Day 3
DCL...A Day at Sea
The morning started off with dh and I creeping around our cabin. We didn't want to wake up the boys (who were asleep in the connecting cabin). I quietly called in an order for room service, threw on some clothes, brushed my teeth, ran a brush threw my hair and sat impatiently waiting for the room service to arrive. I was tapping my foot, twiddling my thumbs, twirling my hair...anything to pass the time.
What might you ask had me wanting to sneak out of our room early in the morning? On this day, dh and I were going to start our day off with an exotic rasul treatment.
Aladdin was going to be staying with his brothers (with Mrs. Friend on call right down the hall) while dh and I pampered ourselves. I had really been looking forward to this morning for a long time. YEARS. Really, I had wanted to book this treatment last time and did not. I had come to regret that. So for me, this appointment was two years worth of waiting later.
Finally, our room service arrived. We had a huge plate full of donuts, another piled high with croissants, a cheese tray and a mound of fresh fruit. There was also a coffee for dh and an iced tea for myself. The boys had drinks stocked away in the mini frig to wash down their breakfast (a bit later, once they woke up). I took a few nibbles of everything while dh woke up
Aladdin. We whispered a reminder to call Mrs. Friend if he needed any help and that they should just watch tv and eat the breakfast we had ordered them if anyone else woke up. We left him laying on the couch, eating donuts and croissants and watching a show on the Disney Channel. He is such an amazing helper. But this maturity is just another sign of how quickly he is growing up.
The Exotic Rasul treatment sounded just that, exotic. The description I had read was a private treatment suite with a locked door, inside which you would find an outer tile room. It has a bench, towels, an adjustable temperature shower (big enough for two
), a bowl full of mud, a bowl full of salts/milk bath and enough bottles of oils, face masks, hair masks, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body treatments, lotions, body masks, etc to keep you clean for three months.
A private steam room is just a step away...
Dh was nervous about the treatment, he thought it would be hokey, stupid or embarrassing. Talk about a Debbie Downer! He was quickly proved wrong.
Upon arrival we were greeted with cups of lemon infused water and each shown to a locker room where we could change out of our clothes and into big fluffy robes that they provided. I kept on my own Croc flip flops but dh took them up on their offer of plastic slide on sandals.
Once we were changed, we were led to the rasul chamber (I have no idea what they really call it...but that's my name for it) and the spa CM explained that we should mix some of the milk bath in with the bowl of salt and use that first to exfoliate. We should then shower off and apply the mud all over from our shoulders to our feet. She said it would cleanse our systems, speed up our metabolism, clarify our skin and might make us urinate more than usual.
I don't know if it did all (or even any) of that...but what could be more fun than a huge bowl of mud?! She then told us she would knock when we had ten minutes left and told us that the door would be locked behind her (of course we could get out but she was letting us know that we had total privacy). Which brings me to my first question about things I had read previously. I have read here on the DIS that some people wore swimsuits during the treatment. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for modesty most of the time BUT when you are alone behind a locked door with your spouse, salt scrub, oils, mud, tons of products, a shower and a steam room and YOU CHOOSE TO REMAIN CLOTHED?! Wouldn't your swimsuit get ruined with the mud and oils? Wouldn't it be WAY less 'exotic'? Okey dokey then. I just don't get that. But, to each his own.
I loved the exfoliating scrub. The milk bath was so hydrating and the salts left me feeling very shiny and clean. I bought a bottle of the milk bath to bring home and use it as a lotion, bath soak and even add it to sea salt (I found it in the bulk bins at the health food co-op in the grooming section) and enjoy feeling all shiny and clean every now and again. Even if my treatment ended then, I would have been happy. Seriously, I loved it that much. But lucky for me, it didn't.
The mud was so much fun. I guess dh and I might have missed out on how 'exotic' the treatment could be as well. Instead of just rubbing the stuff on, we got into a bit of a mud slinging contest.
I cannot tell :you how much fun it is to throw gobs of mud at your husband.
I highly recommend that you all try it.
After the mud you are supposed to head into the steam room and 'cook' a bit. Before I headed in, I slathered a face mask on. So much for the inviting look.
I had to leave the steam room door open. Dh would have been fine with it closed. I think I would have passed out. It was REALLY HOT in there. But it felt good to just sit on the hot tile and let the warmth seep into my bones. Well, with the little hose they have right there fully open shooting cold water on to my feet and legs. I don't know if I could have lasted much more than two minutes without that very refreshing burst of cool water. As it was, I don't think I stayed in the steam room for more than 6 or 7 minutes at a time.
I don't know that I would have ventured back in to the steam room a second time had we not brought ice cold water bottles in with us. That is one of the best tips I have ever gotten from the DIS. I wouldn't have thought of that myself and it really came in handy. There was an ice water dispenser right outside of the treatment suite...but who wants to rinse off, dry off and get dressed in the middle of muds and oils and steaming to go and grab a cup of water? Not me.
There were so many products and I wish I could have tried them all out. We had already used the face masks, the mud, the milk bath/salts and the steam. Once we were totally rinsed off, Dh and I tried out the oils. They smelled so good. After slathering those on, we once again steamed ourselves to let it all 'soak in'.
