Day 7 Canal Day…

First …a shout out to Brian! Thanks for the camera cord. You Rock!
Now a shout down to Blogger and my internet connection..which is NOT letting me load my pictures onto the page. So more to come later, I believe when we get into shore the connection will be better.

It was hot and I got up at 5am so I will let the picture speak for themselves….5am stephanie

Day 6….Sea Day

Today is our first of 4 sea days and I have discovered that the internet is down. Satellite issues. I am told that we might get it fixed in the Canal Crossing but otherwise it will be at Acapulco.
We had our Character breakfast this morning. They call it Mickey’s Island Jam. The kids have fun, but they are up and down from their tables. It’s nothing like Goofys Kitchen at DL where they come over to you. I was used to it from the med cruise but others were not so they were quite unhappy.
I had to leave early to go to Palo for brunch. I had invited some ladies to dine with me but they have had a hard time getting up before noon on this cruise, so I joined Bubba and Venetia. Luckily we both had ressies at the same time so we just combined. It was fantastic, as usual. After my long brunch, I found taylor and headed to the pool. As I was relaxing at the pool, I was reminded that we have ladies tea this afternoon, among other things. I really didn’t want to go, as I was full from brunch, but I wanted to check it out since I was unable to do so on the med cruise. I sent taylor off to see the Panama Canal Presentation and headed off to tea. We were lucky that there were 2 other groups of people that we knew, but Palo could not seat us together which was strange since it was empty. We sat near each other but not close enough to talk.
After tea there were 2 options…a wedding or “champagne girls” The wedding started at 4 and it was 4:15, so I ended up at the champagne girls. When I signed up for this I thought it was a simple tasting, but it ended up being a pink tiara wearing schooling kind of thing. Not my interest at all. Additionally, I was shushed (second time this cruise) so I walked out. If you can’t talk to others in a group setting, well then I’m out. I went off to find taylor and saw the cutest thing. Emily was sleeping in the most awkward position, but she was asleep.
We went to dinner and agreed to meet some other friends up on deck afterwards to swim. Well, we were there but Gaylean was not…oh well the girls had fun swimming until midnight. During their swim the parents watched the cheetah girls 2 on the big screen. We were also pulling into the mouth of the Panama Canal. We went from seeing nothing to seeing hundreds of ships. It was very cool.
Tim, Lori, Marr and I decided that we would get up to watch the entrance to the canal. So at midnight we headed in with the kids as we knew we were getting up early the next day.

Canal Day is tomorrow!

Aruba...

Jamaica oooh I wanna take ya…Just kidding. So we landed in Aruba. It was a minor let down. Apparently this is the first time the Magic has been to Aruba and there was nothing…no welcome no balloons no nothing. Taylor and I decided a while ago to rent jeeps with some of the dissers. We all met off the ship at 8:30am to get our 7 jeeps and head out. Lillygator was kind enough to put a sheet together on all the top spots (all 4 of them) of Aruba. We got everything done by 9am and were off. We headed south to Baby Beach. Here’s some interesting fun facts about Aruba. It’s very similar to Kauai. You can only drive on one side of the island. The other side is more mountainous. The island is 20 miles long. We landed just about the middle of the island. Each end of the island is named for a state in the US. Baby Beach is on the south side at Point Colorado. It is a beautiful beach and there were some guys there kite surfing. There were so cool. The got so high up in the air. Taylor was impressed. We spent some time there letting the kids play in the water. Of course, only one person brought a towel…but it was hot and they dried pretty fast. After and hour or so, we left to go to Point California on the north end. As we headed up we eventually got separated from the main group of jeeps. We stopped at a gas station…ps all gas stations are Valeros..no competition here! (Valero has a refinery on the island) At the station, we discussed what to do as there were 3 of us left. It turns out that the others were heading back and turning in their jeeps so Liserann’s jeep and I decided to continue on to Point California and the light house together. As we headed up we stopped in the “high rise hotel district” for lunch and yes, there is a “low rise” hotel district. Hahahaha We couldn’t find anything for under $35 per person and then we saw TGIFridays. Oh the potato skins were so good! We walked around the beach for a while and headed up towards the lighthouse. The lighthouse was beautiful and it was obvious that this was the nicer side of the island. The homes were gorgeous and some oceanfront were listed at 600..we couldn’t figure out if that was florin or US dollar as they take both. But still 600k for an oceanfront home is a deal. On our way to the lighthouse we passed by a beautiful beach so after the visit we decided to stop there for a while and let the kids play. They had a good time and there was a sandbar out a ways so they thought it was so cool to be out and stand up in 2ft of water. We headed back towards the ship and returned the jeeps. It was still a little early so I planned to drop taylor off at kids club and head back out to shop for a bit, but we had a scary incident as we were boarding. A little girl was walking up the ramp to get on the ship and she fell off the side. Now we were over concrete not water..thankfully, but she fell about 2 ft. and landed on her face and chest. It was very scary and lots of commotion, but I heard later that she was ok. After dinner we headed up to the Tropicalifragilistic deck party. Taylor was having quite the good time as evidenced in my video to be added below. She went to kids club after and I went to check out an impressionist who was quite good. The off to sleep to prepare for the 4 sea days coming up!

