Daddy.  This was an amazing amount of ice cream, and looked just fantastic.  Vanellope's race car we get to keep as a souvenir, all said a really great thing to do when you're on a Disney cruise.  Just the looking at the ice cream flavors was fun enough.  The ice cream and candy store is extremely tempting, even with all the free food not too far away in the restaurant next door.

The seas were quiet, the hurricane long gone.  Our last and final meal was ginormous and wonderful, and as it was our last day, we stopped to get a few souvenirs here or there.  Also on the night's itinerary was the production, "Believe," which is the best of them all.

It does such a great job of summing things up, a wonderful experience more than a production.  It's easy to smile at, and a bit sentimental, especially when seen at the end of an amazing cruise as this was.

And it was an amazing cruise.  We've been on a few over the years, but this one was nice with just the three of us together, hanging out.  It's a great way to start out the fall season, and we're grateful for the good weather we had along the way.  But we're so very happy with the time we spent together, just the three of us, relaxing, smiling, resting, and having a lovely cruise.

We were packing tonight, or at least Mommy was while Daddy and Madison did a few more rounds of the Midship Detective Agency.  Anyway, we were getting ready for an early departure tomorrow - although not as early as the others.  We have the second shift, and that means we sleep in a little, and leave the boat last.  That's just fine because we're not in any hurry tomorrow.

Still, everyone was a bit tired from the day, and we were good to head to bed a bit earlier tonight.  There's so much activity going on that you're bound to miss something going on, in favor of getting some rest.  But that's okay, because I have a feeling we'll be back on board again some day.

Snorkeling and More

This is the view from our cabin, right off our veranda there.  We just step out, and there it is, a beautiful day at Castaway Cay.  Daddy made the traditional trip up to the top to get some hot tea for Mommy, and something to drink for Madison as well.  Our plans today were pretty open, which is to say we didn't have much scheduled.  But at the same time, we sure did a lot of fun things today, and it all started with a nice breakfast down at the Enchanted Garden.

Everyone was scurrying to get off the boat, but we were happy to take our time with a really nice breakfast together, and yes, we have napkin art on our heads too!  But once we were done, we headed back to the cabin, getting ready to get off the boat.

Check out this water spout we saw from the island.  It was just sitting there above us, and we were all collectively wondering... should we be concerned about this?  No worries though - it was just a waterspout, no big deal.  Right?

Our big mission here, or at least Daddy's, was to do some snorkeling.  Madison hadn't tried it before, and it's been a while for Mommy and Daddy.  It was a somewhat exhausting thing towards the end, as we were out there in the water for so long.  But we went out - way out - and got to see all the underwater sights.  Of course, there were plenty of fish out there to see, which was exciting for Madison to see.  But there were also these underwater landmarks to look at, including the Nautilus, a Mickey Mouse statue, and a Minnie Mouse one as well.  We saw it all in our swimming adventure, and when we were done, we were really done.  We didn't hang around Castaway Cove for too long today.  For one, the sun really can be punishing for Daddy and Mommy.  But the other thing is this:  there's a lot to do on the boat.

We took this picture for Madison's yearbook.  There's going to be a page dedicated to kids that are wearing their Chestatee Elementary School shirts in far off places.  Castaway Cove qualifies, so we packed the Chestatee shirt and took a quick photo in front of this buoy.  And then... we were back on board the Dream.  Look at one of the first things we did here:

We made parrot crafts!  This is one of the things I love about a cruise.  There are so many different things going on, and while people are snorkeling or parasailing or swimming upstairs, we were with quite a few other families, making these parrots, coloring in feathers, and gluing them all on.  There's a wristband as well, so you can have your parrot on your arm.  These were meant for us to wear to the pirate event, although instead we left them in our cabin, rather than try to keep up with them.

The next thing we did was Pirate Trivia.  Sensing a theme to our day yet?  You can see above that Mommy is wearing a medal, and that medal says "WINNER."  This was our first of three trivia victories on this cruise, although this one might have been the easiest.  There were questions about Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swann, thrown together with legitimate historical questions about real pirates.  Given our knowledge about pirates in general, it wasn't that much of a stretch for us to get quite a few of these right!

