We Strapped Sea Turtles to Our Feet! A Summer of Sea & Shore - 11/13 x3 FINISHED!!!!!

[Charleston Princess]

Oh, Happydog, I need more Vero!!! Or pictures of your fall porch or pictures of the boys on the first day of school or...really, I just need a HD update whatever it may be. Hope you are doing well these days!

 

[Happydog]

Oh, Happydog, I need more Vero!!! Or pictures of your fall porch or pictures of the boys on the first day of school or...really, I just need a HD update whatever it may be. Hope you are doing well these days!

Hey Jackie!!!! Life has been OVERWHELMINGLY busy. I mean more so than normal... BUT I just got back into my exercise swing, FINALLY, and so when I tread, I DIS LOL! Helps pass the time! So I just said to myself (after reading Cynthia's update!) that I need to do one, and I have photos, so I will post some tonight! I will still be up -- one benefit of elevated heart rates!!! LOL!!! AND of course no school tomorrow... Someone has a holiday out there, but since I am not Jewish, it isn't me!!!

So stay tuned this evening/morning!!!

I am sorry I have been behind some! I will post a few pics of this and that I promise!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Hey Jackie!!!! Life has been OVERWHELMINGLY busy. I mean more so than normal... BUT I just got back into my exercise swing, FINALLY, and so when I tread, I DIS LOL! Helps pass the time! So I just said to myself (after reading Cynthia's update!) that I need to do one, and I have photos, so I will post some tonight! I will still be up -- one benefit of elevated heart rates!!! LOL!!! AND of course no school tomorrow... Someone has a holiday out there, but since I am not Jewish, it isn't me!!!

So stay tuned this evening/morning!!!

I am sorry I have been behind some! I will post a few pics of this and that I promise!

Hurray! I will look forward to it!

Enjoy your day off! I have one Jewish student, and I asked her yesterday if she was going to miss school tomorrow. She told me her mom is making her come to school. Poor baby.

 

[Happydog]

Hurray! I will look forward to it!

Enjoy your day off! I have one Jewish student, and I asked her yesterday if she was going to miss school tomorrow. She told me her mom is making her come to school. Poor baby.

Going to finish it today!!! We are heading to Harper's Ferry today, for a little day trip!

 

[MEK]

Going to finish it today!!! We are heading to Harper's Ferry today, for a little day trip!

Have fun in Harper's Ferry. I have driven through there multiple times but never actually stopped.

 

[Happydog]

So this was our first full day at Vero.. We were looking forward to beach time and pool time, and exploring Vero as a resort! The night prior we had gone over the activities list for the resort and picked some things for the boys, and one of the first adventure was called the "Everyday birthday party" event, which was basically an hour and a half of the kids all decorating cupcakes, and having a birthday party for the crowd of kids there. They played party games and such with the CMs and it is very popular apparently, but what we liked was that it was FREE, and time to get a cocktail on the veranda of the resort!!!

So we planned the afternoon around the beach and this party...

Getting up that morning, was pretty leisurely, and once we packed the pool bag, we headed out with our beach gear and chairs to find a nice spot. I realize that I have not uploaded my beach photos onto the computer, so I am going to SKIP beach/sand/fun in the ocean for the next update, and instead will give you a couple highlights from the afternoon, first. Then I will go back and post the beach bum pics!!!

So I know we were at the beach for most of the morning/early afternoon, and we headed over to the pool area for lunch. That was pretty much how we did things that week. Prefering to do the ocean early, and then hit the pool for lunch and swim/sun time... AND tangerine dreams... THIS being one of my FAVORITE WDW cocktails, I was just so excited that Vero served them!!!! The food was good, a few original QS meal options (crab cake sandwich, and a fabulous club sandwich) but the familiar as well. Lunch in a green pail for the kids meals, for instance!!! And we definitely went home with our fair share!!!!

So after lunch, we went back to the room, got everyone cleaned up (ourselves included!) and went to drop the kids off at the Birthday party! We then sat up on the second floor of the lobby, where they have a nice lounge and a outdoor seating area... I took these photos while we were there having a cocktail...

