Although many of the adults had been taking motion sickness medication, no one had reacted badly to the movement of the boat. I had to leave the movie theater one day while everyone was watching "Lincoln" because I felt a bit nauseated, but quickly felt better after getting some fresh air on the balcony for a few minutes. The night before our last full day on board was so bumpy that I was shaken awake a few times in the night. We were all shocked at the amount of movement, but luckily no one had negative reactions. Christine found out in the morning that even the workers were surprised at the amount of movement, because it's not typical for the boat to shake so much.
The sadness started to creep in this day as we realized the end of our dream vacation was coming. The kids spent a lot of time in their individual clubs. This is a picture of Logan in the Oceaneers Lab. He apparently needed to use the bathroom at the time! This is the room he liked the best because of the different areas of crafts, computer use, Wii games, science experiments, Disney movies, and books read by counselors. There were other organized activities at different times of day, also.
Many of us watched "Jack Jack's Diaper Dash" in the lobby of the ship. It was HILARIOUS! Any babies on board who were in the crawling stage were brought to the starting point, and let go at the same time. They had to crawl to their parent at the finish line, and whichever child won made it to the championship round. Many activities were held in the beautiful lobby area. My girls are sitting on the ground by the starting line in this picture.
Later in the day was a Character party, where the boat got rocking with dancing and music! We made sure to get to the event early enough to be very involved in the celebrations! This was probably one of the most fun activities we did the entire week! Christine and I both took a lot of video during the party.
The next few pictures were taken inside "The Edge," where Madelyn and Brynlie spent many, many hours! They were very involved in the various activities, which kept them busy until the wee hours of the morning.
In this picture the girls are seated on the couch while they played a "Get to Know Your Counselors" game.
And this is a picture I took of Brevan hanging out in "The Vibe" one day. I went to check on him and found him laughing and spending time with this GIRL. We had jokingly told him earlier in the day that we would pay him $25 to flirt with a girl. Many 14-year-old boys don't need a push to help them speak to girls, but Brevan is hesitant, so we thought we'd give him a little motivation to start up a conversation with one of the girls in the club. I was VERY surprised when I checked on him and found him actually following our advice! What a super cute girl she was, too. Her name is Gabrielle and she lives in Dallas. Brevan said she's the love of his life! When he returned to our room later, he walked in confidently and said, "Give me $25." He then spent the rest of the evening at the club with his new friends, and came back to the room at 2:00 a.m. feeling deflated because Gabrielle had left the dance party early. Brevan learned that she also has Aspergers and became overwhelmed. We had a talk with him to help sort out the new feelings of excitement and disappointment that come with teenage crushes.
And here's the love of MY life! These pictures crack me up because both Ryan and I are looking rather "puffy." Ryan ended the cruise being the heaviest he's ever been, and I gained about 9 pounds! Every delicious morsel was worth it, though!
This is Putu, our main server at every dinner. He is such a friendly, happy person and we really lucked out getting him as our waiter! He is from Indonesia, and helps support his entire extended family by working for Disney. His wife gave birth to their first baby girl just a few months ago. We wanted to bring his family home with us! Putu was especially fond of Logan, and spent time talking with him every day about the fun things we had been doing.
Another picture of the beautiful Lumiere restaurant.
I'm not sure why my eyes are blue in this picture! Have I ever mentioned how much I hate my post-car-accident nose? Yuck. I can't look at a picture of myself without seeing how crooked my nose looks. The spray tan I got the day before leaving town was still visible, so at least I don't look pasty white! I'm so grateful for my friendship with sweet Christine. I know it wasn't luck that we moved next to each other 2 1/2 years ago. She has become one of my very best friends in the world!
Chole and Lindsey enjoyed filling up their autograph books!
These pictures show the hallway where our staterooms were located. Ryan, Brevan, Logan and I stayed in room 8504, while Madelyn, Brynlie, Lindsey and Chloe stayed next to us in room 8506. Christine, Josh, Will and Parker stayed on the other side of the girls in room 8508.
I think Will had a great time on the ship, which was a break from the stressful year he's had. Sometimes Brevan would convince him to socialize in "The Vibe" for a while. Will got a bit sunburned on the vacation, but loved the constant food supply!
This is the Walt Disney Theater where the Broadway-style productions were shown each evening. Photography wasn't allowed during the performances, but I snapped this quick photo just prior to the show starting. This night's performance was "Remember the Magic - a final farewell" and left me feeling sad that our "magic" was coming to an end! I had to leave the performance early to pack all our bags, since they needed to be ready by 10:00 pm if we wanted to make departing the ship much easier the next morning.
After the performance, Lindsey was exhausted and fell right to sleep. Chloe was still awake so she joined me, Christine, Brynlie and Madelyn for the final Character Greeting of the cruise. She took Lindsey's autograph book with her, and told each character, "My friend Lindsey is sleeping, but will you still sign her book?" One princess told her that Lindsey must be Sleeping Beauty and needed her beauty sleep.
I was wearing my Minnie Mouse shirt, so I had to get a couple pictures with Minnie!
Mickey and Minnie danced and kissed during the final goodbye.
My Sleeping Beauty, getting her beauty rest and slobbering on her favorite teddy bear.
Before heading to bed, I walked around the ship and took pictures of a few areas we loved to spend time! The first one was the 24-hour soda and hot chocolate station!
We also spent much time here, in the outside ice cream cone station. Many calories were consumed by all in this area!
I also had to get a picture of "Inappropriate Mickey." On the first day of the cruise, we saw this painting of Mickey and Minnie while riding the elevator and Christine commented that Mickey was being inappropriate! From then on, the kids would get excited to ride the elevator and laugh hysterically every time they saw Inappropriate Mickey!
Then it was off to bed on the last night of our perfect voyage.
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