The things that grow in my garden…

We had an early breakfast at 8am at Parrot Cay. R was thrilled because during breakfast characters came around to the tables, Chip & Dale, Goofy, Pluto, Mickey and Minnie. After breakfast R went to the kids club. She is getting used to it, but still wanted us to come by and check every half an hour or so. She wears a bracelet that is scanned in, and daddy carries a pager, so the staff or (R through the staff) can contact us anywhere on the ship. After a very nice buffet lunch at which R and E at lots of Crab that you had to crack yourself, we went ashore. We were docked at Key West. It was a nice place to walk around. Lovely palm trees, and nice buildings. Around the main museum were lots of statues. R had a good time posing with them. Back on the ship she went back to the kids club, and J had a nap. Soon it was time for supper, and then bed. The kids are sleeping now. Tomorrow we can relax, it’s a day at sea.

We had an early breakfast at 8am at Parrot Cay. R was thrilled because during breakfast characters came around to the tables, Chip & Dale, Goofy, Pluto, Mickey and Minnie. After breakfast R went to the kids club. She is getting used to it, but still wanted us to come by and check every half an hour or so. She wears a bracelet that is scanned in, and daddy carries a pager, so the staff or (R through the staff) can contact us anywhere on the ship. After a very nice buffet lunch at which R and E at lots of Crab that you had to crack yourself, we went ashore. We were docked at Key West. It was a nice place to walk around. Lovely palm trees, and nice buildings. Around the main museum were lots of statues. R had a good time posing with them. Back on the ship she went back to the kids club, and J had a nap. Soon it was time for supper, and then bed. The kids are sleeping now. Tomorrow we can relax, it’s a day at sea.

After an extremely restless night (I had those terrible got to get up and pack nightmares) we woke and packed our bags. Apparently they needed to be ready to go at 8am, although I had to call at 10am to remind them to pick them up…grrr.
After some breakfast, R went swimming. It was pretty chilly, the storm that hit the eastern seaboard dumping snow gave us strong wind. I mean strong wind! R came back throuroughly chilled. Anyways. We pack the last bits, and headed for the bus. The bus was very cute, with ‘portholes’ painted on the outside. R managed a short nap, as did daddy, and so did J as I held him. As we approached the ships, our driver pointed out that across the bay you could see the space shuttle that is set to launch tomorrow morning. Pretty cool. The process of getting on the ship was fairly smooth. A guy from Brampton checked us in. R was totally excited because Mickey was there, posing with you for pictures in front of a model of the cruise ship. Did I mention how puzzled we are at her intense liking for these character greetings?? As we walked on the ship, a ‘cast member’ asked our name, and then announced it over a loudspeaker “the HE family from Ontario”…they had a group of staff there clapping! Wow eh?
Once on the ship, we found our room, and got our bearings. As we were heading off to do a few errands, we ran into Oma and Opa. It was nice to see them. Daddy then headed over to the “Oceaneers club” to sign up R. She gets a wrist band with a sensor, and daddy gets a pager. Apparently she can summon us any time she needs us. That’s nice. I was on my way back from checking dinner reservations when they announced our friend’s name, E! Quite by accident I got to meet her as she boarded! We all met up in the ‘topsider buffet’ and had a very late lunch. R was thrilled by all the shrimp she could eat. Only a short time later we departed, and R and daddy danced at the farewell party. I unpacked, and let J have a nap in the room. (ok, I like getting things settled and organized in hotel/ship rooms, everything has to have a place)
Then came the ship drill. We all had to go to our rooms, get on our lifejackets, and report to deck 4. There we were directed to our lifeboat. They took attendance, and made sure we were all wearing our life jackets correctly. Poor litte J. He looked so uncomfortable, but was quite the trooper. We didn’t know how to do all the straps up on his life jacket, but the people next to us did. Here is a picture.

