We're back! Like, a week ago...

Hello out there! Is anyone still reading this poorly updated blog? I have a world of excuses ready for not having popped on to discuss our lovely cruise.

This biggest one being this:

But I'll spare you the excuses and just dive right in. The water's fine.

So. We went on a cruise.
Holla.

It was a Disney cruise. Even better!

The ship departed from Los Angeles. That's a little city in California. You may have heard of it.
Here we are driving down to LA. It's about a 6 and a half hour drive from Monterey.

The sun was on Derek's side. He got hot. He's also cute.

We got lucky and didn't hit too much traffic on the way to the hotel. We drove in the night before our cruise just in case.

Here are the little knuckleheads waiting for the shuttle to the port.

We had to wait at the terminal for about an hour before we could board. Then we got on and started exploring the ship!

We ran into a furry friend, though I can't say if it was Chip or Dale. I might have asked, but I was busy trying to keep Derek from jumping overboard in order to avoid the chipmunk.

The kids were big fans of the bunk beds in our stateroom.
Josh and I were big fans of the verandah.

There was a curtain that separated their area from ours, which was nice. We were able to read in bed at night without keeping them awake.
Yep. Just a lot of reading.
Nice, clean reading.

Ahem. Where was I?

The next morning we were scheduled for our character breakfast.

My favorite part was the bacon. Sorry Mickey.

Alex has a napkin on her head if you were wondering. The girls got Minnie-Bow napkin hats.

Derek was Robin Hood.

It's probably time to take a pause and discuss the food.

The Food.
It was yummy. It was excessive. It was plentiful. It was delicious.
And the service was incredible. We had the same two servers for every dinner, and we would rotate through different dining rooms-- they rotated with us.
The first one was called the Animator's Palate. It was all black-and-white when you walked in, but as the meal progressed more and more of the restaurant would be lit up with different colors and paintings. Disney knows how to keep kids entertained at a sit-down meal!

Once our waiters figured out our favorite drinks, they would be waiting for us at the table when we sat down. They even got upset with us when we didn't bring the kids to dinner one night! Apparently they...liked them??

Oh, and I gained 2.5 pounds.

I blame it on the bacon.
And the desserts.
Oh, the desserts...

Josh maxed out one day at a total of 9 desserts. And he often ordered 2 entrees at dinner.
And he gained like, 2.5 ounces.
I kind of hate him.

So after setting sail, the next 2 days were "sea days" meaning the ship didn't stop anywhere. The farther south we got, the warmer the weather got. It was so nice!

The kids clubs had a schedule with their activites, so we could makes sure Alex and Derek got to do everything they wanted.
Ratatouille's Cooking School was a big hit-- they got to bake chocolate chip cookies.

 I don't know why Derek is wearing the same shirt in all of these pictures. I promise we changed him. I think Alex must have just changed her clothes a lot or something.

We made a gingerbread house together.

 Here we are on the verandah before heading to the pool. Looks like Derek just had a big meal.

 I look that way too, but I strategically place children in front of me so you can't see.

Look at that blue water! I want to go back!

Speaking as someone who hates to wake up, if you have to wake up-- this isn't a bad way to do it...

Okay, I think that's enough for one post. I'll finish up tomorrow-- still to come is our day trips to Cabo San Lucas, which were great!