Aboard the Disney Wonder (in a nutshell)

Since Ryan was in charge of the ICU for the month of December, he suggested I find something to do for the Holidays since he wasn't going to be around much. I heard about Disney Christmas Cruises sailing from Galveston, which is 45 minutes from me, and decided to book one. I got my mom to come along for the adventure!

I was extremely nervous about getting on a cruise ship, especially with Mason's food allergies, but it actually turned out to be so much fun. And as usual (and as Ryan says ):

 Disney does it right.

It was very relaxed and low key as far as a Disney vacation goes.

The characters were everywhere. My mom even got to ride in the elevator a few times with them as they were making their way to where they needed to be on the boat.

The fun part about it being a Christmas cruise was the varying outfits the characters had. They had tropical christmas outfits, christmas sweaters and scarfs, cruise outfits, and even pirate outfits for Pirate Night.

The lobby's christmas decorations were gorgeous, and our first night aboard they had a tree lighting ceremony to get the season started! There was even a life sized gingerbread house onboard.

There was a "deck the deck" (think deck the halls) holiday party on our first morning at sea, which the boys loved. The characters came out and taught the kids a new dance called the Yuletide Slide, and Pluto and Goofy had a hula hooping contest, which quite frankly I was impressed by. Can you imagine hula hooping in one of those costumes??

There were lots of fun activities planned each day (such as our vegetable car race that you can read about here ), and the kids can go to the kids club and hang out, leaving the adults some time to go and  relax without them, but since Mason wasn't old enough I never even bothered sending Aidan. When we go again and Ryan is with me, we can send the kids to the Kids Club and then go take part in the adults only activities onboard such as wine tastings and trivia, etc etc.

There were 3 ports of call during our 7 night voyage. Key West, Castaway Cay (Disney's own private island), and Nassau.

We got off the boat in Key West but quickly got back onboard. I didn't want to go shopping and we didn't want to spend tons of money on excursions either so we decided to walk around and sight see (oh and ever since I tried Key Lime Wine at the food and wine festival at epcot I knew I had to find a bottle, and we did!). We didn't have a stroller and the boys were miserable and Mason wanted to be held so we got back on the ship and took advantage of the empty pools!

We did have some ice cream while we were there and on our way off the boat Aidan met our ship's captain.

Castaway Cay was my favorite port of call, and I even did the Castaway Cay 5K that they organized for that morning!

There were 2 downsides to this race.

 1- It was in the friggin bahamas, it was HOT!! 

2- I read on multiple blogs that there would be a bag drop at the race so they suggested you bring all your stuff for the beach for the day with you so you wouldn't have to go back to the ship.

There was no bag drop.

This meant I had to run my 5k with my backpack loaded with my things for the day. If I had known there was no bag drop I would have left my stuff with my Mom and the boys who were eating breakfast on the ship while I went to the island early for my run. Grrrr. 

We had an amazingly relaxing day. Mom got the boys some sand castle molds/buckets which they thoroughly enjoyed, and we drank Mai Tai's in beach chairs. For lunch there was a bahamian themed buffet/BBQ prepared for us. It was all so fun!!

Next time I want to get in on some of the excursions offered though!

Our final port of call was Nassau and even our itinerary for the day mentioned how the area is getting more dangerous and stated that you should stay well within the immediate downtown area right off the ship….so we passed on this port. We stayed safely on the ship and spent the entire day hanging in the pool.

The way dining worked was pretty cool. We rotated between the ship's 3 sit-down restaurants each night but our server and assistant server remained with us. We had a formal night, a semi formal night and even a pirate themed night. 

We got TONS of free stuff from the Disney Vacation Club guides on board. Each day we had a new surprise waiting for us at their kiosk. We ended up with hats, backpacks, ID lanyards, 2 sets of DVC pins for our lanyards (and they gave me 2 pins each time instead of the 1 pin allotted per family since I had Aidan and Mason with me), and we even got a christmas ornament!

The ID lanyards came in super handy because you can't use cash or credit cards on the ship. If you want to buy anything you have to swipe your room key and it gets charged to your room. Then the night before you dock back home you go to the front desk and pay it off with your credit card.

It took Mom and I a day or two to fully understand this because it works differently than when you add a credit card to your room key at the parks. On the ship you HAVE to, you have no other choice. The shops and bars and such don't even have credit card machines to run your cards. At first we couldn't understand why we couldn't pay for our purchases with a credit card, but after 2 nice cast members explained it to us fully we finally understood.

All in all, it was super relaxed and I spent my days unshowered (at least until it was time for dinner), wearing a hat, with no makeup on. You will never find me doing that at the parks. Ever. It was just so relaxing and you see the same families and faces everyday, and you just realize you have nobody to impress. All the families are there to relax and have fun. It's kinda like when you have a friend that you just don't feel the need to get out of your pajamas for (ahem, Brittany this am when she called to say she was stopping over for a quick visit and I was still rocking my jammies)…..

Anyway if you've ever toyed with the idea of taking a Disney Cruise, DO IT!! Even my mom says if she ever does a cruise again she'll do Disney.....and she doesn't even have little kids anymore, lol.

