Wednesday Nov. 8th cont., yo ho, yo ho, a pirate night for me
After enjoying our room service mid-afternoon lunch, we start to clean up. Today is the first day I truly appreciate having 2 showers. Its just nice not to have an assembly line for getting clean. I make a conscious decision not to fight with the shower curtain anymore. If I flood the bathroom, so be it. Ive reached a new level of zen
the ship is docked and I can shave without fear. Life is good. Me and my new attitude only flood the bathroom one towel worth today!
Dressing is easy again tonight as everyone has their designated pirate t-shirts. All the kids have matching glow-in-the-dark ones from Target and the adults have POC shirts from the
Disney Store. Keith decides to be a party pooper and wears his shirt from Del Sol. He just couldnt bring himself to wear Johnny Depp.
I rifle through the desk and come up with the pirate accessories I found at Dollar Tree months ago. My kids each have an eye patch, a sword, an earring and some treasure money. Tommy has a light up sword that he saved up for at Chuck E. Cheese so Kevin claims the extra sword. Tommy also has a pirate beeny-hat that he got in a Happy Meal ages ago. Kevin wont wear the eye patch (this surprises you?) so now I have something to wear too. Steph and I put on the clip-on earrings and they hurt like h*ll. Chuck tries to wear one and takes it off right away. Steph manages to keep hers on as she claims her ear went numb and she cant feel the earring anymore. I decide to save my ear and will put this torture device on when its time for pictures.
While straightening my hair at the desk, I happen to notice the beautiful sunset out of our porthole. Here again is my Olympus on super zoom:
Tonights dinner is Lumieres. Im feeling a little apprehensive to see our servers after blowing them off the night before. We did have a good reason to skip but I feel bad that we didnt have a chance to tell them we werent coming. We run into Dopey in the hallway and the kids (well, 4 of them) want a picture. Every single character photo we have this week is from running into characters on the way to somewhere else:
We find our table at Lumieres and say hello to Glenn and Melroy. Glenn asks if we went to Palo the night before and I apologize that we werent there and explain about the hair braiding. He smiles and says not to worry about it. Melroy comes over just as were sitting down and has drinks for the kids
without us asking! Covered cups for Tommy, Kevin, Kyle and Alyssa. Not perfect but definitely an improvement.
Everyone is in a very good mood and we start tying our bandanas on our heads. Christine and I take our camera idea from the day before a step further and use them as mirrors for our bandanas. Who needs a real mirror when theres a digital camera at hand?
Melroy explains that tonights drink special is a fruity sangria, 2 for 1. Were in such a good mood we agree to try it. He brings them out and none of us like it. Why we ordered them is beyond me
none of us drink wine. I think we just wanted to make Melroy happy!! But Keith still manages to drink his and he eventually moves on to Christines. Glenn brings Kevin and Kyle a bowl full of strawberries since they had one earlier in the week. Our servers are really trying tonight! I guess not showing up to dinner had an impact? We didnt do it to make a statement but something is different tonight. Kevin doesnt touch the strawberries but Kyle digs into his.
Much to the kids delight, tonights kids menu has mozzarella sticks
their favorite! Mozzarella sticks are always a problem to me b/c technically Kevin should not eat them. We manage to substitute soy milk and soy ice cream but mozzarella sticks just have no real substitute. He begs me to have some and I say yes. Cruising really agrees with this child. He hasnt coughed once, no runny nose, no congestion whatsoever. And hes sleeping through the night (in his own bed!). Plus while still fried, at least its something other than chicken fingers. I tell Glenn that Kevin will order mozzarella sticks. Glenn frowns and shakes his head no. It is cheese, he tells me. Yes, thanks, I know but hes doing fine and I think he can handle them. Glenn looks worried and says he has to ask Ronald, the head server. OK, send him over if hed like to talk to me, I smile as friendly as I can.
Glenn comes back and says Ronald says its OK. I chuckle to myself, so glad that Ronald is allowing my son to eat cheese. I never once used the word allergy with them. I said from the beginning that we monitor it daily, so Im glad I dont have to fight for his right to eat cheese.
During dinner we take some pictures of our pirates. Heres Kyle and Tommy enjoying their toys:
And heres Kevin saying I wont go in the kids club, you cant make me!:
Tonight I order the Buccaneers sun-ripened pineapple. The coconut covered banana is very interesting and very good. I think I also had the spicy vegetable gumbo soup but Im not positive. I also dont really remember my entrée although I think it was grilled shrimp and seared scallops. Thats what I get for not finishing my trip report notes in a timely manner!! But Christine and I love the treasure map menus and take good care not to ruin them for our scrapbooks.
Melroy comes by to see if wed like another drink. Chuck, Christine and I dont feel like drinking but Keith orders one. Melroy brings it out and Keith accidentally knocks it off the table after one sip. Oops! We tease him about the sangria but its really an accident, hes not drunk. Melroy brings him another one. At the end of the meal, Keith is disappointed that Melroy charged him for the spilled drink. Although he doesnt charge us for the sangrias, Keith still feels that a nicer waiter wouldnt have charged him for a spilled drink. He doesnt make a stink and pays the tab.
