Disney Cruise: Part Two

After waking up at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, we headed to one of the restaurants for breakfast (we chose the one we had dinner at the night before bc the line to the buffet was bit long and we had a day to conquer!)  Honestly, I liked the idea of a sit-down better than a buffet anyway, so it worked out perfectly:)

LOOK!!!  Just look at that turquoise water!!!  It is just not possible to wake up in a bad mood, when this is your view!  

We ordered whatever our hearts' desired for breakfast and were not disappointed one bit!  Mickey Mouse-shaped pancakes anyone???  I think it was at this meal that our server began cutting up my kids' food and I knew my heart now had high standards for every 
vacation from here on out;)

We disembarked the ship and took a 10-15 min walk to find ourselves the "perfect" place to plant our booties for the day:)  (Disney has a tram that runs to the beaches, but we were digging the scenery and felt the need to walk off some of our Mickey Mouse waffles.)

I mean!!  The pics will not do any of the scenery justice!  At one point, thought I'd stepped off the boat and into Heaven!

First stop:  Meeting Minnie and then Goofy!  The best part was the line was just a couple minutes long and their visit was not rushed.  I felt like the characters were all SO interactive with the kiddos!  Pretty fun to stand back and watch!  During these pics, I quickly realized a #momfail.  I had left the boys' hats on the ship; oops!  Next stop was one of the shops on the island for some hats (and sunglasses) for the boys.

Overpriced "Nemo bucket" was not on the list, but hey, the kid is cute and we Dad could't resist;) 

We finally found our perfect spot and had no problems staking a spot and some loungers.  The kids played and played, while Justin and I relaxed and soaked in this special time together.  Around 1ish, we headed to the BBQ place for lunch (actually I have no idea what time it was bc it was vacation and other than making sure we were aboard the ship by the correct time, I could care less what time it was!)  #bliss

This must've been after their ice cream??  #sugarhigh

After lunch, we rented bikes and cruised the island.  This was one of my FAVORITE parts of our day/trip!!!  We followed the trails around the island and made little stops along the route to soak in the scenery.  LOVED it!  The weather was perfect and it was just downright, peaceful.  

This picture just melts my heart...I mean, here we are (were), with our three biggest joys in life, vacationing in paradise.  God, you are so good!

Convinced Daddy (alright, it doesn't take much convincing that man, when it comes to his kiddos) to let them indulge in an after-bike ride treat;)  It's a good thing I took this picture right before JP told me the cost of those three smoothies/souvenir cups bc I pretty much passed out on the floor, shortly there after;)  

We headed back to our spot on the beach and played for a couple more hours before heading back to the ship to let Grant catch a nap and get cleaned up for dinner.  We were SOOO thankful for what a GOOD sleeper Grant was on our trip!  During his nap, the big kids convinced me they wanted a little snack, so Hailey and I walked up and grabbed a couple pieces of pizza to snack on before dinner.  Before we knew it, the horn was sounding and off we went, ready to head down to Nassau.

Dinner on our second day was at the Animator's Palate and it was a BLAST!!!!!!!  The dining room basically has large screens that play animations while the room goes from black and white to color, as the drawings on the screen progress.  When the drawings are complete, the entire dining room turns into one big party, as the servers put on a show.  Before we knew it, Mickey Mouse made and appearance and the kids were up, dancing around the room with our servers...FUN!!!!!  The looks on my kids' faces were absolutely priceless...total awestruck!

Their "awestruck" faces say it all  #priceless

I'm not exaggerating when I say we scored the absolute BEST servers ever!!!!!!!!  On this night, our darling server, Joe (pictured on the right) presented each of our kiddos a personalized sign with their name on it that he had drawn.  I mean, how genuinely thoughtful!  All six of the kids (our kids and our table mates/new friends' kids) loved them and felt so special!  Such a fun keepsake:)

My dessert bc "when in Rome..." All discipline went out the window (or porthole) no sooner than we stepped foot on the ship;)  #livingitup

We ended our night with another fab show, complete with (more) treats and popcorn!  Day two, I think I love you:)