You can see from these photos that the weather was pretty much clear in the earlier part of the day and then the overcast possibly thundershowers would show up... fortunately we didn't deal with rain too much. But it was a pretty view despite the clouds!!!

We went to pick up the boys, here we are, our "self portrait" in the reflective glass!!!

DS6 quite happy with his cupcake...

After the party, we all piled into the car to hit the grocery store. We got some fixings for drinks and food for the week (mostly snacks and breakfast) and headed back to the resort. Dinner that evening was PIRATE night at the restaurant. It was a character meal. I was looking forward to the character meal, less so for the BBQ menu. However, they graciously allowed us to order off the menu, and let the boys eat a BBQ skillet, which was great, because we were done with BBQ after two big lunches at Cookies on CCAY! So, DH and I had wine and mussels, while the boys ate their favorites of BBQ, beans, and mashed potatoes... everyone was well fed!


On our way to the restaurant we met some other pirates.... The boys ended up playing out here with the rest of the pirate band for about 30 minutes. We had our own cocktails that we had mixed up from the villa, and we sat on the porch watching them play. It is always fun watching imaginative play with kids... they had a great time, and met up with some of these boys throughout the week.

This one is a little blury, but you can see how many boys were out there playing!!!

A sweaty Pirate King....

Dinner coming up NEXT!!!! I will post the rest of this evening LATER tonight!!! STAY TUNED!!!!!!

 

[Native NYer]

I need to catch up!

How is your school year going?

 

[MeMom]

On our way to the restaurant we met some other pirates.... The boys ended up playing out here with the rest of the pirate band for about 30 minutes. . It is always fun watching imaginative play with kids... they had a great time, and met up with some of these boys throughout the week.

This one is a little blury, but you can see how many boys were out there playing!!!

Such fun for the boys! They will have such good memories of simple times like this.

 

[SoonerGirl]

Sounds like a great day Vero may need to make it onto my list.....

So fun that the boys got to be pirates again!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Beach time, pool time, and Tangerine Dreams sound like the perfect way to spend a day! The boys are so cute playing away! I love watching kids "pretending" as well! It always cracks me up! Lovely self portrait in the glass!

Hope you had a great time at Harper's Ferry!

 

[Happydog]

So after some run around time, we headed into the lobby to cool off and get ready for dinner!

Hey, We were just on that boat!!!! LOL!

here are a few Lobby shots. I didn't take as many as I would like, but you can take a few peeks here, and I will see if I can borrow a few ...

While we waited the boys watched the classic Disney cartoons they had playing in the lobby (as they do in all the WDW resorts). Steamboat Willie!

So then we headed into the restaurant for dinner! Looking good and excited to eat! As I mentioned this was a character meal, so it was fun to see Donald and Goofy. It surprised me that in this place, DS6 was more interested in engaging with the characters.

FIRST, Donald...

Here comes Goofy!!!

After Dinner, we went to the resort campfire and singalong with smores event.... We had some games we played, DS9 and I were picked to join in the fun, and thanks to my ability to do the Hokey Pokey, we were the first family to get smores!! LOL!!!! I guess I can shake my booty best....

Here is a blury one, but you can see the aftermath, once we were told we "won" -- hey not too shabby, I liked being given the "fast pass" for the Smores line!!!!

After smores, we headed back to the villa, made drinks, the boys watched a movie we had rented, and we kicked back for that before heading to bed.

More VERO, some resort and beach photos coming up NEXT, and another visit to NASA... The Shuttle before launch!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Yay for characters dressed as pirates!

And yay for being the best booty shaker!! I'll have to remember that here in a couple of weeks if I need to be first in line for smores

 

[Charleston Princess]

Good job on the Hokey Pokey and scoring the first smores!

Cute pictures with Pirate Donald and Goofy! Those costumes sure did get a lot of use, didn't they?

 

[Happydog]

Looks like a great ending to the cruise. Vero does look a lot like OKW. If I didn't know it was Vero, I would think it was OKW right off the bat. Of course the outside looks different.

