Cruise Installment Four

September 29 – Day 4: Our first of two sea days on the ship. One might think that a day at sea might be boring or mundane, but it was certainly neither.

Our day began with our scheduled character breakfast at 9:45 in Parrot Cay. Jared chose not All of the wonderful, classic Disney characters, along with a yummy breakfast, made for a nice start to our day. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip, and Dale, and Jaydin really enjoyed seeing each one. Caitlyn, however, wasn’t particularly impressed. LOL!





Caitlyn had a piece of bread hanging out of her mouth the whole time she was avoiding Chip! LOL! It was pretty funny.














Sasha helping to show off Mom's new hat. Cute, huh?










Mark's new do. :)









Jaydin gets a nice hat. She was actually not very thrilled with it and didn't keep it on very long.












Jonah Pan! Pan the Man. Love the hat, dude.









Hats made just for them. :) Wow, Dusty.









Our servers, Malwyn and Sasha, with Jaydin.









The day did seem a little more laid back. We didn’t scramble to pack beach gear and to get off the boat for an excursion at some wonderful location. It was nice to hang around the boat. I took Jaydin to the kids’ club for a while after the breakfast so that she could enjoy some of the fun activities that the club offered for her age that day. Mom, Mark, and I went shopping for a while after breakfast and after I dropped Jaydin off. I finally picked out a watch that I wanted, and Mom found a watch for herself.



I asked them to send the watch to my room. Here's how it came. :)







Lots of bling! Pretty, isn't it??











She also bought each of the girls (Jaydin and Caitlyn) a beautiful Mickey necklace that they will cherish forever. She put those up to give them later.

We ventured back down to the doctor, too, just have Mom’s knees rechecked. All was well, and they seemed to be feeling better. The doctor was happy with that. We did get a different doctor this time. He was from South Africa. He was a really nice guy and had a great personality.

Mom and Becky went to the class about cake and plate decorating at 1. Jonah went to just about everything his club offered that day. He LOVED being in the Ocean Quest. Jared was, of course, at the Stack as soon as it opened.


Becky, Caitlyn, Mom, Jaydin, and I were scheduled to attend “Tea with Alice” at 4 PM. The ‘tea’ was actually apple juice, and the ‘crumpets’ were yummy chocolate chip cookies. Alice and the Mad Hatter put on a cute little show about the proper way to have tea, and they were both available for pictures after the show. Jaydin didn’t really want to be in a picture with the Mad Hatter, and Caitlyn wasn’t really thrilled with him holding her. I must admit that I was a little freaked out by the Mad Hatter, too …. Wow.

Here's Jaydin drinking her 'tea.'











Mom at the Tea.










Mom holding Caitlyn.











My cutie.











Now, what do YOU think of the Matt Hatter???









We had some *yummy* treats from concierge that day. Chocolate covered strawberries, little pecan bites, cheesecake bites (although, their cheesecake has an odd consistency), and little muffins that have a hard chocolate top on them. Nice treat for the day.




We went back to the room to get ready for formal night As most of you know, I *detest* getting dressed up. Being on the ship with hundreds of people in fancy dresses and tuxedos did NOT change that. :)

This is the atrium lobby on Formal Night. See all of the dressy folks getting photos made to commemorate the night? It was neat to watch.







I did, however, put on a skirt and a bit of make-up for the evening. Dinner was, once again, in Animator’s Palate, but there was no ‘show’ this time. We even had a different menu – the Golden Mickeys menu to celebrate the show of the evening. Strangely enough, Becky, Dusty, Mom, Mark, and I had dinner with no children. Very odd.



Jaydin went to her club – they were having a Royal Ball. She went wearing her beautiful Cinderella dress that Sherri and her girls bought. She was gorgeous! Caitlyn was in the nursery. Jonah was doing a ‘Tribal Challenge’ in Ocean Quest, and Jared actually went to see the Golden Mickeys show.

Our formal dinner was very nice and very quiet without the kids. I missed having them with us, but I knew they were having fun.





I had 2 entrées – and, no, I didn’t eat all of both of them. I wanted to try two different ones, and if you can’t make up your mind, the servers bring both. They were good. The desserts on this menu were very memorable.






They had the special Golden Mickey dessert. The top and bottom were hard chocolate and the middle was a chocolate mousse. Even the ticket on the side was chocolate – and dated 2008. :) Really neat – and really yummy. The other desserts were yummy, too.










Creme Brulee that Dusty had. It was *incredible*.







One of Mom's desserts.








Unfortunately, by the end of the night, the Cinderella dress had suffered quite a bit. :( The medallion on the front was, according to Jaydin, ripped off by another kid and taken. The hem on all 3 layers of the dress had been ripped. Jaydin was devastated. She cried and cried telling me how special it was to her. I was so sad for her.

When we got back to the room, I suggested that Mom give Jaydin her ‘surprise’ to help ease the hurt from her dress. She loved it. It looks beautiful on her. Now, we just need to let her grow into it. :) LOL! It’s a little long. I will probably look for a shorter chain for her to wear it on until she gets big enough for that one.

It was a good day. It was a little quieter than the day before, but not mundane or boring, and there were many opportunities that we didn't take advantage of that would have made the day more exciting. It was nice to just take it easy, though.

A peacock to adorn the bed.

A cute elephant visitor.

The next day would be our day at Grand Cayman. That installment is coming ….. probably later in the weekend. We have a field trip with our homeschool group tomorrow. Never fear … I will have my camera with me…as always.



I think that's all for today. Sorry these are so long, but I really want everyone to realize just how much we loved our trip. I get the pleasure of reliving it each time I write, too.

Live the life, and live it well.