After trivia, we had a quick bite to eat upstairs at Flo's Cafe, and Luigi's as well.  We also made sure we got on the Aquaduck again, riding it a few more times.  We were in the pool upstairs, and all of these things weren't that crowded at all.  The thinking was that everyone was on Castaway Cay, so things would be less crowded on deck.  And that's just the way it was.  We had a great time relaxing up there, with perfect weather too.  We were watching "Bolt," while in the pool there, which was all very nice. 

We did another Midship Detective Agency this afternoon as well, where Madison and Daddy were racing back and forth across the ship, and up and down the different floors.  It was the Disney edition, and this time it was Maleficent that did it.  We're getting quite good at this detective game, but Daddy was taking all kinds of notes because we'll be doing it at KidPak in just a few months as well.

So what was next?

"Nightmare Before Christmas" in 4D.  That just means it's a 3D movie, with a few enhanced effects, like snow falling from the ceiling at the end, and special lighting, and confetti in the shape of little Jack Skellington heads.  It's a tradition of ours to see this movie once a year, and this was the perfect way to do it this year.  It was a sing-a-long version, and Daddy was probably singing it the loudest.  We got popcorn, and sat together watching a movie.

After the movie, we were over to the Royal Palace again for another great dinner, this one a pirate-themed meal.  It was actually a really good meal with pirate names (like Larry), and not hard tack or anything like that.  The food is always so good, and Mommy does well with it, and there's no worries about dietary problems or anything like that at all.  The place was infested with pirates - this is the night we all dress up as pirates, and take over the ship!

Here we are with the captain of the ship, who we happened to run into in the lobby.  Sadly, he was not dressed up as a pirate captain.  But the piracy of the night was only just beginning.  We had our parrots made, and we won our pirate trivia.  We had our pirate meal and our pirate costumes looked great.  Now it was time to go play some pirate games!

Here's Madison on a team, playing different pirate relay races after spinning the "Wheel of Destiny."  It was a lot of fun for her and the other kids.  Moms and Dads had a blast watching the kids, and laughing at all the jokes.  Madison's team won, but this is the sort of activity where there are no losers.  Everyone had a great time!

When that was over with, we had to get upstairs quickly to see Jack Sparrow!

There he is!  Tonight he was tangling with some other pirates in a special show that had him jumping from great heights, cracking jokes, and in the end, obtaining a magical item that created a huge fireworks display in the sky.  

Madison, Mommy and Daddy were on the best side of the boat to watch all of this.  It's just amazing to see all the fireworks shooting off, and all of this in the middle of the Caribbean.  Nothing for miles around, and yet here we are, shooting off this intense fireworks show called the Buccaneer Blast.

It's great.  And it's also late, especially after a long day like today.  I'd like to tell you how we went to see the haunted ghost stories up on the top floor... but we were all ready to turn in after the fireworks. So down we went, and yes, our cabin had new towel animals for us.  We stopped by the photography booth tonight, and got some great pictures taken of us for the evening.

Here's Mommy and Daddy, ready to pillage and plunder!  And here we are below with Uma, the third pirate in our crew:

This is Madison's Halloween costume for the year, and it looks great.  It's also very hard to come by now.  We ordered that hat early, and we're very glad we did, because it's now over $100.  Anyway, she got a lot of compliments on her costume this evening, as did all of us.  We were a pirate crew, having a pirate blast today.

We said our prayers, and despite all that's going on this boat tonight, it was really easy to fall asleep.  We'll have another fun day tomorrow!

Pirates of Nassau

This morning we arose to look out the veranda at the beautiful ocean view before us.  I can't imagine getting used to this sort of view.  The vast expanse of ocean there, without a trace of humanity, and here we are in our pajamas overlooking it all.  As an extra touch of beauty, can you see the rainbow in the picture above.  All from our room, no less.

As we approached the Bahamas, Madison took advantage of the quiet and the view, seated and reading from her book.  She's reading "The Westing Game," something that really has her hooked.  Daddy sneaks upstairs as is the tradition, and gets Mommy a tea, and Madison a little something to drink as well.  As we get ready for our day, we rise at a leisurely pace.  We watched as Nassau grew closer, and saw the whole process where the cruise ship goes into the harbor, slowly turning around and backing up into the dock.  