Finally, I took a real shower with the body wash, the shampoo and conditioner. I topped it off by rubbing that wonderful Elemis Milk Bath in to seal in all of the moisture. Shortly after that, I heard the dreaded knock that meant time was almost up. Dh and I chuckled as we looked around at all of the mud splattered all over the place. It might be time to confess that it was more of a mud war than a little bit of mud slinging.
When I apologized for the state we were leaving the room in (to the spa CM who met up with us when we emerged) she laughed out loud and said it was not at all uncommon for the room to be muddy all over.
Even if you do this alone (but really, it's MUCH nicer with someone there to help you get the hard to reach places) DO IT! I have read some negative reviews, but in my opinion...it's the pure spa bliss.
I have never felt as smooth, soft and hydrated both hair and skin. I felt so clean and shiny and good. I found myself just rubbing on my arm every now and again to feel how soft it was.
Seriously though, it was such a wonderful experience. Dh even agrees with me.
We had so much fun that we booked it for later on in the week! It was just as wonderful the second time around! Top off the softness and squeaky clean feeling you get with the romantic/'exotic' atmosphere and it's hard to think of a more fun, relaxing, decadent way to spend an hour of your day at sea.
So to summarize my tips for partaking in the Exotic Rasul treatment:
1. DO IT!! It's fabulous! Wonderful! Great! Amazing! Terrific! Keep adding the exclamations on in your own head until you run out...that's how good it was.
2. Bring in a bottle (or two) of ice cold water. It really does get hot in there.
3. Ask for extra towels. Trust me.
4.Don't bother with a swimsuit.
5.Leave your watches, rings and other jewelry locked away in your stateroom safe.
6.Be on time (they start your session timer with or without you in the room).
7. ENJOY and make sure you use the milk bath once you are all clean as a moisturizer. It's simply heavenly!
Once we were finally dressed and had gotten ready to face the day in the locker rooms, we started making our way back to our room. As we passed by Shutters we saw it was just opening up for the day so we stopped and picked out some pictures for our package (I purchased the largest one our first night on board)and then made our way back to our room.
When we arrived we found the boys happily munching away on the room service goodies we had left for them. I then went a few doors down to our dear friends room to thank them for being 'on call' in case the need should arise and to find out if I could take
Cinderella to the Oceaneer's Lab with
Stitch. They were going to be meeting over there and making flubber. I snapped this picture of Mr. Friend to prove that he was enjoying a cocktail so early in the day.
I swear I am not posting it to prove that.
But, instead to give you a peek at a stateroom. Ours was identical. Ignore the incorrect time stamp, I just switched it on to try and capture the time of day for proof...however, I set it wrong, so it didn't prove much other than I don't know how to set time on a camera. Haha.
After dropping off
Cinderella and
Stitch to make some flubber, we took
Goofy up to the Wide World of Sports Deck. He would be taking part in the Goofy World Records activity. He said they played lots of games and contests. He also said it was a lot of fun.
Before I even got back from picking up Cinderella, Aladdin had made his way to the Ocean Quest area to hang out before taking part in the Brains and Brawns Challenge. Basically they had to compete against each other (they were on teams) in physical challenges and by figuring out clues. Once again, he gave an Ocean Quest activity two enthusiastic thumbs up.
While the big boys were all busy, dh and I spent the rest of morning enjoying time focused on our Little Prince. We took a sand toy truck and carried it with us while we searched out a quiet place to roll it around. We happily found our own space upon on deck seven forward (or it may have been aft?). There's a small deck that is nothing more than some space with a few chairs scattered about. IT WAS PERFECT.
The three of us plopped down on the deck and rolled the truck back and forth for almost 30 minutes.
The views were beautiful (although dh couldn't stomach them) and it was so nice to find a quiet place away from it all. We had a really nice time focusing on enjoying our littlest guy. I think we spent just about an hour there without ever seeing anyone else.
And then we went to reclaim our boys and convince them that they were going to leave peacefully with us and that we were all going to enjoy a family meal together. Once that task was accomplished we made our way to Lumiere's and had a nice sit down meal with just our family. A good time was had by all. I ended up having shrimp cocktail and a hamburger. I liked that it was a brunch because some of us ended up with lunch items while others chose breakfast foods. There was something for everyone and it was all very good. We didn't have nearly as leisurely a lunch as I would have liked due to the fact that the boys "HAD" to get back to the clubs...imagine the horror of having to spend more than an hour and half with your parents!
Which for once, was okay with me, I was in a bit of a hurry as well...it was almost time for my Alone Time at the spa! Another highly anticipated spa treatment...
Would it be all I was hoping for?
TO BE CONTINUED...
OMG he's about the age of my DD isn't he 
They just grow up so fast. I was looking through a box of pictures the other day and found an old Christmas card that we had sent out, the boys were 5 and 1 in that picture, so little and so cute - I sat there and started crying! I'm such a sap! 
Pureed peas, huh? The carrots sound good. Mushy peas? Not so much. 
Maybe he will learn to force smiles (even when hungry) in the future.
and loved it. I am working on that installment now! 
