Our DREAM Vacation Part 1

Mothers Day 2011 began the BEST vacation I could have ever imagined for my family. We were celebrating the 60th birthday of Stephen's dad Carl and in total there were 7 kids and 9 adults off for the adventure of a lifetime!

2 days in the car to Orlando were pretty uneventful, the kids were super excited to see the Mississippi River and glimpses of the ocean, we told them that if they thought THAT was a lot of water, they were in for a big surprise. We also kept telling them that the boat was really big, but they didn't know what that meant. We passed the time by listening to "Ramona the Pest" by Beverly Cleary, watching an air show with dive bombing airplanes from the window, and Matthew tried to sleep without a crib in a hotel--it was a long night.

Sunday morning (Mothers Day) we attended a sacrament meeting in Orlando and then if was off to Port Canaveral to board our boat. Nothing could have prepared us for the magnitude of the boat this size:We went through the crazy process of getting us all on the boat, it was as smooth as could be expected when you consider we were on this boat with 4,000 new friends, and then we got on our boat. Lunch was an AMAZING, the Cabanas buffet up near the top deck with beautiful views.

Things were a bit hectic until the majority of the boat got opened for business. We tried to go swimming but found that everyone else had the same idea. We went up for the casting off party and lost Kaitlyn for a brief moment, she made me proud when she went and found a "mom with kids" who then found us.

Dinner blew our socks off, as it did every night, a 2 hour 5 course meal. The Royal Palace was beautiful and we saw glimpses of a few Disney Princesses too. And Stephen ordered escargot for an appetizer and I ate two of them!!

Sam HATED getting dressed up every evening, the requirement was no shorts so he wore his pajamas to the meal, then he had been begging me to go to bed, he practically dragged me back to our room where he slept a solid 12 HOURS!!

Dad took Kaitlyn and Lindsey to the first of many wonderful shows. This one called "The Golden Mickeys". We were wowed with our rooms and the turn down service and fun folded towels with chocolates! We couldn't wait for the morning when we'd be in the Bahamas!!!