November 5th 2011 Eastern on the Magic

[mom x4 grandma x4]

BT, no one got ripped off by a gift, they were all great. I bet any kid in our group was as excited to find your gift as they were any other gifts.

There were so many we are still enjoing them.


Finally got my photos down loaded. Now to get them on photo bucket and to post them today.

Back later with them.

Hope to see more of you sharing photos soon,

Kathy

 

[LovesToRun]

Hi everyone,

Claire, I love your pictures!!!! And, that picture of us is cute! I still have the one I took on my camera on my camera!! All the pictures I took on the very last day I still need to download onto our computer.

It's been a crazy week this week trying to get back into "normal" life, and also my big 40th birthday party (the wine and cheese party) is on Saturday, and as of now, 40 people are coming (it's an open house, so people will just come and go). Once all these festivities are over, I'll get around to getting those pics off my camera!

I talked to Colt last night (ironically on the way to basketball practice) and it took him a bit but he remembered playing b-ball with Ryan.. Too funny.

I showed Ryan the pictures of his 3-on-3 game, and Ryan said he totally remembered playing with Colt, too! That is too funny!!

Yes, we dragged our kids to most of them. Not so much dragging but they wanted to go. It ended up being cheaper for us to buy the CD of all the pictures than to buy individual credits.



Also, I should mention a thank you to everyone for the FE gifts. Some of you certainly know how to make amazing gifts and make me feel bad.....sorry that some of you got ripped off on the gifts from me.

BT, I loved your pictures!! You have a beautiful family!

Yes, I also saw you a lot in lines at the character viewings! I think I saw you around the ship more than anyone, actually! I kept running into you!

Oh, and that is so not true about the FE gifts!! My kids LOVED the graduation candies (suckers) you gave!!!!! I thought they were SOOOO cute! I loved ALLL of the FE gifts everyone gave... it was just so much fun! I didn't think any gift was too little or too big... they were all great! So, at least from my perspective, nobody got ripped off. That is not what FE exchanges are about... you just give what you want to give!

 

[LovesToRun]

Kathy (gma), did Greg and Peter tell you that they sat RIGHT behind us at Palo the night we were there?

And, Danielle and her husband were just a table away from Greg and Peter!! It was like a little mini-cruise meet at Palo.

Danielle, it was so funny when you came up to me to say hi! I did not recognize you at first... you were so dressed up with your hair up that I didn't realize that was you!! You looked SOOOO great that night! Thank you for coming up to say HI!! I actually remembered even looking over at you guys before you came up to say hi, but even then it didn't register that was you.

We had a ton of fun at Palo that night.

And, Kathy, it looked like Peter and Greg were really enjoying the food! I asked them what they ordered, and they replied, "everything!" HAHAH!!!!!!!!!! That made me laugh.

-Kathy

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Hi all,

Yes Kathy I think Greg and Peter oredered everything at Palos. I am not sure but I think dessert was their favorite course.

I knew they sat near someone but they are bad at names like I am
I thought it was an odd thing that our table assigment was with Alyssa dn her family at dinner each night. What are the odds of that happeneing without requesting it??
Pretty slim I think.

Did anybody try the buffet at dinner? Its not a buffet from 6:30 to 8:30??
Its a small but nice menu and much faster than the dining rooms. we did it once this trip and it so nice and quiet. My guys always get the porterhosue steak from that menu and its super tender.

Also anybody eat at the adult beach for lunch at CC??
They had steak there too. Usually they have lobster or steak, sometimes both depending on what the ship has extra of.

Peter had steak and ribs. Greg got in the mood for a hot dog that day so he had that and salad.

Ok I am going to post a few photos.

Kathy

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Look at how the Norwegan ship dwarfs us.

St. Johns Island tour. just before it started dumping rain.

Kristi and her family were on the tour too. She is in the red.