I would also like to say that anyone who tells you that you can't tell you're on a boat is a freaking liar. We felt that boat rocking and rolling each day. I would wake up in the morning and literally fall out of bed. I did NOT have sea legs. Oh and I felt like I was still on a boat for days after we got off!!!! However there was only one night where it was so bad I was in panic attack mode (irrationally convinced the boat was gonna tip over…and yes I said irrationally..I know it's a stupid thought to have) and couldn't even sit through our after dinner show.  Mom couldn't either. the only thing that calmed me was laying down, so we all climbed into bed at like 9pm that night and went to bed. 

If you get a chance I recommend getting Scopolamine sea sick patches for behind your ear. Mom and I both used them and neither of us got sick (though they made the spot behind my ear itch like crazy!!). Granted neither of us have a history of motion sickness, but better safe than sorry. Also, don't wait unit you're sick to use them, by then it's too late. Use those bitches preemptively!!

To end, I'll leave you with some more photos!

Just chillin

Our server Eljoy did magic tricks for Aidan each night, but only if he finished his dinner!

Gigantic Gingerbread House…Mason asked if he could eat it…….

The Duffy's got some new cruise gear and Grandma Di got the boys Chip and Dale!

Chip and Dale went everywhere with us, and they even got to sample some of the tasty cruise food!

One of the boys favorite things to do was to look out the window and check out the white foam the boat was making in the water. We could actually tell how fast or slow we were moving by it. We could then correlate it with the in-room TV channel that showed all the ships details: wind speed, speed of the boat, ship's time (it changed a few times as we traveled) and actual Latitude and Longitude of the ship.

French Toast Before Bed?

Just a few days ago I had been telling Ryan that I never get any one on one time with Aidan anymore. If we split up and each take a kid somewhere I always take Mason, since he's much more of a handful than Aidan. That leaves Daddy and Aidan free to do some bigger guy stuff together sometimes….however I never get to hang with Aidan by himself anymore.

Last night poor Mason was exhausted so we put him to bed early and let Aidan stay up. While A and I were hanging out watching Modern Family together, I mentioned to Ryan that I had got some more of this great Italian bread that I found at our Aldi here. We haven't been able to find good crusty italian bread since leaving NY, and since we found this bread we've been devouring it.

So anyway Ryan had mentioned last time that I got it that it would make great french toast, so when he heard we had more, he joked "where's my french toast?"….

...and Aidan and I looked at each other and ran right into the kitchen to make some. Oh yes, at 8pm Aidan and I were making french toast while Ryan was packing for his trip to take his Boards. He came into the kitchen and started laughing because he couldn't believe I was actually making it. But he was right, it made amazing french toast!

We all ate, then I let Aidan play for a bit before putting him to bed.

So we had a Mommy, Daddy, & Aidan french toast before bed night and it was glorious, spontaneous and fun.

It's the little things in life :)

If you give a Mason some milk.....

Tonight at dinner I accidentally switched the boys drink cups. This means I gave Aidan rice milk and Mason got Aidan's cows milk, which he is allergic to. 

It was brought to my attention mere minutes after the mixup when Aidan told me his milk tasted funny and I quickly noted that the color of their cups were wrong. Aidan should have had the blue cup but the blue cup was in front of Mason. 

Damn it. 

I figured he couldn't have drank all that much since Aidan was pretty quick to notice my mistake. 

However, as Mason finished eating he told me his belly hurt and I knew he was going to throw up. He sat on the couch (yes, yes Uncle Adam I knew he was going to puke yet I put him on the couch……) holding his belly and I decided to get him into some comfy jammie's instead, and like a pro I made sure I picked a pair that buttoned down the front so that when he puked (I knew it was inevitable), I wouldn't have to pull puke covered jammie's up over his face and head. 

15 minutes later he was vomiting on the couch. I cleaned him up and got him in the bath and then noticed he had hives all over one of his ankles. Then I notice he had hives spreading across his chest.  

Unlike the ER trip in September, this time I knew he had consumed milk so I gave him benadryl which cleared up the hives almost instantly, and sent him off to play before bed.

He was and is absolutely fine from the incident. Mommy, however, felt like absolute shit considering I'm the one who switched the little Ikea cups at dinner :/
Apparently milk was in the sun chips that made him vomit and covered his mouth with hives and blisters in Sept, but since I didn't know it was milk I was afraid it was peanuts, and that's why I was so quick to whip out the epi pen.
This time I'm glad it was only milk and it was only hives and vomiting…and it didn't hurt that Dr Daddy was home when it all happened either ;)

Race Bling - a DYI

Since Ry and I have acquired a few medals and race bibs from our recent running adventures, I decided as an early birthday present to Ry I would whip up some medal displays.

I initially planned on ordering him one from Etsy, but as I researched and talked to Krysta (who made her hubby a similar display for xmas), I decided to make them myself so that I could make them 100% the way I wanted!

