Cruise Summary

Well we didn't have access to wi-fi for the last week so we'll just have to give you a summary now.  

We had a wonderful cruise week. Sailing out of Los Angeles last Sunday was a little cool by California standards but was great for us.  (especially since we heard about the blizzard in Regina). We quickly made ourselves at home in our stateroom where there was plenty of drawer/closet space,a queen bed, bunk beds and a large beautiful porthole to view the ocean.  The ship was easy to get around in and we enjoyed the variety of dining rooms, sitting areas, outside decks and swimming pools.  During our days at sea we were entertained by movies, animation drawing classes, great Disney theater productions, a ventriloquism show and spending time on deck. 

The meals were a great chance to try a variety of foods and each evening supper came with a different theme. We especially enjoyed the pirates theme night and lobster at the Captains dinner.  Our servers and stateroom host were wonderful and took great care of us all week.

We had stops in Puerto Vallarta and two days in Cabo San Lucas.   These days were wonderful. The temperature was in mid to high twenties, the beaches were incredible and the markets were very interesting. However, we tired quickly of the merchants constantly badgering us for a sale, trying to convince us that their products were 'Almost Free Mexican junk'. 

Another highlight of the cruise was seeing a variety of sea life off the deck of the ship. We saw dolphins,  whales, other large fish jumping, sea lions and Kelly and Matt saw a ray flip out of the water. 

A few of the night sailings were a bit rough, but none of us got sick and in general the light rolling of the ship was like being in a hammock. 

Every morning it was a pleasure to wake up and see the ocean.  The week went by quickly and we are grateful to God for this time of fun for our family.

A Cruising We Will Go!

Wow! Free wifi at the cruise terminal! Let's blog some more. Our shuttle driver was promptly waiting for us when we checked out of the hotel. He was the same guy who drove us to our hotel and he gave us a deal to the cruise terminal. We are now sitting here in an airport like terminal area waiting to board the Disney Wonder along with a couple of thousand other people. For the next 7 days we will call it and room 2512 home.

...ok the wifi is slowing to a crawl as more people arrive so I won't post any more picture for now. But we have lots to show at some point.

After we board the ship we will start eating, at least that is what Matt is hoping for. We can get to our room around 2 and the ship sails at 4 or 5. With more eating beginning at 5:45, our main dining room dinner time. We will also be swimming, walking, and there is even a scrapbook class for Edie.

It's almost time to board the ship so until we find another free wifi spot somewhere that's it from us until we return. Bon Voyage!

The California Adventure

This blogging thing is harder than it looks, especially when you are on the go from early to late at night. So with that here is a quick update of the last 3 days of our time in California.

We packed in as much as we could with a 3 day park hopper pass to the Disneyland Resort. Jumping from park to park was easy and we were able to use fastpasses to our advantage. The parks were super crowded but we managed to everything we wanted and more!

Here's the top 5 highlights in no particular order (because we couldn't agree when we voted on them!)

California Screamin' - awesome roller coaster. We went on it 5 times in one day. Sarah's and Kelly's favourite.

Star Tours - this is our first experience on it since they made it 3D.

Soarin over California - it's better barefoot.

Indiana Jones - wild crazy fun ride. Matt's favorite.

World Of Colour Show - amazing water, lights, fire and movie clip show at paradise pier. Edie's favourite

Other memorable moments include getting drenched on Splash Mountain, eating turkey legs, churros, and Mickey shaped ice cream, and running into our neighbors occasionally. We survived Tower of Terror (Edie and Sarah - just barely). It's a small world and Pirates of the Carribean were also great.

No time to post more pics but here's a few

We are here!

We made it. We had an adventurous start to our vacation. Shortly after we took off from YQR, a passenger a few rows behind us had some kind of medical emergency. The flight crew and someone with medical training handled the situation great and he was stable when he left the plane, although paramedics took him off on the skinniest wheel chair ever. We pray that he is doing alright. Next up was a flight delay. Our plane to take us to California arrived in Denver 90 minutes late. There were very strong winds in Denver so we were advised that the takeoff would be a bit rough. Wow! It was like no other takeoff we've ever had. For those who have ridden Star Tours at Disney, that's kind of what the takeoff was like. Thankfully we got out of the turbulence and the flight was good for the rest of the way

We took a shuttle to our hotel, had some supper and headed to Downtown Disney which is a shopping and entertainment area between Disneyland and California Adventure. we were very tired so we didn't stay long and we knew we had a big day ahead of us on Thursday.

On Our Way!

So as we climb to our cruising altitude we begin our vacation. The sun is up and the the clouds are below us.

We were up early to get to the airport for our flight to Denver. We will have a couple of hours to get through customs and find our way to the gate for our next flight to Santa Ana, California - SNA for any airport geeks out there.

We did have time for some Timbits though. We are 0-1 for Roll up the rim!

Are we ready yet?

Well, if we aren't we'd better be. We leave in 12 hours. The bags are almost packed. The animals and flyers have wonderful people looking after them. And the house is pretty clean. So off we go tomorrow morning winging our way to California.

Eventually we will board the Disney Wonder for a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise. Our hope is to be able to blog about our adventure as much as possible and post when we hit free wifi wherever possible. Enjoy!

Oreo isn't too pleased about this