Supper was interesting. The decor of the dining room was all black and white, and slowly came to be colour by the end of dinner. J decided to nap during this meal, and I held him. When our entrees came, daddy offered to take him, but I just decided to wait to eat my mustard/thyme chicken when daddy was done his meal and I could cut mine up. I turned around, and all the sudden this wonderful staff person was cutting up my chicken into bite size pieces! Hilarious! She understood right away that letting babies sleep is far more important than eating hot food. We chatted. Turns out she was the dining room supervisor, and from South Africa. Now that is service I tell you! I was able to eat a hot meal with one hand, and J was able to sleep. Bliss.
After dinner we stopped by the Oceaneer’s club to check it out. Lots of kids, but it seemed to be a really cool place. I think R will like it. Back in our cabin, the staff had pulled down a bunk from the ceiling for R. She’s sleeping up there now, I suppose it reminds her of her bed at home. J is sleeping in a play pen. I’ll be heading to bed soon too, I know there will be lots to do tomorrow.

It was an early morning again for daddy and R. J and I slept in. It was super windy today, and all over the weather channel they talked about the HUGE storm coming for the eastern seabord. They forcasted thundestorms for the afternoon, so we headed to the park in the moring. Did I mention it was WINDY? Very windy. I had to use my clothes pins to anchor a blanket on to J’s stroller. We were back at Magic kingdom, but we managed to convince R to try Tomorrowland. So she rode the Buzz Lightyear ride and liked it so much we immediately had to ride it again. She tried the transportation ride, a train that just circled around the park up high, but was un-impressed. She and daddy did ride Speedtrack though, and I snapped some cool pictures of her driving…although I’m not sure if I’m every going to let her drive MY car…
Then it was back to the tea cups. From there, she wanted to line up to see Ariel. Did I already mention that I can’t belive my child is willing to WAIT in line just to see these characters?? Crazy I know. While the park seems full, it is definately not. The wait times for most rides are only about 5-10 minutes, and that involved just walking from the entrance through the maze, zigging and zagging to get to the front of the ride. Anyways. She had fun playing in some small water fountains while daddy waited in line for the Ariel photo op. Turns out when she got to the front, she was terrified, and just clung to daddy. Thank goodness the little girl that was in front of us came back and took R by the hand, plopped her down beside Ariel and left. How sweet.

At this point I headed back to the hotel with J, the sky looked ominous. R and daddy checked out some other parts of the park, rode on the magic carpet ride, and even saw Jasmine and Aladin. They arrived back at the hotel just as it started to rain, so of course they just put on their swim suits and went to the pool. Why not? The life guard did eventually kick them out when the thunder started.

I did some packing up, and J had a nice nap. It just somehow worked out that we were having supper at the closest restaurant to us, only a 50m dash. It was quite swanky, and I had this most amazing chicken dish. By the way, they are very very good about food allergies here. I mention that I can’t eat onions, and the chef always comes out to talk to me. In fact at the buffet, the chef showed me around the buffet pointing out what had onions in it. He also offered to cook for my separately! Wow. Anyways. We had a nice dinner, and now my family is sleeping. Yes, it’s 8:28pm, and J, R and daddy are asleep. I’m updating you all, downloading some pictures, packing then off to bed as well. Tomorrow we transfer to the ship!
The Zurg has caught R!! (Buzz lightyear ride)

Speedtrack, R driving…

Joseph, just after he woke up. Such a happy boy.

Ariel and R

Donald, Goofy in frontier dress.

