Disney Magic Cruise

Mira with Minnie Mouse at the Oceanairre Lab (the onboard kids play facility)

The Cook family took a wonderful vacation in early December. We took a cruise on the Disney Magic through the Eastern Caribbean. It was a vacation to remember! We left on Saturday, sailed until Tuesday morning, stopped at St. Maarten's all day Tuesday, sailed to St. Thomas and spent Wednesday there, then sailed until Friday where we stopped at Castaway Cay, a Disney-owned island. On Saturday morning we disembarked and headed home.

Here are many of the photos from our cruise. Below are many photos from our last night on the cruise. All the characters were available for photos. We had missed many of them during the week, so the girls were thrilled for one last chance to get photos with them. There were many more that I didn't post, including all the princesses, Micky Mouse, and Donald and Daisy duck.

Me, Mira, and Amelia with Minnie Mouse on the last night.

Mira and Amelia with Tiana! She looked just like what you would imagine.

Captain Hook and his cohorts posed for a photo.

One of our best family photos. It's the last night of our trip. We are in front of a gingerbread house onboard.

The cruise ship gives you a specific time and restaurant in which you have dinner. You rotate between three restaurants and eat at the same time every night. You have two waitstaff who rotate with you so they are always your dinner servers. It's a wonderful system! They get to know you so well and know your likes and dislikes. They always had our drinks ready when we got to the table and were very handy with a recommendation for dinner. We really loved our servers (below). Simoun (left) was from the Philippines and had been on the Magic for 13 years, with a few months off here and there. He hadn't spent a Christmas with his family in all that time. Samir (right) was 23 and from Germany. Such a nice man! This was his 1st contract with the Magic. He was going to be on the ship for 4 1/2 months, until mid-February! These people do not get one day off the entire time their contract runs. They certainly work hard for their money, but get wonderful tips at the end of the week from the families they serve.

This is Simoun (left) and Samir. They were our servers the entire cruise.

On Castaway Cay, they had a dance party for the kids! Mira and Amelia loved it!

Chris and Amelia make a sand castle. So did Mira and Amelia! Michelle stayed nice and sand-free on the lounge chair.

 The family on Castaway Cay, the Disney-owned island.

 Amelia on the aft (back) of the boat during lunch one day.

 Mira and Chris at dinner before the Pirate Party. This party is a big deal and many people dress accordingly! Some people actually bring full pirate uniforms for this! It's held on the outside deck and was so fun! Everyone received a bandana, and they had fireworks at the end!

On St. Maarten, we rented a jeep and drove around the island. It was fun to see most of the island, and we had lunch at a great restaurant on the ocean. The girls were able to swim in the ocean on both the French side and the Dutch side of the island.

Above, the girls in the ocean on the French side, near the restaurant where we had lunch. Below is me and the girls at the same restaurant.

Here we are hanging out at the pool. There were three pools on the cruise ship. One for adults only (yeah!), one for kids who could swim, and a Mickey Mouse shaped pool for all other kids. The girls loved the Mickey pool and spent most of their time there.

Here I am with Mira and Amelia at the Tea Party with Alice. It was a lovely party in which Alice taught us all the proper way to serve and drink tea. Mira was picked to sit at the head table with Alice. That was really exciting for her!

Amelia met Belle on the second day. She loved seeing a princess up close!

The view from our room. We were lucky enough to snag a stateroom with a verandah. It was like having an extra room on the ship and made the ride more comfortable. We had a little seasickness on the first evening. Mira had the worst of it, and Michelle was queasy too. A little dramamine and some time to get used to the rocking, and we were fine after that. Everyone walked like they were a little tipsy for a couple of days!

This is the "Anchors Aweigh" party on the first day. It's when the ship sets sail. Everyone is out on the deck, celebrating the start of a wonderful vacation!

All in all, it was my favorite vacation. They have a great childcare system this is open from 8am until midnight. They entertain the kids all day long and constantly have fun activities to do. Mira didn't want to leave sometimes! It definitely allowed me and Chris plenty of alone adult time. We were even able to get off the boat on an island without the kids one day while they were in the Oceanairre Lab on the boat. It was so nice! If you are looking for a great trip, this is definitely the way to go. You really don't want for anything and don't have to do anything for yourself either. And the food is really, really delicious.

Bon Voyage!

Happy holidays 2011!

 Chris, Mira, Amelia, and I want to wish you all very happy holidays this year!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Our first real day of "winter" came today. It's been snowing steadily since early afternoon. Not much in accumulation, but we enjoyed a toasty day in the house. Then Chris and the girls ventured out into the cold wet day. I watched from the warmth of the kitchen.

 Mira starting a very small snow fight. Not much snow to work with though!

 My wonderful family!

Mira, Amelia and I also made truffles and peppermint bark today. I hosted a truffle-making class at our house a couple weeks ago and put the lessons to good use today. They are a bit more difficult than I remembered, so I'm not sure I'll make the molded ones again anytime soon. But they turned out for the most part! The peppermint bark was so easy! I'll definitely do that again. They will be great to give out as Xmas gifts.