We weren't due at any place at any time whatsoever, so we went back to the Enchanted Garden for a nice breakfast this morning.  We all got Mickey-shaped waffles, including Mommy, who got a whole bunch of gluten-free options for breakfast - and tea, of course.  

After the nice breakfast, we got off the boat - and it was pretty humid there in Nassau.  Here's Mommy and Madison in back of the Dream, ready to embark on a small adventure, also wearing their identical hats.

It's always a nice moment getting off the boat at some distant port, looking back at this massive cruise ship that towers over many of the buildings there in Nassau.  The Dream is a beautiful boat.

But we did have a goal in mind on the island.  Nothing huge like Atlantis, or even a return to Ardastra Gardens, or even a trip to dolphins or a beach.  Instead, our destination today was... PIRATES!

This was just a fun balance for the day, to be honest.  We wanted to do something on the island that didn't have too much of a commitment to it.  A lot of the other island excursions involved timed trips to beaches, casinos and waterslides.  These would be affected by the rain, it turned out.  We were just in the mood to head out for a bit to the island in the morning... and then come right back.  We looked up online and found out the pirate museum was still open, and remember that Madison hasn't been there yet, we made a quick trip to the Age of Piracy.

Again, this wasn't a Disney-backed excursion.  We just thought we'd check out the museum and learn a little bit about the history of pirates before heading back to the ship - tomorrow night is pirate night, after all.

Check out this guy here.  This pirate is on board the ship, looking at the eclipse!  That was a fun subtle nod to our recent adventure with the eclipse, although this was probably painted on the wall a long time before that.  Regardless, the museum itself is a nice, quick trip.  It's certainly a lot cheaper than the other excursions, and fairly easy to walk to on foot.  In fact, we walked past some of the stores we wanted to visit on the way back.  So it's all on the way, safe to get to, and not too far away. 

The information is interesting, with background stories on various pirates that are famous - and some perhaps a bit obscure.  As with any museum, you'll learn something if you spend enough time in there.  Which we did.  The indoors happened to be a good place for us to be as well, mainly because Mommy and Daddy aren't doing so well with extended stays in sunlight as it is.  And beyond that, it was starting to look overcast outside.  We had the museum to ourselves, largely, with just a few other visitors there.  Madison, Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it, taking pictures, reading, and saying things like "Arrr, ye scurvy rat!"

But next came the place that Madison was really wanting to return to.  It's called Del Sol, and she was looking forward to this store.  It features items that change colors in the sun, and she used some of her birthday money from her grandparents to get a necklace and a few other items, like fingernail polish.  Daddy still has a t-shirt from this place, which was doing pretty well.  A lot of other folks were here!

We left there, and the weather was much cooler and breezier outside.  There was a storm coming.  It's a good thing we were heading back to the boat, because as soon as we got there, the rain came!  We timed that just right.  Or, at least our Heavenly Father did.  It was perfectly planned, as we went back to our cabin for a bit, and then up to the top deck for grilled chicken at Luigi's.  Madison got pizza at Ramone's up there, and afterwards, we even spent a few moments in the jacuzzi.  And yes, after that, it was back to the Aqueduct again, and even more pool time for Madison, while Mommy and Daddy sat at a table just looking out over the ocean or the Nassau cityscape.

The rain didn't affect us at all.  We had plans to go to Disney Tunes Trivia, which we went to down at at the District, which was a place downstairs that we hadn't been to yet.  There was a big group of folks down there, and we had a lot of fun with that, almost winning it.  We were just one question away from winning, but the three of us had the greatest time.  

Right after that, we stuck around to do some family crafts.  The three of us were making masks, coloring in large cutouts of Minnie, Mickey, Pluto and Goofy.  There were plenty of other families with us, and it was neat doing something like this as a family.  We love going out to the water, and of course there was that already and plenty more time for that in the coming days.  But sitting together and being creative was a lot of fun.  By the end of the session, we had created our masks with the others.  They turned out great, and just in time for Mickey's Mousequerade Party.

