Canoeing With the Guys

Samantha went canoeing with PaPa and Daddy while Mama was at work. Doesn't she look so happy?! The girl loves adventure!

For dinner we celebrated Turkey Day Round 2 at Grandma and PaPa's with hot cocoa included :)

Happy Gobble*Gobble Day

Frozen

We had brunch with Louise and Ajia this morning to "celebrate" Mama's birthday. Samantha was crazy in the restaurant!

This evening we went to our first movie as a family (I don't believe that Planes on the cruise is going to count), Frozen. It was a very good movie... and Sam behaved excellently!

A Holiday off School

We relaxed this morning playing with Dixie and playing Legos- ahhh... It sure is getting chilly out, so it was a great day to cuddle, but too bad we had some errands to run.

 Samantha finally got a horsey, the "one [she's] always wanted." She named him Angus like Merida's horse from Brave.

 Supporting Evolution Dance at the burger joint. Her teachers say she may be there one day trying to help raise money to get to nationals. This way this girl loves to dance, she just might!

Today, Samantha also told me some crazy hilarious stuff like her babies at Grandma's house, Star Walker, Baby Nate, and Hydrocortisone are all asleep. Dixie tore my pajama pants this morning and Samantha said that Santa and Tinkerbelle will bring me new ones for Christmas... blue ones with pink and purple stripes. That girl is so silly!

Catching Up

I'll catch you up with some pics I've missed out on posting. Ready, there's a lot. This is what happens when I miss out on my nightly postings. Whew. Here goes...

PaPa bought a canoe and Sam loves riding in it.

 Samantha was obsessed with wearing these accessories to ride her bike, so when we went to the park she just went with it. I love it!... and she's doing a great job with riding her bike! She still needs some encouragement to pedal-pedal-pedal, but she's getting it. She's doing better at steering also.

 

 Our sweet future pediatrician taking care of Pink Baby.

 Samantha was Snow White at Grandma's the night before, but she still loves this witch's dress!~
And discovering the eyelash curler.

 Samantha and Christian being silly after being stinkers to each other.

 Showing off her Saints pride.

 Last day of school before Thanksgiving~ Gobble Gobble!

Grandma has been secretly doing painting art projects like this with Sam, although the week before Sam blew it and told me she was "painting hand chickens". Even though I knew she meant 'turkey', I was still surprised at the artwork and how awesome these napkins look! Thanks Grandma!

 Cuddling under the coffee table with Nate-Potate.

Dance Rainbow Ready

Samantha dressed herself excitedly for dance class this morning and was ready to go-go-go. I love the outfit she put together!

Celebrating Birthdays!

Saturday, November 16, 2013
We celebrated Ella's 4th birthday doing gymnastics. Samantha loved running around and especially jumping on the trampolines! She also did great on the balance beam!

 

Daddy jumped too!!!

Sunday, November 17, 2013
We celebrated Grandma Wells, Adrianne and Mama's birthdays with dinner and cake. Even Auntie Pam and Uncle Jack came.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

We were excited to bring Grandma some balloons and a homemade card from Sam over this morning. Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Samantha drew great pictures on Grandma's card and did amazing on Ella's card for her party tomorrow. We've been working on stick figures since the end of October and Sam has gotten really good. Here are "Babies". Sorry, Ella, we'll have to make you a new card tomorrow because I'm keeping this one!

7 Days Away on the Disney Wonder

Our 7 day Disney cruise started off calm and full of excitement! Going through the boat terminal was easy-breezy and even while getting on the boat, Samantha still had no idea what was going on, which makes me feel bad for holding it all from her. You can see the astonishment in her eyes while I try to take a picture at the terminal and in front of Disney's Christmas tree... yes, the boat was already decorated for the holidays. Samantha was thrown off schedule and was not herself most of the day... every day. She became homesick by the second day and would only talk about Ali kat and picking up Dixie at Grandma and PaPa's. She got a little more comfortable when we were able to order her a peanut butter & honey sandwich for dinner and once she realized that her routine was totally thrown out the window with snacks all day, dessert without dinner, princesses and movies til mid-night, she became a WILD-CHILD! Luckily, back at home we are able to see that she is back to her old self and still our happy and sweet girl. She was really our of her element, so it's nice to see her pushing baby around in the stroller and rocking her to sleep.
The cruise was beautiful and we were majorly spoiled: Breakfast delivered to our door, chilling out and relaxing- maybe meeting a character or two here and there, a delicious buffet lunch out on the breezy deck, a long nap, an early dinner consisting of a 4 course fancy meal. Most nights we had the lobster, fish, lamb, or duck, and 2 desserts, followed by a Broadway Disney musical, which may have included magicians and ventriloquists and usually somehow ended in some sort of pyrotechnics or confetti, then Disney movies in bed until about mid-night, just to do it all over again the next day. The days we went to port were a little more early and we rushed to get to our excursions, but once we were on boat, things were relaxed again.

Here goes:

Dance Party

Samantha enjoyed dancing at ALL time every time we passed a club or lounge. She would even approach kids, take them by the hand and dance.

 

CHARACTER BREAKFAST

 

 

 

 

STORY TIME WITH BELLE

 We received special gifts from "friends" almost daily.

 Waiting in line to meet the princesses. We waited about 45 minutes so we ran around a lot, had a couple potty breaks and even a nap.

Snow White

The Little Mermaid~ Ariel

Cinderella

Beauty and The Beast~ Belle

Peter Pan heckling the Princesses

Happy to get that PB&Honey sandwich.

