Monday, February 16, 2009

The Grand

One of my favorite places on the planet.

Castaway Caye

In our stateroom before a day at the beach.


Have blankie will travel. Ben got a touch of something and didn't feel so great this day. He slept most of the afternoon on this lounge chair.



Future surfer girl?


Pirates of The Carribean ghost ship. I completely bought
into the magic and thought this was cool.



This was a snorkeling trip but Laura didn't get in the water. It started out cloudy, cold and windy. The seas were pretty rough. But when we got to the reef, she threw off her jackets, put on her fins, mask and snorkel, went to the back of the boat and started to follow me in the water. When she put her snorkel in her mouth and started to get in the water, she burst into tears. I told her that she sure didn't have to go in if she didn't want to, that it was so cold anyway..... Later I asked her if she was scared of the ocean, if she was cold, etc., etc., what exactly threw her off? It came out that she had a loose tooth, which always freaks her out, and made it weird to bite down on the snorkel mouth-piece thingy.
Sue and Laura (eating an apple) bundled up and trying to stay out of the wind.


Later in the day, Ben feeling better.



The Disney Wonder was built in Italy about seven years ago. It is actually very pretty,
with an art deco-style interior. For not being cruise ship type people, we really enjoyed this trip!

Mickey Mouse Operation


A few photos from four days at Disney World. My dad took us on a Disney Land and Sea vacation (4 nights land, 3 nights sea). We had a great time, even though the weather in Florida was unseasonably cool...

The kids are not looking at anything Disney here, they are watching a mallard duck pair! So typical for my children....


We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (this is the lobby), which was very pretty. The kids liked watching the giraffes and zebra from our hotel room balcony.










Ben's favorite magic kingdom ride.



Dad with Laura and Ben, the requisite castle shot!


Laura liked the bamboo 'forest'.


Laura's favorite - Flights of Wonder - at Animal Kingdom - where raptors and other birds fly right over your heads.




Dad and Ben, waiting for the magic to begin. (I think it already has.)

Monday, February 9, 2009

Paradise Island, Bahamas

It was not particularly warm this morning, but that didn't faze the kids. They each had 2 swimsuits and we kept changing their clothes to keep them warm and dry when they started turning blue.


My favorite photo. Happy Wyoming Girl.




This was our escape from the cruise ship crowd. We took a taxi to a public beach on Paradise Island, Bahamas.





Photo by Laura.


At lunch. More photos by Laura.

Drinking local beer at lunch.



The kids were great on this trip, and took bus, train, plane, boat, and taxi rides in stride. Look out world travel, here we come!!!! On the last leg of the trip our plane was about 2 hours late and we flew out of Denver around 11:00 pm. Kids are so tough, they just fell asleep on the floor of the airport in their jammies.






I wish I'd packed my shortie, too.