A cruise for New Year and a surprise trip to WDW - Update Post 103

[Queenofallthings]

I think you choose great pictures....I can't wait to visit during the holidays again one year....I think its my favorite time there!!

ADR day is so exciting....makes you know you're really going

 

[declansdad]

Great Pics!

Hello all, just checking in from the Games. Great first week just starting the second. We have some long days but it is great to see these reactions of these young athletes.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Sounds like you're having a great time!!!

 

[MeMom]

Nice angle.

We'll be seeing Mr. and Mrs. Spud again on Saturday.

 

[declansdad]

Sounds like you're having a great time!!!

Great time. It is my first time on the mission staff so I get to see the games from another perspective.

Nice angle.

We'll be seeing Mr. and Mrs. Spud again on Saturday.

Thanks MeMom, it's tough to find new ways to take the pictures. I am trying to keep up with you. Hope you guys have a great trip.

 

[MeMom]

Thanks MeMom, it's tough to find new ways to take the pictures. I am trying to keep up with you. Hope you guys have a great trip.

I know. I feel like I have taken the same pictures a thousand times, so I am always on the lookout for new angles and ideas. Sometimes I don't take a 'classic' picture because I have done it so many times, but then I get home and I am sorry that I didn't. If I took every picture I wanted to, I'm guessing it could run into about ten thousand! I did take a little over 6,000 on one of our longer summer trips a couple of years ago.

 

[declansdad]

Hello All,

I made it back after 18 days away at the Canada Games. It was great fun but I'm happy to be home with Pooksma and Declan. The dog and the cat seemed to miss me as well.

I wanted to add some pictures from our cruise even though it wasn't a Disney cruise; it was still pretty cool.

We drove from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale and stopped here along the way.

We made it as far as the gate and realized we didn't have enough time to justify paying to go in so we headed back to the car and continued South. It was an easy drive and we arrived at our hotel around 5 pm. I took the rental to the airport and grabbed a cab back. Around 11 our friends from our 2009 Disney trip called to say they had finally made it after fighting there way through all the storms and flight cancellations and delays. It was at this point I realized I had left my camera in the rental. A call to Hertz and a cab ride to the airport at midnight and my camera was found. Huge relief!

Here are a few pictures from our departure day.

That's pooksma's mother in the background.

the kids getting down on the dance floor.

It was a great first day.

 

[Diamondintheruff]

You sound so calm about losing your camera. I would be freaking. Thanks goodness you found it.

 

[declansdad]

You sound so calm about losing your camera. I would be freaking. Thanks goodness you found it.

I am now but I was freaking out 2 months ago. Me without a camera on a trip would have been a disaster.

Here is a link to the Camp Carnival Welcome Aboard Party for the kids. It shows off some of Declan's moves that won him Best Boy Dancer. You Tube disable the audio because of copyright laws.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ounMPWjsQ_M

ETA: Apparently I needed to replace the audio due to copyright issues so the moves don't match the music.

 

[pooksma]

We get to start a PT soon!!!!! Anybody else going in August????

 

[declansdad]

Some more pictures from the cruise. These are from January 1st in St Maarten

Our ship is the one on the right. There was another behind us..

Chuck Norris' house is in the middle of the hill

Orient Beach

This is someone's castle.

Airport

Beach by the airport

Our ship in the front

 

[declansdad]

January 2nd we were in St Lucia. This was not our favourite spot but much of that probably had to do with the tour. It was pretty disappointing.

the airport

Our towel animal for the evening

 

[Queenofallthings]

Those a great pictures!! I can't believe how close you were to that plane!!!

 

[declansdad]

Those a great pictures!! I can't believe how close you were to that plane!!!

It was pretty wild. I have some video (not very good) of some landings. I will try to put them up on youtube.

 

[declansdad]

Those a great pictures!! I can't believe how close you were to that plane!!!

It was pretty wild. I have some video (not very good) of some landings. I will try to put them up on youtube.

Here is a link to one of the videos from airport beach. It is pretty bad until a minute or so in ( I was trying to shot video and take pictures at the same time).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DysaHAYgl-A

 

[Queenofallthings]

Here is a link to one of the videos from airport beach. It is pretty bad until a minute or so in ( I was trying to shot video and take pictures at the same time).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DysaHAYgl-A

Wow....really puts in into perspective when you see how close the runway really is to the water....Jasmine wouldn't move from that beach, she'd been watching planes all day!!!

 

[MeMom]

What a cutie!

The scenery is pretty. I'm sure it was a fun experience. I just don't think I am the cruising type. I would love to see the sights, but I couldn't stay in a small room or go under the top decks.

What did they show you or not show you on the St. Lucia tour that was not good?

 

[declansdad]

What a cutie!

The scenery is pretty. I'm sure it was a fun experience. I just don't think I am the cruising type. I would love to see the sights, but I couldn't stay in a small room or go under the top decks.

What did they show you or not show you on the St. Lucia tour that was not good?

The tour was billed as a 4 by 4 tour of the island but it we ended up sitting in the back of a 6-wheeled truck and we were facing in to the middle. It was very difficult to see anything. The tour took us through the jungle in a very poor area of the island; because it was a holiday there were many people just standing around watching us go by. The majority of the tour was spent at a secluded beach but it was very much a locals beach. Also, our market stop ending up being a few tables at the end of a driveway.

I'm sure there are some fantastic resorts on the island but we didn't see that part. The tour guide was very nice and explained many things but the whole experience left us all with a bad taste in our mouths.

 

[declansdad]

Wow....really puts in into perspective when you see how close the runway really is to the water....Jasmine wouldn't move from that beach, she'd been watching planes all day!!!

Here is another plane, this one is a bit better.

Our guide had some wild stories about the take-offs and landings at the airport.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSocK_kzz50

 

[Poolrat]

Here is another plane, this one is a bit better.

Our guide had some wild stories about the take-offs and landings at the airport.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSocK_kzz50

That is cool but I am not sure if I would be standing up near that fence.
Between the noise and the sand blowing... let just say I would be a bit unsettled.