For dessert I order the Lost Banana treasure which is the banana flambee. My SIL makes this and I love it. Glenn tells me the flambee has already happened. I order it anyway. Its good but not as good as my SILs. Maybe it would have been better if I had it hot off the pan. The kids have Mickey Bars and Glenn brings Kevin another huge bowl of maraschino cherries.
Another long meal is finally done. Glenn comes by and tells us that our character breakfast is tomorrow morning at 8:15. That would be a.m. Lets consider this for a moment, shall we?
1. The breakfast is scheduled for 8:15 a.m.
2. My family hasnt seen 8:15 a.m. all week.
3. We have to turn the clocks ahead tonight so its really at 7:15 a.m.
4. Tonight is a late-night Pirate deck party.
5. Ive never read a good review of the character breakfast on any trip report.
6. Weve done more character breakfasts in the past 3 years than most people do in a lifetime.
I smile at Glenn and tell him I dont think well be there. Hes mortified at the idea. Oh no, you have to go, its really wonderful for the children. Yes, Im thinking, wonderful when they dont get enough sleep and I have to listen to them whine, fight, and complain all day b/c theyre exhausted. I smile again and tell him well see. Yeah, well see what time they get up in the morning. I also tell Glenn that I promised Kevin a Mickey Bar if he doesnt cough so if he needs to clear that with Ronald beforehand, please do. He says he will.
We leave Lumieres with our pirate paraphernalia and head over to the picture line. While wed like a Captain Jack picture, its not worth waiting in line. So we head over to the white background. We wait for 2 or 3 families to go before our turn. We have a really fun time taking these shots. Its so much more enjoyable than formal night
no tears!
Heres the family one (I wish I knew why Kevin keeps putting those swords to his neck, it's funny and creepy all at the same time!):
And the one of the kids:
After were done, we head over to the Walt Disney Theatre for the movie PremEAR of The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. My kids havent seen the first 2 movies but it doesnt matter. Since its a movie, we grab seats towards the back instead of our usual front row to the side. Immediately Stephanie and Kyle start complaining that they cant see. I tell them theyll be able to see once it starts. Unfortunately thats not the case and when the lights go out we have to do some quick rearranging. The movie is OK, glad I prepaid to see it and didnt bring everyone out to the theatre for it. [I think I was in Christmas denial
I spent so much energy preparing for the cruise, Christmas just wasnt on my radar (a fact Ive paid for dearly this past month!!)].
Kyle falls asleep about 2 minutes into the movie. When the credits roll at the end and everyone claps, he wakes up, starts clapping and says, that was the best movie Ive ever seen!! We get a good laugh over that.
We make our way back to our rooms on deck 2. We are surprised by the best towel animal of the week. Elsa put Stephs Minnie ears headband on it. In the Boots room, she used Alyssas American Girl Dolls sandals. Too Cute:
The Boots kids are exhausted and arent making it to the pirate deck party. What about my party kids? Of course Stephanie wants to go. Tommy wants to go too but Kevin says he wants to go to sleep. I offer to stay back with Kevin so Chuck can do the pirate party. Its only fair
I went out the past 2 nights and got to do the dolphin swim. He hasnt done anything except puke.
I get Kevin into PJs and snap the picture I posted on page 2 of this report. Its worth repeating now that youve all gotten to know him:
Just as Im getting the nebulizer ready, my crew comes back in. Tommy changed his mind and wants to go to sleep. Chuck thinks he got a little freaked out by how crowded it was. So looks like its a daddy/daughter night out. Tommy gets changed and the two boys snuggle in bed watching a movie while Kevin does his breathing.
I tuck Kevin in and he falls asleep while Im tucking in Tommy. I sit in our room and write some trip report notes. I enjoy the solitude (something Ive learned to appreciate when I get it). Before I know it, I hear the fireworks outside. I run to the porthole and I can see them right outside the window. I run in to see if Tommys still awake. He isnt but Ive woken him up in the process. He climbs down and we watch them together through the porthole. Even though were not at the party, it feels special to enjoy the fireworks together through the porthole. Maybe cause its just the two of us in the quiet of our room
its so peaceful. The fireworks are over before we know it and Tommy asks if he can go back to sleep. My sweet boy! I kiss him goodnight and thank him for spending pirate night with me.
Its not long after that that Chuck and Steph come back. They had a really good time and did lots of dancing. A Shutters photographer snapped this picture of them, which I just love:
Its been a long day and I try to get my party girl wound down for bed. She wants to go to the character breakfast, which is now only 8 hours away with the time change. I give her the same well see I gave Glenn. I'm hoping she sleeps more than 8 hours! I know for a fact that Im not going but the Boots kids get up early so maybe theyll go.
Its been another long fun day. The ship is moving again and Chuck goes for his Bonine fix. He definitely enjoys port days more than sea days! But he really enjoyed pirate night and I know hes starting to get the hang of this cruising thing. I wonder if I can talk him into doing this again?
Up Next
character breakfast? Naahhh! Palo Brunch? Oh yeaaahhhh!!!