Day 4...sea day (you'll be seeing this ALOT)

One of many more sea days to come. Again, I can’t decide what to do. There are so many options. Today we decided to start out at the connect 4 challenge. I love games so why not be the champ. Unfortunately, there were not many people there so we played a couple of games and left. We put on our swim suits and headed up to the pool. It was a hot and humid day up on deck. Taylor was getting antsy for her friends to wake up and I was enjoying one of the many books I brought with me. Finally some of her friends woke up and she was happily playing at the pool with them. I sat and chatted with one of the moms. At 2:30 it was time for poker. A game we had set up on the boards and I was ready to play. Disney has no casino so this is my action. It was a $20.00 buy in and 1-3rd place. We started at 2 tables and combined into one. I made it all the way to combining and was very happy. I was getting some good cards, but one guy…steve…he had a stack of chips that put a nervous feeling in my stomach. BUT soon enough I had many of his chips and it was down to 3 of us! Steve, Jerry and ME! It was getting late and the boys wives were complaining that they would be late to dinner. I could have gone on for hours as I was late seating. So we decided to split the pot 3 ways…yahoo. I was probably in second place at that point, but it could have gone anyway…we were pretty much just exchanging chips.
Of course, during the poker game, my daughter was having a field day without me. Her friends were kind enough to adopt her for the afternoon. So I left the tables with cash in hand and headed over to the Castaway Club party. A party for multiple cruisers…of which we are now. They were giving away free drinks and food, but I stayed away from the food, since we had dinner soon. I went down to change for dinner and realized that I had a magnificent sunburn. I wasn’t sitting in the sun, but I was underneath a window and through it I did a number on my shoulders and one knee.
Dinner was ok, it seems that we are on the start on a 3 day decline, but more about that later. After dinner, taylor went to kids club and we went to kareokee. It was actually Disney Kareokee but the kids didn’t want to join us. Rockin bar D was next on the list, but it ended up being a quiet night since we arrived in Aruba in the morning.

Still looking for a camera cable….I have hopes that Mark has one to loan me….

Day 3 Sea day

I want to start out by saying that I have not found a camera cable to fit my camera yet. So there will be no pictures posted until I locate someone with my same camera that has a cable.

This morning I woke up early…as usual. Taylor slept until 9am! I looked at the navigator to figure out my day today. So many things to do, so little time to do them! We had our breakfast and had some time to kill before Bingo started, so taylor went off to kids club while I decided to do a load of laundry. I met Brian and Debbie in the laundry room, a nice couple of dissers from Chicago. Unfortunately, my laundry didn’t finish before bingo started so I grabbed taylor to get some lunch and wait until the DVC presentation. Tay went back to kids club while I went to DVC members reception. It was more of a prize giveaway than a reception. I won a towel. After that I grabbed taylor and headed to the pool. We stayed up on deck for the afternoon. I read and taylor swam with Kristin and Emily. Eventually their parents made it over to me and we chatted. Lori and I decided to go to trivia, as you know I love my contests while taylor stayed with Tim and the kids. There were a ton of dissers at Trivia. It was fun to play, but we didn’t win..bummer! Next was the Golden Mickeys. I took taylor, Emily and Kristin to the show so Tim and Lori could have a break. It was a cute show, the girls loved it. Oh, and It was formal night. I had a dress malfunction…strap broke..but nan with her safety pin saved me.


We had a good dinner (better appetizers than main course) and everyone wanted to see the Hypnotists Adult show. Once again the kids went off to kids club, which was open to 1am tonight hallelujah! Taylor wanted to hang with Kristin in the 11-13 but they wouldn’t let her. So mom had to come to the rescue. Needless to say, taylor was with that group! I don’t understand how older kids can go down to younger groups but not the opposite. Anyways, Taylor can now go to either group…her choice. We had great seats for the hypnotist..thanks bubba and V! This guy was even better this time. His participants were great. Except for one girl who was so obviously faking. I don’t know why he didn’t ask her to leave. Everyone in the audience was disappointed, only because she was SO obvious.
His show ended and the dancing began. The stars from last night were not joining us, so it was just the gabby 3 with tiffanie tonight. 80’s music started off the night and then current songs. We pretty much danced off dinner and once again, my carriage turned into a pumpkin. So off I went to get my tay tay and off to sleep….