 The Golden Mickeys first Broadway show.

 Her happy place feeling like a big girl on the top bunk. She spent a lot of time here going up and down the ladder and watching movies, although at night she slept with us in the bed. On the second night we were surprised with Disney princess sheets our StateRoom Host added.

Captain Hook & Mr. Smee

 Mama-Daddy special 20 minutes of Sammie-Free time venturing the boat.

 First Stop: JAMAICA We loved Jamaica!!

Mama found an online group of us cruisers that was taking the Chuck Noris shuttle bus to a remote public beach. Seriously, how beautiful is this beach?!?
 Samantha LOVED being in the *salty* water with Daddy. No matter how many times water splashed in her mouth, she was ready for more.

Walking around looking for the shuttle for Silver Sands beach.

 Found it!

 

 

 

 

 

 As we were leaving we passed a Jamaican bar playing live music. We wanted to stop for a drink but it took us longer than expected to peel ourselves out of the water.

 Samantha got chummy with the natives. We bought jewelry and a new doll, Sunshine.

 We will miss you, Jamaica!

 Hello GRAND CAYMAN ISLAND

It was cool on the boat until Deck 1... then BAM!... hot and humid as we boarded the catamaran. Everyone's cameras were getting a bit foggy.

 Petting turtles. Daddy was shocked at seeing the 300+ pound ones.

 Getting ready to get in the water with the dolphins. We all got to pet, kiss, dance and play with "Luna". She was so sweet and gentle. Samantha was so excited, but bummed that she wasn't able to ride it. {When you're bigger, Sam!} Unfortunately, we couldn't bring our camera in.

{{{Saving this spot for a special pic}}}

 How most of our excursions ended. This nap lasted quite a while! We walked up and down while preparing to board the catamaran back to the ship.

Getting ready for the Pirate Party. It was a long day and a late night. After dinner and before the party we went to watch Planes in 3D, but Samantha was being difficult, so we went back to the room to relax before the party at 9:45pm. (Notice our awesome towel animals. This is the monkey we came back to, hanging out.) -Please also note Sammie's Mama Made pirate costume :)-

During the show there was a big dance party, until Captain Hook and the pirates came out. Mickey zip lined down *video* to save the party and announce the "party in the sky" with fireworks! It was great! {Side note: Disney is the only cruise line that has permission to shoot fireworks. We thought it was strange that there just so happened to be a Carnival ship not far from us... to show off?}

COZUMEL
Before leaving for our excursion, Samantha and I went to Do Si Do with Snow White. She told her story about the Seven Dwarfs and all the kids learned to do the 'Snow White Do Si Do' and dance with her.*video*

 On the bus to the MAYAN RUINS
Our tour guide, David (who had 10 kids from 3 wives) cracked us up with his knowledge of Cozumel and comparisons to the US. Did you know that if you work you don't pay for insurance and having babies is free?.... Hence the 10 kids LOL!

 San Gervasio/Mayan Ruins: It was SO hot and humid! The ruins were a lot smaller than we imagined them to be, but still very interesting.

 

 

 We took lots of pictures at the ruins and sadly, the camera battery died just as we walked out to catch the bus to the beach. Luckily, I had the water camera and while at the beach it rained, so it worked out. We took a couple pics there before getting a drink and Sam and Daddy played in the pool. This beach was very commercial and touristy, not like the Jamaica beach we visited, yet still so beautiful!

We had the same servers for dinner every night (3 different restaurants: Animator's Palate, Parrot Cay and Triton's). After the first night of ordering Samantha a chocolate milk, there was one waiting for her every night. Also notice how they pour out the ketchup ;)

This is Hellen (from Kenya) our server who took care of us nightly and loved playing with the girls. 

Our last day at sea was a little chilly and very rocky. I think Captain Fabian was ready to get us back to port... Full Speed Ahead!

 

The last night before dinner we dropped Sam off at the Oceaneer's Club to learn some dance moves for the Friendship Rocks show on the Walt Disney Theater stage (that's the stage they do all the Broadway shows on). She got up there, jumped and danced around full of excitement before Mickey & Minnie Mouse dance too. Actually, Minnie Mouse helped her on stage!

As she walked off stage left, she found us and waved bright eyed and full of smiles. She got herself some kisses as she ran passed us back to the O club. Look at this face!!!<3

 

Now, let me introduce you to Maddy, Samantha's new BFF. Her and her family were our dinner table mates and the girls got along amazingly! Every night was full of hugs and kisses and I Love You's. It was sweet. Her Mommy and Daddy were real nice too. I don't know how Disney does it, but they paired us nicely... and they live nearby! We have exchanged info and plan to meet up in the future.

After last dinner, Samantha had a change of princess gowns and we went to the last of the Broadway shows, Remember the Time. Daddy scored us second row seats and Samantha was amazed to see the dancers up close. She was also in awe of the confetti, pyrotechnics, bubbles, and faux snow. It brought tears to my eyes to see her light up when it snowed on us while Belle and The Beast danced during Dreams.

 What's best during our last night after a great show? Hot cocoa and ice cream by the pool with Finding Nemo. Although, the pool was closed due to the weather and the movie was just about over when we got there. Oh well. We had a fun time anyway.

 "A special someone" would leave Samantha specials on her bed: a Minnie doll and a couple of shirts, a Minnie cup, etc. Tonight she received princess figurines! (Now back at home, she kisses each one of them goodnight.)

We all had a blast and this girl had the hardest time getting out of bed.... every morning.

   "See you real soon", Disney Wonder, we will definitely remember you!