The layout is quite similar, though I still think that OKW has the biggest layouts of any villa resort. Vero was awesome.

Have fun in Harper's Ferry. I have driven through there multiple times but never actually stopped.

It is really pretty and a great place to walk around and explore. A great NPS-run location, fun visiting with the kids. You'd probably like it! Neat history and neat shops, views, etc.

I need to catch up!

How is your school year going?

Hey!!! Oh, busy busy busy!!! School/work is BUSY! But I am getting my vacation planning underway, so I am highly distracted!!

Hope yours is going well!

Such fun for the boys! They will have such good memories of simple times like this.

Yep, I agree with you! They had a great time playing with those boys!

Sounds like a great day Vero may need to make it onto my list.....

So fun that the boys got to be pirates again!!

Oh they loved being Pirates!!! DS6 STILL loves being a pirate!! every week that costume comes out!!!! Wait till they learn about Thanksgiving!

Beach time, pool time, and Tangerine Dreams sound like the perfect way to spend a day! The boys are so cute playing away! I love watching kids "pretending" as well! It always cracks me up! Lovely self portrait in the glass!

Hope you had a great time at Harper's Ferry!

Oh yes, beach time, pool time, and drinks were our daily requirements!!!
I agree it is fun to watch kids in imaginative play! They are lost in their own world! That photo was fun to take. We were sitting there waiting for the kids to come out and all of a sudden I saw that I was staring at myself!!!

 

[Happydog]

Yay for characters dressed as pirates!

And yay for being the best booty shaker!! I'll have to remember that here in a couple of weeks if I need to be first in line for smores

Hey, if smores are involved, I will stop at nothing!!!

Good job on the Hokey Pokey and scoring the first smores!

Cute pictures with Pirate Donald and Goofy! Those costumes sure did get a lot of use, didn't they?

They did indeed! And still do!!! It was a great evening with them for sure, Griffin grabbed his autograph and examined it -- he was concerned abou
t authenticity since we were not in WDW...

 

[MEK]

I'm keeping you bumped today so I can look at your pictures tonight (after I get home from work, costco run for concession stand sodas, then straight to a soccer game).

Your day at Vero sounds wonderful. I absolutely loved it there! I really need to go back and soon! Can't wait to see the pictures of the boys ready for pirate night.

The one thing I forgot when I went to Vero in June was bug spray. I lasted all of 5 seconds at the campfire before I was devoured. lesson learned.

Harper's Ferry does sounds fun and you're right - I would love it!

 

[eandesmom]

what a perfect sounding day! beach time, pool time, a birthday party and cocktails on the porch! Dinner sounds yummy too.

So cute on the pirates.

Fast pass for the smores line. I love it!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

What a great day at Vero! Was the birthday party event at Community Hall or do they have that at Vero?

Wow, another pirates night. Love Pirate Donald and Goofy. Too cute.

Yay for getting smores first!

 

[Jillybeaner21]

Hii! I just stumbled upon your trip report and have joined in! I have to laugh though cause you're not gonna believe this but I was on the same cruise!! haha. I knew it right away when you said Cars 2 premiere cause I went to the midnight show but only lasted about 30 mins into the movie before I was falling asleep. Also I specifically remember your door decs because when my friends and I were touring the ship we noted how cute your's was! Small world! Looking forward to the rest of the report!

 

[Happydog]

Hii! I just stumbled upon your trip report and have joined in! I have to laugh though cause you're not gonna believe this but I was on the same cruise!! haha. I knew it right away when you said Cars 2 premiere cause I went to the midnight show but only lasted about 30 mins into the movie before I was falling asleep. Also I specifically remember your door decs because when my friends and I were touring the ship we noted how cute your's was! Small world! Looking forward to the rest of the report!

Wow! Well HELLO! AND that is so funny! There were a lot of us on this cruise I think!!!! I am sure you had as much fun as we did!!! Ugh, right?! I could never make that either. TOO late for me! I had so much fun with the door decorations! I can't wait until our next cruise. Looks like I will be missing you at WDW, we leave a week from tomorrow!, but have a great time at F & W and the halloween party!