Vacation: getting on the boat

The children woke up at 6am.  We kept them in bed for a little bit longer, but it is hard when your brother is awake too.  I finally got up with them and had breakfast.  Then they did their exercises...running up and down the ramp.

We got to the boat late morning.  As with all Disney things, I'm always impressed by their logistics handling.  Lines were moving, people were available for questions, and there was minimal confusion.  As we got on the boat they announced our name, "Welcome to the Hilldore Family!!"  and a bunch of cast members greeted us with clapping and smiles.  I'll admit that it seems like a super boring job, but was still pretty cool.

We couldn't get to our rooms right away, so we made our way to the top deck.  We went around the back way, which included some windows viewing.

We had been planning on swimming first, but decided that ice cream first was a better option.  Priorities.

We eventually put on our suits.  Isaac was big enough for the big water slide, so he said that he would go down it once each day with Ben and me.  So Ben and I each went down it once.  Joshua was too small, but there was a lovely small pool that was on the edge of the boat and had some windows looking down.  It was just right for Joshua.

Right before dinner there was a leaving port party.

Joshua ended up being most excited to see Chip and Dale.

 (Isaac is in orange in the middle.)  He didn't really love the dance party and declined to go to any others during the trip. :)

At dinner I had sea bass - and it was delicious!  Joshua saw a painting during a bathroom break and apparently decided that it looked like Mickey was trapped.  He went around to each person at the table, made them look him in the eye and solemnly announced that Mickey was trapped.

After dinner we all went to the kids area for a bit.  There were some cool "hyperspace" simulators (i.e. Star Wars)

We went to the start of the welcome show, but the kids weren't very into it so we left half way through.  It was going to be a week of late nights, so a only slightly late night for the first one wasn't a bad idea.