The Disney Dream

After 5 days of walking, rides, and being entertained we were ready for some relaxation. So we headed East to Port Canaveral to get on the Disney Dream for our 3 day cruise. This is Disney's newest ship and is done up like only Disney can do. (Warning: TONS of pics, just to give you a bit of how beautiful it was).

Almost there!!!!

The Dream with the two red engine stacks.

Hard to see, but Mickey and friends are cleaning the outside of the ship

Our welcome sign

Ready to embark

One of the 1st orders of business is to go to your lifeboat station and know what the emergency procedures are. Not the most calming thing but a necessity. I'd rather know what to do than be clueless in the case of an emergency. Paige and I lined up

On one of the stacks was a huge movie screen. There were movies showing pretty much continuously. Inside the stack was the teen club Vibe for those 14-17. This was where Paige hung out with her cousin. There was also a club for the 11-14 crowd as well as The Oceaneer club for the 3-10 yr olds. Fun for the kids and parents. The tube to the right of the stack is part of the Aquaduck. This is the "watercoaster" that went around the perimeter of the ship deck.

Our stateroom. Since we had so many people and no cell phone use we used the dry erase boards to leave notes for our whereabouts. The kids loved the freedom to explore.

The inside of our stateroom. Our cute towel dog from the housekeeper. This room slept 5

A view from the veranda

All the beds made up. The couch flipped down, the top bunk came out of the ceiling and the other was a murphy bed.

The bathrooms were nice and one of the only with two rooms. One with sink and toilet, the other with sink and shower.

Our veranda. We had 5 staterooms all lined up so we opened up the dividers and had one long veranda

Nemo and friends were the motif for this ship and there were beautiful mosaics in the buffet area.

This was a water play area for the little ones. There were also 3 other pools. One 3 ft, one 3-5 ft. and an adult pool.

Looking down at the atrium. The carpet was beautiful.

Looking up was this beautiful light fixture.

the balconies overlooking the atrium. The "Disney" element was very subtle in the decorating. I loved the Art Deco feeling.

Each night there were productions. The theater was gorgeous. These were Broadway caliber productions.

There were also entertainment on the deck. They would cover the pools and that would become the stage.

Each night we dined in a different restaurant. The 1st night was Artist's palette. The details were artist motifs. This was the "guys" table that night. We had the same wait staff each night they moved with us to each restaurant. The waiters wore shirts that were similar to coloring books, white with black drawings. The 1st night was American style food.

A centerpiece.

This sketch board became

this. And it was interactive with us. It asked the kids questions and responded to them.

the 2nd night was the Enchanted Garden. The colors were soft and very serene. The wait staff wore pastel shirts to go with the decor.

Overlooking the dining room

Our table. It was a pirate theme that night and that's why I was wearing the bandana.

The 3rd night was the Royal Palace, a tribute to all the princesses. The wait staff wore military uniforms. It was French food which was probably my least favorite of the three. I loved all the details.

Our head server Edward and asst. server Adi. The girls were serving them.

Mickey and friends did a good-bye song the last night.

The girls wanted their hair braided and we had plans to get it done when we got to the Bahamas. While checking out the ship we saw that they did it there so we got the girls signed up and they got their cornrows.

The girls before

And after

All nine granddaughters and their braids.

As we came into Nassau

setting out into Nassau. The boys and Ken as well as a brother in law went diving. Myself, the girls and the rest of us checked out some of the shops and then headed to the beach.

The gorgeous Bahamian beach

We had a great day in Nassau and looked forward to our second excursion-Disney's island Castaway Cay. We were suppose to spend the day there and even had a excursion to feed the sting rays set up. Our plans were thwarted by the weather. There were bad crosswinds and the captain was not able to get into port at Castaway Cay. This was disappointing to all of us to say the least. We spent the day at sea and did enjoy the many activities on the ship. This means we need to take another Disney cruise to try again.

It was up early and a quick breakfast the day of departure. It's hard to believe that our wonderful vacation had come to a end.

vacation of a lifetime

The end of Feb/beginning of March our family and the rest of my family took a family vacation. 23 of us went to Disney World for 5 days. We then took a 3 day cruise on the Disney Dream. This was an incredible vacation and we made memories that we will always cherish. My parents would have been married 50 years this July and had planned a family trip to celebrate. After my mom passed away my dad still wanted to do a family trip and so this is what we did. There was something for everyone and we had a great time. Only problem is now we want to go back and do it again, but this time grandpa won't be paying. Oh well, time to start saving.

Since we live in this part of the country we drove to Orlando. It's about a 16 hr drive from Houston. Everyone else flew in. This is our entrance into our adventure.

Our home base for the next 5 days. It is a Disney property. There are tent camping areas as well as RV spots. They have cabins that we stayed in that sleep 6. Worked out great for us to all be in the same place. We were able to use the transportation between parks and got pretty good at the bus schedule.

Us in front of our cabin.

With the package we had it included the meal plan for eating in the parks, which was a great deal. One of our favorite places we ate was the Sci-Fi restaurant. It's like a old drive-in theater. There are 55 chevys for the seats and you watch movie clips while you eat. Good food also.

