Our Magical Vacation

We just got back yesterday from the most amazing vacation. My parents took all of us (including my sister) on a week long Disney Cruise that sailed to St. Croix, St. Thomas and the Disney Island-Castaway Cay. We had such an amazing time. We had a slightly rocky start; our flight from Oklahoma to Dallas last Saturday morning was cancelled due to snow (!!), so we drove to Dallas to catch the 9am connecting flight in the middle of the night. With two kids. And tried to sleep in the airport. On airport cots. Not much fun. Our original flight home was not routed through Dallas, so we were a little unsure about how we would get back to Dallas to pick up our car, but I was not missing the cruise!! Thankfully, the folks at Disney Cruise Lines were wonderful and got us on a different flight home to Dallas, so we could pick up our car. The trip was definitely worth the trouble, once we finally met my parents and sister in Orlando. Other than being utterly exhausted the first day of the vacation, we had a wonderful time.

There is nothing like cruising. The food was amazing, (and plentiful, I gained 5+ pounds), the service was amazing, the live shows nightly were amazing. The weather was beautiful, and I came home peeling. Nothing better. Austin and Aubrey had a really great time too. Austin fell in love with Pluto, so of course we had to get him his own stuffed Pluto, which he has not let go of since. He loved playing in the pool and sliding down the Mickey slide, loved being able to get ice cream day and night by the pool, and enjoyed meeting all of the characters. Aubrey loved Minnie, and would shout out her name whenever we saw her. I felt about 7 years old the whole cruise, racing around to meet all of the characters and getting their autographs. Brian even enjoyed meeting them, none more so than Cinderella. He wanted to meet her again and again and again...

Both kids had fun playing in the ocean, but I think Brian enjoyed that part the most. The first beach at St. Croix was pretty rocky, and Brian slipped and hit his toe so hard it turned black/red/blue/purple and we thought it might be broken, but it quickly got better. We took an island tour in St. Thomas, and then hit the beach. It was a much better beach, and we enjoyed "riding the waves". Austin liked to fight them. The best island was the Disney Island. We spent the day playing in the water, floating on tubes (Aubrey fell asleep floating with mommy) and laying out. It was awesome. Austin and daddy also did a treasure hunt, and got some real pirate treasure (or what looked like it to Austin!). None of us wanted to come home, and Austin was very sad on our last night. It was definitely a vacation of dreams! I am so thankful we got to spend time with my parents and sister, who if it hadn't been for us, probably would not have chosen a Disney vacation!

Below is a slide show of some of the pictures from our trip. I would have loved to include them all, but I took over 500 pics!