Anybody else wonder about the large windmill we could see from the ship at St. Thomas? I was curious what building it was but never made it over there.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Alyssa and her family playing board games deck 9. Ladies won!!!

For those who didnt get to meet Phil and Mary Jo, here they are. I was hoping she would turn around but she didnt. They were a very nice couple.

Anybody else see Santa as we pulled out? I guess even Santa needs a vacation before his busy season.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Art of Entertaining cookies series.

such strong winds I could hardly stand up.

The Magic from the observation tower on CC.

Peter relaxing after lunch on CC adult beach.

New water slide on CC.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Beautiful wild flowers on CC. Tis one is from the Hibiscus family.

I am not a flower kind of person but I always look for the different flowers each time we go.

more photos later,

Kathy

 

[LovesToRun]

Hi all,

Yes Kathy I think Greg and Peter oredered everything at Palos. I am not sure but I think dessert was their favorite course.

I knew they sat near someone but they are bad at names like I am
I thought it was an odd thing that our table assigment was with Alyssa dn her family at dinner each night. What are the odds of that happeneing without requesting it??
Pretty slim I think.

Did anybody try the buffet at dinner? Its not a buffet from 6:30 to 8:30??
Its a small but nice menu and much faster than the dining rooms. we did it once this trip and it so nice and quiet. My guys always get the porterhosue steak from that menu and its super tender.

Also anybody eat at the adult beach for lunch at CC??
They had steak there too. Usually they have lobster or steak, sometimes both depending on what the ship has extra of.

Peter had steak and ribs. Greg got in the mood for a hot dog that day so he had that and salad.

Ok I am going to post a few photos.

Kathy

I know....I ran into Alyssa, and she said she was sitting at your family's table assignment!! What ARE the odds of that??!!! We had table mates, too.... we didn't expect that (because our first cruise, it was just the 4 of us, and we had a table of 4. Our other two cruises before this, we've been with family, so we've always had a larger table of just our whole family. But, since our first cruise, we just had a table of 4, we expected that this time, but we had a table for 8 and sat with a really nice family! It ended up working great, and we all hit it off really well... our kids were all the exact same ages, too! We even exchanged contact information by the end of the cruise so we can all stay in touch, so it ended up being a really positive experience. It was our table-mate's first Disney cruise, and so I told them about the DIS boards! That is how I found out about the DIS boards... by someone telling me about them on our first cruise).

I had NO idea that the Beach Blanket was an actual restaurant with a menu for dinner!!! We've never gone there for dinner... I always thought it was just a buffet, which is why we haven't gone there for dinner because I like to just be served at dinner. At home, I feel like I provide a buffet every night for my family, and I dish up my kids, etc, and so when we go to the buffet, with the exception of me not having to cook the food, it's no different than home... I help get my kid's food, etc, and when I'm on a cruise, I love completely being on vacation from anything domestic! But, if it is a restaurant where you order food from a menu, we might try that once on our next cruise!

We never made it to the adult beach (well, the closest we came was the 5K run... the turnaround is pretty much right at the adult beach). But, we just hung out at the family area because of the kids... we didn't want to put them in the kid's club on the island (they didn't want to go in the kid's clubs on the island, either... they just wanted to play in the water and the beach, and ride bikes. We had a blast as a family!!!)

Eric, and both of the boys had the ribs from the buffet at Castaway Cay, and they all said they were really good!! I'm not a big fan of ribs, so I got the fish, which I thought was really good!

Anybody else see Santa as we pulled out? I guess even Santa needs a vacation before his busy season.

Your caption to this picture made me laugh out loud!!! That is SO funny! You're right... Santa DOES need a vacation at this time because he has a big job coming up very soon. Too bad he didn't choose Disney Cruiseline, though... maybe Mickey Mouse, et al, intimidated him...

But, can you imagine if Santa were on our cruise, and he was part of our FE exchange! Whoa!!!! That would have been cool!

 

[LovesToRun]

Anybody else wonder about the large windmill we could see from the ship at St. Thomas? I was curious what building it was but never made it over there.