Tuesday is another sea day….

Day 2 Castaway Cay

We arrived at Disney’s private island Castaway Cay. Taylor and I had tickets to do the stingray experience at 11am. So we had a leisurely morning on the ship, loaded up our backpack and walked over to Stingray Cove. We arrived a little early so we hung out on the beach and waited. Our tablemates “cameron’s dad” were also doing this excursion. We joined with them, got our pre lecture done, donned our required lifevests and walked into the ocean. The stingrays and fish are just swimming all around you…very strange. Taylor was a little apprehensive at first ( I was A LOT) but eventually she thought this was very cool. We were able to touch them and feed them and then swim around and watch them. It was very neat, although I couldn’t get over the fact that they swim right up to you!


After that we headed back towards the family beach. On our way we saw hair braiding and Taylor decided that she wanted to get that done. About ¼ of the way in, she started crying. So I asked her if she wanted to continue and she said yes. What a trooper, she has now experienced the pain of beauty. After they were done, Taylor was done too. She wanted nothing more to do with Castaway Cay. So we had some lunch and headed back to the ship.
It was nice being on the ship with everyone off at Castaway. We swam in the pool and then Tay decided she wanted a nap. So off we went to our room and she turned on the TV and I fell asleep! A lazy day for sure!
Eventually we made our way to the Hypnotist Show. Ricky Kelmon was the Hypnotist and he was great. He had a good group on stage and they were so funny. Taylor enjoyed it a lot. Then it was off to dinner. The kids are having a blast at dinner. We were in Animators Palate which changes scenery during the meal. It was very cute. The kids went off to kids club and the adults had “shots around the ship”. Unfortunately there was a Cabaret Act in the main bar, so we had to hang in the Piano Bar for a while. It was definitely uncomfortable in the Piano Bar since our group was so large and they did not know what to do with us. We were impatiently waiting for the Cabaret act to finish so we could go to Rockin’ Bar D to get our dance on, but alas…he did not finish until 11:45pm. Basically, my carriage was turning back into a pumpkin as kids club was closing. I did not get to stay and hang with the group. I heard they had a great time and somewhere there are pictures posted…glad I wasn’t in them! ;)

Monday is a Sea day….what does that hold?? Stay tuned…….

Let the Magic Begin....

We arrived at the port around noon on Saturday May 10th. It was very exciting, until we realized that they were just starting boarding and we were in group 20! Patiently we waited…not so patient for taylor and then we got on the ship. It was different than the med, we boarded on the main floor instead of down below. They called our name…WELCOME SPROUL FAMILY…and then we were off to find our room and drop my carry on. Guess what..hallways were locked! So I had to drag my carry on with me as we went to kids club…right around the corner from our room and then up to the buffet to eat a small lunch. Taylor was anxiously wanting to find her friends, who were no where to be found and I was anxious to get into our room. Voila..1:30pm hit and the door were opened. I signed up for an inside stateroom, but we ended up with a PORTHOLE room. No obstructed view. It’s great! There was a bunk bed in the room and taylor was so excited to find that she can sleep up there. So YEA I get to sleep alone! We unpacked half way and got a call to come up to our friends room. Taylor was out the door before I hung up. We went up to Nan, Paul, Molly and Wilsons room to hang out until our dismeet at 3pm. Marr, Jacinda, Dominic and Tiffani joined us shortly and we all (minus nan) went to the dismeet. I met a lot of the people I talk to online and also Gaylean and Jon and their kids. It was nice to put faces to names. We got cool mini navigators with all of the dissers information. Then we went to the sailaway party up on deck. After that I had a spa treatment and taylor played in kids club…then dinner with our friends. We have 2 tables and sit with all California families from the dis. They are all great and we are able to have the kids at one table and the adults at another. After dinner the kids ran off to kids club for a “kim possible scavenger hunt” All of us adults headed off to Rockin’ Bar D for the games. Of course, I ran in as they were starting and I need to win and get free stuff!...The first game was the balloon pop…I am a previous winner of that one, so I had it in the bag. There were 2 ways to win, Style and Speed….I was first! Speed was in the bag! And my style…well lets just say my popping technique left people speechless! Hahahha…but even thought the judge picked me for both, the MC said 2 people should win, so I just won on speed, but style in spirit. What was my prize? A shot…I passed. Had some cosmos with dinner so I was good to go. The next game was a disgusting coin drop, to gross to describe, but I wouldn’t do it so nuff said! We had a nice large group of our California gabby girl dissers and their spouses and danced and had a good time. Of course, taylor was the first to page that she was ready to leave kids club around 11:45pm. I picked her up and we went to bed….day one in the bag!

Mother's day we arrive at Disney’s Private island…CASTAWAY CAY