The everyday little things that make our life perfect.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Characters!

As usual, we had a blast spending time with our favorite characters. We were curious to see how Olivia would react but we had nothing to worry about! She loved the characters! (Not so much the princesses yet, just Mickey and friends.) She could hardly wait until it was her turn. When the time came, she would run up them on her own and give them a great, big hug! She loves them, especially "Eeee!" (Mickey and Minnie)













Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Fourteen Days

Fourteen days on a ship is a long time. Especially when the ship doesn't dock anywhere for six days. Thankfully there was plenty to keep us busy!

Tea Party with the Princesses (after three hours in the pool!)

An Olivia sized splash pad

A Character breakfast with Mickey and friends


Walking the Promenade 
(Olivia was walking some when we left for our trip, but, by the end of it, she was running everywhere. She also figured out how to climb stairs, push buttons in the elevator, and look just cute enough that our server brought her a bowl full of marshmallows for dessert every night. And, yes, she ate every single one!)

Porthole windows are so much fun to hang out in!


Hannah spent her cruise either in the pool or in the Oceaneer Club (just for kids). She made several friends. One night, she had a sleepover in the kids' club. She spent the whole night camping out with the counselors and other kids. They had a dance party with Stitch, played with Chip and Dale, and Goofy came to tell them "Goodnight."



Olivia also learned how much fun Dad's wheelchair can really be!


Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Cruising the Canal

Our ship first entered the locks around 6:30 in the morning and we entered the Pacific Ocean sometime in the afternoon. It was a much faster process than I thought it would be. We sat on our balcony most of the day to watch the process. It rained most of the day which made it so much more pleasant to be outside. The crew that had been through the canal before told us that this day is normally extremely hot.

Heading through the first set of locks.

Hannah enjoyed watching for a little while, especially the little trains that kept the ship in the center of the locks. She decided after lunch that she would much rather go to the kids' club to play.


A beautiful butterfly that landed on our window in the canal. It was a strange feeling to see land so close on both sides of the ship as well as other vessels passing by. On our other cruises, normally we only see ocean and maybe a little bit of land or another ship way off in the distance. They are never this close unless we are docked in a port.







We headed down to the promenade deck to visit with the other guests later in the day 
and found some friends along the way.


Bridge of the Americas

Monday, June 3, 2013

From the Atlantic to the Pacific

We are back from our coast to coast adventure! We sailed from the port of Miami, Florida on board the Disney Wonder through the Panama Canal to the port of Los Angeles. The Panama Canal is beautiful as well as a modern marvel to admire especially when you consider that it celebrates its one hundredth year in operation next year. We made many friends on our two week voyage, ate a lot of delicious food, saw many great shows, and just had a wonderful time overall.

I took over three hundred pictures (and cleaned them down to 150), so I am going to break it up over a few posts. On our first full day, we were at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. The island is definitely one of our favorite places to be! Sandy beaches, laid back atmosphere, good food... one day here is never enough!

Olivia decided that sitting in the sand was not for her. She sat on a beach mat most of the morning playing with the sea shells and the little bit of sand that was on the mat. 

Hannah loves the beach! She had a great time playing in the sand and in the water. 




The Disney Dream (right) stopped by the island to wish the Disney Wonder (left) farewell before she headed to the West Coast. It is very rare to see two Disney Cruise Lines ships together so this was definitely a special treat for us Disney nerds. :)

Hanging out in our Cabana