Onto the ship!!!

Can't believe when we stepped onto the ship from the terminal.  We were actually on the ship!! 

And when you go on the ship a bunch of staff are there to greet you and someone announces on a microphone, "Disney Fantasy welcomes the Turcsanyi Family!" and everyone claps.  

As soon as we got on we went up the large staircase to explore. 

We had promised ice creams on the ship, and it took a bit of persuading to eat lunch first, but we finally did, and then had the ice cream.

When the room was ready we ran to it as soon as they opened up the hall.  Everyone was really excited and the balcony was super awesome to have.

Room 10096, I picked this room as Paige is 9 and Rose is 6 and it was easy for everyone to remember!

One of the lounges.  Had pictures of the London skyline that moved as if it were a window.  We never got to go to this lounge as it opened late and we always went to dinner and the show every night with the kids.  

 During the mandatory safety drill Henry fell asleep as he didn't nap the day before and went to bed super late the night before getting on the ship! Although we wanted to check out the Sail Away party, it didn't seem fair to make one person wait alone in the room with Henry, so we all went on the balcony to listen to the iconic Disney cruise ship horn, and watch as we pulled away from the port.

On the first night we went to the Royal Court for dinner and met our table companions, Grandparents from San Diego with their 4 year old nephew, Nathan.  Henry ended up sitting next to him every night and I could always hear them saying the most random kid things to each other.

After dinner and a great show we were pleasantly surprised to see our room transformed into a super awesome sleeping area.  All 3 kids had their own tiny beds.  Paige took the single bed which she said looked like a minecraft bed, Rose took the top bunk since she always has to sleep on the bottom at home, and Henry only cared about the chocolate on the bed!! I was especially happy to see the Navigator, which lists all of the activities available on the ship the next day-- great reading material before bed! The curtain in the middle is nice and thick and allowed us to keep our light on while the kids were rocked to sleep like babies on the other side--literally--I found the ship quite rocky this time compared to other cruises.  But really, although the room was tiny, the curtain made us feel like we weren't insect a small space, and the bathroom too was decided into 2 separate sections which let someone shower while someone else used the the toilet.  A big bonus.

To the ship!!

Such an exciting moment! We have seen this cruise bus sitting at the airport for years and we were finally getting on it! I love the photobomb in the background. Disney is so efficient and makes everything easy and relaxed.  You don't have to book a bus time.  You literally just show up and get on a bus.  They keep filling up buses and driving to the port.  

The ride was about 45 minutes long and there were some videos playing for us to watch about the cruise, as well as cartoons.  

 First glimpses of the ship through the window!

Taking the elevator upstairs to the cruise ship terminal.

 You can see the yellow mouse ears in the very back of the photo.  I meant to take a picture of us going through them but forgot!

Model of the cruise ship was so interesting.  I wish it was also on the ship so we could study it more.

Leaving for our Disney Cruise!!

I think we all woke up with a little disbelief that our extremely long awaited trip had arrived.  We didn't have to leave home until 11:00 so I tried to occupy the kids with swimming (rose and henry swam for about 5 minutes and Paige for about 10 seconds).  Rose was definitely the most excited and put the last sticker on our countdown chart.

Loaded everyone up in the car.  It felt quite nice to leave in the daytime while we were well rested.  As much as I love leaving instantly in the dark, it allowed us to get hours more sleep!

We always take pictures in the parking garage while we wait for mike to park the car.  No car seats or strollers this time!!!

 The airport went quite smoothly and we visited the lounge for a quick lunch before boarding our huge plane.  Lately there has been one massive plane either going to or coming home from Orlando.  Fun though because Mike and I sat with Henry and the girls sat alone.

 It was super weird yet exciting for the kids to find the shuttle bus to take us to the hotel.  As henry had on car seat he wore a seatbelt which seemed really unsafe as we zipped along the highway.

Everyone was super excited to get to the hotel and were pointing out that it had the same S symbol as our usual Orlando hotel, although this one was the Sheraton Orlando Suites.  I'd definitely stay there again as it had enough room for the 5 of us without needing 2 rooms.  Everyone proceeded to argue over who was sleeping where and we forced the girls to sleep on the pull out couch even though they claimed they wouldn't sleep.  It was literally the biggest bed option though.  It was "too bouncy" they said, which is what made me feel like it was a perfect option for their light weight!! sheesh.  We ordered room service and let them watch non stop Disney shows to calm them down.

I'm not sure I slept whatsoever that entire night, but the next morning we made sure to pack up everything (except one iPad as we discovered on the ship the next day), and headed down to breakfast.  Rose was super excited to discover the make-your-own waffle station which was exactly the same as one on this video she had watched a million times.  All of the kids needed their own, which ended up being a massive waste of waffle as they were so huge.

As we were sitting at breakfast Rose says to me, "Im pretty sure this is the best day of my life", and my heart could barely handle it.

Wow

Wow, I have not blogged in an insanely long time. I don't find it to be the therapeutic thing it once was when Paige was a baby, and I just needed to get out my thoughts and frustrations.  Now it's a bit time consuming, especially since it was just summer and all 3 kids were home.  If I had time to myself I generally felt like reading or getting ready for our summer vacation!
So anyway, I will skip forward through everyones birthday pics, random summer fun, swimming, etc. and skip forward to our Disney Cruise while it is still fresh in my mind.  I will try to go back and reflect on the rest of the summer afterward....

Sophie!!!!!!

A long overdue post about the birth of Sophie Claire Davoren, Amanda and James' sweet little girl! (She was born in January back when I wasn't blogging, and then when we returned home from Florida I promptly started blogging about the trip as to not forget, and then well, you know how these things go). She is so so so sweet!!  The kids are looking forward until her crawling days!

Every time we see her she is so cute I can barely handle it.  I can't wait to babysit her some time! Amanda and James are doing great as new parents and are handling everything really well.

A birthday party for 2!

We had a family birthday party for Henry and Rose.  Henry was dressed up in a party outfit but disappeared about 5 minutes after everyone came over and emerged in his preferred outfit of a Snow White dress.  Then when we were going to eat he took it off so it wouldn't get dirty and continued the party in underwear.  Because Henry didn't have a party with friends like Rose did, we made all of the decorations and the cake themed for Henry's birthday.