Today we went to Epcot (read LOTS of walking). Daddy and R were up early, and J and I slept longer. We found a cafeteria for breakfast, and were soon off on the monorail. You’ll be happy to know, that the famous Epcot ‘golf ball’ is still standing. We didn’t go in though, we went on our way to ‘The Seas’ pavilion. We were side tracked when R wanted to wait in line to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy. Finally, we arrived at The Seas, and there we rode the Nemo clamshell ride. Then came turtle talk with Crush. R wanted to ride the clamshells a second time, so we obliged her. Then it was time for lunch and ice cream. Then it was back to the hotel for J’s nap, and daddy and R’s swimming time. I downloaded pictures and worked at that. We were getting ready to go back to Epcot when R told me she had a letter she wanted to give to Mickey. Hmmm. I encouraged her to give it to a ‘cast member’ (read staff) and they could pass it along to Mickey… I suppose it’s all about believing in ‘magic’ here!
At Epcot we booted over to Norway. We were having dinner at Akershus, the Royal Table. It was pretty good food (sea food for R), and we got to meet 5 princesses!!! R is really keen on meeting characters it seems. I never thought she`d go for that sort of thing, but she seems to. She had a mini melt down after supper, which seems to be the norm for most kids. We went over to the China pavilion and she somehow calmed right down and coloured the masks they had there for kids. I was most delighted to find a CD I wanted. In 1991 our Chinese teacher taught us a folk song about a Jasmine flower. I sang a phrase to the sales lady, and she smiled and knew the song I was looking for. She found me the right CD, and told me the track number. The whole thing is written in characters, so I was glad she told me! After we talked to another Chinese woman from Beijing. She was thrilled to hear our Chinese, R asking her ‘excuse me, do you speak English?’ in Chinese. She thought that was great. It was nice to wander through the large Chinese shop and just absorb all the Chinese things. I long to go back to China. It will be a few years before we attempt that. Hopefully by then our Chinese will be a little better!
Another mini meltdown occurred as we tried to leave, but somehow she pulled herself together. I think it was when she watched the 3 little girls walking ahead of us. They were skipping and dancing. R managed to tell us in words that she was tired, it had been a very fun day, but she was feeling worn out. I was impressed that she managed to do that. And after that confession suddenly she was sunny and happy, walking and skipping along too. J had a quick bath in the sink at the hotel, and he melted shortly after that. It took a while to calm him enough so he could drink his bottle. He has been a real trouper all day. He napped at two different times in the hip carrier, and also had a nap in his crib. He doesn’t seem to have any problem drinking bottles on the go either. Amazing.

R wasn’t the only one getting in on the princess pictures, so did J.

And with snow white as well…

And in Norway, dress like Norwegians….
The famous bit bally thing…

Having a good day. It was cloudy and very cool. We were in the
super-calla-fraga-listics-expi-alla-docoious breakfast. We met tigger, pooh, alice,
mad hatter and mary poppins. Then we were off to Majic kindgom. We rode the tea
cups twice, despite the fact that R said they made her a bit woozie, the carosel,
dumbo, and the Whinnie the Pooh ride. The sun came out, and it wonderful, warm but
not too warm, and sunny. We lasted until about 2, then went back to the hotel. J
had a nice long nap and R and daddy went swimming. I should mention R spent a
bunch of her money on a super cute Minnie purse, and lip gloss. She is very happy.
Coupled with the minnie ears we bought, she was delighted. We went back to magic
kinddom for supper, and then to the tea cups again. Now her and daddy are on the
winnie the pooh ride again, and I am with J who finally had a nap in the stroller!!!
That’s all for now!

We were thrilled to have J dedicated at church today. He was great, and only cried a bit when our pastor held him to give him his blessing. I’ll get the pics up as soon as I can.

Well. There has been a battle raging in this house for quite some time. R is desparate to dress herself, and I am determind to dress her myself. Ok, really I want to pick out her clothes. She is showing more and more resistance. I have been putting complete ‘outfits’ on hangers, and she can pick which one. That satisfied her for a few months. Now she complains bitterly that the outfits hanging there are not ‘long enough’. She loves long, flowy dresses. And I mean LONG. If it isn’t to her ankle, it isn’t long enough. Anyways. I I figured I’d let her help me put together outfits on hangers, then she could make them, and choose. Well, that doesn’t seem to be enough either. Today after school she claimed she was cold, so she wanted to put on pants. (something she hardly ever chooses). She came down with this get up on. Stripey leggings (my fav), other coloured striped socks, jean skirt, grey shirt with pink writing, and turqoise/cream striped hoodie. She added he crocheted hat, jacket, and red Olympic mitts in addition to the already attached pink mittens. I need to loosen up..really I do. I am trying.

J update. The boy was at the doctor today for an early 5 month check up. He is now 15 and a half pounds (50th percentile), 26 inches long (50-75th percentile) and has a head circumference of 16 7/8ths. He is doing really well. I looked at some old pictures of him, and I can hardly believe how much he has grown.

Recent changes in J that I really should document.
1) his drooling has dramatically increased, he always leaves a puddle on the exersaucer
2) his sleep has been disturbed, he is taking shorter naps, and sometimes leaving them out all together. (now today he did have a 2 hr nap)
3) his night sleep is disturbed, he is fussy crying, not really waking up, but making enough noise that we need to check on him
4) he loves stuffing his fists in his mouth
5) he is talking less (how sad!)

This is what I like to see, my kids together!!