Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom

As soon as we got off the cruise ship, we headed straight to Orlando for a fun filled day at Hollywood Studios. First stop...Toy Story Mania!! One of our very favorite rides! The kids love this one and it was worth the wait!


Next, it was time for lunch with Jake, Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, and Jane from Little Einsteins. The kids had a great time meeting the characters and dancing around the restaraunt!

After lunch, Anna Caitlin was dying to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid. The show is only about 15 minutes long, and about 5 minutes in, this is what I see when I look to my left :)

Vacationing is hard work for these two!

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the rides. We even got to see Lightening McQueen and Mater, Joshie's favorite! We finished off our day at Pizza Planet and watching Fantasmic, one of our favorite parts of Disney.

After a good night sleep, we were ready to head to our very favorite part of Disney...the Magic Kingdom! We met up with the Rivera family to spend Thanksgiving day together.

We have become pretty good at planning our best route at the Magic Kingdom over the years. The year, I found the app on my phone that tells the wait times for each ride...genious idea!! First stop...Space Mountain. This was Drew's first time to ride and he LOVED it! Of course, our next stop was Buzz Lightyear, which is one of our family favorites...

And next, straight to the best ride ever...DUMBO! Cannot wait until 2012 when they are opening dualing Dumbos!!!

We spent the afternoon hitting all of our favorite rides. Anna Caitlin loves Big Thunder Mountain Railroad...

Winnie the Pooh...

Pirates of the Carribbean...

And Aladdian's Magic Carpets. The kids loved playing with the camel spitting water in the streets!

We even got to spend time with some very special characters!!

We celebrated Thanksgiving dinner with the Riveras at Chef Mickey. It was a great meal and the company was awesome!!

Loving the characters...

Jonathan even won the button for best celebrator of the day!!

After dinner, we headed back to the park to ride a few more things and watch the parade and fireworks.

We closed down the park at 1:00AM. This is my sweet Joshua on the bus back to the hotel...

What a fabulous vacation!! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Castaway Cay and Pirate Night!

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!! Pirate Night on the ship was so much fun. Mama Judi planned ahead and brought all of us eyepatches and hats to wear. I have to say that I had the three cutest pirates on the whole ship!!

Our pirate family ready for fun...

We had a blast playing on the ship the first two days, but I have to say that Castaway Cay was my VERY favorite part of the cruise! The island was beautiful and perfect for the whole family. When we first got off the ship, we were greeting by a huge Christmas tree right on the island. Nothing like my two favorite things...the beach and Christmas together!!

The kids got to take pictures with some of the characters as we made our way to the beach.


The island itself was perfect. All of the kids had a great time playing in the sand and water. It was crystal clear, so they could just play and not worry about waves and going to deep. And it was NOT HOT which was the best part!

Papa Johnny helped all of the grandkids build a sandcastle which was a big hit...

While the kids played and swam, the grownups got to relax on the beach! Perfect!!


Anna Caitlin and Drew loved Pelican Plunge. They built two water slides that land right into the ocean!

Joshie loved the Spring a Leak area. And the older two loved playing there with him...

After a fabulous day on Castaway Cay, we headed back to the boat to ride the Aqua Duck. I rode with Anna Caitlin and Drew rode with Daddy. They LOVED it! Then, it was time for dinner.

Dinner was definitely the hardest part of the cruise because the kids got so restless sitting still for that long. Joshua decided the best way to entertain himself was to color on the tablecloth and eat butter. Drew thought he needed to lay in a corner in the floor. But they were troopers!

Afterward, the whole family had a blast solving the Mickey Mystery on the ship. We had to go to each floor and find the magic picture frames, which the kids loved!!

The boys were exhausted after their long day, so Daddy took them back to the room to go to bed. Anna Caitlin and I headed out to the See Ya Real Soon Party. She had a blast running around getting autographs and pictures with all of her favorite characters!

So long until next time! We had a great time!!

See ya real soon!!