Here are a few others with some great costuming ideas at the party.  They were the seagulls from "Finding Nemo!"  We didn't carry around the sticks with masks on them, but we did have some costumes on, and of course Madison had her Uma costume to wear.  Here she is, with someone dressed as Mal, and another dressed as Evie.  And yeah, there's a Cinderella in there for good measure!

The girls had a good time, squeezing around the overcrowded lobby, waiting in lines for candy at the various stations.  By the time we got through each station - and keep in mind we got there in time - there was no time for the other games.  That's how many people are there in this tiny area.  Daddy and Mommy had candy bags too, and we saw some people get there late - we gave them some of our candy, knowing some of the candy stations were already closed up.

It's not Disney's finest event.  Both times we've done this, you have this huge crowd of people compressed into this tiny area with long lines squeezing by other long lines waiting for candy stations.  There are games and music, but these are overcrowded too, and if you have any degree of claustrophobia, as I must have, it's not exactly the most fun you can have.  But it's not like were completely miserable or mad or anything - it's just not our first preference, to be so compressed like that.  STILL, Madison enjoyed it, particularly because she got to wear her Uma costume and get free candy.  We all did, taking it back to the room afterwards, and just in time to see a double rainbow outside our veranda.  

Soon we were off saying goodbye to Nassau, the three of us quite content with our day already.  Once more, we sailed away from this island.  I think Mommy and Daddy have been here about six times or so.  It's nice, but there's so much to do on the boat too.  The lighthouse you pass by is so small compared to the boat we're on.  But it looks nice, a glimpse into history.

In all our visits here, we have yet to visit Atlantis, which you can see in the background there.  I think part of this is because we've been to a lot of aquariums, and as far as water parks go, there's an Aqueduck and a pool on the boat, and slides at Castaway Cay, and beaches there too.  We just never got around to doing the Atlantis thing.  It's not a historical sort of thing, and doesn't really lend to the atmosphere of the islands so much.  And... of course... it costs more.

So we were sailing off, and getting ready for dinner too.  While Mommy took a quick nap, Daddy and Madison embraced the upcoming mystery theme at KidPak, and did the Midship Detective Agency hunt.  We did this twice during the cruise, this first time with the Muppets, as you can see below.

This was a lot of fun, and gave us all kinds of ideas for a future event at KidPak, which you might see here soon enough.  As it stands, in this particular mystery, it was Sam the Eagle that did it, although that answer changes from game to game.

The sun was slowly setting, and it was getting closer to time for dinner.  We were getting hungry too, believe it or not.  We went back to see Mommy, and the three of us took a leisurely stroll down, and walked about because we were just a little bit early, we played a game of shuffleboard together on the deck, while watching the sun set.

The decorations on the boat are fun, and festive.  This picture is nice, showing a bit of sparkle as the descending sunlight catches the drops on the web.  Madison and Mommy were on some of those deck chairs, and tonight we caught a glimpse of something we hadn't seen before.

We've seen the sun set before, but we've never seen THE GREEN FLASH.  Tonight, we did.  I can confirm to you that it is real.  Just before the sun sets over the horizon of water, right between being visible and disappearing over the end of the earth, you can see only for a blink of an eye... a GREEN FLASH.  Of course, this was only brought to our attention because of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.  And ever since then, whenever we're in a situation where we can see the sun set over the horizon, we've been looking for that GREEN FLASH.  We've never seen it.  Until now, of course.  It wasn't a brilliant flash like you see in the movies, there was a change of color, and it was in fact a GREEN FLASH.  Pretty cool stuff.  Madison can now say she saw the GREEN FLASH.

Moving on.  Dinner time had arrived, and tonight, we went to the Royal Palace for another fantastic meal.  Mommy can eat whatever she desires with no repercussions, as Daddy can too.  So many great meals!

We got back to the cabin, and there was our folded towel, hanging from the curtain like a monkey with a pair of sunglasses on it.  The room was prepared for bed, but we weren't quite ready for that yet.

