Disney Cruise - Cozumel, MX

We were kind of having an 'off' morning and our Beach Break excursion was going to be restricted to no beach access because of winds/waves. So cancelled that and put the kids in the club for an hour for "Captain Mickey Training." 

 We hopped off and only went so far to buy souvenir maracas.

 Then we enjoyed the pool and slide and movie by the pool.

3D crafts

Tiana's Place for dinner.

Ooh, ordering Mickey Bars from room service... the best!

Disney Cruise-Day at Sea 1

The fitness center has one of the best views on the ship. We really enjoyed waking up early and getting a few work outs in with a personal trainer.

There are a couple of places to get breakfast, but we often enjoyed the full service at Triton's. 

 After breakfast we checked with the lost & found, and Disney came through for us with Abby's bunny that she set down for the Goofy picture before boarding, and realized she wasn't holding right as we were supposed to make our grand entrance onto the ship. Oh happy day!

 Then we dropped the kids off at the Oceaner's Club for some activities. We walked around the ship and talked to other adults.

Lydia played at the tracing table, but Abby claims she's never going in there again... :(

Have to note one really cool thing about the club... hand washing machines. You just insert hands, and it goes through a cycle of rinse, soap, rinse!

We sailed Jan. 3-9 and they still had the Christmas decoration and some Merrytime Cruise cups they were using up.

We all came back for Open House time. Anyone Can Cook: Cookies. The chef gal was very French.

Pixar Trivia in French Quarter Lounge.

Another day, more surprises at our door! We got more magnets as the week went on. 

Optional Formal Night at Animator's Palate.

There was a show on the screens and Mickey came by.

So that was fun.

Silent Disco. 3 stations for people to choose from. They hung out with new friend from Dallas they met in Kid's Club, Rachel.

Entertainment that night was The Golden Mickeys.

Disney Cruise- Welcome Aboard

After we knew our house was sold in Oak Creek, we decided to book at Disney Cruise. In 2015 we had a magical vacation at Disney World and we knew we wanted to go back, but needed to wait a while. With Disney Cruise Line sailing from Galveston, so we didn't even have to hop on a plane, we thought this would be a great choice. The countdown started at 287 days, and now there's only 1 day left and we can hardly contain our excitement!

 We see the ship! But now to find our parking lot...

 We arrived right at the end of our earliest boarding window. The boarding process was swift, and overall crowd control was great. We never felt too crowded. We got hi-fives from crew members wearing over sized Mickey gloves.

Ben's favorite character: Goofy

We boarded, ate lunch at Cabanas, the impressive buffet, then found our room: 6042. I was excited to decorate and put up our Fish Extender. We registered the kids with the Oceaner's Club/Lab.

Mickey's Sail-A-Wave Party after the Mandatory Guest Assembly Drill.

Full of dancing led by the entertainment crew and characters.

 And Wow, we are sailing.  View from our veranda. 

We made the first delivery of FE gifts (Personalized Mickey bar magnets) on the way to dinner at Tritons. No entertainment at dinner (5:45), but we met our waiters and went to the Magic Show with Eric Jones at 8:30 (if you had late seating, you'd see your show first at 6:15, then dinner at 8)

The cool thing is, we had watched him on Penn & Teller's Fool Us show!

First towel animal, Ghiradehli chocolates, and 

we got our first (of many) FE gifts!

Happy New Year! 2020

 We got sparklers for New Year's Eve while the neighborhood set off real fireworks. It was actually really neat to have the Australian fireworks show on TV (like we've watched the past few years) going concurrently with neighborhood fireworks visible out the window. (Just have to make sure chairs are under cover)

 Then we treated New Years Day like Christmas Day at home with cinnamon rolls, egg casserole and presents.

The girls were excited to get Squishamals, clothing, Legos/light box sign,

and Lydia got Abby slime, and Abby got Lydia a very pretty set of earrings. I love these two together!

I'm looking forward to many more adventures and maybe a few things I can put on autopilot ;)

Peterson Christmas

On our way to Gma Jan's, we stopped in Oak Creek to see our old house, school, neighborhood, and the West family.

 It was really great to catch up with Stephanie, Nate, Elizabeth, Danielle, Marissa, and Isaac! We talked and played like no time had passed.

Then at Gma Jan's they got right to playing and crafting with cousins Kinsey & Kayla.

Loop bracelets! Kayla was a good sorter.

dress up/silly time

 Abby, Aubrey, Lydia, Will

Catching up on Cousin Time!

Abby, Kinsey, Emily, Lydia, Hailey, Kayla

 Lydia absolutely loves having older cousins, Emily and Hailey around!

Girls Trip to Claire's

Being archaeologists with the kit Abby received.

 Abby and I got a little shopping date in LeClaire. She loved running up to all the speakers to listen to the music!