Two of my sisters, nephew, and brother in law ran the Princess 1/2 marathon. We all did a full marathon each day with all the walking we did. They did a great job and have their medals to prove it.

Goofy guys ready to go on Toy Story Mania.

For breakfast one morning we went to the Polynesian Resort at the Ohana. Ohana means family and we were quite the family. The cast members were always surprised that we were all one family. Here's the kids with the main Mouse himself.

Ken and the boys in Epcot at Oh, Canada.

Taylor checking out the Mexican hat in Epcot

The girls and I got to go to the Princess dinner at Akershus in Epcot. The princesses came to the table and the girls got autographs and pics with each one. They loved it but it was crazy trying to eat and do everything anytime a new princess came by.

During our trip we celebrated 5 birthdays. Lexi's #12 was one of them.

The kids with a dinosaur in Animal Kingdom. They were so excited for this photo op.

The last day we checked out Downtown Disney. Mr. Potato Head greated us at the toy store.

This was an awesome vacation and we loved it!!!

On the homefront

I've been chastised for not being up to date on my blog so I thought I would share some random pictures of our family.

Jordan got Rock Band for XBOX recently. The guys were having fun jammin out together.


Lexi spent some time entertaining Reagan with bubbles.

Paige has started track at school and for her 1st meet had to run the 2400. She persevered and finished but is looking for something a bit shorter in length.

Valentine's was a family affair. We went to Olive Garden. Hadn't been in awhile and it was a nice evening.

Ken & I at Olive Garden

Holiday happenings

I decided to do a quick recap of december and all the activities of the month. It was a wonderful holiday season. The best part was spending Christmas with family. We enjoyed the opportunity to together and enjoy the festivites.

I'm sorry the picture is so dark but it's all I have from Lexi's 1st band concert. The 1st of many, I'm sure. She plays the bassoon.

One of our favorite things to do is attend a live nativity/reenactment of the Savior's birth at a local Christian church. You actually walk through the different areas as if you are part of the people journeying to Bethlehem at the time of the Savior's birth. Jordan and Paige in the area where they made crafts.

Lexi got to pet the miniature donkey

Those representing Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.

Taylor turned 19. This a tradition we have to take a picture with the kids holding up the number of fingers/toes to show how old they are. This along with the gifts they receive. Taylor is almost out of appendages to use.

Paige at her band concert. She is in the honor band this year playing percussion.

This is the snow scene at my parent's house. We have had this up throughout the years but the past several it was not taken out because it had outgrown the available space. this past year my parents added on to their family room and this bay window area was built especially with the snow scene in mind. It was fun to have it out and remember the past years.

Our family on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is time for a big party with extended family and friends. There are many traditions we have had through the years and we all look forward to them. Christmas Day is just family and the chaos. This year was a switch to having the festivities in the new family room. It is more accomodating for the amount of people and allowing everyone to be together without sitting on each other.

1st part of the Christmas Eve program. All the kids that have not graduated from high school get to the do Rudolph. This is with the antlers and red noses. Taylor and Jordan were glad they are finally old enough to be a spectator

Another activity is the dice game. We take two dice and put them in pie pans. Everyone sits in a circle and we have a pile of inexpensive wrapped presents in the middle of the circle. We pass the pie pans around, each person rolling the dice. There are several pie pans going around. When you get a double you get to take a present. You can't open it and you have to keep it in front of you. When the presents are gone the timer starts and you can steal from each other. When the timer goes off you get to open the presents. Then the bartering begins. There is candy, gum, $1.00 spot stuff. Don't know how it got started but everyone loves it. It can get kind of wild when the stealing starts.

To wrap up the evening is the nativity reenactment. The kids all get parts and the story of Christ's birth is read from the bible. At appropriate times the characters come in. We also sing the Christmas carols along with the story. It is a time to reflect on the purpose of the season. We are running out of baby Jesus'

This year the kids added another element to the evening. They formed the cousin's choir. All week before Christmas there were rehearsals. There were speaking parts as well as solos. Despite the bickering the kids pulled this together without adult help. It was a beautiful program they dedicated to grandma. She loved to have the kids sing to her when she was in the hospital bed. It was a great way to end the evening.

Christmas morning-the kids with their stockings. We are pretty orchestrated in our celebration. No reckless out of control hoopla here. It's funny because the older cousins get the younger one fully indoctrinated quickly and they know what is suppose to be happening. I guess that is one more indication that my mother trained us all well.

After the stockings we go and check out what Santa brought. The Torbit kids got a couple of games for WII and some accessories. We were very blessed this year but the most gratifying was being together. There were tears shed as we missed my mom, but knew she was with us in spirit.

One of the things my mom picked out for the grandkids before she passed away were these robes and pajama pants. These are 8 of the 9 granddaughters. My 20 year old niece was okay with not having matching jammies, but we got a shot with Papa and the girls.

When we returned to Houston the girls were messing around one day and made their own Lady Gaga inspired outfits out of packing wrap. Pretty good designs.

The celebration we were all waiting for-New Year's Eve fireworks. Here's the ammo (and that wasn't even everything)

Taylor-one of the pyro's. that is a grin of pure excitement. Hard to do for Taylor but he was loving it!!!

Some of the spectators

Welcome 2011