Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful holiday and the girls really enjoyed themselves.  They saw all of their in town family and had a blast.  At each new destination, they didn't want to leave.

They ended up with a lot of Barbie stuff.  They now own a Barbie Beetle, a Barbie Corvette and a Barbie Camper/RV.  So, we just need to get Barbie her driver's license and we're good to go.  :-)

Thanks to everyone for all the generosity through the season, and Merry Christmas to All....and to all a good night (it's been a long day!).

Still Cruisin' ...

Still on the Day at Sea.  Just palying around on the balcony taking some shots of the girls with the beautiful Atlantic Ocean in the background.

More Cruisin'

This post starts out with the Pirates in the Caribbean party.  Fun!  Everyone got dressed up in our group (except for one - every party needs a pooper right?).  I bought the girls these T shirts before the trip in a small size so their bellies would show and then I shagged them with scissors.  We all had a great time.

 Duckie even made it to the pirate party!!!

Now, we're on to the last day of the cruise.  It's the day at sea, so we finally got to spend some time at the pool.

The Mickey pool:

Disney Cruise 2010 - Third Day

The previous post was still the first night (and thanks to Hurricane Igor - barf bags in every bathroom - that's just about all the photos I took that evening).  We did go to the show the Golden Mickey's that evening where I saw many people running up the aisles and out.  The ship was definitely a rockin' that night.  Ick.  Thankfully, Kaitlyn and Nicole seemed fine, but I certainly had issues.  I didn't get sick, but it wasn't a pleasant feeling. 

The previous post also had photos from the second day aboard, which was our Atlantis excursion day.  I didn't take the camera to Atlantis, so there are no photos from there.  Then, back on the ship for the fancy dinner that second evening.

This next post finishes the fancy evening and takes us into the third day aboard.  This was our Castaway Cay day.

 Because Kaitlyn missed the Princess Gathering, we had to make efforts the remainder of our time on the ship to find photo opportunities with the princesses.  We got Belle here outside the Disney theater. 

 Out of the various shots in this pose, believe it or not, this was the best one without Kaitlyn not even looking.  You didn't want to see the facial expressions on the other shots.  Not good.  :-)

 Waking up to find the ship in the Castaway Cay port.  How gorgeous!  And this time our state room was on the opposite side of the ship, so we got this awesome view.  Last year, our view was the gangway and the other side of the pier where they had all kinds of construction going on to dig a port for the much larger ship premiering soon - the Disney Dream.

 That's the Flying Dutchman ship used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

 A beachy photo op with Chip and Dale.

Brett with Captain Jack Sparrow.

Disney Cruise 2010 Continued

 Having fun on the deck of the ship.  Still the first afternoon after we set sail.

 First morning on the boat.  There was a Princess Gathering.  Where is Kaitlyn you might ask?  Well, you should ask Daddy who wouldn't answer the state room phone for (at least, no joke) the EIGHT times I probably called.  I did say this was the first 'morning' so I'm sure we all know what happened.

It turned out that it was just me and Nicole.  She met Snow White, Belle, Tiana and Cinderella.

 Mickey on the night with the formal meal.  Nice tux!

 Minnie in her Sunday best for the formal night too.  :-)

Dare I Say It????

Over the past week, I cannot recall a single Kaitlyn potty accident.  Speedy and his merry band of elves reporting back to Santa really have 'scared the crap out of her.'  HA!  Keep it up Kaitlyn!

And I can't sign off on this post without mentioning that Nicole is always fantastic and uses the potty.

Santa sent another note to our home on Friday afternoon via Speedy for potty praises.  This time Speedy was allowed to give the girls a gift from Santa.  They got one of those plastic candy canes that's filled with Hersey's kisses.  They loved it.

Thanks Santa!

What's With Wednesday?

I've got another Kaitlyn story.  In school, they have learned about the days of the week, and for whatever reason, Kaitlyn has taken a real liking to Wednesday.  Here are some examples.

Potty Story
Kaitlyn still has trouble using the potty for #2.  Beyond that, I'd say we're potty trained, but that's obviously quite an obstacle, but at least that's something that only happens once a day, so we deal with it and move on.  I have to say, I'm surprised that it's lasted this long.  Once we got past c-diff, we picked back up on potty training in early July.  I never thought this would last this long, but I digress....that sets up the story though.

In an effort to get this licked, we've pulled out the big guns for Christmas time and told Kaitlyn that Santa's elves are watching and reporting back to Santa and want her to use the potty.  Prior to Christmas time, I'd say we were having close to zero success on our potty issue.  The elves have helped.  She has used the potty at least 5 times in the past 2-3 weeks.  We have an Elf on the Shelf too.  The girls named him Speedy (because those elves are quick).  Speedy even left a note for Kaitlyn one evening after she used the potty the prior day to tell her that he reported immediately back to Santa how good Kaitlyn had been.  She was so excited that she even took Speedy's note to school to show the other boys and girls. 

A day or so later, she had an accident again.  I always talk to her about her accidents and ask her why she didn't tell an adult, etc, etc, etc and I encouraged her to use the potty tomorrow.  She told me that she didn't want to use the potty tomorrow.  She would use the potty on Wednesday!  :-)

PaPa Story
PaPa was over the other evening and Mike was at home with the girls.  He was about to walk them two houses down the road to look at a neighbor's Christmas lights, so they all four went.  Apparently, Minnie or Daisy darted across the road while a car was approaching and Kailtyn went running into the road too.  PaPa yelled at her, which of course made her mad.  So, PaPa stopped yelling and more calmly explained to her how dangerous that was, etc and that he was just trying to keep her safe.  Didn't work...Kaitlyn remained angry with PaPa until he left.

So, I get home later and hear the story.  I reiterate that PaPa loves her and was just trying to keep her safe.  And then I ask her, "So, do you still love PaPa."  She replies, "No, I don't love PaPa.  I will love him on Wednesday."  :-)  Say, what???  Too funny.

Mike Story
We went to see Santa Saturday morning.  Kaitlyn told Mike that he wasn't allowed to come.  A confused Mike asked her why he couldn't come.  She replied that he couldn't come today but that he could come on Wednesday!  He said, "Oh, ok.  I'll come with you on Wednesday."

Better Late Than Never

Here are the first of the crusie photos.  As I downloaded them, I noticed that we shamelessly had taken about 500 PHOTOS during that one week of vacation.  So, there should be a lot to share.  Definitely not going to get to them all in one post, but here's a start:

 Boarding the ship.

 Having lunch while they get our luggage to our room.

 The Bon Voyage party begins as we set sail at 4pm.  Grandma and Brett clapping along.

 Mommy with Kaitlyn.

 Nicole dancing.

 Kaitlyn and Nicole dancing and clapping to the music.

 Mike with Nicole.  And you see that Jumbotron in the background.  Alyson and Kailtyn were on that at least three times during the party.  We were dancing and having a great time and the camera guy noticed!  (And during the day, that screen shows Disney movies so you can watch while swimming or lounging out in the sun.  The guys particularly liked that they showed Monday night football on that screen too.)

Brett with Kaitlyn.