Ryan and I walked in the pouring rain just for fun (I know... since we are Seattle-ites, I guess the rain just excites us! ), but we walked over to the windmill... here are a couple pics of us... you can't really tell from the pics how hard it is raining, but thes pics were taken at the point where it was literally raining the hardest that whole day... we got soaked completely, even my shoes and socks were "sloshing" from being drenched, but we thought it was fun!

From what we could tell, it looks like it's just a replica of an old Sugar Mill and it's more or less of a tribute to the sugar mills that used to be all over the island, so it's just a tourist "photo" spot. We didn't go in, though. It might be inside, there was some history on the sugar mills that used to be all over the island... just a guess, though.

Here's Ryan drenched in front of the Windmill:

And, here is me also drenched in front of the Windmill:

-Kathy

 

[wtgilligan]

Awesome pictures guys. and yes both Kathy's seemed to be who I ran into the most on the boat.

that picture of the Epic from NCL. I don't think I would like that ship very much. It is so big that I think I would be lost and overcrowded.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

hi BT,
I agree larger ships arnt my thing but I would like to try the oasis of the Seas one day. They seem to have enough open areas to accommodate a larger group of people.


Kathy,
Topsiders is a sit down restaurant all but the first and last day of the crusie. I think I listed the times above. They do have a salad bar where you can help yourself or order a salad from the menu.
The menu is small but a little something from each category.
Service is faster and much easier if you have young kids who dont like to sit still.
These waiters are in training. So many arnt as sociable as your regular servers but thats because they are learning their jobs. Always had great service from them though. Their boss is watching them constantly.

Its always casual dress there. We always leave a small tip for the wait staff since they dont have a tip envelope for them at the end of the cruise like your normal servers.

Give it a try next time. Its nice for a change. They lower the lights and use table clothes to dress it up a bit.

Hope to post more photos this evening. Have a cake baking right now.

Kathy

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Here is Jenny's family. She was ill and couldnt come but mom, dad and brother David made it.

I laid out most of my FE gifts. WOW there was alot of stuff. Some had been eaten already.

A few random shots at the meet. I meant to tak emore but got so busy chatting I didnt do it. Sorry the setting wasnt right on the camera , so they are a bit dark.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Adventures away party. Too bad a storm was brewing or we would have had a live band playing too.

Rockin and Rollin with the waves!!

The adult pool is now a wave pool.

A huge shrimp cocktail. We got 3 free ones as a perk for being Platinum members. There was also a half a green pepper filled with cocktail sauce for each one.

Unpacking the first day.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Peter getting ready to go to Palos.

Animators Palate

Just a couple photos take the week prior ot the cruise at WDW.

Chef Mickeys

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Alrighty, thats enough from me, at least for now.

Lets see some photos from the rest of you guys now,

Kathy

 

[GreensboroKG]

We had a wonderful time and it was a great first cruise! We did not get to meet a whole lot of people from the board . . . we seemed to always be doing something. Saw GMa Kathy a couple of times and a few others here and there. If any of you saw the late show on the last night, that was Peter up on the stage with the magician; he really brought the house down, everyone was cracking up.

We booked on board for a 7 night Western on 11.23.13 on the Fantasy over Thanksgiving! So that is exciting too.

Anyway, here are some pictures:
Family pic on CC:

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Peter meeting Snow White at WDW at the Royal Palace restaurant:

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Peter AFTER meeting Snow White:

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[GreensboroKG]

Family Pic on St. Maarten

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3 Pirates on Pirate night

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Down the Mickey slide

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Looking good with the crew

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[mom x4 grandma x4]

Great photos Karen.

I enjoyed my short chats with Peter. He is really a sweetie

Glad you stopped by to share some photos,

Kathy

 

[wtgilligan]

That was Peter who was on stage the last night at the show right??

Did his magic ace turn into a dollar under his pillow?