Disney Highlights

We have Florida annual passes to Disney this year (haven't had them since 2006) so we stop when we can. The girl's "team" stopped on the way back from the cruise. It turned out to be very crowded. There was a national cheerleading competition and also spring break had started. If we'd bought passes just for this weekend, I would have been really upset. But since we had the passes, we just made the best of it. We tried to do some of the rides we haven't done since 2006(passes actually were Feb 2006--Jasmine's bd--to Feb 2007) and also went to Animal Kingdom which we hadn't done since then either.

Jessica's funnel cake.

My all purpose hat I bought in Nassau.

I traded Jasmine for these ears just for the pictures.

Jessica in Eeyore's (?) house.

Outside the Winnie the Pooh ride doing the preschool activities : ) The fireworks were going on so the kiddie rides were mostly empty.

Jessica after Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom. That ride is wild. You go straight downhill forward, then you go up it backward. Um. Yeah.

Animal kingdom

Hollywood Studios

We splurged and ate at The Land in Epcot. The Mongolian Beef was really good but none of us were that thrilled with their version of sweet and sour chicken. We normally pack PB&J since Disney is one of the few places that lets you take in food.

Several rainy spells, but we were ready.

She wishes. They have cars for sale outside the Test Track ride.

Back to Animal Kingdom. We decided these shirts and hats were our Animal Kingdom look but we wore blue capris this day instead of brown so we could tell the pictures apart. Remember that I only took three shirts on the cruise? Well, I'd only packed two for Disney and we were there from Friday afternoon until Monday afternoon. Can't accuse me of over packing! I did have my souvenir Key West shirt too. That's the pink shirt in the first pictures.

We'd been having car issues all the way to Miami that I recognized as a bad coil. I hoped to make it home but it got really bad on the way home so we stopped in Gainesville Monday night and took it to Pep Boys across from the hotel the next morning. They told me it wasn't a coil, it was the spark plugs and also that the fuel line needed flushed. Okay. Whatever. They are the pros. About an hour later they called to say it needed a coil too. I wasn't going crazy. So it got a tune up, plugs, flush and coil for $590!!

We had a smooth trip the rest of the way home. Jessica had to turn right around and head out to work. More on the rest of spring break later.

Cruise Day 4

On Thursday we were in Key West. We decided to start with the tour bus where you can get off and on at 8 different stops. Jasmine ready to go. We bought tickets onboard where they charged us $9 for Jasmine and $21 for adults, but if we'd bought them directly from the tour bus we would have been $19 for adults, and Jasmine would have been free!

We got off at just a couple of stops because we had snorkeling scheduled (for the third time!) at 12:45.

This is the true most southern point now.

But this is what used to be the most southern point and it's the most photographed sight.

gardens

We rushed back to the ship and got changed for our snorkel trip only to find out that the water was too choppy yet again! So during this whole cruise we hadn't made it in the water yet.

So the girls and I hopped back on the bus and got off at the beach stop since we were already in swimsuits.

Jasmine

We only stayed a short time since we had to get back to the ship by 5:30. The water was really cold too.

the fort at the state park

We wanted to climb the lighthouse (66 steps) but we were out of time.

We made a quick ice cream stop.

We got back to the ship only to get stopped in security because we couldn't take the ice cream onboard (bacteria!) so we had to stand outside and eat it. We were late back onboard, but they couldn't say much since they are the ones who wouldn't let us board.

We had to rush to get ready for dinner.

My guy. Doesn't he look sweet and innocent?

I was really full and so were Tyler and Jasmine so we left but I had Jessica get my dessert to go for later. It said it was warm chocolate cake with chocolate syrup and pear. Love pear. I pictured a piece of cake with a pear half beside it.
Found the pear!
(I only had three shirts for conference and the cruise plus two dress outfits so I bought a souvenir shirt!)

There was an evening session with Karen we missed because we were packing up. Suitcases had to be packed and in the hall by midnight. The girls went up to the Britt Nicole concert but skipped Tim Halprin to finish packing in order to go to the 11:15 showing (it turned out to be 11:50 really) of Tangled. It was a PJ party. It ended after 1 a.m.

The next morning we disembarked at 8:45, went through immigrations, took the van to the parking garage and were on our way. The guys headed home because Tyler had to get back to college and Rick and Adam worked. The girls and I stopped at Disney on the way home. More about that later.

Cruise Day 3

On Wednesday, the day we were supposed to be at Cocoa Cay, we stayed in Nassau until noon and then left for Key West. We made a quick trip back into town to find a necklace Jasmine decided she wanted to buy. I bought a camera (not a working one) made from Coke cans by the boy's club. This is at the straw market.

There was a Baxter family (from Karen's books) reunion onboard. I am Elizabeth Baxter and Jessica is the family pet.

There were high winds once we got underway so we skipped lunch. It calmed down by dinner time thank goodness.

We went to Karen's session and the Anthem Lights concert. Then we went to the pizza place afterwards.

What do you think of his look?

Cruise Day 2

On Day 2 we arrived in Nassau early morning. We all headed in to the straw market. We had snorkeling scheduled for later in the day.

Tyler, Jessica and I went to the pirate museum. The others didn't want to go so walked up to the fort instead.

This was in the market place on the way back to the ship.

We got back to the ship and went to meet our group for snorkeling only to find out it was canceled due to high winds. Since they waited until we were all in swimsuits and ready to go, it was too late to join another excursion.

So Tyler, Jessica and I headed back to town while Adam and Jasmine went to see what the kids' groups were doing onboard.

We took a carriage tour around the area.

Then we decided to explore on foot.

We went to the Queen's staircase and fort where the others went earlier.

I stopped and bought a hat and bracelet on the way back to the ship.

They announced that we would not be going to Cocoa Cay to the next day!!!! The snorkeling and the island were what we were all looking forward to so we were all pretty bummed. We went to dinner. It was calm because we were still in port.

We provided our own entertainment. Adam with his angry face vegetables.

Yes, my kids do have manners, but those pictures were much more boring.

Jasmine doesn't like many foods. So I finally asked them to bring her a plain bowl of noodles.

Jasmine practiced on her practice pad before we went to the evening session with Karen Kingsbury and Matthew West. We got in really late. I don't have any photos of the evening activities. Tyler didn't go to the Karen Kingsbury stuff but explored the boat and found things that interested him. He's always been one for going out "exploring." That's something we did when they were little. We went "exploring" a lot. That usually meant I wasn't sure where we were going, or I had an idea but wasn't sure if it was going to work out so I didn't want to tell them have them get their hopes up.

Anyway, the day didn't turn out how we'd planned but everyone found something to do. I think Adam was the most bored because he's very active and hanging around on the ship or shopping wasn't his idea of a good time. The last cruise I was on (a girl's get away with just Jessica) had something very similar happen. There was a storm and we were so delayed that we didn't go to Cozumel but went to Port Progresso and went shopping instead of to the beach at Cozumel. That's the thing about vacations--you can't control the weather.