After dinner, we actually had time to do a few things.  First, a game show.  Yes, Daddy wanted us to go to something called Mirror, Mirror.  This was a game show for a family, and it was so much fun.  Madison talked about this a lot afterwards.  She was one of the team captains, and got to help collect jewels from the mine, as well as answer trivia questions with the rest of the team.  There were seven teams, because there were seven dwarves of course.  And Dopey made an appearance as well.  From time to time, the Magic Mirror would announce results or talk about what would happen next, and throughout the entire occasion there were lots of laughs and fun.  It was a great game.  We may not have won that one, but it was a game where everyone had a great time.  

The last thing of the night was funny because we thought we were done.  Mommy and Daddy were done, of course.  But at dinner tonight, Madison's new friend Sophia invited her to the Oceaneer's Club to do some Wacky Science.  Daddy dropped her off for the play date, and immediately went upstairs with Mommy for a few moments of quiet in the room - we plugged in a movie, "Oz the Great and Powerful."

Madison had a great time there tonight, ultimately making some Flubber.  It glows in the dark, and it's in a bag now in the refrigerator here in the cabin.  She had a great time there.  But that's been the whole day, pretty much.  It's been so much fun, and so full and yet at times very relaxing and laid back.  We've made some happy memories today, and still have a few days to go on this cruise.

Tonight we said our grateful prayers, watching over the dark expanse of ocean as our ship cruised northward towards our quiet uninhabited destination, Castaway Cay.

Bon Voyage

The big day arrived, and here we are just moments before boarding the Disney Dream once more.  This is our third time on board this particular vessel, and by now we're seasoned professionals!  Obviously not, but we did know a few things ahead of time - like once again, how to properly decorate your stateroom door!

Here it is, with pumpkins and a new design that Daddy made.  Mommy put the magnets on the backside of it, as you don't use sticky substances on the door.  It's all magnetized.  And there were a lot of other doors decorated too - it's a lot of fun.  It's a return to Halloween on the High Seas for us!

Upon arrival, we immediately went up to Cabana's to eat, and eat, and eat.  Oh boy, what a spread.  So much food, and so much seafood for Daddy.  Madison was splurging, as was Mommy.  God had saved us this wonderful table right by the windows, and the three of us ate our first relaxing meal.  It was just perfection!

We went to our room after this, and looking at our watches realized we had just enough time to sneak a ride on the Aquaduck.  So why not?  Madison and Daddy raced up there, while Mommy prepped the room for our stay.  The line wasn't as long as you find it at other times, and it was funny because we were in front of someone in line who was from Forsyth County.  Behind that person was someone who knew where Jot-Em-Down Road was.  Small world!  Evidently half the the boat was from Georgia, as we in Forsyth all had Fall Break this week.

Anyway, we returned to the room and settled in a bit before the mandatory evacuation drill.  It was held in the Buena Vista Theater for us, and we arrived there early to sit down.  It's not exactly the most exciting thing on the cruise, but every cruise starts with one, and everyone was ready for the end of it, as it was somewhat of a countdown to the moment that we actually start sailing away.

Speaking of which, that's what we did next:  we sailed away.  Mommy, Madison and Daddy went to the Sail Away party, just as we usually do, and celebrated with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and the others until the big melody horn, "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes."

We sat along the railing and watched Florida go by, leaving the port slowly and waving at all the people on land.  It was going to be a wonderful cruise.  

We did some exploring after this.  There were some new things aboard the ship, and we were anxious to check them out.  First, on Deck 11 there is a candy shop, Vanellope's Sweets and Treats.  There were some amazing looking candies there, and the ice cream was unbelievable!  We didn't have any yet, but we would later, that's for sure.  

We also checked out the Oceaneer's Club:

Is this not a dream come true for a Star Wars fan?  Look at Madison, piloting the Millennium Falcon here.  She's going into hyperspace, entering the planet Hoth's atmosphere, and following some snow speeders on the attack.  Daddy wishes he could have been in this seat!

But there was another seat too - it was at a table where he and Madison had a game of Dejarik.  Okay, not really.  We added the holographic playing pieces later.  But still, that whole set was just amazing!

