Cruise Installment Eight

Oh my. I'm SO sorry that I've not gotten this online before now. I've been reading the Twilight book series. It has just absorbed all of my time lately! Goodness. At least, now I can get going on other things, again. It's amazing how stuck in a book I can get!!!!

And ... I've been a little depressed over the results of the election on Tuesday. I'm not looking forward to his control over our country. I'll be in prayer over that ... and my attitude towards it.

One more thing .... my oldest is now officially enlisted in the Marines. Hooray!! I'm so proud of him. His ship date is suppose to be September 10, but he's hoping to move it up to June, July, or August.

On to the matter at hand ...



October 3 - Day 8 : Castaway Cay .... one more time. :)

It was early on Friday morning when we began docking on our 2nd stop at Castaway Cay. It was obvious that we were docking because we could hear and feel the thrusters begin to work as we began to slow down and turn to dock aft-first (backward) that morning. It really took a while to dock this way - longer than I expected. I was able to really see the island and get some wonderful pictures, though, while we docked and from our unique position. Since our rooms were at the very back of the boat, we were closest to the island and the Flying Dutchman. Incredible view for the day.


What do you think?? This was what we could see from our room veranda.







Anyway, we got up and moving to start our day. Jared had to be off the boat at 9 to go on a teen, team-building excursion called the Wild Side. Dusty and Jonah were off the ship a little later to go parasailing. A bit later than any of them, Mark, Jaydin, Becky, Caitlyn, and I got off to have a nice, lazy day on the beach. Mom decided to lounge around the ship for the day and not to tackle the sun and sand. I couldn't blame her; the ship was a very tempting place to stay. :)

Mark stopped at one point to find a .... facility, and he told Becky and I to keep walking. As we did, we found Captain Jack Sparrow in front of the Dutchman for pictures. This turned out to be one of my favorite pictures from the trip (along with about 299 others :) ). He was just so gentle and loving with her. It was a priceless experience.


Don't you agree?? :)







Another picture that I made on the way to the beach. A map of the island is behind the flower.










We found a good, quiet place on the beach (which was later swarming with folks), and we prepared to enjoy our day. Here are a few pictures ....


Caitlyn in the water. She's smiling here. Her first reaction in the water was NOT smiling, though. LOL!







Jaydin playing in the water.










She LOVED the water. She didn't notice, either, when a baracuda swam about 2 feet from me. Good thing. She would have freaked, I think.






Dusty and Jonah finished parasailing and came to visit us before they went to get lunch and head off thier bottom fishing excursion. Caitlyn was happy to see her daddy.







Jaydin and Caitlyn sharing a chair .... and some smiles.










As you can see, the day was a little stormy looking, but the rain held off until we finally got back on the ship.


The lunch was a pretty good buffet there on the island. We decided to head back to the ship after we finished eating because the kids were getting tired. I knew that Jared wouldn't be back for a long time and that Jonah and Dusty still had several hours on the fishing boat. Jaydin and Caitlyn could use a little down time .... and so could I! LOL!

I took these pictures on the way back to the ship.

The back of the ship. Our room was on the right side of this picture, and on the top deck that has that white around it.








This is a picture of the Dutchman with the Magic in the background.








Jaydin and I got a shower when we got back to our room, and she crashed. LOL! She was so tired after her fun day in the sun, sand, and sea. While she was asleep, we began packing everything up. We had to have all checked bags ready and in the hall before 11 PM. Unfortunately, Jared wasn't around, and he had decided that he wouldn't use a dirty clothes bag .... all week. :::::rolling my eyes:::::: So, we weren't sure which clothes were clean and which were not. Jonah had used his bag, but still had clothes all over the place. We just packed up the best we could ... and attacked Jared when he came in the door. LOL!! He got things separated and packed up, though, and everyone started getting ready for supper.


I got Jaydin dressed and took her to the kids' club for a bit. This would be her last time, and I wanted her to be able to tell her counselors and friends goodbye. Besides, Mom and I had a little appointment while Jaydin was playing in her club. Mom was going to have her hair cut and completely restyled, and I was going for a manicure and a pedicure. Oh my. What a very luxurious splurge that was. I had both while watching the ocean and the horizon. It was so peaceful and relaxing, and I'd do it again in a flat second. Mom's hair looked great, and I was soooooooo glad that she had her appointment. It was a nice time for both of us.

Mom in the waiting room of the spa. She forgot to change her glasses and was stuck with her sunglasses for the experience.








This was our waiting room (and my pre-pedi toes). Beautiful place - just like every other place on that ship.








Our dinner was at Animator's Palate that last night, and it was a very bittersweet meal. We had such a fantastic week, but we knew it was coming to an end. This was the time that we were to tip our servers - head server, server, and assistant server - and let them know how much they were appreciated. We tipped our sweet room host, as well. He was so kind and so diligent in his work.


The servers and staff had a big time of saying 'goodbye' and coming around to speak to all of the guests for the week. It was a good time, but ss soon as the hoopla at dinner was over, I dashed to the main lobby because all of the characters would be making their final appearance of the cruise. There were a couple that we had missed during the week and we wanted to see if we could get them before we left. We did! We managed to be in just the right place for Captain Hook, Pinnochio, Minnie Mouse, and a couple of the dancers from the shows. We made our way over to the other side of the lobby and managed to get Terk (from Tarzan) and Mickey. We even got a picture of Jaydin with Brent, our cruise director. The big part, though, was that we got one more moment with the beloved Snow White, and when we left her, Jaydin sobbed ... and I cried with her. She had an incredible week, and Snow White was an intricate part of that experience.


What a week. What an experience. What an absolute delight. We would be disembarking from the ship the next morning, but we were so thankful for the wonderful, delightful trip we had on the Disney Magic.

Yes, there will be one more installment on my blog about the cruise. I have to fill you guys in on our trip to Downtown Disney to shop and the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. You don't want to miss that, do you?? LOL!

OH! And yes, we managed to get our luggage into the hall on time .... or at least, the door open on time so that Onin, our room host, could come in and help us haul it all where it needed to be. He really was a great guy.

As always, live the life, and live it well .... just as it was intended to be.