Since we're in this running journey together lately, I decided to make myself one too….a "his" and "hers" if you will. (Ryan got us each a FitBit band for Christmas too)

I gathered up my supplies at Hobby Lobby: wooden frames, small metal hooks that screw in (2 sizes, I got smaller ones to hang the medals and larger ones to hang all the bibs), and acrylic craft paint (already on hand at home).

I started by taking the frames apart. I removed the glass and took the cardboard that was in the back of the glass and painted it white.

While chatting with my dad about my plan, he gave me some tips for getting those damn hooks in the frame. They are metal and have a small screw on the back to attach them with. I was planning on starting a hole with a nail or something then screwing them in, but Dad had a better idea.

 So I tapped them in with a hammer and used Ryan's pliers to twist them in the rest of the way. It was a pain in the ass because if I twisted even slightly wrong the hook's screw would fall out of track and I would have to start all over again.

Once the hooks were all in along the bottom of the frame I painted the edges of Ryan's frame blue and mine purple.

Once they were dry I put the cardboard that I painted white back in place (no glass of course).

From there I placed my bibs where I wanted them in the frame and screwed the larger hooks into the cardboard according to where the holes were on the bibs. Yes, the hooks actually stayed. I was worried they wouldn't, but they screwed in just like wood and are quite secure. Once the bibs were attached I decided they needed a little something else, so I added a painted "his" and "hers" to each of the frames.

Then I hung them on our bedroom wall where I wanted them and started hanging the medals.

Ry's medals: Spartan Race, Disney 1/2, and Houston 1/2.

 My medals: Castaway Cay 5k, and Jingle Jungle 5k.

I think it's a great way to display both the bibs and the medals, which I know we are both quite proud of, and it makes for a great way to preserve memories. (I even wrote the date of each race on the back of the bibs).

I hope this inspires you to do something fun with your treasured keepsakes!!

Aidan the Crocodile

When I dropped the boys off at school yesterday the director of the preschool informed me that she wanted to move Aidan out of the 4 yr old "Frog" room and in to her 5 yr old room, the Crocodiles.

Pretty exciting stuff for a 4 year old!

She and Aidan's Frog teacher felt that he would benefit from working with calmer older kids because he doesn't like being included in the 4 yr old boys mischief. In fact, he was always coming home telling me how naughty the other boys in his class were and how he doesn't like it. His only "behaved" buddy was moved into the Crocodile room recently as well. 

The Tues/Thurs class actually only consists of 4 little boys, so it's like a cool dudes club haha. 

The teacher emailed me this photo of their "architectural design" part of class. AKA, fort building!!!

The director says she would often take Aidan into her classroom as a "treat" anyway and let him work with the older kids (and play with the older kid toys like the Lego table), so I am hoping this will be beneficial since he'll be starting Kindergarten this Fall.

He came home with this gem after his first full day as a Crocodile:

The fat cat sat

Proud Mama Moment!!!!

Coast to Coast Challenge

Run Disney offers a special medal to those runners who complete 2 Run Disney Half Marathons in one calendar  year...one being at Disney World, and the other being at Disneyland. Ryan and I have decided that 2015 is going to be the year we complete a Coast to Coast Challenge!!

In Feb 2015 we'll be running the Disney Princess Half Marathon in WDW, and then in Aug we'll head to CA to do the Disneyland Half Marathon.

We've also decided to run another race at Disney World in 2014, though we're unsure which one. I guess you can call us RunDisney Fools!
We are completely hooked on RunDisney races, and I think it is going to serve for some great memories and adventures!

I never would have thought I would be running 5k's let alone training for a half marathon. This will be my biggest accomplishment as a runner!

We built a vegetable car….on a Disney Cruise

So there is quite a bit of stuff to do on a Disney Cruise.

One of the activities that caught my eye in our nightly "Navigator" (your events/goings-on listing for the next day) was a "Mickey 200" race for kids. It mentioned something about playing with your vegetables and making a car out of them…so we had to check it out!

These were the supplies each team was given: 

We even had to create a team name. We were the "Lawless Mickeys", aka Team 16.

 The kids had to repeat a cute oath about never ever touching the scary, terrifying, dangerous, horrifying knife. They were only supposed to tell the adults what they wanted done and the adults were to create the car.

My mom was laughing at how serious I took this challenge. She said she wishes I could have seen my own face as I took apart and re-aligned those little wheels that Aidan placed on the car unevenly, haha.

I wanted my kid to win, damn it!

Here was our finished car. It has Mickey ears on top and the carrot slices in front were supposed to be eyes. 

Hey, Aidan was directing this gig.

There were 18 teams and we made it through all 4 rounds of races!!!

Round 1. We whooped that little girl's car!

Round 2…another little girl's dream crushed.

ps- those cars at the bottom are in the "parking lot"…aka cars who didn't win their races.

Round 3, you will not be #1, little boy in board shorts!

We lost the very last round , but we had SOOO much fun!!!!

In the end we took second place!!! (out of 18 teams!)

The boys each got a Disney Cruise Line keychain as a prize.

Playing with our vegetables turned out to be just as fun as we imagined.