After a completely satisfying meal at Earl of Sandwich we decided to hit the shops for a mini shopping spree. I was worried about buying too much because we had to pack up, load the ship, buy stuff there

, pack up, go back to Disney, buy stuff there

, and pack up one last time to head home. PHEW, I'm tired just typing all that
It was obvious that the extra sleep that morning had put Candi in high spirits when he said since we had no evening plans we could shop as long as I wanted ... SAY WHAT??? However, I wasn't sure how long I was going to make it, as the humidity was in full force
Clearly, not the greatest picture of me, but you can see what the humidity did to my hair .... and my hair isn't even curly
The first shop we stumbled upon on our adventure was TrenD
They had tons and tons of Alice in Wonderland stuff and it was so hard not to buy everything for my sister's upcoming bridal shower (it is a Wonderland tea party theme). However, I restrained myself and continued looking. At some point in the store a nice gentleman stopped me to ask me about the camera I was using. He said he was debating between mine, Nikon D5000 and a D90. The price difference was huge and wanted my feedback on the D5000. We talked for quite a while because my Dad has the D90 so I am slightly familiar with it. I told him his best bet would be to go to a
Sams Club or Costco and get one of their bundle packages and he seemed thrilled with the suggestion. I love how in Disney everyone is so pleasant
As we were about to make our way out of the shop to head on the heavens opened and the rains poured
So, we took advantage of the time to spend more time looking around. TrenD is a pretty nifty store and they have a lot of stuff. We debated getting his Mom one of the Mickey Dooneys, but in the end left the store empty handed.
Our next stop was Candi's choice ... the ESPN store. This ended up working out well as I already knew what gift I wanted to get his Goddaughter's brother. He is the BIGGEST Texas Longhorns fan and I had seen a Texas shirt with Mickey Mouse on it on somebody else's TR before we left. I knew this would be the most perfect souvenir for Matthew

Candi also fell in love with an Atlanta Braves baseball cap .... until he realized it wasn't adjustable. He has such a small head for an adult that none of the pre-sized hats fit him. The size smalls are always too small but the mediums are always too big

We were about to check out when I heard Candi yell ahead to me that he found an awesome souvenir that we just had to get. I turned around and nearly cried when I realized what he had
If you remember from our introductions, Candi is the biggest sports fan ever! We have every ESPN channel possible and if it's a sports game, sports news or sports highlights he is more than happy to sit and watch it

He was genuinely excited to find this for the baby ... how could I say no! And yes, even if it's a girl we will put her in it ... just add some cute bows to her hair to "girlify" it
After leaving the ESPN store we just roamed around Downtown for a while.
At one point I started to feel dehydrated so we stopped at a cart for water. It also happened to be a churro cart so we added one of those and a sprite to the order. Well, as we went to pay the machine went down and wouldn't take credit cards. We asked where the closest ATM machine was and went to hand the items back to the CM. He said to just take them with us and bring the money on our way back through. We asked him if he was sure and he insisted! This, of course, would never ever happen in the "real world" and we were shocked at how trusting he was about it. We made sure to go straight to the ATM machine and straight back so we didn't forget about it later
After we paid the super nice CM we decided to check out the new gift shop where you can make your own remote control cars.
This place was super cool and we knew it had to be a huge hit .... especially with all the boys (big or little

)
From there we roamed around a while longer talking about the excitement of our upcoming cruise. We had really put behind us the negative experience of last time and we anxious to see what was in store the next 5 days.
We made a couple of stops along the way, one at the World of Disney. I needed to buy my Mom her birthday present and have it mailed to her house. I ended up getting her a popcorn bucket set, sadly I don't have a picture and got her several different flavors of Disney popcorn to go with it. My Mom loves to watch movies at home and believes the only proper way to watch a movie is to eat popcorn while doing it! I knew this was the perfect gift for her! I also tried to throw in some salt water taffy, but they refused to mail that due to possibility of it melting .... just an FYI for anyone who wants to mail gifts or packages home

Candi also decided we should buy some Pirate ears for Pirate night on the cruise. I found a super cute pink set that said "Pirate Princess" in pink rhinestones on it, but Candi couldn't find any that he liked. So, we ended up buying a couple of T-shirts instead!
While waiting in line to check out I noticed super cute pin the CM had that I wanted Candi to trade for. As a side note, we had never traded before and had bought a bunch of pins on Ebay before our trip last year but forgot them when we were packing. So, Candi made sure they were one of the first things we threw in the suitcase this time! I had him trade a Snow White pin (not a fan ... sorry) and scored myself
After completing our shopping at World of Disney we headed over to the create your own T-shirt shop to see about making his Goddaughter a shirt. We didn't end up really falling in love with anything, though we think the idea is great. So, we headed over to the leather stand to buy her a leather braided bracelet we had seen earlier in the day. She is a little cowgirl type, does barrel racing and all and we thought she would really like it. Candi said we had to make one last detour and stopped at the Pick a Pearl station to offer to buy me something. I looked around but didn't like any of the settings so I kindly declined.
I had pretty much had all I could handle at the moment with the heat and walking so we headed to the bus stop to head back to the hotel. Of course, not without making a stop at
Not sure where we are at?
How about now?
Last year we had done the create your own snacks at Goofys Candy Co and I fell in love with them. I had made the same creation as the previous year, 3 pretzel rods dipped in milk chocolate, coated with peanut butter chips and drizzled with more milk chocolate - YUM! Candi had a caramel apple - boring!
As we were walking out with our goodies Candi noticed something out of the corner of his eye and said he would be right back. What had he noticed?
I had recently become obsessed with ICEEs and when he saw this sign
he said he couldn't resist grabbing one for me. My favorite thing ever is banana and they just so happened to have banana glaciers so that is what he chose. It was so cold and refreshing and I enjoyed every last ounce of it!
With yummy chocolate goodness and nice icy banana glacier we headed back to the hotel for a nap before we decided what to do for the rest of the night ....