Disney

For the first time ever (since we've become real grownups) we took a spring break vacation. We've mostly skied during our spring break in the past, which if you know us isn't any different than a regular winter weekend around here.  This year we went all out with a blockbuster Disney World/Disney Cruise vaca.

(A warning - tainted by the insanely overpriced airfare to Florida, I didn't start out with the best attitude on this vacation. I managed to overcome.)

Being from a state prone to blizzards in March, we left Denver a couple night prior to our ship departure to give a little wiggle room in case we got stuck somewhere. The weather was gorgeous all the way around so after a late Friday night arrival in Orlando we hit the Disney parks on Saturday. We all have fond memories of Disney World just a couple years ago, so our target this trip was Epcot. The day was hot, steamy, and windless but we managed to have a good time. (Even locals were griping about the insane humidity that day, we desert folk were a sticky mess).

Being good parents we previewed the schedule of character meet and greets and were surprised when FFM announced he wasn't really interested in meeting any of the characters. Except Mary Poppins would be nice to meet, maybe we could find Mary Poppins. And we did! With her dancing penguin pal.

We spent the morning on the "countries" side of Epcot, and the afternoon riding rides and doing experiences in the front. 

 One thing we learned from our previous Disney trip, meal reservations are a good idea. A real meal can increase child stamina by at least 3000%. We opted for a late lunch in Italy, and were pleased to be seating right across from the flaming giant pizza ovens. Super cool. We're not sure our back yard is big enough, but if we ever manage to squeeze in a wood fired pizza oven it'll be in the shape of a giant's mouth for sure.

After a fun filled, meltdown free and sunburn free day at the park we crashed back at our hotel. The next morning the buses for the ship arrived and we were on our way!

Here's the thing, we're really bad about stopping to take pictures of the fun things we do, so for an entire week of swimming, water slides, beaches, snorkeling, eating, making new friends, quiet reading time, loud party time, shows, more eating, even more water slides we have a grand total of about a dozen pictures. Here are our favorites!

Swimming at the beach in Cozumel

Giant inflatable ocean toy thingy that was fun but caused many injuries.

Tendering from our ship (background) in Grand Cayman.

FFM first ever real snorkel trip! We snorkeled a ship wreck and Cheeseburger Reef. 

 Grand Cayman was by far and away our favorite stop. The weather, ocean, lunch, all perfect. We headed out for a day of snorkeling with a great guide. FFM has been begging to snorkel for years now, and tried a couple years ago when we were on the Gulf side of Florida, an area known for gorgeous beaches and murky water. This was picture perfect, and after the initial hyperventilating he took to it like a kid with salt water in his veins. Our first stop was a shallow reef, so far from the 80,000' drop off (seriously?) that I wasn't worried about anyone having a drop off panic attack. We were warned that there were BIG fish that would be swimming around all the little fish, but they were game fish, NOT SHARKS.

The second stop was a modern (70 years old) ship wreck. A ship carrying a load of rice started leaking when it was almost at the dock.  Before long the ship was underwater and splitting at the seams as the rice expanded. The ship was declared a total loss, and just sat there for decades. Recently the Royal Navy agreed to dynamite it so it wouldn't be sticking out of the water anymore. It makes a great dive site for beginners as there aren't very many bits sticking up. FFM figured out pretty fast that he could dive down for a closer look. He reported to Travis that it was much better to dive down than stay at the top and Dad should just spit his snorkel out and get down close to the fish/wreck.

Salt water in his veins

 Our last stop was the famous Disney Island, Castaway Cay. We had clear skies but rough seas most of the trip and this day they were the worst. We woke up and the ship hadn't docked yet, never a good sign. It took four attempts and was well after lunch before we could finally get on to the island, at which point all excursions had been cancelled so everyone was funneled to the beach. Luckily it's a huge beach so we didn't feel too crowded. We were sad to miss out on another snorkel adventure plus our afternoon with sting rays, but the water was so murky from the swells that it wasn't good viewing anyway.

While we were all rested and relaxed at the end of our trip, we decided we're pretty much done with Disney for now. FFM is already planning an all snorkeling vacation and a cruise that doesn't revolve around characters dancing around a ship.