Amelia filling the chocolate mold:

 Mira adding creme de menthe filling to the truffle:

 Amelia adding raspberry filling to the white chocolate truffle:

The holidays are coming! If we do a little at a time each weekend, we'll be ready for all the Christmas events we are going to. No stress this year, right?

Amelia swims!

Amelia has been taking swimming lessons every week since February. We are proud to say she has improved steadily every week and can now swim across the pool by herself! It's such a great accomplishment for her since she couldn't swim at all just 9 months ago. We really believe weekly yearlong lessons are the way to go. Plus, she loves it so much! It's fun to see her learning new strokes and how proud she is when the lesson is over.

Working with the barbell to learn rhythmic breathing:

 Starting across the pool:

 Almost there!

 Our proud little fish!

Mira took lessons for about 16 months straight and loves to swim too! She's such an independent swimmer that we suspended her lessons for a few months, but she will start up again in January. We are going to see if the local swim club will be a good fit for her in the fall. She's excited to try it and start doing swim meets!

Mira's first play

Mira joined a community education drama class this fall. The class was called "Fairytale Frenzy" and they did a play that incorporated their favorite fairy tales. Mira made fast friends with Kiera, and they were both cast in the Beauty and the Beast portion of the play.

Mira had 2 lines on her own, and three other lines to say with others. It was so fun to see her on the stage. She had her lines on paper with her and covered her entire face when she was reading them each time! We'll have to mention to keep her lines a bit lower so we can see her when she talks.

Waiting for the play to start:

 Mira's big "scene":

 The entire cast:

Wondering if she'll want to join another drama class next session. She left from the play for a playdate with Kiera, so I haven't had the chance to ask her how she felt about performing. I have a feeling she'll want to try another one.

Happy Halloween from Mira and Amelia!

A witch and a fairy wish you all a happy and safe Halloween! Boo!

Pumpkin carving

Tonight, Chris, Mira, Amelia, and I carved pumpkins for Halloween. The girls really look forward to it, plus we can make a delicious roasted pumpkin seed snack!

Mira posing with her template!
Chris digging in:
Delicious roasted salty warm pumpkin seeds. Mmmm!
Amelia posing in front of the pumpkins:
And our finished product:
Now, if only we could find the matches, we might be able to light the candles in them!

The first Halloween party

Maple Grove is an excellent city for town holiday events. There are several just for Halloween alone, spread out over the next couple of weeks.  Today, Mira and Amelia went to one at the Shoppes of Arbor Lakes. It was a smaller affair, but quite fun.

 

 They were given a pillowcase with a print on it, and were asked to color it in. Then heat was applied to the pillowcase to set the color. Here are their creations:

 

 They gave out donuts with Halloween sprinkles. There were free face painters there. Mira opted to have her witch costume completed with a witchy face! It was much better than I could have done!

 Amelia asked for a mermaid on her face. She was dressed as a fairy and looks really cute!

 We have another Halloween event in two weeks at the club. Should be so fun! Then of course, actual Halloween night. Hoping for mild weather!

Mira's first slumber party

Yesterday Mira didn't have school, so she had a friend over to our house for the day. Mira and Kassidy have been best friends since early last year. They were in the same class and ride the bus together, so they were always with each other. This year they aren't in the same class, but still sit together on the bus every day.

We invited Kassidy to our house and I took the girls to see Spy Kids in the theater. Then we last minute decided to have Kassidy spend the night. Mira was beyond excited! It was her first official slumber party. They had a wonderful time playing, crafting, telling stories. They started sleeping in sleeping bags on the playroom floor, but by 10:00 they were in Amelia's bed. 

 Amelia decided in the early evening that she was going to take the opportunity to sleep in Mira's top bunk bed. She was really excited for that and had been waiting for more than a year for the chance!

Overall, the slumber party was a success! The girls are already talking about having another one this Friday. Sounds fun to me!

Passports? Check!

Mira and Amelia received their passports today! Chris and I are taking the girls on a Disney cruise in early December and realized Mira's passport expired and that Amelia didn't have one at all. We only had 8 weeks to get them, so we got their pictures taken and went to the government center to apply. $210 later, they arrived in the mail in 12 days. Now we are ready for our vacation!

When I told Amelia she could now travel anywhere with her passport, she said, "Yay! I'm going to space!" Maybe someday!

Minnetonka Orchard fun

Yesterday Chris and I took Mira and Amelia to the Minnetonka Orchard for our October fun! We usually go to Apple Jack's, but tried something new this year. They are about the same experience, so we had a bit of fun. There was live music, face painting, train rides, wagon rides, a corn maze, corn crib playing, swing sets, and other fun things for them to do.

Mira chose a Halloween pumpkin for her design.

Amelia opted for the apple!

Playing in a corn crib. Just like I used to do as a kid!

Hugging on the hay mountain.

A sweet moment in the corn maze.

Petting a llama!

Our sweet girls in the train.

Pretty photo of Amelia.

On our way out. One last photo!