So we were off and out to sea by this point, with Florida looking smaller and smaller in the distance.  The waves were getting choppy and the captain warned us that things would be a little more back-and-forth than usual, due to Hurricane Maria's lingering effects.  We had our patches on to help fight being seasick, and we went down to see the Golden Mickeys one last time

This is the lady that interviewed Madison before the show.  Madison was on the big screen that everyone was watching before the stage show began, being asked a few questions about her favorite character and so forth.  Daddy was there too on screen.  We'd never done this before, in the few times we've seen this show.  This might be the last time we see this, as they're supposedly replacing this show with a stage version of "Beauty and the Beast."  While that may be great, we're sentimental towards "The Golden Mickeys," mainly because that is what we saw when we were in Hong Kong Disney with Madison.  It might be the first thing we saw with her there, so long ago.  Since then, we've only seen the show on this boat, so it's four times now?  Anyway, it was fantastic as always.  Madison loved it, keeping the little floating Golden Mickeys that fell down upon us at the end of the show.  The dance numbers were great, from Mulan to the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Snow White to Toy Story.  Lots of fun!

Afterwards, it was time to hear about the Pumpkin Tree:

This is where all the kids from the boat crowd into lobby area to hear this caretaker woman talk about Grim, the Pumpkin Tree on the boat.  The kids listen as she tells them to put their names on a pumpkin seed, and put that seed into a cauldron.  Each one represents a pumpkin that will bloom on the tree by the end of the voyage.

We've seen this before, and although it didn't change much, it was a tradition for us.  The lighting and spooky atmosphere really got the Halloween on the High Seas going!

Speaking of "high seas," that Hurricane Maria was affecting us hundreds of miles away with some mighty choppy waters.  These were probably the biggest ups and downs we've ever experienced from the waves at sea on any cruise.  Fortunately, it was just for one night, and fortunately, we all had the patches behind our ears to help out.  Other passengers were not as fortunate.  At dinner tonight, there was a mother who didn't make it because she was riding things out in her room. 

Dinner was good though, as we all met in the Enchanted Garden.  Madison likes this restaurant a lot, the atmosphere and the music and of course the food.  She met a new friend, a girl named Sophia, who is roughly her age.  She's from Colorado that is now sitting at our table.  Madison and Sophia seemed to hit it off right away.  The two would enjoy meeting up elsewhere throughout the cruise, both big fans of "Descendants," and that's about all you need to know there!

The meal is so nice because Mommy can eat without any worry at all about allergies or reactions.  She enjoyed a wonderful meal, as did all of us, complete with dessert.  We like this second seating already, because it means we don't have to leave dinner early in order to go catch a show.  We can show up for dinner exactly on time without getting there early for whatever reason, and it all times out rather well.  It did tonight, because we went over to enjoy a game afterwards called "The Wheel of Destiny."

This was hilarious:  Madison is up there representing the red team, which is half of the room.  She was doing a "Wheel of Fortune" type game, and absolutely loving it.  The funny thing about this round:  the answers were up there on the screen, but she didn't quite know what the answer was on this round here.  She kept running back to Daddy, because he had guessed it with about three letters on the board:  "Madame Leona."  Nobody else knew what it was, so it was this funny moment where Madison kept turning back to our team to get the right answer, and of course the hostess was laughing it off there.  The game was a lot of fun - both teams were big and loud, and there was a lot of laughing and cheering throughout.  I don't think we won this one, but there were other games we definitely did win later on.  And again, it's not so much about winning on these things - it was about having a great time, which of course we did.

We went back to our rooms after that, rocking back and forth still from the waves.  We looked out over the veranda at the quiet ocean, and as always, it's amazing to see so much ... nothing.  Not a person in sight, or a boat or anything.  It doesn't take far to get out there away from it all.  We're cruising along, heading towards the Bahamas tomorrow.

We said our prayers for a wonderful first day, and tucked Madison in her bed, as we got in ours.  She's got half the room, and is close to the veranda.  We're over by the bathroom.  The clothes in the closet are swaying to and fro as we move forward and south towards Nassau.  

It's going to be wonderful out here, away from the phones, computers and technology.  Just the three of us, on a Dream.