Upon leaving our rasul, we promptly rescued The Big from the Club. Unlike the day before, The Big was NOT ready to come with us, but I enticed her with promises of ice cream and swimming. We also told her that we would be taking her back to the Club in just a few short hours, so that helped the cause. Since The Big is a daycare kid I knew that she wouldnt have any problems in the Club, but the fact that she wanted to say in the Club spoke volumes about how great the environment is in there. When we picked her up, she was rocking and rolling on the pirate slide. They had just gotten done making pirate masks with Peter Pan. Talk about FUN, right?
Anyway, we hung out at the Mickey Pool for a bit, ate some lunch, and decided to go back to the room for our mandatory naps. The seas were a bit rough that day, but none of us had any problems whatsoever letting the ship rock us to sleep.
After our naps, DH went and played a bit of Bingo. Sadly, he didnt win a penny at Bingo, but he did not come back empty handed. He bought The Big and me matching
Disney Cruise Line sweatshirts. I was a bit peeved at him because I had seen the price of the adult sweatshirts in the gift shops ($45) but he told me that he found my sweatshirt marked down to $25. Maybe the shops mark down the merchandise on the last day of the cruise? Anyway, The Big and I have been uber-cool this winter season in our matching sweatshirts.
We really didnt do much after that except to hang out on the verandah and chat about what an incredible time we had on our vacation
until it was time to get ready for our dinner at Palo! In keeping with our early themed dinners every night, we booked Palo for 6:00 p.m., with the hope that we could still catch the Disney Dreams show that evening.
Now, I know that Ive said it before, but Ill say it again here: DH and I are not foodies. We are very much steak and potatoes people, with a bit of veggies and other white meats thrown in for variety. We dont generally do seafood or anything that consists of animal parts. Call us crazy. Well, when we decided to cruise, DH told me that he planned to sample foods outside of his normal comfort zone, and he actually found that everything he ate outside of his "zone" was really tasty. I, however, took the dont fix it if it aint broke approach and ate delicious steaks every single night without complaint. Well, upon arriving at Palo, I stated that I was going to (again) go with the steak that night. DH declared that he was going to continue to press his luck with the outside of his comfort zone food sampling. He opted for the rack of lamb.
Before I get into the entrees, I just have to say that DH and I were so taken aback by Palo. We expected fabulous, and I can tell you it is first-rate all the way, from the décor to the incredible service. First, we got some pre-appetizers (who knew there was such a thing?) of white cheese and some sort of thinly cut meat. Both were wonderful. Next, we got our salads and, again, were very impressed. Finally, our much-anticipated meat arrived. My steak (the tenderloin) was just out of this world! DH, unfortunately, didnt fare as well with his rack. He was disappointed, especially when I gave him a piece of my steak to try. Oh, dear, the steak was just that darn good. Finally, we opted for the soufflés for dessert. I guess because of all of the DIS hype, I was expecting to really be blown away by the soufflé. The soufflé was good, it was very good, but it was not my favorite dessert on board. That accolade went to this chocolate and nut (hazelnut, perhaps?) pie thing that was on the dessert buffet at the Beach Blanket. My second favorite was the white chocolate cheesecake that I ate on Pirate Night. However, any dessert is still a good dessert, and we didnt go lacking for good desserts while on board. Umm, my last comment about Palo is this: the palette cleansing drink tastes a bit like lemon Pledge (but it does pack a wallop in terms of alcohol). I couldnt finish mine (again, lemon Pledge doesnt appeal to me) so DH drank them both. He said they made him a bit loopy in the head. And fast.
After Palo, we picked The Big up and made our way to the Disney Dreams show. I forgot my camera for this one (probably on purpose since I was so disappointed with my results from the previous nights show). Disney Dreams was wonderful and touching, but we had a bit of technical difficulties right smack in the middle of the show. The ship somehow lost its audio feed, and the actors found themselves without any background music, so the show halted for about 15 minutes. The actors played it off well, but the show was not as magical as Im sure it would have been had we got to enjoy it uninterrupted. After the show, we got back to our room, started the process of packing up our stuff, and went to sleep for the last time on the Wonder. *Sob*
The next morning, we hurried ourselves off the ship, cleared customs, and made our way back to Atlanta. We had a great drive home (except that the darn check engine light was still on in my car) and probably spent several hours discussing how much fun we had and how much we were looking forward to our trip in September, 2008. Oh, and the check engine light did finally turn off a week after we got home. Perhaps our Kia is a gas snob and doesn't like Florida gas? Who knows?!?
Now that its been a few months, I look back at our trip with such fond memories. DH and I realized during our trip that we had been misguided in not taking family vacations (with only the three of us), instead choosing to vacation across the country to visit our extended families. I kick myself because it took us 9 years of missed
Disney vacations to make that realization, but Im quite sure that we will make up for lost time. Anyway, I still stand by my statement that doing the Land/Sea was too little Land for us, but I can see how it would work for some people (perhaps those who have not been absent from Disney for 9 years?).
I want to thank each of you who read and replied to my TR its always nice to get feedback. Ive had a great time reliving my trip through this Report, and I cant thank you all enough for your compliments. Thank you all again and please let me know if you have any questions.
) You all have seriously made my day! Also, my next update will be up soon. I had to work (from home) this weekend so that's put a kink into my weekend fun! Anyway, I hope everyone has a great day! 
However, if it makes you feel any better, Olympus has released several more cameras since mine came out, and, without a doubt, the newer generations have many more bells and whistles. You wouldn't want my old guy anyway. Have a great day! Also, if work is quiet today, I think I'll have another installment up. 
I wouldn't have a clue what to do with bells and whistles! I just point and shoot... and say a little prayer! 
Everyone once in a great while I surprise myself with a frame worthy pic! 
wahhhhh
I feel like it is the end of my vacation as well 
