Disney Part I

There is no way I will do this trip justice, but I would like to try to at least give you all, and future generations a little glimpse into the excitement that is a Cooprider family vacation. It is the kind of vacation that was years in the making. I am not sure I can give an accurate timeline, though I know I will have lots of pictures along the way.

Before I commence with the documentation of Disney memories I want to remind myself that there are some pretty monumental things that have happened since we have come home. I will go into more detail later, but for now just to keep myself from forgetting here they are in no particular order: Sam's first tooth, almost job offer, and Lucy uses the potty again (this will be discussed in the post).

Ready, set go!

All of the traveling began a few days before the actual trip. We wanted to see my family a little bit before we left, especially since my brother Peder just got back from his mission. We went up for the weekend, then back to Boxborough for a pedicure and a party, then back to my parent's for the grinder party, and then drove to the airport on Christmas morning. It was freezing! I thought that our children were going to freeze from the walk from the car to the terminal. But we made it. And we managed to even get on the plane in one piece. Sam slept a good solid hour and Lucy was distracted by the window and one of Grandpa Coop's devices. It was a relatively uneventful flight. Thank goodness.

Once we made it to Orlando we headed to the hotel. One of my greatest fears for the trip was having us all sleep in the same room. Lucy is super talkative when people are around. So falling asleep with someone in the room with her did present challenges. I think we were so tired that in the end, we all went to bed pretty early. That was after our dinner at Denny's. It was magical!

The next day we woke up in preparation for our Disney cruise. Turns out Lucy didn't travel as well as we had hoped. She had puked during the night, but didn't tell us. She had a very low key breakfast, and headed to the port. Turns out that trip in the bus was also not great for her. She puked as we waited to board the ship. So we had to talk to some cruise nurse and see them later that afternoon. It was an interesting start to our trip. Turns out we were not the only ones that were going to have health related adventures on this trip.

After getting some pictures with Mickey we got on the cruise ship. They announced our family name as we entered the ship and thus began our Disney cruise adventures. The first we did was put on our swim suits. Karen told us if we wanted to the water slide it was best to do it while people were still boarding. So Jimmy and I got dressed and that was the first thing we did. We really couldn't go to our rooms until our luggage was placed there. Lucy played with her cousins and grandparents. Sam walked around with Grandpa Coop. He did that a lot!

After the slide we got some food, because there is tons of that when you go on a cruise. And I must say, even though I felt like I was going to stuff myself, I didn't. I just ate a lot of quality food. The food was definitely a highlight of the cruise for all of us.

After food we went to our room. It is amazing how much stuff they put in those rooms. I don't even know if I got a good picture of the room, but trust me we were pretty squeezed in there. And that was before the bed was pulled out and we had the pack-n-play set up. After a little unpacking we had to take Lucy to the health center, which didn't open until 4:30pm (after we left port). I walked Sam around, Jimmy took Lucy in to see the doctor. She had a mild fever so we had to keep her our of the kid's places, but all in all she was doing okay. I think after this we met Snow White with Alice and Grandma and then we had dinner.

Dinners were family gatherings with the same service team every night. The first night we were in the Royal Palace. It was fancy. Sam kind of yelled for a lot of the meal, and every time I got up I could feel the boat moving. I think I might have had a little motion sickness. Turns out, so did Ada. Poor Ada

Anyways, we had dinner and then pretty much went back to our rooms. There is so much to do on a cruise ship, especially Disney cruises. Sam and Lucy are both a little young for all the activities so we saw a lot of Disney characters and ate. Both of which were really fun. This night we basically went to bed. And everyone was tired enough that even Lucy didn't take a long time to fall asleep.

Okay, seriously that was just 2 days...and I am pooped. I think I will come back to this tomorrow. Just know, I promise to give a full accounting of the trip. To be continued...